I love taking photos of Basil and his sidekick Argyll. Sometimes it’s tricky to find something to lean them against, though, and sometimes I get a little bored with the uright folded pose, with the Brompton rear wheels tucked under.
So I was intrigued when I ran across the Click-Stand, a portable kickstand meant for bikes without integral stands. Our Bromptons don’t need them to remain upright, but I thought this might be a good tool for photos.
It’s basically a rod that lets a bike “stand” without requiring any hardware. It looks like a promising solution for a lot of bikes, but I was a little dubious about how this would work for a Brompton, so I sent a question along to the company.
Tom sent back a picture showing a Click-Stand in use on a Brompton, but set in the middle of the cross bar. The bike’s frame slips into the cradle, and then geometry does the rest. (It’s critical to put the foot on solid ground; Click-Stand offers a bigger food for mushier situations.)
I use ours in the underseat triangle, though, to minimize the chance of slipping.
Getting the angle right is crucial, too, for good support. That’s Basil, above, standing tall using the Click-Stand, and Argyll, below, ditto.
The Click-Stand is available in custom sizes (instructions on the website), and folds up compactly for carrying on a bike or in a bag. Following the website instructions, I ordered the Mini-4 with a contact height of 19.25 inches and the x-large cradle size. (These measurements may be different if the Click-Stand is used elsewhere on the Brompton frame.)
The Click-Stand comes with restraints to hold brakes in place while using the device. That’s critical; if the bike rolls with the Click-Stand in place, over it goes! The loops supplied weren’t long enough to go over Basil’s Ergons and across the brake levers, so I improvised my own, which were not as powerful as the ones that came with the Click-Stand.
My improvisation was a huge fail; the brakes slipped and Basil . . . well, let’s just say I hope he’s forgiven me.
Now I use a vinyl-wrapped wire cable tie, and wrap it well around the brake lever and the grip. Works a treat.
The Click-Stand is a little fiddly, and does require some careful placement on the ground, but it’s light and sleek, and I like the options it offers for photos.
(Incidentally, Click-Stand’s Tom is responsible for Argyll’s color scheme: It’s the same one as in the Brompton photo Tom sent to us. We hadn’t seen that combination before, and Dr. Diarist liked it a lot. After hours on the Configurator, it was amusing to have found Argyll’s colors in this most unexpected way!)
5 replies on “No Visible Means of Support”
Congrats on the Click-Stand, Brommie!
Well worth the money!!
I have one for my Thorn Nomad and I love it.
Nice improvisation of the elastic bands, by the way :)
Peace :)
Good to hear that you like yours, too, Chandra! It’s such a tidy solution to the problem — I’m a little surprised no one thought of it before.
Ditto. With my own sage and racing green m6r, loaded with luggage fore and aft, I find it convenient to use the stand you have. Given extra weight above both tires, I attach the stand midway between front and rear for the sake of stability. Now that I see your pix, it might be more effective to bind the h.d. vinyl twist strands right across the barrel of the ergon grip and brake lever than to fiddle with the supplied elastic bands that are designed to keep the tires stationary,the wheel from rolling away, and the brommie over-turning.
I will want to try out the twist-tie improv. very soon. Many thanks.
I think you’ll really like the wire/vinyl ties a lot better, Tom, than the elastic bands. You might think they’d be more fiddly, but actually they are quicker and easier to install (at least with Ergons), and they work very reliably.
Love your Brommie color combination!
@The Brompton Diarist
My m6r is a 2012. The green two shades blend well with summer heat in Carolina. Alas, no special name as yours’ nor sobriquet as rich. My click-stand, hefty,also green, with the wide foot: a 2013. I leave the elastic binders on its handlebars, just above the grips and out of the way of the brake levers, pulling them into position rather than remounting every time. How I look forward to following your improv. with “Gear-Ties” as they are a handy bit of kit so many ways.