rothenfield1

This is why I hope all of you bike sellers are advising your buyers when they ask to have a kick stand installed that they may be doing damage to their new frames. Of course, this is steel. I have no idea what it does to Aluminum. I thought I had bought a very pristine high-end late 80’s bike until I got home and took the lame Greenfield off it. You’d think, if someone was going to pay for a nice bike, they would spring for a proper bike stand. Yes, I’m pissed!

mkeller234

At least they don't look crushed, I have run across that once.

I understand why people like kick stands, it's not exactly fun to always lean the bike on something. I use a kick stand on my commuter/ errand bike for the convenience.

HSean

I agree, I offten get nice looking 3 speeds and when I remove that two legged kickstand the frames offten crushed because if it, same with another bike I got, it was mint but the kickstand wreaked the paint and dented the frame on the top and bottom of the tubes. Boo kickstands!

Chombi

"Dad, my sidestand's not working right!"......."Hmmmm........go get me my big real wrench Junior, and I'll tighten that sucker right up!!"

Chombi

cyclotoine

yeah it's a shame, but at least you won't notice it when you're riding. I've got a couple like that, I like kickstand plates for this reason.

bigbossman 

Yeah, but the college/city girls dig 'em. Since they're my primary market, I slap a kickstand on everything I can.

Send me your big box o' kickstands - I'll see that they get released back into the wild where they can do some good.

shopgirl

I had one customer a while back who insisted on putting a kickstand on her brand new $1400 aluminum/carbon road bike. I tried to talk her out of it, but sometimes you just can't win.

mkeller234

The kickstands that attach near the rear axle look like they may be ok, I have no experience with them though.

randyjawa 

I hate clamp on kick stands and I cannot but wonder what good you are talking about. I mean no offense with that question.

After handling hundreds, and perhaps thousands of old bicycles, I have come to hate the stands that clamp to the stays near the left rear drop. The end of the stand sticks out and is a natural disaster area. How many of the Bicycles for Humanity volunteers have scuffed up a shin when banging into these stupid accessory items. My legs carry the scars and quite a few of them, I might add.

Finally, side stands do not work worth a cr@p, in my opinion. Lean your bike against something solid and then lock it up there. Forget the bloody clamp on side or center stand. To that add the fact that the more modern side stand will not even collapse or fold up when you forget to raise the stand before heading off. A fellow fell and crashed, thanks to one of these more modern side stands.
the stand, forgotten in its parked position, caught the ground while cornering. The initial crash caused six other riders to crash as well. I won't even send these stands to Africa. Scrap metal, that's all I think they are good for.

But that is just me and, for those of you who think the bikes will still ride OK, forget it - sometimes. One Reynolds 531 sweetheart had chain stays so crushed that they it did impact the ride quality of the bicycle. The weld(braze) had actually failed between the chain stays and bottom bracket housing. Very flexible ride, to say the least.

DESTROY all clamp on side or center stands!!! This, and the poorly designed side pull brake calipers that damage down tubes on high end bikes is a second pet peeve. How many bikes have I seen with that nasty little dent right there, in plain view, for all to see.

Enough of a rant for now.

wrk101

+1 While I tend to take them off every bike I get, at least half the time, buyers want them put back on. I am going to stop taking them off, its a waste of time.

+1 Damage does not look very bad at all, I have seen a lot worse for sure. I touch up with rust converter as a primer, then Testors enamel as a top coat.

I see the same thing with turkey levers. I hate them, buyers love them, particularly on recreational level bikes.

If you are going to sell bikes, its best to listen to the market, and put aside personal preferences and taste. Of course, on every single keeper bike, the turkey levers, dork disk, and side stand all are removed.

mkeller234

Oh, heck yeah. If your lucky all you get is a big honkin paint chip. I had some Weinmann 605 calipers that were good for this.

auchencrow

+1. I hate kickstands for what they do to the chain stays. RECYCLE!
Generally I will only make exceptions and leave them on bikes that have a separate, dedicated mounting bracket for them.

(Only Schwinn had the right idea, albeit they did weigh a ton.)

I feel the same way abut Turkey wings: I dislike them intensely because they compromise braking - but I leave them on low end bikes anyway, because spongy brakes are better than no brakes. ( I don't think the buyers of these bikes could find the primary levers in a panic stop, since they spend 100% of their time riding the tops of the bars).

I am ambivalent about dork disks: They look ugly IMO, but they can save the spokes, or promote corrosion where they contact them.

Mos6502

The solution to the problem of paint scuffed by kickstands, is just to leave the kickstand in place. If you can't see it, it won't hurt you.

nlerner

Just try not to ride your bike upside down.

Neal

HSean

I think Schwinn is the winner when iitcame to kickstands, it was built into alot of their older bikes. only downside was when it becomes to worn the bikes falls over because it can't hold the weight, my firestone super cruiser has a clamp kickstand and it's no match for the huge fat geirth of that bike, It's hard to lean places and put on it's kickstand.

Buy one of them toptube protectors and leave the bike on things.

unterhausen

the non-drive side stay has a fairly significant dent in it, the drive side is not as bad. When I was a mechanic, I hated to see a bike with severely crushed stays from the kickstand. I'm not sure why more bikes weren't made with plates, it's just as easy as a bridge to put on and much more useful. Of course, I'm firmly in the camp that thinks the Pletscher single leg kickstand is a joke and a boat anchor. I respect the fact that people disagree, but please don't park your bike on a kickstand near mine. The double kickstands are a totally different matter.

Grand Bois

I just bought a Pletscher double kickstand for the utility bike I'm building. A bike with a huge basket on the front for hauling groceries needs a double kickstand, IMO. I'd want a double kickstand for a bike I used for loaded touring, too. I'm working on a way to reinforce the stays from the inside to make them un-crushable. I'll let you know how that turns out.

bigbossman 

This is my view of thing, as well. They want them, I'll supply them. Whether I like them or not is irrelevant. Stem shifters, too. That's the Holy Trinity for receational city/campus riders - kickstands, safety levers, and stem shifters.

BigPolishJimmy

I like kickstands, but then again I ride cheap steel bikes and don't care much if they fall over. You can't do that with carbon fiber. About a week ago I was downsizing my collection, the kid who was buying my Nishiki told me how relieve he was not to see a kickstand on the bike. Since he was going to make a single-speed or fixie from the frame, I figured he wouldn't want the kickstand. I didn't tell him that the other part of the reason I stole the kickstand earlier that day was because it was a Greenfield, which btw is a fairly good one in comparison to the absoutely craptastic one that it replaced on my son's bike. Perhaps I should have left it on so he could experience the satisfaction of removing it himself?

*edit* BTW, there were no significant kickstand marks on the Nishiki, my guess is that kickstand loosened up and the owner didn't bother to tighten it up. Neglect adds up and there you have it. I hope you're planning on tearing that frame down to bits and repacking the bearings. If someone neglects their kickstand, which is something you use every ride, you know the other maintenance is suffering as well.

supton

Seems like a couple of my bikes have plenty of dings from being leaned up against places. Seems like bikes that get used will get scratches. Personally, I like kickstands, at least on beater bikes. Too bad they couldn't just put a bridge across the stays, on the bottom, where a kickstand could bolt, at least on the more utilitarian bikes (you know, the ones not going for least weight).

rothenfield1

I guess I shouldn't have been so hateful towards Greenfield. I know they sell a lot of them. It was just a gut reaction when I saw the damage it did. It seems like they would include a rubber boot with the stand. I suppose you could cut up a garden hose and wrap the chain stays. A metal clamp torqued onto a thin metal tube is not a good combination.

gitarzan

They have a purpose on the right kind of bike. And any owner has the right to do whatever they want with their bike as long as it's legal.

Why would they care if some scavenger from the future is going to be indignant about it someday?

BigPolishJimmy

I understand about the damage, and I think it's fine if people don't like kickstands. I'm still not sure if I want to put one on my Fuji because it's in really good shape, and it would bother me if that one fell down. At least one of the kickstands I removed in the last year had a protective layer on it, which seemed like a good idea. I've dealt with some really bad steel kickstands the just work poorly or not at all, the ones with the curved stamped bit of steel that hold them in place. The one that was on my wife's Huffy was nearly impossible to kick into place, you literally had to drag it along the concrete and use the bike as a lever to get it to go up. Then the crap bit of metal that's supposted to hold it up there isn't up to the task, so every pedal revolution brings a tic ...tic ...tic ...tic So unbelievably annoying that the Greenfield is a joy in comparison.

auchencrow

Hi rothenfield !
I would be circumspect about addressing the problem with any compressible rubber material. It will promote torque decay and eventually the kickstand will rotate or walk on you, possibly creating even more damage.

old's'cool

+1