Turbo Vado 5: too unstable on the kickstand

[Visorvet]

While the kickstand that came on my Vado is sturdy, the bike always wants to fall over despite its implementation. All it takes is a tiny turn of the handlebars, such as due to gravity, and a bike that costs as much as a car crashes heavily to the ground. The first time this happened I assumed I had inadvertently left it in an imbalanced position, but I have since come to realize that this is a way of life for the bike. It was bad enough when I just needed to park the bike, but now when I want to hook up my new bike trailer the lightest nudge from the rear axle as I connect the hitch will destabilize the rig enough to risk an expensive tip.

This situation seems silly - surely the world’s finest bike engineers can do better than this. Is everyone carrying around a handlebar holder with them, or am I missing something about how to avoid this? I have been riding bikes for 50 years and never had this problem, so I assume it is related to the massive weight of the bikes.

Really hoping the braintrust has some great solutions to share!

 

[teskow]

The last two bikes I had that same problem. The soloution was to just lengthen the kickstand a bit so it held the bike more upright. In my case they were not adjustable so it took a bit of ingenuity to make them longer.
Look at it carefully and see if it can be lengthened and then drill a hole and put a sheet metal screw in to keep it in place. Something epoxied to the end may also work.

 

[Mulezen]

I had that same problem with my trek Allant 9. Fortunately I took the advice of Alaskan and replaced it with his recommendation, the name of which escapes me. Vado 5, my Allant…these are premium versions that shouldn’t have such an obvious problem

 

[twy]

Replaced my wife's Como kickstand with a Portland Design Works kickstand. Her bike has a front rack installed which makes the front end a little unstable when parked. The kickstand swap made it much more stable.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

While the kickstand that came on my Vado is sturdy, the bike always wants to fall over despite its implementation. All it takes is a tiny turn of the handlebars, such as due to gravity, and a bike that costs as much as a car crashes heavily to the ground. The first time this happened I assumed I had inadvertently left it in an imbalanced position, but I have since come to realize that this is way of life for the bike. It was bad enough when I just needed to park the bike, but now when I want to hook up my bike trailer the lightest nudge from the rear axle as I connect the hitch will destabilize the rig enough to risk an expensive tip.

This situation seems silly - surely the world’s finest bike engineers can do better than this. Is everyone carrying around a handlebar holder with them, or am I missing something about how to avoid this? I have been riding bikes for 50 years and never had this problem, so I assume it is related to the massive weight of the bikes.

Really hoping the braintrust has some great solutions to share!

Specialized kickstands are adjustable...

 

[dodgeman]

If it’s a kickstand mounted at the rear of the bike they can be unstable. I broke the original one on mine but my wife’s is still original. Mine is just a tiny bit longer and is more stable.

 

[Visorvet]

Specialized kickstands are adjustable...

@Stefan Mikes
That’s interesting! I don’t see any way to adjust it and Googling has not identified how.
I would be very grateful if you could elaborate.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Your kickstand might have a groove and a set of holes, with a free choice where to install a screw. I can't remember if the kickstands on my Vado and Vado SL are identical as I am away at the moment.

Both kickstands are Specialized and I have never had any instability issues with any of them.

 

[fifteenkey]

The placement and design seem to be the issues on my Vado 4.0 SL. It's too far back near the rear wheel and doesn't have enough "lean." It takes little to knock it over, especially on even slightly uneven ground.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The placement and design seem to be the issues on my Vado 4.0 SL. It's too far back near the rear wheel and doesn't have enough "lean." It takes little to knock it over, especially on even slightly uneven ground.

Adjustable or not?

 

[Chargeride]

I found the stand on my hire ebike very unstable, I ended up leaning it sgainst things, in fact a very slight wind from a landing jet blew it over, even though I'd spent ages trying to get it secure.

 

[Visorvet]

Replaced my wife's Como kickstand with a Portland Design Works kickstand. Her bike has a front rack installed which makes the front end a little unstable when parked. The kickstand swap made it much more stable.

@twy Thanks for your note.
I checked the Portland Design Works website and they have quite a wide variety of kickstands: https://ridepdw.com/collections/kickstands-storage-tools
I would be grateful if you could share which version you got for the Como. I know they are different bikes but it might be a starting point, at least.

 

[teskow]

Your kickstand might have a groove and a set of holes, with a free choice where to install a screw. I can't remember if the kickstands on my Vado and Vado SL are identical as I am away at the moment.

Both kickstands are Specialized and I have never had any instability issues with any of them.

Have you ever had any issues with any Specialized bike or were they all perfect.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Have you ever had any issues with any Specialized bike or were they all perfect.

I had issues with a 2017 Vado 5.0 but now, thanks to the Spec warranty it is a Vado 6.0 and no issues anymore. No issues with a Vado SL either.

What really matters is to have the best warranty in the world and the local support that fights for you to the bitter end



It could be really annoying to some people to see me winning an e-bike race in 2024 on an e-bike that was originally made in 2017

 

[Chargeride]

Saddlebag is for carrying 1kg medals.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Saddlebag is for carrying 1kg medals.

Cartridge, there is an e-bike gravel race in Mazuria, the Great Lakes countryside of Poland in September. I can pay the fees for your participation. You can ride one of my e-bikes. The condition is no throttle and a legal 25 km/h e-bike. Come. Let"s race. If you can pedal, you might even win

 

[twy]

@twy Thanks for your note.
I checked the Portland Design Works website and they have quite a wide variety of kickstands: https://ridepdw.com/collections/kickstands-storage-tools
I would be grateful if you could share which version you got for the Como. I know they are different bikes but it might be a starting point, at least.

I bought the Power Stance Bicycle Kickstand through Amazon. They have it is either black or silver. I bought the black for my wife's Como and the silver for my Tero. The black version costs more for whatever reason.

The stock Como kickstand has an allen screw on the back but it looks like it is just to replace the tip. The PDW stand has a wide range of adjustment plus a slightly larger footprint, both of which help solve the stability issue.

 

[Avg_Joe]

Grab a hacksaw and trim a bit off the bottom of the kickstand - can't remember how much I took off, but it wasn't much (maybe 2-3cm?) and the instability is gone. Bonus points for cutting it properly so it sits flat when deployed.

The other thing that drove me nuts w/ the Vado kickstand is mine kept loosening at the chainstay. This contributed to instability when in use. I finally put some lock washers on the 2 bolts that secure the kickstand, problem solved.

 

[fifteenkey]

Adjustable or not?

There are 2 holes in the frame to attach the kickstand. I don't see what would be adjustable.

Edit: I just read another thread. Looks like the kickstand needs a trim.

Edit2: I found a screw that could be loosened to adjust the length. Thanks again, Stefan!

 

[fifteenkey]

There are 2 holes in the frame to attach the kickstand. I don't see what would be adjustable.

Edit: I just read another thread. Looks like the kickstand needs a trim.

Edit2: I found a screw that could be loosened to adjust the length. Thanks again, Stefan!