Kick Stand Solution?

[LI-ghtcycle]

Hello again, I am asking for everyone's experiences with various style kick-stands to help decide what I will be using on my next build. Currently, dad's bike has a heavy-duty center stand, but it hangs down quite a bit and has less cornering clearance. He has asked me what I thought about taking 1/2" off of the bottom horizontal "foot" I'll put a pic up here:

First problem: most mounting areas for the stand aren't strong enough to take the weight that the stand can, so had to up-grade to a grade 8 bolt, and cannibalize the top clamp from a side stand just to keep things from bending (approx 69lb weight e-bike with SLA's) and those rubber caps won't stay on even with silicone glue (could have tried gorilla glue, but one of the caps is missing now oh well).

Second problem: the outer most part of the "feet" can touch down on a curb or other such thing when turning. I am hesitant to take off the 1/2" from each 3/4" foot fearing it will make the stand too unstable and possibly weaken the aluminum.

I do like the looks of this stand:

But I don't need something quite that heavy, I just mean that basic design looks like it has merit.

Any and all suggestions/info/advice MUCH appreciated! :bow:

 

[monster]

i've tried the two leg stand like you have shown and the single leg stand and found no bicycle stands are really any good for heavy ebikes.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

Hmmm well, it looks like the current stand we have is probably the best bet, anyone have thoughts on cutting down the "feet" ? How much do you think we can get away with taking off (if at all) and not hurt stability?

 

[DerekG]

I know this would be heavy/look silly, however, has anyone thought of designing a stand which would fold up into the front triangle of a frame.

The problem with all stands out there right now is they don't distribute the load far enough away in the horizontal from the center of gravity. This leads to the unstable situation so many of you are familiar with.

The stand would consist of two tubes / metal bars which would run the length of the forward triangle and would store with the bottom of the stand (which would touch the ground) up against the top of the triangle by means of rare earth magnets.

When you wanted to deploy the stand, you would let the two tubes rotate down till you had a much larger version of the stand in the OP's post.Of course the tubes would havae to lock in the down position, however, I believe the bike would be much more stable than any stand out there right now and storing the stand on the triangle would mean not many modifications would be necessary.

Of course when deployed it would be bulky, however, stable.

Just an idea, don't kill it too fast :lol:

 

[biohazardman]

I have used one of these two-legged fold up stands on my 65LB Schwinn with good results. Mine was Greenfield branded. Had to cut a bit off the legs or it lifted the front of the bike off the ground a few inches. It’s one more to think about anyway. If your bike is top heavy, you will need to be careful with any type of kickstand.

http://www.phred.org/~josh/bike/esge2leg.html

http://www.ebikestop.com/pletscher_two_leg_kickstand_320mm_silver-KI5000.php

 

[amberwolf]

For my very heavy CrazyBike2, I built my own out of part of the chainstays off of a cheap frame, some steel plate, and a good thick hinge. The only thing that finally broke it was that I totally forgot the original kickstand mount plate that I welded the hinge to was only BRAZED to the chainstays, so eventually after I had the bike at around 150 pounds of weight, then after a while it broke the braze lines apart.

The stand itself held up very well, although once I had the whole bike together with batteries and motor on there, most of the weight right over the stand, it was very difficult to lift the bike up and back with the stand starting to unfold, to force the stand to fold down and lock under the bike.

http://electricle.blogspot.com/2009/02/100th-post-kickstand-chain-guide.html
Has some of the info on the stand, and some pictures.

After it broke I started just leaning it on the cargo pods, and found they work well enough to not even fix the stand. I'm probably going to add some sort of caster to the corner of them though, so I don't have to worry so much about them digging into whatever I lean them on (like tile floors).

 

[dogman dan]

Two cheapo kickstands works great for me. One goes on the rear axle, and the other on the frame by the pedals. The rear one requires the use of cheap frames that have the bolt on wheel type dropouts though. One sweep of the leg puts up both stands with some practice.

 

[oatnet]

I tried that kickstand too, but the feet kept getting in the way. When I finally found a style I that fit my personal preferences, with big steel feet that tucked back out of the way, I bought a whole bunch of them.

Hmm, it looks like the thread I had for the durable double kickstand scrolled off the for-sale section, but there is a picture in the middle of this post for the Tidalforce frames I am selling:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10748&start=0#p164988

-JD

Edit: I'm home now, so I can add the picture from the thread:

 

[snowranger]

The xtracycle stand keeps my heavy e-xtracycle up along with two kids climbing up the sides of the bike to get on.

 

[John in CR]

My solution was just to use a 1 point kick stand for a motorcycle. It has reach, strength, and stability. The only requirement it to mount your batteries sufficiently low for a real kickstand to work, which has lots of other benefits.

John

 

[SoSauty]

Inexpensive, adjustable 2nd stand. I worked some epoxy in the parts where it attaches to the frame.

 

[velowatt]

I used a black center stand for my recumbent, but had to do a lot of modding to the bike since there is no where to put it on my frame. I have a bracket made to hold an 'intermediate drive' under the seat, which is a good place to put the stand. I had to reinforce the original aluminum bracket with steel to get it to work, and the reinforcements had to fit around the drivetrain moving parts, which drove me nuts until I figured it out, but it works pretty good now.

I really like the beefy center stand in the pic above- it looks strong, and the "reach" of the arms to the ground can be adjusted- that is way cool- especially if your bike had heavy SLA's mounted. I used to have 45 lb SLA's on the rear rack, and the bike made a big noise when it fell over.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

I tried that kickstand too, but the feet kept getting in the way. When I finally found a style I that fit my personal preferences, with big steel feet that tucked back out of the way, I bought a whole bunch of them.

Hmm, it looks like the thread I had for the durable double kickstand scrolled off the for-sale section, but there is a picture in the middle of this post for the Tidalforce frames I am selling:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10748&start=0#p164988

-JD

Edit: I'm home now, so I can add the picture from the thread:

Wow, that looks just like the ticket for me, could you weigh one for me please? I'd like to compare it's weight to the aluminum one we have. I definitely like the adjustable height, I just realized that one problem with our current stand is that it takes the weight of the bike. If it were adjusted to keep both wheels on the ground and just keep things stable, it wouldn't be stressing and bending the mounts since it wouldn't be holding up all that weight.

Oh and I am very impressed with the price ($35 right?) that is the same price as the non-adjustable aluminum one we bought!

P.S. could you also measure the spread between the "feet" from outside to outside? I'm wanting to know how much it would stick-out when cornering.

Thanks!

 

[spinningmagnets]

Using the most likely search terms that others would employ, this seems like the best E-bike kickstand thread, so....

Heres a heavy duty Dutch cargo stand where, when it folds up, the two legs pull in out of the way. Expensive (if even available for order in your country) but easy to copy the principle if it solves your kickstand problems.

http://www.bakfiets-en-meer.nl/2010/01/06/the-mother-of-all-centerstands/#more-2941

Here's the other thread that turned up. Zoot found this model where both legs fold up onto the left side.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14578

 

[John in CR]

Hmmm well, it looks like the current stand we have is probably the best bet, anyone have thoughts on cutting down the "feet" ? How much do you think we can get away with taking off (if at all) and not hurt stability?

I use a cheap short hollow tube kickstand meant for motorcycles. My heavy rear hub motor and low triangle mounted 20lbs of battery make it ideal for me, because it enable a big lean and is extremely stable on any surface except mud or sand. I tried a regular bike kickstand, but the skinny bar kept bending. Now so idiot can bump into my bike hard enough to hurt himself before he's going to knock it over.

To answer your question, the stability is really going to depend on your bike's specific setup. If the batteries are up high on an otherwise light bike, then real stability will be difficult.

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

I know this would be heavy/look silly, however, has anyone thought of designing a stand which would fold up into the front triangle of a frame.

The problem with all stands out there right now is they don't distribute the load far enough away in the horizontal from the center of gravity. This leads to the unstable situation so many of you are familiar with.

The stand would consist of two tubes / metal bars which would run the length of the forward triangle and would store with the bottom of the stand (which would touch the ground) up against the top of the triangle by means of rare earth magnets.

When you wanted to deploy the stand, you would let the two tubes rotate down till you had a much larger version of the stand in the OP's post.Of course the tubes would havae to lock in the down position, however, I believe the bike would be much more stable than any stand out there right now and storing the stand on the triangle would mean not many modifications would be necessary.

Of course when deployed it would be bulky, however, stable.

Just an idea, don't kill it too fast :lol:

not sure if this resembles anything to what u had in mind.
however the desc made me think of the clickstand based on blind man's walking stick technology.
kudos go to Mathurin for the find taken from this thread.
like the r/e idea, i'm sure that enhancement can be worked in somehow.

 

[John in CR]

Toorbough,

What prevents the bike from rolling fwd or bkwd with that kind of stand? I like the idea of connecting to the bike from up high for better stability, but the bike can't roll or you're sunk.

 

[TylerDurden]

^^ The brake levers are held by straps.

 

[amberwolf]

I like that Clickstand idea. I already have a locking brake lever (off a jogger's baby stroller) on the DayGlo Avenger's front wheel, so that it doesn't roll around while I'm loading it up, but especially so it doesn't move while I'm mounting or dismounting, since it's hard for me to get my leg up and over the frame. I also have one on CrazyBike2's rear wheel, courtesy of the Honda ICE scooter's brake/control cluster.

I am not sure how well they'd work due to their flexibility, but I have a lot of those extensible tentpoles made of fiberglass with aluminum joiners. They are already corded together; just need to cut the last one to length and leave off enough of them to leave it short enough.

If the top tube of the bike is long enough, you could simply put the top mounting point on a swivelling joint at the seatpost, so that you could use a one-piece stand that would hold the bike up as the Clickstand does, and put a little hook on the front of the toptube (or headstock) to clip it to (kind of like cars that have a hood-holding rod, where it clips in on the frame/body when stowed). Then there is no need to unfold it, and infact it could be swung up and down while still seated on the bike if desired. If it's strong enough, it could hold you up too.

If necessary for taller bikes, it could stick out past the headstock as long as it doesn't catch on any of the cables or other stuff you have on the bars/fork as it turns.

I think I am going to try doing this on that Schwinn Sierra I rescued, as it definitely doesn't work well with a regular kickstand when I put anything at all on the rear rack (since it doesn't have any panniers yet).

 

[Little-Acorn]

I bought three two-leg kickstands from Crow Cycle Co. here in San DIego. They are sturdy, quite adjustable, and they bolt on where the single-leg kicktands most bicycles come with, bolt on.

I put one on a Schwinn Cimarron 26" wheel comfort bike that has a 48V 1000W front hubmotor. The Schwinn had a small bar across the stays for the original kickstand, right behind the bottom bracket. The new double from Crow went right on, and is working great. Put another on the Trek 7500 that has a 48V 1000W rear hubmotor. The Trek does not have the small bar across the stays like the Schwinn does, but Crow sends a bolt and bar for this kind of bike. It also went on quite easily and fit well. Pretty good score: two very different bikes, these stands fit both. They are also very adjustable.

Crow has a screw-adjustable style and a pushbutton-adjustable style. I preferred the screw-adjustable style, it looked sturdier and is more finely adjustable. They also have a taller stand, for tall bikes. Mine did not need that.

They have them in black (shown below) and in cloudy-finished anodized aluminum.

Another thing I found out by accident: When the douuble-leg kickstand is down (or up), the bike's pedals can still turn all the way around without hitting the kickstand. It's a great improvement over the single-leg the bikes came with.

Their website: http://www.crowcycleco.com/

 

[amberwolf]

From The Perfect Kickstand thread linked above:

OK so we need something that extends sideways as much as out for stability, hilly slopes, etc... What about something like a camera tripod that is mounted on the seat tube, kicks out to the sides and extends down. This way you have four points of contact and could even extend further to act as a work stand. you could use two shafts from golf clubs (can be found at thrift stores for $5 or less, very lightweight) then just design a sliding mechanism along the seat tube that would go down to engage the shafts to the ground. I think it could be done at less than 2 lbs. Now if you could pressurize those poles to be able to fill one tire each, you could have one helluva self-contained unit. 8) What do you guys think?

I had the thought that if you had an air pump needed on the bike anyway, which already clamps to the bottom of the top tube, what about using it as part of the body of what I described above for a modification of the Clickstand (which after rereading prior posts to mine, I think is actually what DerekG was suggesting, more or less)?

Then it would be what etard had asked for, a kickstand that also served a second function. It'd need a QR skewer at it's pivot point at the seatpost, so it can be easily taken off to pump up the tires without having to have a really long airhose. Well, maybe not, actually--if it pivots from the seatpost and has no pivot-stop it could be pointed back to the rear wheel, and if the pump is the bottom end of it, the airhose could still reach the valve stem at the rear if the tire is rotated so it's down near the rear bottom quarter. Same for the front wheel if it's rotated toward the rear top quarter.

Maybe I'll build *that* version, using the crappy aluminum Bell stick pump I have around here someplace (but basically never use due to breaking valves off a couple of times--I'm clumsy). I'd just need to do the mod I had meant to do before, of adding a hose to the output of the stick pump, off of another old plastic broken stick pump.

 

[Kai]

I think this stand is the best for heavy loads
http://www.flickr.com/photos/huggerindustries/2617721255/

it's VERY expensive

 

[Zoot Katz]

I think this stand is the best for heavy loads
http://www.flickr.com/photos/huggerindustries/2617721255/

it's VERY expensive

The large pads at the ends of the legs are a nice feature.
Xtracycle has developed their own center stand and it's considerably less expensive ($204CND) because the design is more refined now and built in Taiwan.
I've had their Kick Back stand on le Béte for a couple weeks and have started adapting to its idiosyncrasies.
It makes parking at bike racks more difficult if you want to use the stand for supporting the bike.
Because le Béte is tail heavy it's easier to lift the front end, and let the stand snap up, than to push the bike forward to roll off the stand.

The EBII project got a Pletscher two legged kick stand that swings up to one side. ($75CND)

 

[biohazardman]

Well another idea had to happen for the rear suspension on the Giant. I was unable to find anything that fit. So modified an existing kickstand. Tossed the backside-mounting bracket, as it would not fit the tubes of the rear triangle. Drilled the torque arm and bolted the kickstand to it there and to the frame. I had to file a bit of material away to clear the axle nut. Very stable for the 50+ lb bike. Finally have some SS strapping to replace the hose clamp.