PatrickGSR94

I just picked up this Bikemate work stand from Aldi for $30. Sounds ridiculously cheap, but YouTube reviews sounded promising, and initial thoughts upon first assembly this morning look promising. Seems pretty sturdy and has more features than my $100 Nashbar stand. They only sell these 2 or 3 times a year, and they just went on sale today. I stopped by my local Aldi in the Memphis area and they had 8 or 10 of them on the shelf. I figure even if it sucks I'm not out that much money. AND it has a 3 year warranty! Not sure how a warranty claim would work, though. We'll see how it works with my 55 pound e-bike (66 pound limit it says)!

https://www.aldi.us/en/weekly-specia...-work-stand-1/

trek330

I'm going to buy one tomorrow!

jambon

I have had one for about 4 years .

Good enough for the home mechanic . It's good for indexing gears , setting brakes etc but I wouldn't trust it to keep standing for anything that needs heavy torque , bottom brackets etc

lost_in_endicot

Someone in my bike club sent out an email saying the $10 wireless speedometer at Aldi is pretty nice, too. Maybe I'll go and check it out later.

mtnbke

People don't realize that Trader Joe's and Aldi are part of the same German corporation. They want the ghetto and the high end market share.

SkyDog75

Not exactly... The Aldi chain in Germany split over a family dispute in the 1960s. One brother wound up with control over the northern stores while the other brother wound up with the southern half. The company formed from the northern stores, Aldi Nord, owns the Trader Joe's chain in the United States. The other brother's company, Aldi Sud, operates Aldi stores in the U.S.

It's kinda like another pair of German brothers who couldn't get along and split the family business in two. The Dassler Brothers shoe company became Adidas and Puma. At least they picked different names, though, so their companies don't get mixed up like Aldi.

StoneFence

I was very impressed. The lumber and hardware for a homemade stand would probably cost the about the same. I don't do my own wrenching (yet) so it will do the job for cleaning and adjusting the family bikes.

02Giant 

Looks like it would be a pain in the arse having to step over/work around the legs.

leob1

I went to my 'local' Aldi and picked one up. they had a whole stack of them, I'm not sure folks knew what they were. I also saw the bike computer, and some other stuff. Weird store, they don't have many shelves, mostly open case boxes stacked up. I don't think I saw one national brand, most of the stuff appeared to be off-off brand. It almost seemed that they haven't decided what they want to be.

Scooty Puff Jr

You just described Aldi perfectly ! That's exactly what every store is like, and they know what they're doing.

rocks in head 

Thanks for the tip, I picked one up this morning. It's easily 1/2 the price of worn out used Park stands on CL here, and it'll do for what I need it for - cleaning and light maintenance, handlebar wrapping, etc. I will update after using it for a week or two (by which point they'll either be out of stock or reduced price in the back).

I agree about the weird setup. I walked into one, saw all the food and no household items, thought it was purely grocery, and walked out again. I found the virtual tour online and discovered the section that houses the non-food items isn't distinguished in any way from the rest of the store, so returned this morning for the stand. Weird experience, but they seem like they've got good prices, if judging by the cereal is any indication.

PatrickGSR94

Seasoned Aldi shopper here.

Aldi sells mostly their own branded stuff. Occasionally they have a few name brand items here or there. Some stuff are great buys, like a dozen large eggs are 39 CENTS right now, and milk is usually less than $1.50 a gallon! Meat and produce are usually decent. But some other stuff is crap, like their ground sausage is pretty gross. And yeah they usually just set the stuff out in the boxes they ship in, they're made to do it that way.

Shopping cars require a quarter that you get back when done. I hear many European grocery stores are like that. Bags cost 7 or 10 cents each depending on paper or plastic, so most people bring their own bags and/or use empty product boxes. That's part of how they keep their operating costs way down.

PatrickGSR94

It's really not a problem at all. I think it's more of an optical illusion in the product picture.

leob1

So I unpacked it last night after my ride. It's mostly steel, pretty hefty. But all the clamps are knobs are plastic, durability may be an issue. I'll replace the knobs as they break, and will probably improvise the clamps as they break.
I just fiddled with it a bit, it seems like it won't tip over, but the legs take up a lot of space. Clamping my heavy, 30 lbs, 29er by the seat post I couldn't get the clamp tight enough that the bike was level with the ground, the front wheel drooped. This shouldn't be an issue with lighter bikes. Whom ever came up with the prop rod to hold the handle bars should be given a good sized bonus, simple but effective. The rubber straps will be replaced when they break.
The thing I like about it beast is how easy it is to fold, and how compact it is when folded. That is a big difference when compared to my Minura stand. Which is a pia to fold, and still not very compact.
For $30.00, not such a bad deal.

IrishBrewer

I don't buy much meat there or their frozen prepared stuff but I do buy lots of their other stuff. They don't have much name brand stuff but almost everything else that carries their own branding is very good and inexpensive. They have ultra low overhead and with you bagging your own stuff, the cashiers are super fast so even if there is a line, you don't wait long. So, there a few differences to get used to but once you're past that Aldi is great.

PatrickGSR94

Yeah the cashiers are LIGHTNING fast, and I think part of that is the way the packaging is made. Many packages have barcodes that run the whole length of the box/package, or have the bar codes in multiple locations, which I think makes it easier to scan stuff. Plus they're just dumping them into another cart.

I always hang my bikes by the top tube. Some people don't like to do that, I've never had any issues. I don't like using the seat post because it's so unbalanced. Hanging by the top tube I can get it nearly balanced without too much trouble. I hung my 50+ pound e-bike up there last night, no problems at all. And yeah I REALLY like the handlebar prop rod. That was always one gripe I had with my Nashbar stand is that I could never get the bike plumb up/down to keep the handlebars from rotating one way or the other.

IrishBrewer

Yeah, count how many barcodes they have on a box of cereal - it's like 10. It never ceases to amaze me that I almost need a shovel to get my items on the belt to be able to keep up with the cashiers and that somehow my bread and eggs are still intact after the transaction.

autonomy

Are you calling Trader Joe's high end? Because around here it's become less expensive than Wegman's and Stop & Shop... and the quality is higher.

Wish we had an Aldi nearby, I was actually looking at buying a budget stand; tired of flipping bikes.

Edit: wow, there actually IS an Aldi nearby (20 mins driving), never knew that!

plumberroy

I actually bought a 20 piece bike tool kit from Aldis's a couple years ago for $9.99 that for a home tinkerer is quite good.I bought a pump off their clearance rack for ~$6.00 gauge isn't accurate but it works good . if you watch you can get stuff for the home mechanic at decent prices there .

Loose Chain

I have two of these, there are dandy. I have a nice Performance Professional stand as well and it cost much more and it is certainly stronger and nicer but these ALDI stands are excellent even at twice the thirty dollars price.

Duo

They had 4 at my Aldi and i grabbed one. Just got done using it and sturdy would be the word.

Kind of hard to find in the store, but the clerk helped me find them...30 bucks probably the best your gonna do for an entry level stand. And that's all i need, the steel tubes look a lot more durable than some of the cheap aluminum ones for sale; it claims to hold 66 pounds.

If i use this on my steel tandem bike, probably the front wheel will be setting on the ground because of the weight and stability; haven't tried it yet. For a road bike, this stand is a bit of over kill if one is worried about its strength.

Haven't been shopping Aldi for years, but the prices are rock bottom and more than competitive with other stores. Kind of a fun place to shop, used to enjoy the lack of variety, so i could get in/out fast.

Thanks for the heads up on this deal, been needing a bike stand for years. Bet half of this threads readers need one of these.

autonomy

I got one too, by the way, have already used it. Have to crank down the bolts pretty hard to prevent it from spinning but after that it's solid. I don't even think it needs 5 legs, 3 would probably do. Solid buy for 30 bucks, thanks!

hwscott2

Woohoo! I just scored on at the local Aldi's for $15!!!

I won't need it too often but could not resist!

samblam

Just received one of these as an "I love you" gift from my wife! She picked it up for $15.00! Got it setup (almost no assembly required) and hung my '87 Schwinn traveler on it and was impressed with how sturdy it is. Great buy even at the OPs $39!!!

AndrewJB

Picked up one of these at the Aldi in Marietta, Ga, Roswell Rd/Rt 120 for $20. They had 6 left.