Inflation expressed through the medium of bike tools..

[Alex321]

I think the workstand is a great case in point - it seems like decent quality, well-thought-out with good after-sales and spares availability and for what I paid IMO represents - at best - reasonable value for money. Conversely at the RRP of £370 (which many retailers attempt to sell them for, or at least within a few percent of) it's an absolute p*ss-take.

I cannot see how £200 for a basic workstand can possibly be good value when you can get a perfectly acceptable one which will do exactly the same job for £20.

If you are a professional, using it 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, just maybe. But for somebody unlikely to average more than an hour or so a week over time, that just cannot make sensible value to me. I can understand paying 2-3 times as much to get better quality, but not 10 times as much, unless it has significant additional features, rather than just being more robust.

 

[wafter]

I cannot see how £200 for a basic workstand can possibly be good value when you can get a perfectly acceptable one which will do exactly the same job for £20.

If you are a professional, using it 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, just maybe. But for somebody unlikely to average more than an hour or so a week over time, that just cannot make sensible value to me. I can understand paying 2-3 times as much to get better quality, but not 10 times as much, unless it has significant additional features, rather than just being more robust.

The problem is that there's no viable middle ground. I'd rather not have spent what I did; equally I've had my fair share of cheap, crap tools in the past and it's not an experience I wish to repeat.

 

[Gunk]

Most of my stuff I’ve sourced from Decathlon, my local shop is only 1/2 a mile away, but the quality is a step up from Halfords.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/workshop-services-and-spare-parts/bike-tools-and-workstands

 

[chris667]

I cannot see how £200 for a basic workstand can possibly be good value when you can get a perfectly acceptable one which will do exactly the same job for £20.

If you're a professional, there are some brute force jobs like fixed cup removal where having a stand which stops the bike moving at the exact position you need it to is a real benefit.

For everything else, there's no difference, Happy Aldi workstand owner here, I think it was £14.99.

Park quality is good, but not as good as many other professional hand tools and usually more expensive. I bought a set of Facom allen keys the other day for £10. The Park ones won't be better and also won't be £10.

 

[Gunk]

there are some brute force jobs like fixed cup removal where having a stand which stops the bike moving at the exact position you need it to is a real benefit.

if I’m stripping a bike I tend to do this first whilst the bike is still on its wheels

 

[wafter]

If you're a professional, there are some brute force jobs like fixed cup removal where having a stand which stops the bike moving at the exact position you need it to is a real benefit.

For everything else, there's no difference, Happy Aldi workstand owner here, I think it was £14.99.

Park quality is good, but not as good as many other professional hand tools and usually more expensive. I bought a set of Facom allen keys the other day for £10. The Park ones won't be better and also won't be £10.

Indeed.. and to be fair I'm very much micro-scale / hyper-sensitive, so I appreciate the subtleties involved in a job.

I'd certainly agree that Park Tool stuff is largely over-priced - good quality but not nec. good value a lot of the time.

As it happens my late father was a professional mechanic and had a fair amount of Facom stuff - ostensibly nice quality although I have a set of screwdrivers purchased during his professional lifetime; the plastic handles of which have now disintegrated - so I won't be buying any more Facom gear after they (perhaps reasonably, to be fair) failed to offer any reimbursement in acknowledgement of this.

FWIW for keys I like Bondhus - not usually a fan of yank stuff but they're well-priced and seem very resilient. Wera also seem decent and I have one of their torque screwdrivers which I can't fault. I imagine different brands have strengths in different areas; with Allen keys being a hotly-contested battle ground. I certainly don't see a lot of value in Park Tool-branded offerings in common, generic tools where there are a lot of other players - such as spanners, Allen keys etc..