Thanks all!
Whilst I don't own a Park stand, I do have a cheaper stand that was bought far too many years ago and whilst it does the job there are numerous "Issues" that I thought would be good to highlight when you're looking for a stand, Park Tools or otherwise.
Bad Points:
The horizontal neck needs to be long enough to hold the bike away from the Vertical part of the stand. Mine isn't quite there and when I turn the pedals the nearer one fouls on the vertical upright, making oil the chain or indexing the gears a real pain.
The clamp ideally needs to be some form of quick release, mine screws shut and trying to hold the bike in the air whilst simultaneously screwing the clamp shut against the seat post is problematic to say the least.
My stand has no tool tray, so when your undoing multiple bolts and trying to not let a part go flying away it again is less than ideal.
Balance, I'm not sure if it's the design or something else, but if the bike is clamped by the seatpost and one wheel removed the whole shebang becomes really unstable and difficult to manage.
Good Points.
The legs fold away easily so collapsing it together for storage is fine.
So I know I'm not answering your question directly, but hopefully it's some food for thought when considering a workstand. Would I consider a Park stand? If it alleviated the problems highlighted above, then most definitely. I have some Park tools amongst my collection and for some specific tools they are undoubtedly worth the premium, I think their stands fall into this category as well.
Cheers Chris - seems like a really comprehensive overview and much appreciated as I've not used a stand before so have no practical experience of what to look out for. All makes sense and echoes what I've read elsewhere
I personally don't think park tools are worth it mostly. There is a huge premium for them which I don't think is justified. I would expect there to be an alternative choice of similar quality between the low end stuff and park. I would explore all the options and you may find something as good for half the price.
Indeed; I get the impression that their stuff is often better, but not to the extent that it scales with the price. The problem is that there's an enormous amount of stuff on the market, brands come and go, products change, reviews are sparse, variable and sometimes of questionable validty and I'm unable to experience most of these products first-hand.. while there's only so much you can tell about something from pictures on the internet..
Id say not. I also use a Lidl one, after 10+ years it's still going strong.
What is the cost of a PT one?
Their two consumer-focussed items are the 9.3 (RRP £285, cheapest I've seen is £145) and 10.3 (RRP £365, cheapest I've seen is around £190). There's also the "team issue" (RRP £455, cheapest £310) and a few higher-end models aimed at pro use which are really eye-watering.
Seems like the 10.3 is the most likely candidate. Oddly there's a big spread of prices with online retailers charging anything from RRP and the cheapest quoted above. Not sure how common this is; I know bike-related stuff usually has a fat margin and is often discounted.. added to this the need for wholesalers to maintain cashflow and I wonder if they're slashing prices to dealers even moreso currently to get stuff shifted..
+1 ! Not sure I want (Need ?) to stretch to a Park stand. But not sure an
eBay £28 jobbie is the right move either…..
Must be a halfway house somewhere in there ?
This is exactly where I'm at. Tbh I've bought various cheapo-no-name items in the pats and really have always been underwhelmed. A good example is a Chinese copy of a Manfrotto tripod I bought years and years ago. On the one hand for the £60-dd it cost compared to the c. £180 for the real deal it was surprisingly good; however not without its shortcomings and looking back I wish I'd just put my hand in my pocket for the genuine item.
As for halfway houses I'm not really sure what's there and as per my response to bonzobanana above such products seem like a bit of a minefield; with loads out there and potentially not much ability to assess them.
Ditto - similar remarks apply to my PCS-9.
Very solid and stable.
Got it in an
Evans sale about 5 years ago for £80 - bargain imo.
https://www.freewheelingfrance.com/books/park-tool-home-maintenace-bike-stand.html
Thanks - that does sound like a bargain - if I could get one for that money I'd not give it a second thought tbh!
Thanks again for all the responses.. unsurprisingly they mostly echo my own thoughts. I'm not going to go for the cheapest since as above, I've done this before and while the likes of Aldi and Lidl doubtless offer stuff that's great value, there have to be compromises at such price points.
I'm very well attuned to appreciating nice tools and happy to spend a reasonable amount to get something that excels at its job. In addition there's the question of longvevity. It seems that unless you spend £500 on a pro-spec Park Tool item you're going to get a lot of plastic.
Obviously the quality of this can vary enormously if something like a tube clamp fails it's going render a stand useless; doubtless writing-off cheaper offerings, creating a lot of waste and bringing me back to square one. At least with something like a Park I'd hope that the plastic quality is better and that they offer reasonable after-sales parts supply.
I think I'm gravitating towards the Park 10.3, which has (amongst other things) a nicer, quick-release clamp which (as chriswoody) suggests is a welcome feature. I remain put off by the plastic, price and fact that it doesn't seem to pack down as compactly as alternatives, but so far it seems like the best game in town as a whole package..
I'll continue to ruminate and if prices haven't changed for the worst by the time I've reached a decision might take a punt on one - after years of working on bikes precariously propped against things a stand would be pure luxury
I'll wait a year though to see how much fettling I actually do!
