Quote:
Originally Posted by Thumper
I have another theory:
A kickstand has play. The foot can slide away from the bike when you lean it over onto it.
This creates stress on the outer leaf of the kickstand mounting fork, and also allows the bike to sag over farther. The rubber helps plant the kickstand, preventing both of these things from happening, which reduces degradation of the kickstand mounting fork and keeping the bike more upright.
Regardless of whether this was the reason for the rubber foot augmentation, these are facts. Maybe the rubber foot assistance does more than one thing?
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Folks, the internet and Google are amazing things. Just a short 10 second search yields several sites selling the rubber bits for older Hondas, describing them as safety devices.
Here is a quote from the Motorcycle Safety Institute of South Africa (?!): "Older bikes have a rubber ‘finger’ extension at the tip of the stand that will wear over me. The purpose of that little ‘finger’ is to grab the road surface before the metal part of the stand itself does and ATTEMPT to pull the stand out of its locked position before it hits. There is a wear marker on these rubber extensions and when yours gets worn to that point it should be replaced because it no longer reaches the ground before the metal part of the side-stand."