Kickstand Question......

Ok...I just bought a Jamis Coda, which is basically a flat-bar fitness bike with 700c tires. Well, I had a kickstand put on, YES a kickstand. The LBS guy threw it in with the cup holder thingy, I was happy.

I am so upset now...the stupid thing took the paint off the bottom bar where it is attached. You wont see it unless I take the kickstand off, so my DH says I am overreacting. Am I??

I really need a kickstand, esp when I go for rides with my kids. There is not always a place to prop my bike and I dont want it to lay flat on bumpy ground.

Can I ask what the big deal is with getting a kickstand?? I hear it is geeky why is that?

Any thoughts....Thanks!

I like kickstands. I have one on my hybrid and one on my good, ole Schwinn.

On the right bike, kickstands rock! Do you put one on your sleek racing bike? I hope not. :eek: But on your touring, commuter, about town bike? I vote yes. Don't worry about geeky. If it works for you, then it's cool!

annie

Annie--this is getting freaky! (RE: Divorce prevention thread.) I agree with you 100% I don't have one on my road bike or my new mt. bike that hasn't yet come home. But I really like having them on my hybrid and my in-town bike that lives in our store.

Sweetie, we reach a point in life when we know what works. Too bad we have to get "old" to reach that point, but you gotta admit, there are some advantages! Who cares if kickstands are cool? They work. DH's? Well, they work sometimes, too. And we know how to get around making it work FOR us. :rolleyes: :D

annie

If you want to have a kickstand, by all means do.
But bottom line, you don't want to take it off, so don't worry about the paint underneath it. That's the last place anyone is going to look for a chip.
We had a kickstand put on our tandem. IT IS WONDERFUL!

(it's even harder to find a place to prop a tandem up against)

Can't say that I blame you about being upset about the paint. Get some touch up paint from the auto parts store. Then put some rubberbands around the part of the kickstand that rubbed. Don't kick the stand back up til the paint dries!

;)

I simply can't image a bike without a kickstand. I hear a lot of comments, mostly unnecessary IMO, from club members about the kickstands on my bike. However, my parents are products of the depression and we were raised to take care of our stuff. As kids we were taught not to lay our bikes on the ground and I guess it stuck. My touring bike came with a kickstand and I had my BF put one on my recumbent when he was building it back in July. I simply can't image putting a $1000 bike on the ground and I can hear my dad now giving me a friendly but stern reminder to take care of my toys. Darn to be different from the masses and use your kickstand with pride.

I have a kickstand on my road bike; I hate the idea of laying my bike in the dirt and there's not always a good place to prop up a bike. I don't care if it looks geeky, but I will take it off for my triathlons ;)

Thanks Everyone for all your candid responses. I love them! I really enjoy my kickstand, it came in handy at the rest stop today on the trail. It really helps my back too. I dont need the extra bending over and lifting at this point in my life.

I am glad to be going against the grain....glad there are others too!:)

Hooray for kickstands!!!:D

I say whatever works for you, works for you.

I always mount, dismount and lead my bicycle from the right side. I've got to lean over and flip the kickstand up and down with my hand. More of a nuisance than anything.

I always tie my bike on bicycle racks and hook the drops over the top of the rack.

We were told that the reason to not put a kickstand on your bike is because they can blow over and a lot of damage can be done to expensive components that way. But I don't like laying the components in the dirt so my preference is to use the kickstand and point the bike so the wind isn't a threat. If that can't be done, I'll go ahead and lay it down so it's as protected from dirt, gravel, etc. as possible.

I've heard the same thing about kickstands being geeky but I assumed that was because someone decided not having a kickstand was "the only way to go." Whatever - I just want to protect my bike. ;)

Deb

My Terry hybrid came with a kickstand, which I have found very useful. However, I was a little insulted when I read a comment from Georgena Terry herself that "real cyclists don't have kickstands".:rolleyes:

Now, *that's* a kickstand!

http://www.xtracycle.com/rock-sturdy-stand-p-82.html

That puppy ain't blowin' over in the wind!

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Originally Posted by KnottedYet

Now, *that's* a kickstand!

http://www.xtracycle.com/rock-sturdy-stand-p-82.html

That puppy ain't blowin' over in the wind!

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wow! THat's a stand, all right!

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Georgena Terry herself that "real cyclists don't have kickstands".

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Georgina said that?? Sheesh. here we go with the "real cyclists" thing again.

Your not kidding! :D

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Originally Posted by bambu101

...Georgena Terry herself that "real cyclists don't have kickstands".:rolleyes:

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I'm getting a little tired of hearing "real cyclists do this" and "real cyclists don't do that". As far as I'm concerned, a "real cyclist" is someone who enjoys time on their bike. If that bike includes a kickstand, then so. freaking. what. If it doesn't hurt other riders in any way, why should they care that you have a kickstand???

** </end rant> I'm gonna try to ignore the "real cyclist" thing from now on... **

If it works for you then use it. If you are with your kids it is understandable.

I was asked where I bought my mountain bike this past fall if I wanted a kickstand and promptly told them "no." First thought was the peer pressure, what would my cycling friends think of me, especially the guys. Second I have gotten so used to finding a place to lean my bike I would forget to use it anyway. I must admit it was a little ackward a few years ago when I got my new bike when it didn't have one. I fell in love with a race bike so of course that would have been a heresy:eek: , not to mention no place to put it.

I got my Giant withouta kickstand because all the biking books said you just lean the bike and that kickstands added weight.
Two days later I went back and had 'em put on a kickstand. ONe difference is that Giant is heavy - my Aluminum bike I can lean and it doesn't fall. The Giant, even w/o the Xtra, is just too heavy and I take it too many places. Super speed is *not* my agenda.
(One design issue with the Xtra *is* that it falls over easily with a regular kickstand, so I have a "rock sturdy" for making those smoothies. However, I'd like even better a true "kickstand" that I didn't have to actually stick into the bicycle, and I wish I'd known that before I got the rock sturdy.)
The paint issue - welp, could rust be an issue? That would be the only thing I'd worry about.

I got a Park Tool mini stand--can't remember the exact name of it--that has a padded hook to put on your bike which raises the rear wheel off the ground. When I went on an multi-day organized ride, I took it with me. It folds up pretty small. It was good to have to re-lube the chain, etc. I guess you could always use it as a kickstand. I usually put my road bike on that when she's resting at home.

One down side to kickstands--if they aren't on a hard, solid surface, the bicycle can still fall over--wind or not. Gertrude has taken a couple of falls this way. So now I'm more careful of where to put her with her kickstand down.

Edited this because I went home and looked at my Topeak Flash Stand. It wasn't a Park after all.

When I got my bike I asked the dude if he could put a kickstand on there, he laughed and went into this whole explaination about why I shouldn't put one on my bike. Needless to say I didn't put one on at that time but I did buy one to install at a later date.

My mt. bike doesn't have one. It's also the bike I use to run errands. I Leaned my bike on a lamp post, it slid and now I have paint loss on my precious Skittles!!! I don't live in a bike town. There are not a lot of bike racks around...I'm thinking a heavy duty cop like kick stand will be just the ticket.

When I first started cycling (as opposed to having a bike and using it very infrequently) it was with my SO, then boyfriend. I remember him being very gung ho about the *weight* of a bike, I'd always laugh (ok, sneer) at that, and figure he was just being overly obsessive, as how much could the weight of something with wheels on matter anyway??

13 years down the line - I'm the one obsessing about the weight of my bike. I finally caved and attached a luggage rack last autumn since I was sick of lugging climbing gear around in a backpack. But I sure enjoyed taking that rack off again, and feeling the back end of my bike get lighter again...

Long story short - I don't want a kickstand because of the added weight. But it took me 13 years of biking to get that obsessed, and if I ever had trouble finding things to prop my bike against I'd probably rethink and capitulate. To each their own.

It freaks me out when I see someone wheeling down a busy road with the kickstand DOWN though! :eek:

PS. Oh - and to my mind; "real cyclists decide what THEY want on their OWN bikes". ;-)

I've installed kickstands on hundreds of bikes. In the 70s, everyone wanted one. This is one of those fads that runs in cycles. Maybe in another 10 years everyone will want one again. They do have to be of the proper length or you can get a bike that tips over very easily (some are cut to length with a hacksaw). The only part of kickstands I couldn't stand was people riding with them misaligned, so that every time the pedals went around, the crank hit the kickstand with a loud "chunk". Personally, I'd rather lay my good bike flat on the ground where I know it can't fall.

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Originally Posted by lph

PS. Oh - and to my mind; "real cyclists decide what THEY want on their OWN bikes". ;-)

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Amen!! I think the variety of personal preferences for/against kickstands by all the different cyclists on this thread proves that. ;)

Deb