Which workstand? Park PCS-9 or Bike Tool Aluminium - help!!!

gabriel959

I am looking to buy a workstand. I have been looking for ages and have pinned it down to 2 :

Park PCS-9 Workstand Home Mechanic Repair Stand
Bike Tool Aluminium Workstand

Advantages for the ParkTool one:

-Higher quality and probably longer durability
-Seems more stable

Advantages for the Bike Tool one:

-Cheaper by £20
-Folds really neatly

Anyone owns any of them? What’s the quality of the clamp on either of them like? Anyone with a similar priced recommendation?

I have a couple of questions about the Park one – does it fold really neatly? I have got a limited amount of space and although it mentions about its foldability I haven’t seen any images of it folded. Is it really that heavy? 10 kilos seem quite a lot.

Thanks

gabriel959

Anyone? :?

careful

Minoura - brilliant

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Minou ... 360011477/

dodgy

Don't forget that the Park ones will have spare parts available for years.

gabriel959

Cheers for the answers.

The Minoura looks nice but it is nearly 3 times as much dosh as the Bike Tool and I can really justify that amount of money.

It really can’t be anymore than £75.

The Park is simpler and heavier but its understated quality and easy spare parts is a massive bonus as dodgy was saying.

dodgy

You can also get accessories for the Park (bags, spanner trays etc etc).
I'd be confident that the Park will be of overall better quality too, but obviously you'd need to do a side by side comparison to be 100%.

pud77

I've got the Bike Tool stand. I got it off ebay for £45 delivered 3-4 month ago but I don't think the seller is doing them anymore (hawksmxl). Anyway, really pleased with it. I too looked at the Park stands but couldn't knock back the bargain price of the Bike Tools one. The clamp is solid and you have to be pretty heavy handed to make the stand unstable. It folds away pretty compact as you say but mine is usually left upright in the garage. I've used it loads more than I thought I would aswell, I wish I'd bought it years ago. Just buy one !

paul_or

I'm interested in the discussion as I too am thinking about the Park. Just look at the search here, the number of parts is vast which is a good thing for the long term I think!

http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl=en&q=Park+PCS-9&scoring=p&sa=N&start=0

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gabriel959

paul_or wrote:

I'm interested in the discussion as I too am thinking about the Park. Just look at the search here, the number of parts is vast which is a good thing for the long term I think!

http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl=en&q=Park+PCS-9&scoring=p&sa=N&start=0

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The Park looks good, only big problem for me is how small is when folded as the space on my mini-shed is minuscule. I know the Bike Tool packs really small ...

Have you found the Park Tool any cheaper than £75?

Cheers,
Gabriel

EdZed

Although my suggestion isn't what you've asked for and is thererfore probably not that much use to you, but I would recommended one of these...

Tacx T3050 Spider Team Workstand

Probikekit has them for £88, a little over your £75 budget I know, but they are very durable and stable and are easy to use; although it's not the lightest stand nor is it the most compact (another of your key requirements) when stored and you have to take off a wheel to use the stand (but that's not really a problem).

http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=T3050

'mini-shed'... are you talking dolls house proportions?

brucey72

Hi, I have the PCS9 and live in a flat, using my spare room as a storage/workshop area. I have just measured the stand and with the legs open you need floorspace of 1200 x 750. It does weigh about 10kg but the weight makes it very stable for working on your bike. Unfortunately, it does not fold very well and I wouldn't consider it to be a mobile work stand (eg taking in your car). To release the legs you lift the stand and the legs drop below meaning that to store it you need floor space with an overall length of about 2m.

Hope that helps.

BazookaMoor

+1 for the BikeTool stand

Had mine for nearly 2yrs during which time it's been used alot

Fixed/Maintained ; my road bike and 2 mountain bikes, my wife's bike, my neighbours bike and several kids bikes.

I think I paid about £60 for it on ebay.

When not in use I store it in the original cardboard packing case which measures 18cm x 20cm x 100cm


8) 8) 8)

sturmey

I have the park PCS-9.
It really is a heavyweight and probably over engineered compared to some feeble stands i've used in the past. It's not going to fold up that small-the legs fold up vertical but don't fold back on themselves -if you know what I mean-so the folded height of the stand is nearly six feet.

I have never had a problem with the clamp -it is a reliable and well built stand.

giant_man

I went through all this earlier this year, looking at the various types of stand you can get. The usual type, the tripod (90% of stands have this type of stand) comes in at various price levels, the difference usually is the quality of the clamp which does vary widely. Good example of this can be found in the latest C+ where the Minouora RS-6000 is 200 quid and still only a tripod affair.

The Park ones are from what I've seen (Park, Ultimate Support, Tacx) have the best quality clamps.

What did I go for in the end? Well, Edinburgh bicycle company were having an offer on their Revolution stand a while ago which I picked up for 50 quid and it's been absolutely fine for my first workstand.

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLq ... 372c012369

Very similar to the Bike tools one and also a couple of others. If I had enough money I would go for one of the Kestrel stands or the Park PRS-3 OSLB with dedicated base and clamp. Either that or the Park PRS-15 which looked very nice.

But it all comes down to how much you are going to use a workstand, doesn't it? Well that and your budget anyway ....