Living in China I am constantly bombarded by things that puzzle or otherwise confuse me. Today’s mystery is why so many Chinese ride with their bicycle kickstands down…not the two pronged ones (duh) but the little sticks that are sprung to pop out from the side. They take just a tap and a nanosecond to deploy so why do so many people leave them down? I see countless cyclists every day with their stands skimming perilously close to the road surface, just waiting for a chance to hit a bump and topple their riders off.
It’s possible that I’m so conditioned that Bad Things Will Happen regarding the whole Leaving-Your-Stand-Down thing because on motorbikes doing so could easily cause a crash (very much in the style of the pic above). Actually as a guard against stupidity my bike engine shuts down if I accidentally select first gear with the stand still down. Maybe I’m worried about nothing – maybe the bicycle stands just ping up on their sprints when they hit something.
Maybe, this is actually a tiny act of defiance when there’s so much here that could in theory poison, injure or maim you. A sort of two fingers up at the day to celebrate not falling off your bicycle when all the odds were against you.
I need to know. I’m going to HAVE to investigate further.