Bicycle Tutor

How durable is this bicycle stand? I mean can actually do some heavy work on it? Or is it just a "cleaning stand"? I find myself in a position that I either goto Lowes and make one from instructables.com or buy this. By the time I buy the membership from there and get the parts I would be paying for one of these. Well maybe 20 dollars less to make one. Thanks for your help.

I've used one before and they're not bad. The clamp uses some plastic parts and it will break if abused. But used with care, it works well. If you are restoring old bikes that tend to be rusted up and need some serious banging and leverage applied, I'd buy/make something sturdier. I also wouldn't use one if you'll have multiple people using the stand. People tend not to take care with things when they didn't pay for it...

Dave,

Thanks for your input. I did take the sturdiness in to consideration and decided to borrow some ideas from instructables and made my own bike stand. Here are a couple pictures I took after assembly and everything cost me 64.00 from Lowes. Granted it is not completely tightened down so I could see what it looked like but seems to be what I need. As far as other people using my stand well they can build their own . The sweet feature on here is I used a 36"piece of black steel and a T fitting with another 12" on top of it for different sizes. If needed it easily expands to per say another 12-24". The base I decided to use 18" pieces for more stability. The inner pieces are just 10" pieces. I do have end caps (1/2") but haven't got that far yet lol. I will be expanding on this stand and yeah updated here as I go so maybe save everyone some money from buying those crap RAD stands off eBay.

Thanks again Dave,
Bill

Here are the rest of the pics! By the way all of the black plumbing pipe (ALOT CHEAPER TO BUY THEN GALVANIZED) is 1/2" diameter.

I wanted to ask a similar question. I am asking for a repair stand for Christmas and am looking at the PCS9 versus the PCS 10. The 10 is about 50 bucks more, and looks a little sturdier, but wanted to know if it is really $50 better? I work on my bikes on a fairly regular basis, but not every day and not even once a week, but the stand I buy will see some regular use. Plus, I have a feeling friends are going are going to maybe convince me to repair their bikes. None of them seem to know how to do it so no worries they are going to borrow it from me :-)

Buzz,
Tell you the truth I honestly do not know anything about the PCS-9 or the PCS-10. I made my own out of 1/2" Black steel plumber pipe. Anyways, it depends on a few factors of what you are looking for. As Dave mentioned the PCS-9 is good for like general maintenance and light mechanical work. After looking on ParkTool's website and comparing the only difference I see between them is the PCS-10 is foldaway and more universal clamp. It maybe more sturdier (little bit). Maybe Alex and/or others can be of help and add to my comment . Here is a couple of pictures of the one I made (still working great).

I'm not a big fan of the PCS-9 or the PCS-10, as the clamp gets annoying to use if you are doing a lot of repairs. My favorite is the PCS-4. It cost a bit more, but has a sturdy base and a very good clamping system.

(Dec 15, 2009 07:58 PM)Bill Wrote:  Buzz,
Tell you the truth I honestly do not know anything about the PCS-9 or the PCS-10. I made my own out of 1/2" Black steel plumber pipe. Anyways, it depends on a few factors of what you are looking for. As Dave mentioned the PCS-9 is good for like general maintenance and light mechanical work. After looking on ParkTool's website and comparing the only difference I see between them is the PCS-10 is foldaway and more universal clamp. It maybe more sturdier (little bit). Maybe Alex and/or others can be of help and add to my comment . Here is a couple of pictures of the one I made (still working great).

Thanks for the idea Bill now I know what to make my own with and to think I have all the parts I need in my work shop weeeeeeee. Now why did I not think of this before this will really help me out a lot.If it was not so late in the night and cold out side I would go out and build it tonight.Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Just another note, you can always extend the arm where the vise a few inches if needed by pulling one of the legs out and swapping it with the vise arm. Your welcome .

I've got the PCS-9 and just love it. I know there are few quirks to it but nothing thats a show stopper. I've built an Xtracycle using the stand and it held steady the whole operation. Also, a few months ago, during the summer when I work in my garage, my wife ran over one of the legs with my truck. It only flatten out the leg by about a third diameter. It still holds a bike well and I don't even notice when working on a bike, other than to look at it. Kudos to Park for building something so solid.

i have it and it's great except when you really need to torque on something.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I did get a PCS-10 for Christmas and so far so good. Not near the stand I get to work on when I volunteer at the community cycling center here, but for what I need it is fine. Like Jordan300, I do find it hard to really torque on something, though.

Yeah, I have a bolt that I had to give up on. I took it to the LBS because I could'nt really crank on it the stand just comes forward. I still love it though, the portability makes up for it.