While it's never exactly been a critical problem, finding somewhere to lean the bike - especially when it's fully loaded - has often been a minor curse. I've repeatedly dropped it or had it fall over - sometimes clobbering myself in the process (shins connecting with cranks or chainwheels is the usual method) and on one notable occasion denting the top-tube (on the Rotterdam metro).
A lot of people rate kickstands to solve exactly this problem, and I thought I would give this a go. My bike, the 'Shift, is a Surly Disc Trucker. Initially these were never meant to take kickstands - for such a prosaic thing they had a nasty proclivity to bend and dent important parts of the frame like the chainstays. Fortunately Surly have relented and now produce an "official" mounting bolt that will sandwich the frame in a way that spreads the load. It was a bit pricey (£20) for what it is (a couple of bits of steel) but it seemed foolish not to.
For the kickstand itself, I wanted something sturdy so I went with the Pletscher double-legged. This has an ingenious albeit slightly comical design where two wonky-looking legs somehow both fold up along non-drive-side of the bike. The whole thing is made (in Switzerland, no less) of solid aluminium and appears to be basically indestructible. It's not exactly super-light, but it's not as heavy as you might expect either.
I can report that despite the special fastening kickstands remain a bit of a bugger to fit. Expect to take off cranks, chainwheels, front derailler, and loosen the rear shifter cable just to get spanner access to the base of the chainstays.
Finally got enough room to turn the big ol' bolt that holds the kickstand on. To add to the fiddle I also cushioned the clamp with bits of old tube rubber - getting these to stay in place wasn't easy.
Adding a comedy dimension is that Pletscher sells the stand with preposterously long legs (it actually sells two sizes, but the other was indicated for 26" wheels!).
One annoying problem is the rear shifter cable runs right through the mounting. If you could be bothered you could cut a groove all the way through for it to run, but I couldn't be bothered and so just ran it down the outside. This (obviously) will throw off all your shifting and indexing at the back, necessitating a re-tune of the derailler.
Illustrating the, sigh, issue with the shifter cable. It's not even the kickstand that gets in the way - it's the mounting, which is designed to be fitted to this exact Surly frame. If I really could be bothered I'd grind a groove the cable could sit in down the mounting using the Dremel. Not the easiest thing in the world though, given it's made of stainless steel (which is tricky to work).
Action cutting shot! Unfortunately no sparks as it's all aluminium. Note I've left the stand attached to the bike - getting it off again would involve quite the rigmarole of removing the cranks etc.
I later bought a couple of rubber feet that go over the bare metal ends - not only do they prevent nasty scratching noises on concrete etc, they really help to stabilise the bike. Now it's off the stilts the bike is very stable when propped on its kickstand, even if the front-end rotates (as it can sometimes do if a pannier on the back weighs that side down and lifts the front wheel off the ground). I needed to tighten the bolt on the kickstand on my first outing, but I wasn't too surprised by that as I'd been cautious with it, not wanting to crush my chainstays.
You do have to be a bit careful of it coming loose. Too tight and it can crush the chainstays. But a too loose kickstand wobbles about more, which can lead to the bike falling and ... crushing the chainstays. Moreover, if it's too loose it's possible for it to rotate, so "interfacing" with the wheel spokes and indeed your foot. So that's fun.
