Xtracycle Kickback Kickstand Fixes

I've had the Xtracycle Kickback kickstand on my Surly Big Dummy for a few years now. While it does a great job of holding the bike upright when parked, it's full of small annoyances. As lots of other people online have noted, these small issues seem pretty big when you consider the high price for what is essentially a kickstand.

1. The plastic feet on the bottom of the Kickback wear out really fast, and soon your bike is being held upright by a pair of aluminum tubes, which can scratch the heck out of whatever you are parking on. 

This is an easy fix- suggested by someone on the Xtracycle yahoo group, rootsradicals. Head over to your favorite hardware store and buy some 7/8" rubber chair feet. They slip right on and hold pretty securely. 

 

2. The Kickback makes really annoying clunking / clacking noises when you hit a bump, jump a curb, or try to do "fun things" with your cargobike. 

This is a bit bigger problem. For some reason Xtracycle didn't use a spring design like most motorcycle centerstands or regular bicycle kickstands- they just used a regular extension spring encased in a nylon bag. As a result, when the Kickback is retracted, the spring force holding the kickstand in place is pretty low, allowing it to flop around and bang into your bike's frame.

I've been looking at some other spring options and possibly even designing some sort of over-center mechanism, but haven't finished anything that is ready for road use. However, there is a simple fix to drastically reduce the amount of noise the Kickback makes when it flops around.

Simply mount a rubber bumper to the underside of where the factory kickstand mounts. It seems to work pretty well. You can still hear it banging around after a curb drop, but it is much, much quieter. Another option might be to put one of the rubber chair feet onto the steel stub on the kickback. 

Materials Needed:

• Rubber foot with thru-hole, appropriate size
• Screw, nut, and washer of appropriate size to fit through rubber foot
• Threadlocking compound

Materials Needed

Bold the rubber foot to the bottom of the frame, using the same mounting hole as the factory kickstand.

Rubber foot mounted, Kickback down

Rubber Foot Mounted, Kickback up