what kickstand is best

[il padrone]

In Yorkshire they say God built thousands of miles of drystone walls and countless brick outhouses to save us fitting stands. Those that do fit them are subject to divine retribution for their ungratefulness and have to carry the burden up all the hills. 

Out in these parts a kickstand comes in mighty handy 

[il padrone]

You would think that bikes that are so purposely designed for all day use under heavy loads should be designed to accommodate convenience as well as reliability, and the extra weight would be negligible.

I've never ridden one, but a friend is about to start selling Tout Terrain in his LBS, and I can't wait to try out a Silk Road with integrated rear carrier, disc brakes (asymmetric forks) and standard kickstand (dropout-mounted).

Tout Terrain with built-in stand mount. Excellent design.

[il padrone]

On my Nomad I am quite happy with a single legged kickstand at the rear dropout.  The brand of kickstand is Greenfield.  It comes with plastic to wrap around the frame to protect the paint.  I did not used their plastic on the seatstay, instead I put several wraps of electrical tape around it because the provided plastic did not stay in the right place.

I only tighten the bolts "enough" to keep it on and I use blue locktite on the bolts to prevent them from coming too loose.  Since the kickstand initially deforms the plastic, it needs periodic tightening every couple weeks when first installed.

Having looked at how the Greenfields works on your bike (I had one on my previous bike), it seems the frame reinforcing bar gets in the way of the Greenfields a bit. I would suggest now that the Pletscher Multi-zoom would give a better fit on the Thorn Nomad frame.

[Andre Jute]

[/URL]

This awesome photograph represents everything that is most powerful about touring in Australia.

Yeah, yeah, it's a varied continent, very much so, but if you have to choose one image to represent even that variety, without blinking again I'd choose this one.

[alcyst]

Couple of things about this photo. This is a place where a flagpole on a bike is the highest (non-living) feature! A place you bring the "sights to see" with you. And the bikes. We are in a Thorm forum, the front bike is a Giant. What bike is so bad it is hidden behind the Giant?

[mickeg]

This is my depth photo.

[il padrone]

Couple of things about this photo. This is a place where a flagpole on a bike is the highest (non-living) feature! A place you bring the "sights to see" with you. And the bikes. We are in a Thorm forum, the front bike is a Giant. What bike is so bad it is hidden behind the Giant?

This was taken pre-Thorn conversion. The bike behind is also a Giant MTB converted for touring.


The current bikes; both of us have done a Rohloff change-over. Mine with the Extrawheel is the Nomad Mk 2, my mates is a Bobobikes from Sydney that looks almost the same as the Nomad Mk 2 (note also my stickstand^TM, developed as a substitute for the Pletscher Multi-zoom which gave up eventually with the 60kg payload)




Better shot of Rob's Bobobike. VERY similar to my Thorn Nomad.

[alcyst]

How did the bike handle the "4WD Only" route?

[il padrone]

The sand and corrugations of the 'main road' were challenging enough that we decided 12kms was close enough to say we had been to the centre of Australia  .

[Hoodatder]

I fitted an ESGE rear kickstand using an old inner tube as a sheath to my new Raven Tour that I bought in 2005. I was blissfully unaware of any possible warranty void by fitting it. It worked without any problem at all and when I sold the bike last year (with stand), there was no  indication of rust or malforming of the chainstay.

I bought a Pletscher centre stand for my Raven Sport and fitted it using a purpose made plastic protector where the stand fits under the frame and using an old inner tube for the clamp at the top. It was no where near as stable and effective as the rear mount but did look better than the rear mount. After removing the stand, I have found no blistering of paint or indentation of the frame.

I have now ordered the Pletscher multi zoom rear stand and am more than confident it will do what I expect of it. Travelling through France this year, it seemed to be the preferred choice of touring cyclists and on one occasion I saw a stand mounted at the front working in conjunction with rear stand.

As regards "lifetime warranty", it would seem this implies to the lifetime of the product whilst still on sale by the manufacturer - so if Thorn stop making the Raven Tour Sport - as they have done, admittedly still selling the frames only - does this mean the "lifetime warranty" is now void for Raven Tour Sports?

My understanding is that "lifetime warranty" guarantees repair of the faulty product whereas "lifetime guarantee" implies replacement of the faulty product. Not being a specialized bike mechanic and only a humble plumber, I fail to see how a rear stand - fitted correctly and with care and caution - can possibly challenge the integrity of a steel framed cycle. How does the 2nd owner without the prior knowledge of a rear stand having been fitted approach Thorn with a claim for a defective frame.

Imagine the logistics involved. Photgraphs sent - bike sent - frame sent - previous owner now deceased - claim and then rejection - does the warranty apply to original owner only? Personally, I would concede that the Clickstick will take more load than the rear stand, but for my loads now of only 25kg max, the rear Pletscher rear multi zoom is the choice - even just for convenience alone. I would think that most of us would want to lock our cycles to something when we left them unattended, agreed? With rear stand, that is attached to the cycle and does not look a source of attraction to the smart arse passing by. On the other hand, the Clickstick is just begging to be kicked away to see the cycle fall over by the aforementioned smart arse - now elevated to the rank of pratt!

You pays your money, you takes your choice but I do agree with part of Andre's rant that it would eliminate all doubt and conjecture if Thorn welded / brazed on purpose made brackets to fitted with a rear stand of their testing and choice. Hells bells, they recommend, specify and fit other manufacturers components to their bikes, so why not a stand?

Affectionately yours

Hoot

[Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop]

As regards "lifetime warranty", it would seem this implies to the lifetime of the product whilst still on sale by the manufacturer - so if Thorn stop making the Raven Tour Sport - as they have done, admittedly still selling the frames only - does this mean the "lifetime warranty" is now void for Raven Tour Sports?

Warranty applies to the liftime of the origional owner only, damage caused by kickstands is fairly obvious when you see it (crushed or malformed tubing). The warranty on an RST is still valid we just replace with the closest Thorn model at the time of claim. (Raven with 853 fork probably)

You pays your money, you takes your choice but I do agree with part of Andre's rant that it would eliminate all doubt and conjecture if Thorn welded / brazed on purpose made brackets to fitted with a rear stand of their testing and choice. Hells bells, they recommend, specify and fit other manufacturers components to their bikes, so why not a stand?

We have done prototypes with lugs for a stand, to prevent the lug twisting the tube with a loaded touring bike leant on lightly we had to use such thick tubing it compromised the comfort and ride of the bike, something we just arn't going to do.  Even if we did you still need a strong enough stand...

Think about it, if there was a way to do it we would do it, we would get to sell stands making money and avoid all the explanations as to why we don't fit them.

We are quite happy for people to fit stands as they wish, we just can't entertain warranty claims if the tubing where they clamp or in that proximity gets damaged.

I know people have used x,y and z stands and not had issues so far, but I know people that have run accross motorways and been fine, it doesn't mean its a good idea  

[il padrone]

So how does Tout Terrain manage to do it with their Silk Road ??

[Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop]

So how does Tout Terrain manage to do it with their Silk Road ??

Real thick tubing I guess.

[il padrone]

Hmm.... placed in a very strong position by the look of this photo. I doubt the tubing twists too much there.

[Hoodatder]

Quote
We are quite happy for people to fit stands as they wish, we just can't entertain warranty claims if the tubing where they clamp or in that proximity gets damaged.

So, for the avoidance of doubt, if the original owner had a rear kick stand fitted and there was a problem elsewhere on the frame and unrelated to the kickstand, the lifetime warranty would still be valid and the claim upheld?

My understanding and perhaps, that of others, was that by fitting a stand - any stand - then the warranty is totally void.

Is my understanding wrong?

Thanks