After (finally!) getting around to fitting a kickstand to my Surly DT I've been investigating the other minor inconvenience/bane of my life, the flopping of the front wheel when parked up.

To my consternation there just doesn't seem a standard solution to this. People's approaches seem to range from a bit of velcro/toe-strap around the wheel/frame and a rubber band around the brake (cheap and cheerful); to the bespoke Steer Stopper (which looks lovely, but would cost more than my entire drivetrain to ship to the UK). Other options include steering dampers (look a bit ugly to me). The Tout Terrain bikes actually have a special frame modification to support the Ergo Stop Plus - which looks amazing but probably not standard any time soon. 

Do others suffer from as much wheel flop as me? What are your favoured solutions?

Locking the brake lever prevents the front wheel from rolling when the steering tube "flops". That's not perfect, but it's good enough for me. The front wheel can still flop unpredictably, but the bike doesn't typically move because the locked brake prevents the flopping front wheel from rolling.

I don't have a kickstand, so I lean my parked bike against an object. Typically I only need to lock the front brake when the bike is parked on a slope or in very high winds.

You have the option to immobilize both tire rotation and steering tube rotation with a strap between the front tire and the downtube. I don't have that option on my recumbent bike.

Jon I’ve made very simple, very cheap ‘handbrakes’ for all of my bike using shock cord. I make simple, over sized ‘rubber bands’  by knotting short lengths of small gauge shock cord. The elastic loops work by holding the brake levers in the on position while the bike is parked. 

 There’s probably a neater way of joining the ends eg a crimp but I find that knots are ok.

I stole the idea from Click Stand, as they sell pre-made shock cord loops to use as temporary holds on handbrake levers when using  one of their Click Stands. Theirs come with a little plastic joiner device which saves having to tie a knot. 

http://www.click-stand.com/brake-band-assembly-guide.html

I found that Velcro One Wrap is the ideal material for making a parking brake strap. It's a flexible cloth with "hooks" on one side and "loops" on the other side, so it "sticks" to itself when you roll it. Far stronger and longer lasting than anything made of rubber. It can be found at most any hardware store with all the other hook and loop products.

The best commercial solution I ever saw, now sadly long vanished, was the Rhode Gear "Flickstand".  A wide plastic band mounted at a strategically-located spot on the downtube holding a stiff pivoting wire "arm" which, when swung down, engaged the front tire.  It prevented the handlebars turning and also the front wheel rolling.  It was simple, lightweight, durable, and easily installed.  When the arm wasn't it use it nestled nicely against the underside of the downtube.

The design also made it "self-disengaging" in the event you got aboard and started riding while the thing was still engaged.  The front wheel's rolling action would cause the arm to flip back up to its out-of-the-way at rest position.

Its only limitations were tube size and the minimum distance from the downtube to the tire.  If the downtube size was too big or small the plastic collar didn't fit; if the minimum distance to the front tire was greater than the length of the arm it didn't reach.

I see a number of them for sale on eBay.

I used an original Flickstand with my old Trek 520 touring bike when doing local rides with skinny tires and no fenders. I couldn't use it during tours when the bike had fenders.

" I couldn't use it ... when the bike had fenders."

That is something I'd overlooked.  Since my bikes have all had naked tires until now (Serenity has really spiffy bamboo jobbies) I hadn't considered that detail.

I have a hook-and-loop strap that I run through the front wheel and around the down tube, which works well.  Then again, Serenity also has a kickstand installed.  I'm considering swapping the current single-legged model for one of the two-legged variety so that the bike stays upright when the stand is in use but I haven't gotten around to that yet.  That would have the side benefit of making it less important to prevent the front wheel from turning around the steering axis or rotating.

The click-stand brake bands are really the easy solution to this problem. I've been using them since 2015 and love their simplicity and ease of use. And the price is right from the Adventure Cycling store; https://www.adventurecycling.org/cyclosource-store/search-results/sp/click-stand-brake-band/

I have them on both of my touring bikes as well as my old road bike.  You leave them on the handlebar while riding and never even notice they are there, then use them to stabilize the bike when stopped.  I also use them for another reason; if I stop at a store and want some extra security but don't want to dig out the cable lock I just set both the front and rear parking brakes. Anyone who might try to roll the bike away will be surprised that the wheels don't turn and may think the bike is locked and give up. Maybe.

Note that the ACA store says that the brake bands will not work with bar end shifters - this is wrong, they work fine, I'm not sure why they think this.  Brake Bands.  

I was able to insert an active link on my phone this time - sometimes I can, sometimes not - technology is great.

Thanks all for the ideas - I think locking the brakes with something like those clickstand bands, and the wheel with velcro, is probably a simple but effective here. My kickstand is one of the two-legged central-mount types, which is very nice for completely supporting the bike with the front off the ground - what I was surprised about was that flopping of the front end was enough to destabilise on uneven ground.

The Flickstand is ingenious - I'd seen it come up as I was Googling around, but couldn't get my head around whether it would really work. The self-disengaging mechanism is particularly nice (I have my fears about some of the sturdy designs that I'd forget to disengage it one day and end up falling off). Unfortunately I have fenders/mudguards!