Over the years I have accumulated quite a few work/repair stands and have used them enough to get an idea what works better than another, etc. My first (early/mid 80's probably) real work stand
wuz an
Avocet which
wuz knot much more than a bent piece of muffler pipe
It had a vertical mast and a 90' bend that held a crude clamp detail consisting of two plates (top articulated to close on bottom plate) with a fat grooves to hold the bicycle tube to be clamped via a simple screw detail; the clamp detail rotated 360' securing to where ya wanted it via another simple bent "L" rod that threaded into a nut welded on the extension for the mast (the clamp detail tube fit inside the the extension tube)
It actually was dirt simple, cheap $30 (+)(-) and efficient
It goes with saying that the first requirement of any repair/work stand is it has to be stable; if it ain't, no high end multi adjust clamp or bicycle/frame holding devise is gonna work very well
There are basically two (2) styles of work/repair stands; those that hold the bike by a clamp on a tube and those that cradle the bike on it's BB shell and hold front or rear wheel drop outs in a q/r clamp thingy, both types have advantages
I have an old Park consumer level PCS1 with a two
position spring linkage clamp which is o.k. for std steel and less than "fat" Al frame tube, you have to be real careful on thin Al and CF tubes!
It is still used quite a bit and I take it on the road with me and the dogs i.e. MS 150, races, etc
I also have Park's "best" adjustable clamp that will work in the PCS1
The real pukka shoppe stand is a Park two (2) armed
FRS/RS, that if bolted down, is most secure to do any work on a frame;
Some years back Trek's WrenchForce marketed a stand made by the
Ultimate folks, it is essentially the same stand as the current top pro Ultimate stand; the Ultimate Pro Clamp is the easiest to adjust and best adjustable clamp in my opinion
Ultimate also makes an aftermarket "pro" clamp can be used in Park stands that I have and use in my FRS and PCS work stands
......................thus ends my drivelment on "clamp" type work/repair stands
Velo New's L. Zinn had a very readable piece a few years back about pro mechanics working on bikes behind the scenes at the T de F; uropeeon pro bike wrenching types use the bottom bracket cradling type of work stands more than we see here
The two most visible of the BB holding stands in Zinn's article were the Dutch TACX Cycle Spider and the Park PRS-20/21; I got a Park and TACX to evaluate
Both stands can turn the bike 360' which is a really a nice feature to avoid walking around the bike or turning the bike around in the stand; the Park turns from/around the end of the bike mounting arm which can really keep the crowds back!
The Cycle Spider turns 360' around the center of the bike mounting arm and will hit far less "crap" and knock it on the floor!
I sold two (2) Park PRS-20 stands and kept the Cycle Spider, it is not quite as robust as the Park stand butt I like it and use it quite a bit and am surprised how useful it is!
I just got a new bottom bracket cradling stand made in South Africa of awl places that is really sturdy and simply made of of fairly heavy flat bent steel stock and then galvanized, devoid of whistles and bells and just plain industrial looking.......report on to follow
The bottom line for me:
If I had to choose just one of the repair/work stands that I have, and developed some quantum of experience with, it would be my WrenchForce/Ultimate stand
To close, those little (originally a "Persons" stand) "Y" bottom bracket w/ loop over the down tube storage stands thingies can support more minor maintenance and repair tasks than people realize, $12.00 at OK Velo!
