Bike and Bicycle Workstand

One of the biggest problems when repairing your bicycle is ensuring that they remain stable when working on them. Two cheap useful methods to help hold your bike steady are either to hang the bike from rope from the garage roof or by turning the bicycle upside down with the handle bars resting on two blocks of wood to keep the gear levers, bells etc off the ground. However, if you need to exert extra pressure to loosen a stiff bolt or bicycle pedal, you may still need to get someone to hold the bike steady.

If you can afford to purchase a bike workstand or even better still get someone else to buy one for you as a gift, they will pay for themselves time and time again. A bicycle workstand will reduce the potential of damage to the bike and help perform a better repair job especially when working on the gears as they allow you rotate the wheels and pedal as if you were riding the bike.

Features to lookout for in bicycle workstands are

• Is the base wide enough to ensure good stability when working on the bicycle.
  
• Can the bike workstand be packed away.
• Does the bike workstand clamp open wide enough to hold your bicycle frame.
• Are you able to rotate your bicycle into a suitable position when on the bikestand

The next few sections will go over some bike stands currently on the market to purchase from leading bicycle tool & accessories manufacturers.

For nearly 20 years, Topeak have been researching, improving and developing new cycling accessories. They have won many accolades and awards for their bicycle products.

This topeak two up tuneup bike workstand wants to be a transformer when it grows up. Not only can it serve as a light duty portable bike repair stand, it also can be used as a multi-bike storage system. It is constructed from aluminum tubing, the center pillar extends to almost seven feet while tripod base provides a stable base.

Topeak currently have several bicycle stands in its PrepStand range, the PrepStand Max is one of their low cost options. It is ideal as a lightweight, folding stand for home use. Some reviews of this product mention it was excellent bike workstand for its price point, however, don't forget to ensure that the clamp head would fit the downtube of your bike as for some models, it is may not be wide enough. This is a great bike repair stand for the budget conscious cyclist who plans to save money by doing their own repairs

The Topeak PrepStand Elite is the next one up in Topeak bicycle stand range. The telescoping aluminum tube supports a 360° rotating head with quick adjust clamp. The folding tripod base allows it to be packed away compactly and once the bike stand is folded away it fits in the supplied carrying bag.

This new PrepStand Pro is designed with an integrated weight scale. Again, as with the Elite repair stands, the rotating bike clamp offers great adjustability. The wide tripod base allows some extra stability for those repair jobs need a extra bit of force.

Park Tool has stood the test of time in manufacturing bicycle-specific tools. Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, the company is one of the world's largest bike tool manufacturer. In fact, the company's first Park Tool product in 1963 was a bicycle repair stand.

This entry-level park tool bike repair stand for the budding home bicycle mechanic offers everything you need to fix up your bicycle. Its main features are

• Three-point leg system to create stable base
• Height adjusts from 99cm to 145cm
• Screw type clamp adjusts to fit tubes of various shapes from 24mm to 76mm
• Clamp rotates 360 degrees for easy access to any part of bike. Will also clamp on aero shaped seat posts.
• Legs fold upward for easy storage. Loosen the lower bolt on the primary tube, and lift legs upward

The PCS-9 works well for many recumbents and bikes with odd shaped tubing.

The Park Tool PCS-10 repair stand has all the features of the popular PCS-9 Home Mechanic Repair Stand but with special upgrades to make setup and take down faster and easier. In this model there is sliding retention rings to lock the folding legs. A Park Tool bicycle repair stand may be more expensive than other bicycle repair stands but the build quality will mean they will last a lifetime of bike repair.

If your a serious about keeping your bike in good condition, a bike repair stand makes life a lot easier and quicker to fit new brakes, sort out the gear indexing or you will even find the bike repair stand even helps you reach those hard to clean spots.

One last piece of advice, when using your bicycle repair stand, wrap some old cloth around the section of your bike frame that attaches to the bike repair stand clamp. This will save the odd scratch and chip on you bicycle frame paintwork. Better still use the bicycle repair stand clamp to grasp your seat post.