dgk said:
Theft of bicycle parts should not be a laughing matter in a bicycle
newsgroup. I like my kickstands.
No problem. Some of my best friends use kickstands. ;-)
Quoted message said:When I bought my first post-age40 bike I went with a friend who knows
bikes pretty well. He insisted that I didn't want a kickstand because
it would only add weight. So I ended up leaning it against things and
having it fall over or scraping stuff. Lots of little dings and
scrapes, all for lack of a kickstand.
As an alternative, there used to be a little plastic thing sold by Jim
Blackburn, a sort of stepped plastic block, about 3/4" x 1.25" x 0.25"
with a short string to tie to your brake cable. It clipped onto the
cable while riding. When parking, you'd squeeze the front brake and jam
this thing in the lever opening, to hold the brake closed.
This gave you a front wheel "parking brake." It made the bike much,
much more stable when leaning against an object. It also provided a
tiny bit of security for running into a store for a few seconds. (I met
a guy who did that, and came out to see a teenager falling to the ground
after trying to jump on his bike and get away.)
Anyway, those Brake Blocks aren't for sale any more, AFAIK, but I've
made replicas out of scrap plastic. It's another possibility. Or maybe
a useful addition.
Quoted message said:
Anyway, I think that if I get an expensive light system and leave it
on the bike, it will be taken.
I wonder if that's true. I'd worry about a fashionable-looking
headlight set, especially with quick-release clamps. But generator sets
and their headlights have an un-sexy, utilitarian look. Has anyone here
ever had one stolen?
One thing's for sure: We wouldn't have to worry about Steven Scharf
stealing it! ;-)
--
Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com.
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