Papa Tom

ALDI in NY had a very similar (if not exactly the same) tripod bike repair stand on the floor for $19.99 about three years ago. Someone on this forum from out-of-state told me he had bargained them down to $14.99. I went in and asked the price. When the employee (who turned out to be the store manager) said $19.99, I immediately put it back. He asked why I thought $19.99 was too expensive and I told him, "to be honest, someone told me he paid $14.99." The manager asked me to hold on a minute as he checked something on the store's computer. When he came back, he said "How is $13.99?" I almost grabbed all seven of them left on the shelf, but I didn't want to let on about how excited I was about the price (!) so I only took one.

When I got it home and set it up, I was amazed by the overall quality of it. It was sturdy enough to comfortably support my "main" bike with all its accessories (rack, panniers, lights, pump, etc) and it even had a tool tray and a stabilizer bar to keep the front wheel from turning sideways. My biggest problem with it was the wide tripod stand that held it up, which quickly proved itself to be a tripping hazard.

Still, I wished I had purchased a few more of them, especially when I was able to hand this one over to my neighbor's new boyfriend as a sort of "welcome" gift. He must still think I'm very wealthy or something, because that thing looks like a $200 repair stand if I ever saw one. Anyway, LIDL appears to be selling one that looks just like it for $29.99 right now. If you go in to buy one, see if you can get it down to $13.99!

Don't worry, phuges. I'm not buying one. I already have about seven spoke wrenches and a case of tire levers I bought off a bike store that was going out of business.