Anyone know if this workstand is any good?

[JohnW]

The stand imaged looks similar to the lidl/aldi stands sold every 6months or so..................

Yes, it does. I have a Lidl one - it's not up to professional standards of robustness but for a back-yard amateur like me, it is "...sufficient unto the day thereof..."..................good enough for my purposes.

Gattonero's comment is interesting - what he says is probably true, although not occurred to me before. Clamping on the seat-tube may not always be easy, because clamp shape/size and bottle cages may be restrictive. I don't think that the clamp itself would actually distort decent steel tubing, but depending upon where the clamp is applied, and where the weight of the bike is, there could be bending stresses, more particularly on the seat-tube - I'm usually too lazy to take the rackpack off for minor bits of adjustment. Good point though and particularly relevant on carbon or some alu frames where the top tube is neither constant shape, constant cross section or constant diameter for it's full length.

I'll have to have a look at how my LBS man does it.

[Bonefishblues]

I'd want something with a wider footprint.

+1
I have a Park workstand and even that can have issues with stability. Wider footprint the better.

Just for clarity, the one pictured does have a wide footprint, but for some reason the legs haven't been properly extended.

[Mick F]

OK.
I can get that.
The Park - for the record - has two legs that lie basically horizontally on the floor, both of which are 90cm long. They are at not quite at 90deg with the feet being 100cm apart.

This one is mine.
https://www.parktool.com/product/home-m ... y=Portable

[mattsccm]

It is the same as the Lidl one and works perfectly. Well mine has for about 5 years and with 10 bikes ridable in my garage, there is always one being played with. It even handles my trike.
I fail to see the problem with a top tube mount. You will bend other things before damaging the frame unless its very fragile carbon. For normal work that is fine and a lot easier to handle. I am sure that some hamfisted dimwit could happily damage a frame but with even a tiny bit of common sense they are fool proof. Manufactures don't have to cater for stupidity.For very stuck things like a seized BB you would always find it easier to put the bike on the floor and stand on the spanner anyway.

[gaz]

Just for clarity, the one pictured does have a wide footprint, but for some reason the legs haven't been properly extended.

Agreed.

DSCN1730.JPG

As you can see I know how to extend the legs properly but I'm hopeless at the photography element of selling the product .

I've only used it for tinkering adjustments, brakes, gears, chain fitting, minor wheel truing rather than trying to take off pedals and cranks or removing BBs. IMO well suited to tinkering.

[Brucey]

if you think it is a good idea to hold via the top tube, talk to some professional bike mechanics; they all know some poor sod who has mangled a customer's frame. In most LBS's with several workstands/mechanics, gripping a frame by the top tube is quite rightly forbidden.

cheers

[AndyK]

My thanks to those who answered the question.

Re the Park PCS-9/PCS-10: I use one regularly and it's OK but not great: it, has a couple of design flaws (one of them a stability issue), is clumsy and awkward to move and store, and is overpriced for what it is. My TacX stand is much more versatile and is easier to pack away - important in a domestic situation. But both are too expensive to recommend to someone who's only contemplating a little occasional light dabbling at home.

[Bonefishblues]

Just for clarity, the one pictured does have a wide footprint, but for some reason the legs haven't been properly extended.

Agreed.
DSCN1730.JPG
As you can see I know how to extend the legs properly but I'm hopeless at the photography element of selling the product .

I've only used it for tinkering adjustments, brakes, gears, chain fitting, minor wheel truing rather than trying to take off pedals and cranks or removing BBs. IMO well suited to tinkering.

Is that a garage - where's all the stuff????

[gaz]

Is that a garage - where's all the stuff????

[panto-voice]It's behind you![/panto-voice]*
*You being the photographer.

[JohnW]

if you think it is a good idea to hold via the top tube, talk to some professional bike mechanics; they all know some poor sod who has mangled a customer's frame. In most LBS's with several workstands/mechanics, gripping a frame by the top tube is quite rightly forbidden.

cheers

I shall change my ways...............!

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

Either that, or he had to do it that way because clamping on the seat-tube or -post would have made it overbalance. I'd want something with a wider footprint.

The picture reflects the knowledge of the brand: never, ever clamp a lightweight bike by the top tube, it's arguably the thinnest part of a bicycle frame!

A decent workstand won't tip over if the bike is clamped where it has to, in the seatpost or the seat tube. The legs of that workstand surely can be opened up 2x that radius.
Regarding the claimed specs, I'd certainly won't put 20kg of bike on it, let alone 30kg as "maximum load" as they state. Even tho, for a relatively light bicycle, doing moerate jobs like tuning gears/brakes/cleaning; it should do a good job as long as all the fasteners (can't be seen very well in the picture) have decent housings around. Most cheap workstands rely on bolts screwed directly into flimsy plastic housings: avoid, spend a bit more but spend once.

Total rubbish!
I have that stand and do all my work with it, Lidl sold it recently for £19.99.
Use it three times a week for the last three years or more.
We don't all own or work in a shop.
Money well spent.
Clamp all my bikes by top tube, you run into trouble with that stand clamping on seat tube because the clamp is not that HD, but that's a good thing, hanging is ok, clamping on the seat tube etc it will just Sway around.

If your clamping by the seat tube are you supporting the rest of bike on something else
How tight do you clamp the frame tube so it does not move? If that's all you mount the bike with.
You will have to forgive me I dont work in a bike shop so I am not sue how they typically mount bikes in stands and if there is more than one support?

Forgetting CF frames, (I have no idea how you work on them with a stand) a light bike will not exert that much force on the top tube unless you are swinging on a big lever.
I commonly mount my skip trainers weighing 23 kgs on it, not bent tubes.

Is it ideal, well no, ideal would be wheels on a rack and clamp to steady bike with provision to let each wheel hand loose when necessary?

P.S. If you use the stand like picture posted by OP, make sue the top tube is horizontal so the bike does not creep in clamp.

This is ideal for CF frames I am assuming?

£19.99 well spent.
I would not dream of clamping a CF bike on the tubes but anything else is OK.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

if you think it is a good idea to hold via the top tube, talk to some professional bike mechanics; they all know some poor sod who has mangled a customer's frame. In most LBS's with several workstands/mechanics, gripping a frame by the top tube is quite rightly forbidden.

cheers

I shall change my ways...............!

But have you bent a tube on your frame?

[Gattonero]

Hi,

Either that, or he had to do it that way because clamping on the seat-tube or -post would have made it overbalance. I'd want something with a wider footprint.

The picture reflects the knowledge of the brand: never, ever clamp a lightweight bike by the top tube, it's arguably the thinnest part of a bicycle frame!

A decent workstand won't tip over if the bike is clamped where it has to, in the seatpost or the seat tube. The legs of that workstand surely can be opened up 2x that radius.
Regarding the claimed specs, I'd certainly won't put 20kg of bike on it, let alone 30kg as "maximum load" as they state. Even tho, for a relatively light bicycle, doing moerate jobs like tuning gears/brakes/cleaning; it should do a good job as long as all the fasteners (can't be seen very well in the picture) have decent housings around. Most cheap workstands rely on bolts screwed directly into flimsy plastic housings: avoid, spend a bit more but spend once.

Total rubbish!
I have that stand and do all my work with it, Lidl sold it recently for £19.99.
Use it three times a week for the last three years or more.
We don't all own or work in a shop.
Money well spent.
Clamp all my bikes by top tube, you run into trouble with that stand clamping on seat tube because the clamp is not that HD, but that's a good thing, hanging is ok, clamping on the seat tube etc it will just Sway around.

If your clamping by the seat tube are you supporting the rest of bike on something else
How tight do you clamp the frame tube so it does not move? If that's all you mount the bike with.
You will have to forgive me I dont work in a bike shop so I am not sue how they typically mount bikes in stands and if there is more than one support?

Forgetting CF frames, (I have no idea how you work on them with a stand) a light bike will not exert that much force on the top tube unless you are swinging on a big lever.
I commonly mount my skip trainers weighing 23 kgs on it, not bent tubes.

Is it ideal, well no, ideal would be wheels on a rack and clamp to steady bike with provision to let each wheel hand loose when necessary?

P.S. If you use the stand like picture posted by OP, make sue the top tube is horizontal so the bike does not creep in clamp.

workstand-race-pro-elite-bike-support_0-A.jpg
£19.99 well spent.
I would not dream of clamping a CF bike on the tubes but anything else is OK.

Maybe your bikes are total rubbish, not what I'm saying that comes from experience.
I save my money to get the best bikes I can afford, and the tools to look after them go hand in hand.
People always have different points of view of what's good, funny thing is: most have never tried more than one things yet they state that is good nevertheless.
Oh, well....

[JohnW]

Hi,

if you think it is a good idea to hold via the top tube, talk to some professional bike mechanics; they all know some poor sod who has mangled a customer's frame. In most LBS's with several workstands/mechanics, gripping a frame by the top tube is quite rightly forbidden.

cheers

I shall change my ways...............!

But have you bent a tube on your frame?

No.

I notice that you're not referring to Brucey's wisdom as "Total Rubbish".

[Gattonero]

...
I notice that you're not referring to Brucey's wisdom as "Total Rubbish".

the

...a lightweight bike by the top tube, it's arguably the thinnest part of a bicycle frame

clearly was missed