Surly Double Wide Kickstand: Reviewed

 Note: I purchased the Surly Double Wide Kickstand at full retail price and was not asked to do this review by Surly, or any organization, brand, or person in the cycling industry. Surly is not aware I am writing this review. (Well.....maybe now they are....)

About two weeks ago now I saw an Instagram post by Heath Creek Cycles (Ben Witt) which showed a new product from Surly Bikes, the Double Wide Kickstand. 

This caught my eye because I own a Big Dummy and I use it regularly to haul big, heavy loads. The bike had the stock single legged kickstand which is "okay" until you start loading anything with enough mass that can tip over the bike. Then you have to start being very intentional when you load the bags or Side Loaders. And even then you are doing a balancing act which can fail, or cause a lot of frustration. While my kids are fully grown adults now, I would have had a big problem even considering using my stock Big Dummy as a kid hauler with that single side kickstand. 

So, I was all-in on buying the Surly Double Wide Kickstand, despite it costing $200.00 USD. The alternative dual-legged kickstand option from a smaller brand that has been out there a while is almost $200.00 more, with shipping, so in reality, the Surly kickstand is a bargain in comparison. I'm not aware of anything that would work as a bolt-on solution that costs anything near the Double Wide Kickstand, but yes - The Surly kickstand is not cheap. So, what do you get for your two-hunnert bucks? 

A look at what is in the box

Yes, that's what it weighs! Plus, you can see how small the text and figures are.

The Double Wide Kickstand is made from steel and aluminum and it has stainless steel fasteners. It is not light, as you can see from the image above where I wrote down the weight of everything included in the box. That said, this is a cargo bike, and "light weight" parts are not desirable here. So, the sturdy build and solid looking design is appreciated by me.

Speaking of the build, the dual legs are a two-piece design where the lowers of each leg slide into the uppers which are attached to the base of the kickstand. These legs are marked with insertion lines, much as you might see on seat posts. The legs are fastened together by a 5mm pinch bolt affair on each leg, again, much like a seat post. The attachment to your Big Dummy, and for some Big Easy cargo bikes, (see the Surly site linked above for possible compatibility with your cargo bike) looks custom-made and uses two "U" bolts and a bolt/strap affair to attach the kickstand to three points on your frame. 

There are dual springs which act on the legs which swing down and up again, depending on deployment mode. Each leg has a welded on "foot" to help stabilize the bike when the kickstand is deployed. The design seems very well thought out and the execution of the design looks well done. 

Installation: If at all possible, I'd ask a shop to put this thing on, if I were you, because having a professional grade, heavy-duty work station makes this job much, much easier, and it is a difficult installation even then. Not because of poor design! Far from it! But the weight of this kickstand and the way you have to attach it make this installation challenging, to say the least. 

I was able to put my Big Dummy in my shop-grade Park stand and get the job done in less than 30 minutes from start to finish. If I had to do another one now, I've learned how to make it go faster, so it would take less time, but that's how I was trained to think as a mechanic in a retail situation. You? Hey....what do I know? Maybe it'll take you 15 minutes. I doubt it though.... 

But at any rate, you may want to take a bit of time before you mount the kickstand, maybe put a little tape on the frame members where the clamps will contact the frame, and that might save your finish a bit. But whatever you decide, clean that area because it might be the last time you will be able to, at least easily. 

A close up of the kickstand mounted.

Impressions: So, the kickstand seems well designed, and the instructions were clear enough to guide me to a successful installation. I will say that the drawings/figures that Surly provided weren't very clear, and they were waaaaaay too small! Listen, not everyone has perfect 20/20 vision out here! But beyond that, I have no nits about the installation, other than to say that it is up there on the "difficulty scale" when it comes to things you can work with on a bicycle.  Note: I did put tape on my frame where the points of contact are with the kickstand, but I wasn't too picky about how it looked, and I ended up with three different bits of tape scraps. Those inclined to perfection? Please look away. This will get the job done and I used what I had.

The Double Wide Kickstand provides a much more secure and safe platform for loading/unloading.

In use it is easy to place the kickstand in its down position and the resulting stabilized loading position is light years better than what I had before. No more precarious loading here! The way you roll back and kick down the kickstand may take a bit of practice, so I advise trying it several times before you load up anything and try parking your bike. I got the motion down immediately, so I don't think it will take most people long to figure it out, but practice first! 

This cinder block would have pulled the bike over using the old single leg kickstand.

Conclusions: Is $200.00 and some sweat equity in installation worth the juice? That depends on whether or not you use a cargo bike to its full potential. If you do, then the answer is an unqualified "yes". This addition increases the versatility and, frankly, the ease of which you can use the bike, exponentially, and that is not hyperbole. I will go as far as to say that the Surly cargo bikes should have been equipped with dual legged kickstands from the get-go. The Double Wide Kickstand is the key that unlocks the potential of the Big Dummy. 

Also, consider that if you get to a point where you have to sell your Big Dummy, (or other compatible cargo bike), the Double Wide Kickstand is going to add value to the bike such that a Big Dummy without a Surly Kickstand is going to bring a lot less money and sell slower than yours will with the Kickstand installed. You may not recoup the total cost, but I'm betting I increased the value of my Big Dummy on the open market by a 100 bucks easily. My opinion, of course. Just a guess, but I wouldn't bet against it either. 

Now we'll see if it holds up. That will be the test. Stay tuned....