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EP-4375173-B1 - BICYCLE KICKSTAND

EP4375173B1EP 4375173 B1EP4375173 B1EP 4375173B1EP-4375173-B1

Inventors

  • FERRONATO, SERGIO
  • FERRONATO, Simone
  • FERRONATO, MIRKO

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20231122

Claims (9)

  1. Bicycle kickstand (10), comprising: - a fixing bracket (11) configured to be fixed to a bicycle frame; - a supporting rod (12), said supporting rod (12) being hinged to said fixing bracket (11) and being configured to assume a raised resting position, in which said supporting rod (12) is rotated upwards and adjacent to said bicycle frame, and a lowered working position, in which said supporting rod (12) is rotated downwards so that it rests on the ground; - reversible locking means (13) configured to stabilize the position of said supporting rod (12) with respect to said fixing bracket (11), either in said raised resting position or in said lowered working position, said fixing bracket (11) comprising a back wall (14) whose lower edge (15) is positioned in such a way that it comes into contact with said supporting rod (12) when said supporting rod (12) is in said raised resting position, wherein said supporting rod (12) comprises an anti-vibration body (20) fixed in such a position that when said supporting rod (12) is in said raised resting position said anti-vibration body (20) is in contact with said lower edge (15) of said back wall (14), said anti-vibration body (20) consists of a cylinder made of a plastic material and stuck in a corresponding fixing seat (30) characterized in that said corresponding fixing seat has its axis of symmetry substantially parallel to the rotation axis of said supporting rod (12) with respect to said fixing bracket (11), said fixing seat (30) having an upper opening (31) from which said anti-vibration body (20) projects so as to come into contact with said lower edge (15).
  2. Kickstand according to claim 1, characterized in that said fixing seat (30) is defined so that it is cylindrical in shape with its longitudinal development axis parallel to said rotation axis of said supporting rod (12) with respect to said fixing bracket (11).
  3. Kickstand according to claim 2, characterized in that said fixing seat (30) is defined in said supporting rod (12) in such a way that, according to a sectional plane that is orthogonal to the longitudinal development axis of said fixing seat (30), the width of said upper opening (31) is smaller than the diameter of said fixing seat (30) and of said cylindrical anti-vibration body (20).
  4. Kickstand according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that said fixing seat (30) extends over the entire width of the supporting rod (12), said cylindrical anti-vibration body (20) being defined so that its length is such as to occupy the entire length of said fixing seat (30).
  5. Kickstand according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that said reversible locking means (13) comprise: - a hinge head (16) of said supporting rod (12), said hinge head (16) having a cam-shaped profile (17), said hinge head (16) being positioned in a hinge compartment (22) defined in said fixing bracket (11); - a plate-shaped element (18) positioned within said hinge compartment (22) in said fixing bracket (11) and pushed against said cam-shaped profile (17); - a coil spring (19) positioned so as to push on said plate-shaped element (18) inside said hinge compartment (22).
  6. Kickstand according to claim 5, characterized in that said fixing bracket (11) comprises: - two opposite side walls (24, 25); - said back wall (14); - a front wall (26), said hinge head (16) being hinged to said side walls (24, 25) with a fulcrum (27).
  7. Kickstand according to claim 6, characterized in that said fixing seat (30) is defined in said supporting rod (12) in such a manner that, when said cylindrical anti-vibration body (20) is inserted in said fixing seat (30), the bases of said cylindrical anti-vibration body (20) face one of said side walls (24, 25), in all the relative positions which said supporting rod (12) can assume with respect to said fixing bracket (11).
  8. Kickstand according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises two anti-vibration bodies (120, 120a): - a first rear anti-vibration body (120), positioned so that said rear anti-vibration body (120) is in contact with said lower edge (15) of said back wall (14) when said supporting rod (12) is in said raised resting position; - a second front anti-vibration body (120a), positioned so that said front anti-vibration body (120a) is in contact with a lower edge (28) of said front wall (26) when said supporting rod (12) is in said lowered working position.
  9. Kickstand according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said anti-vibration body (220) comprises: - a first rear anti-vibration body (220a), positioned so that said rear anti-vibration body (220a) is in contact with said lower edge (15) of said back wall (14) when said supporting rod (12) is in said raised resting position; - a second front anti-vibration body (220b), positioned so that said front anti-vibration body (220b) is in contact with a lower edge (28) of said front wall (26) when said supporting rod (12) is in said lowered working position; - a connection bridge element (220c) which is developed in such a way as to join said first rear anti-vibration body (220a) and said front anti-vibration body (220b).

Description

The invention concerns a bicycle kickstand such as disclosed for example in ITUB20153964 A1. The currently known bicycle kickstands generally comprise a fixing bracket suited to be fixed to a lower part of a bicycle, to which bracket a rod with a foot suited to be rested on the ground is hinged. The supporting rod is hinged to the fixing bracket and is configured to assume a raised resting position, in which the supporting rod is rotated upwards and adjacent to the bicycle frame, and a lowered working position, in which the same supporting rod is rotated downwards so that it rests on the ground. Such a kickstand also comprises reversible locking means configured to stabilize the position of said supporting rod with respect to said fixed bracket, either in a raised resting position or in a lowered working position. The fixing bracket comprises a back wall whose lower edge is positioned in such a way that it comes into contact with the supporting rod when the supporting rod is in said raised resting position. The reversible locking means generally comprise: a supporting rod hinge head, wherein the hinge head has a cam-shaped profile, said hinge head being positioned in a hinge compartment defined in said fixing bracket;a plate-shaped element, positioned within the hinge compartment in said fixing bracket and pushed against said cam-shaped profile;a coil spring positioned so as to push on said plate-shaped element inside said hinge compartment. Such known kickstands have a limitation related to the fact that the supporting rod, in its raised position, hits repeatedly against the lower edge of the back wall of the fixing bracket, which is due to the oscillation of the supporting rod itself, which in the presence of uneven ground tends to vibrate, rotating downwards by a few degrees and then being rotated in the opposite direction by the effect of the coil spring of the reversible locking means. Vibrations cause acoustic phenomena, and vibratory phenomena in general, which can be very annoying for the cyclist. The task of the present invention is to develop a kickstand capable of overcoming the aforementioned drawback and limitation of the known technique. More specifically, one object of the invention is to develop a kickstand that is less likely to emit vibrational noise than the known kickstands. The task and the objects mentioned above are fulfilled by a kickstand according to claim 1. Further characteristics of the kickstand according to claim 1 are described in the dependent claims. The task and the above-mentioned objects, together with the advantages that will be mentioned below, are highlighted in the description of three embodiments of the invention, which are provided by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein: Figure 1 shows an overall cross-sectional side view of a first embodiment of a kickstand according to the invention;Figure 2 shows a partially exploded, cross-sectional side view of the first embodiment of a kickstand according to the invention;Figure 2A shows an exploded perspective view of the kickstand according to the invention shown in Figures 1 and 2;Figure 3 shows a second embodiment of a kickstand according to the invention;Figure 4 shows a third embodiment of a kickstand according to the invention;Figures 5 and 6 show a fourth embodiment of a kickstand that is not part of the invention;Figures 7 and 8 show a further variant embodiment of a kickstand that is not part of the invention. With reference to the above-mentioned figures, a kickstand according to the invention is indicated as a whole by the number 10. Said bicycle kickstand 10 comprises: a fixing bracket 11 configured to be fixed to a bicycle frame, the latter not being illustrated for the sake of simplicity;a supporting rod 12, said supporting rod 12 being hinged to said fixing bracket 11 and being configured to assume a raised resting position, in which said supporting rod 12 is rotated upwards and adjacent to the bicycle frame, and a lowered working position, in which the supporting rod 12 is rotated downwards so that it rests on the ground;reversible locking means 13 configured to stabilize the position of said supporting rod 12 with respect to said fixing bracket 11, either in said raised resting position or in said lowered working position. The fixing bracket 11 comprises a back wall 14 whose lower edge 15 is positioned in such a way that it comes into contact with the supporting rod 12 when the supporting rod 12 is in said raised resting position. The peculiarity of the invention lies in that the supporting rod 12 comprises an anti-vibration body 20 fixed in such a position that when said supporting rod 12 is in the raised resting position said anti-vibration body 20 is in contact with the lower edge 15 of said back wall 14. In the present embodiment example of the invention, the reversible locking means 13 comprise: a hinge head 16 of said supporting rod 12, wherein said hinge head