Been meaning to get one for ages, wouldn’t say money no object, but buying with the philosophy of ‘right and once’.

Bonus points if anyone knows of a sale/special offer on a well regarded one too.

Thanks for looking and Happy New Year!

Just upgraded my old Blackburn to a feedback ultimate. I’m very happy with the ultimate. If I had to complain, I’d say the foot print is a little large but only because I’ve got limited space in which to use it.

Cheap and cheerful copy of the £50 Halfords one bought for £26 off of EBay

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=261590478998

I bought it as a cheap wash stand but actually it’s really good

Normally use a Park pcs10 which I thought was great till i used one of those feedback ultimate stands. Much more solid than the park. Buying again… that’s where my money’d go.

Only thing is the clamp is only good at clamping round tubes. Ie. Seat posts and steerer tubes. But really that’s the only bits that should be clamped anyway.

‘right and once’ = Feedback.
Have one and it will probably outlive me.

http://www.minoura.jp/english/tool-e/rs5000-e.html

Class bit of kit

Class bit of kit

not that classy though – the stand itself is the same as the much cheaper BikeTools stand and other brandings, like the edinburgh cycles one :

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/revolution-tune-up-workstand

but it does have a better clamp.

I had one that I bought for £80ish on sale at Merlin, but it wasn’t stable enough so I gave it away and bought a Feedback.

If you had some sandbags to weight the legs on the minoura it would be fine, but otherwise it struggles to be stable if you hold the bike on the seatpost and take the front wheel off.

Feedback / Ultimate here. Can’t be faulted. Have been to events where LBS guy has asked me to take it along if he is working on bikes… ’nuff said.

I’ve just got an Andy Stand that is ideal for everything I need apart from fork servicing. Simple, light and stable.

What are you doing on your stands to tip them over?! Just bought the minors for my brothers birthday and it’s more stable than my 15 year old park.

I had a pcs9 and it was too short for me. Went for an uber deluxe. Perfect. (189cm tall)

I have an Ultimate and its brill.
This looks to be the same and though its expensive they hold their value:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Feedback-Repair-Stand-Sports-Elite/dp/B001CSPTSC

What are you doing on your stands to tip them over?!

as I said, just clamp the bike by the seatpost and then remove the front wheel – now the stand is unstable and will tip over easily.

Theres a nice one on Sportpursuit at the minute.

Is ok to clamp around a reverb post? Always seems a sensitive bit of kit…

As long as you clamp on the part that goes into a frame – I can’t see a problem with it. Clamping on the smooth surface will no doubt scratch it eventually.

As for whether it can handle it, I’d have thought the force going through the post will be significantly less than that from riding it.

The cheap ebay/amazon ones are fine. In fact this is one case where cheap can be an advantage, cos it’s a solid bit of metal with no real attempt to save weight. Ours often comes in the van to help with post-ride washing.

The cheap amazon /ebay ones are fine if your idea of maintainance is washing the bike.

They are bollocks as soon you remove a major componant and the bike becomes unbalanced.

The feedback they suggest above it stable as hell , its like using my old park workshop stand i had in the shop.

You can pick up a Kestral stand for £100-200 second hand. Just noticed I missed one locally on ebay last month. Gutted!
All the bike shops I’ve worked in used them. Heavy and don’t fold up, but you’ll never replace it.

http://www.minoura.jp/english/tool-e/rs5000-e.html

Class bit of kit

I had one of those. Not very good really. Wouldn’t hold a bike with one wheel at some angles – it tipped over. Not very solid either, get a stuck BB and it was too wobbly. Also, the main shaft/pivot in the head would gradually slide out until the head cocked itself to a bizarre angle. I only paid £75 for mine, and sold it for £25 when I got a Park PCS10 for my birthday, which is a lot more substantial.

Steer clear of the Rotor one on sports pursuit, mine broke on first usage!

Only thing is the clamp is only good at clamping round tubes. Ie. Seat posts and steerer tubes. But really that’s the only bits that should be clamped anyway.

Not all seat posts are round and not all round seat posts should be clamped – eg dropper posts. 🙂

With Trail Rat on this, cheap workstands are great if all you want to do is turn the pedals and give it a clean. They’re horribly flexy once you try and get physical with anything or need to hold the bike at a strange angle.

The other issue when wanting to “buy right, buy once” is spares, try getting new bits for your no-name Chinese special 5 years down the line.

I had a 15 year old Park PRS-1 whose head finally gave up and even though it had been superceeded almost a decade previously they still sorted me out with a replacement.

For that reason alone I’d go with either Park or Feedback (possibly Minoura too but I have no experience of their long terms spares support), Kestrels are ace but aren’t the most practical options for most people, if you’re 100% you’ll never have to move the bloody thing then go for it.

A few months ago I picked up a PureGadgets stand from Amazon for about £25.

Blooming solid/sturdy with a decent clamping mechanism. Doesn’t fold down, but does separate into 2 parts. Legs fold in/up.

There are a lot of similar ones around with different names. I think some are in fact the same, whereas lesser models have sh1t clamps etc. Some go for £60+ so it’s worth looking around if you’re after this kind of model.

not all round seat posts should be clamped – eg dropper posts

vs.

As long as you clamp on the part that goes into a frame – I can’t see a problem with it […]

As for whether it can handle it, I’d have thought the force going through the post will be significantly less than that from riding

What do people who have a reverb post do?

if you have a dropper post then you could get a s/h or really cheap normal seatpost for clamping duties

Kestral all the way hunt on ebay and if your lucky £200 and you have the most stable stand ever made and will last a life time.

Had mine a while and used to use one at the last shop I worked at before setting up on my own they rock

How is a work stand clamp any different to a seat clamp?
I’m sure my ar*e sitting on it for a few hours is harder on it that hanging in a stand.

I had one of those. Not very good really. Wouldn’t hold a bike with one wheel at some angles – it tipped over. Not very solid either, get a stuck BB and it was too wobbly. Also, the main shaft/pivot in the head would gradually slide out until the head cocked itself to a bizarre angle. I only paid £75 for mine, and sold it for £25 when I got a Park PCS10 for my birthday, which is a lot more substantial.

I used it without issue and my brother is an engineer so I doubt he’ll have any such issues using it correctly.

My bad of course i was using it wrong.

He he a welding enginee ? i did briefly consider welding the pice of crap head into a fixed position so it could actually hold the bike where i wanted it . Offers nothing over an andystand imo.

ive had one of these on the go for a while, cheap as chips. always did a job but you had to release the bike and turn it round to access the other side, and front wheel was always turned due to the handlebar against the wall. i did have it on a corner tho so was only a problem in one direction… http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HOME-MECHANIC-WALL-MOUNTED-BIKE-CYCLE-REPAIR-STAND-/161060185585

anyway, Santa came last week and left a new Park Tools PCS10 stand and the tool tray. its mega!!

there’s an icetoolz one (I think) on pinkbike right now going for £60. Its the one I’ve got and think its a sound piece of kit.

I’ve only ever clamped onto my top tube which I know people sneer at but never had a problem with it. I have to as the seat post clamp is directly underneath the reverb collar so there’s effectively no available seat post to clamp onto.

I used it without issue and my brother is an engineer so I doubt he’ll have any such issues using it correctly.

Assume you are refering to the Minoura stand as that is what PP was referring to.

You can’t have been using it for anything serious, is all I can say.

You could get round some of its stability issues by dropping the bike down the stand so one of its wheels was in contact with the ground…