Kickstand

The kickstand is one of the more controversial bicycle accessories. Whereas some people enjoy the ability to park their bike anywhere, there are some downsides:

* The kickstand provides only a short, unstable base. The bike can easily fall in wind, or when bumped. Falling is harder on the bike than being gently laid down.

* Kickstands tend to sink into soft ground, or work poorly on even ground.

* Kickstands tend to come loose, making the bike unrideable or at least unpleasant.

* "Universal" center mount kickstands, if they mount with a clamp like the one pictured below can crush the chainstays, weakening the bike's frame.

Eldi center-mount aluminum alloy kickstand
Photo by AndrewDressel at English Wikipedia [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

* The kickstand weighs a bit. You won't find kickstands on competitive bikes, where every gram matters.

* All serious bike riders will laugh at someone who owns a kickstand, and that is of course, untenable.

(BTW, your author has owned hundreds of kickstands.)

Kickstands that attach near the bottom bracket are usually more stable than those that attach near the rear axle.

If you do lay a derailleur bike on the ground rather than using a kickstand, it is best to lay it with the left side down, since the derailleur mechanism could otherwise be damaged.

Schwinn integrated steel kickstand
Photo by AndrewDressel at English Wikipedia [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

For many years, Schwinn manufactured road and recreational bikes with remarkably heavy integrated steel kickstands.

I have seen parents leave a child in a child carrier while a bike was parked on its kickstand. This is a very bad idea!

Upright style kickstand
By Brosen (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), via Wikimedia Commons