Anyone owns one of these Park Tool Workstands?

omri

PCS-4 or PRS-20/21/25 ?

I'm about to get one but not sure which one would be best to work with. Will use for my road bike and wife's commuter, plus kids bikes in few years time. I'm 6'4" so I like to have the bike pretty high or sit while working on it.

superlav

I can't speak for those Park Tool stands, but have had may years of use from a Tacx Spider Team stand, which is of the fork clamp variety, but they do have a top\seat tube clamp variant.

The one I have extends to a fair height, I'm 6ft 1-ish and have no problems. The Park Tool PRS 20/21 don't appear to extend any further than the length of the main tube of the stand, whereas the Tacx ones have an inner tube which allows you to gain (I'm guessing here) an extra 18" to 2ft.

Good deals on them from www.bike-discount.de

Orion

omri wrote: »

PCS-4 or PRS-20/21/25 ?

I'm about to get one but not sure which one would be best to work with. Will use for my road bike and wife's commuter, plus kids bikes in few years time. I'm 6'4" so I like to have the bike pretty high or sit while working on it.

Aldi near me still has some of their ones left. I'm 5'10 and it's high enough for me but I don't extend it all the way so might be OK for you too

Idleater

I have the PRS20 and find it great. You have to take a wheel off to work on the bike, but I have it heading for 8 years now and it's working good as new. It's also very stable and safe for carbon bikes and ones with aero seat posts as the bike sits on the stand rather than in a grabber.

omri

Idleater wrote: »

I have the PRS20 and find it great. You have to take a wheel off to work on the bike, but I have it heading for 8 years now and it's working good as new. It's also very stable and safe for carbon bikes and ones with aero seat posts as the bike sits on the stand rather than in a grabber.

And how do you find the height of the stand? And does it rotate only when it's not being extended up ?

doozerie

I have the PRS-25. It's a good stand, I can't actually fault it but if I was being really fussy I'd say the clamp is a bit fiddly. It also doesn't fold up that small, if that's important to you. It's fairly stable with a bike on it, certainly at the minimal height I use it at. If spending money in that price range I'd also consider Feedback Sports stands, their clamps in particular seem to have a good reputation for being well designed.

My stand is packed away so I can't check but the spec on Park Tool's website says the clamp height extends to 60" high. I'm a short-arse so I've never tested its limits. You may already be aware but with clamps of that nature you have to be careful where you clamp the bike, a crushed carbon tube or seatpost could be the cost of being careless - I suspect that risk is overstated though, all it takes is a bit of care to avoid the problem.

I also have a Tacx Spider Team workstand, the older T3050 model. It's the same style as the PRS-20. I've actually come to prefer that style of workstand after using it for a while. The only problem with that style is that it won't (easily) take a bike with mudguards (should work if you remove the rear, rather than front, wheel to attach to the stand I guess, but I usually want to keep the rear wheel installed on any bike I'm working on). It doesn't fold down very small either though, although it's arguably more compact than the PRS-25. The current version of that Tacx stand is the T3350, the top bar on that folds down to make what looks to a fairly compact size (details here: LINK). If limited space is a consideration that small size could be a huge advantage. It's also an awful lot cheaper than the PRS-20, from my memory of prices in the past.

If I were to buy a workstand today though I'd go for the Feedback Sports Sprint. It's the same style as the PRS-20 and the Tacx Spider but looks more flexible (for a wider range of bikes), looks well engineered, looks convenient to use, and folds down relatively small. I also happen to like the colour, because I'm shallow. It's in a similar price range to the PRS-20 I think.

Idleater

I have two bikes with full length mudguards and only the front end flap "doesn't fit" but flexes backwards when clamped.

As regards height, I stand all the way around the bike and handlebars are guessing ~1.55m based on my height. Drivetrain height would be ~.75m so you could sit working on those parts.

I think a claw type stand might be able to hang the bike just above the ground but you only get to work on half the bike easily before you have to grip it the other way.

All +'s and -'s and I haven't tried any other stands.

8valve

In our workshop, we have the Park tool PCS-9, a BBB BTL-63 Easymount, An X-tools Home mechanic stand , and a Lidl stand that I picked up a couple of years ago.

I tend to use the Park Tool one the most, as I'm just over 6' and can set it to an ideal height for myself to work comfortably for hours at a time.

The BBB is also very handy but has no height adjustment. Also has holders to keep the front wheel straight as standard, which the other don't have.

The X-tools has the easiest clamp mechs to use, but doesn't feel as sturdy as the other two.

I found the clamp on the Lidl stand not sufficient to hold anything heavier than a road bike or hybrid and the bike would slowly rotate downwards when working on it.

Stands are perfect for everything except loosening the likes of pedals or bottom brackets which may be quite tight...you're safer doing these on the ground where you apply a bit of leverage without risking the stand and bike falling on you!

doozerie

Idleater wrote:

I have two bikes with full length mudguards and only the front end flap "doesn't fit" but flexes backwards when clamped.

I’ve put my winter bike with its Crud Roadracer full length mudguards on my Tacx stand. It fit, but the tail end of that front mudguard had to twist to one side to do so. So while it worked it meant that I had to fiddle about with the mudguard afterwards to reposition it correctly since any “temporary” mudguards like the Roadracers are prone to being knocked out of position. Not the end of the world by any means but my inner lazy person decided that next time I’d either use my other style of stand for that bike (with its own inconveniences) or else just work on the bike without a stand. Basically it was enough inconvenience to make me question the value of the Tacx stand for that particular bike. I accept that I may be weirdly sensitive though

I’ve also put my wife’s audax bike on the Tacx, that bike has full length “permanent” SKS mudguards on it. That was more of a concern as I had to apply a bit more pressure than I’d like to shove the bottom of the front mudguard to one side. As a result I’m even less inclined to use that stand for a bike with permanent mudguards.

It’s not an insurmountable problem though, if I was determined enough I’d come up with a way of elevating or extending the clamp that the front wheel attaches to, enough so that the mudguard would clear the bar. Even without such a hack though I still favour the european/Tacx/PRS-20 style of stand over the PRS-25 style, they both have their pros and cons and I like having the option of both but if I had to settle on one it would be the Tacx.

One scenario where the euro style stand wins hands down is if cleaning the bike on the stand. Being able to easily spin the bike around to access either side of it makes that task a lot easier and quicker. That does require a willingness to let your stand get wet though so you then have to service your stand regularly too to avoid rust, etc. Which leads to the question of what stand to use to hold your stand… Like bikes, bike tools adhere strictly to the n+1 rule too!

Lumen

doozerie wrote: »

If I were to buy a workstand today though I'd go for the Feedback Sports Sprint. It's the same style as the PRS-20 and the Tacx Spider but looks more flexible (for a wider range of bikes), looks well engineered, looks convenient to use, and folds down relatively small. I also happen to like the colour, because I'm shallow. It's in a similar price range to the PRS-20 I think.

I have one. It's lovely. I used to have a Park stand but it was so big I kept it outside, and the weather made the spinny bits not spin. I also love not having to clamp tubes.

omri

Thanks for the input. I'll sleep on it all. Was going to go with PRS20/21 for now but Feedback looks good too. So bit more research and hopefully next week I'll get the goodies.

omri

Lumen wrote: »

I have one. It's lovely. I used to have a Park stand but it was so big I kept it outside, and the weather made the spinny bits not spin. I also love not having to clamp tubes.

Ive been in 2wheels today and they had PRS21 so I had a closer look at it. There was no bike on it, and I was able to tip it off easily when I positioned the arm between the two of the legs. I would expect once bike is mounted the weight is making it more stable. Is feedback sprint the same?

I checked the height and it was reasonable. I found it quite light too.

Lumen

omri wrote: »

Ive been in 2wheels today and they had PRS21 so I had a closer look at it. There was no bike on it, and I was able to tip it off easily when I positioned the arm between the two of the legs. I would expect once bike is mounted the weight is making it more stable. Is feedback sprint the same?

I checked the height and it was reasonable. I found it quite light too.

I've not found the Sprint unstable, but you're welcome to pop round to my gaff in D15 if you want to play around with it.

omri

Lumen wrote: »

I've not found the Sprint unstable, but you're welcome to pop round to my gaff in D15 if you want to play around with it.

Thanks - I think I'll be fine whichever one I choose. Thanks for the invite anyway.