I’m short of space in my garage. I want a sturdy, wall mounted work stand and there seems to be limited products available. The one that comes to mind is this parktool but at £180 it’s pretty steep.

As I’ve got limited space, I wanted something that was hinged so when it’s not in use, it’s hangs out of the way and there’s no way of accidentally walking into it. Having not found anything like this on the market I’ve thought about making something and actually producing it.

My questions are:
1. Is there just me who wants such a thing..?
2. If I were to look at producing such an item, how much would people pay for it?
3. how important is it that it has an adjustable clamp, or could it have a fixed post that slots into the seat tube, to keep costs down? (these would be available in all sizes and be interchangeable for different size seat tubes).
4. It could also have an adjustable clamp, to suit any bike, if you’re not on a budget.
5. To compete with the mighty Park Tool Brand it would probably have to sell internet direct, to cut out the dealer 40-50% margin.

All your comments will be gratefully received.

You mean like this?

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/Workstands-Boss-S900-Wall-Workstand/BOSSWORK180000000000

to me that looks cheap, plastic, and flimsy. Plus, it sticks out about 2ft (although the arm is removable I see).
I’m looking for a heavy duty, sturdy workstand. One you can really put pressure on, if you need to remove a seized BB cup for example. Ideally a good quality stand like the Parktool, but that’s hinged and isn’t £180!

I’m thinking about getting one of these. Toolkit looks ok too for a bit extra..

Merlin Cycles workstand offer (on eBay)

What you need is a Kestrel

http://www.kestrelengineering.co.uk/repair_stands.html

Thats the same work stand as the edinburgh bike co-op own brand revolution one. I’ve got one and it isn’t bad for the money! I’ve never had a problem with it. The swivel mechanism is maybe slightly looser than I’d like, but it’s never slipped or fallen over.

http://www.kestrelengineering.co.uk/files/model_a.pdf

How about that?

Edit, too slow!

The Kestrel Model A wall mount is £231 + VAT on the 2009 Pricelist

I got one from decathlon was about £30 and holds the bike under the BB rather than clamping the tube, good for BB related jobs but nerve wracking hittng a headset out when a paper thin road bike down tubes leveraged against it (not failed yet mind) .

surely you just change what tube you’re clamping it and any of them will do for removing BBs’? My one is solid and folds away fairly easily, cost about £110 but can’t remember who makes it and i’m not at home to check sorry 😕

A work stand is one of my best ever bike purchases, makes building bikes pleasurable 😉

I think I’d want a clamp, not something that slotted into the seat tube.
Part of the reason for a workstand is convenience, after all.

Not convinced that I’d ever want to use one in the process of removing a seized bottom bracket, though – bike can go on the floor for that.

Workstand is brilliant. It changes the whole act of working on the bike. I got one from Fat Spanner I think, basic but does the job and has done so for the past 6 years.

got one of these, invaluable!

Thanks for all your input. I think I’m going to try and make something that does exactly what I want. I’ll report back when I have a rough mock up for more feedback.
Interestingly, do most of you want a fold away stand or would you prefer a wall mounted stand that could swing out of the way when not in use?

I have a fold away stand as it lives in my van. A wall mounted stand is cool if you don’t have space but even in my garage I’d prefer to have the option to take the bike out to the pavement to work in the sun (and because there’s a bar there so i can beer and mechanic at the same time).

Ideally I’d have both! 🙂

Just one though – something portable. Good for taking to races and stuff.

Cheapo portable jobbie here, no point spending a fortune, works in the garage I just have to have some space clear, actually its a bit better as you can get around the bike rather having to flip it round to work on either side all the time…

If the weather is nice, I take it in the garden to work (Better light outside too). and of course a portable one can go in the car for races, events or trips…

only thing I really want in the garage at the minute is more storage hooks to get the bikes up out of the way, I suppose you could set one of those up to use for working on the bikes though…

If you are designing from the ground up, I’d suggest making it truly multi-functional:

Clamp head and swivel assembly with a quick connect function to attach to:
[list]
[*]A floor stand (with two parallel legs like rocketdogs, I have the Revolution version of the Merlin Cycles stand and find it quite unstable as the legs hinge out from the mast)
[*]A wall mount to be fixed to a wall using expanding bolts.
[*]A bench mount (could be the same as the wall mount if the head swivelled appropriately, second set of smaller fixings to allow bolting through bench)
[*]An event/outside mount consisting of a footplate that you would park your car wheel onto to provide a secure fixing. (OK, you could use the floor mount but it could wobble on grass and anyone could nick it whilst you are racing)
[*]A vice mount.
[/list]

To reduce costs, all the mounts would be available separately/as developed.

The Feedback/Ultimate ones are very stable and they are a tripod stand. Ultimate make PA loadspeaker stands as their primary focus, which need to be very stable.

So if you are making one up cheaply it might be worth looking at cheap PA speaker stands to give you the stable base.

I had the Minoura RS5000, which is like the Merlin/Revolution one but with a much better clamp, but I gave it away as it wasn’t stable enough.

I’ve got one of those cheapo Aldi/Lidl ones which is a bit rubbish but does the job for gear/brake tinkering.

For anything that involves removing something from the frame with any degree of force, like headset or BB, i’d take the bike out of the stand anyway. Far too easy to dent or damage the tubes.

Mine is made of an old free standing workstand with broken feet. The upright and clamp were attached to some wall mounted brackets that my Dad welded up and hey presto.

One day I will get around to taking some pictures to post. It doesn’t fold but could easily be swivelled around to place it closer to the wall when not in use. Having said that I don’t need it to as it also doubles as storage for one of my bikes.

Anything like this needs to be simple, a clamp that can be quickly operated with one hand and sturdy enough for removing any seized bits, bashing out headset cups and so on.

I used to use a piece of industrial shelving support. IT bolted to the wall with a bracket and would detach and fold out of the way when needed. You could also put 70kg on any arm of it happily. It didn’t have a tube clamp on it, I’d strap the tube to the shelf support, but I then found I never needed it and worked on the floor anyway. Only time I can see a workstand being helpful is if you need to move the wheels while adjusting something, something that I rarely need to do and whenI do it seems to change when I get onto the trail anyway so needs re-adjusting.