cccorlew

I want a work stand. I'm not a serious wrench dude, I just want to adjust gears and clean the bike.
This is on ebay
https://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ULTIMATE-BIC...QQcmdZViewItem

At 20 bucks it's soooo cheap I may get it. I just don't see dropping +100 on a stand for what I'll do.

So, this stand, better than no stand, or just never mind?

JustBrowsing

Depends on how sturdy and how adjustable it is, which you can't tell from the pic. However, I can tell that I wouldn't want to be working on the front end with the way that stand is adjusted, cos it looks like you could easily pull the whole bike down on top of you. Maybe someone with a similar one will come along soon though...

DougG

It's hard to tell from the photos, but one drawback appears to be that there's only one way to mount the bike, which might not always be convenient. For example, it looks like it clamps on the downtube right where my water bottle cage goes. And with frames these days, you can't ever assume what size and shape a particular tube is going to be! But then again, for your purposes and at that price, it could be all that you're going to need.

oilman_15106

Such a deal on the shipping $25! So you really have a $45 stand. Sears(yep Sears) used to sell almost the same thing for $10.

mlh122

+1 it looks iffy to me too. the pivot on the arm that holds the bike doesn't look very beefy, i'd think it could snap or just not be very stable. and with shipping that stand comes to almost $50, so i'd say just add $50 and get a $100 stand that is more trustworthy.

I want a stand but i'm a cheapskate so my main stand is called the "upside down stand" where I put a piece of cardboard down on the garage floor and take any breakables off the top of the handlebar and flip the bike over. It's fairly stable too.

My other "stand" is a standard bike rack that dangles the bike from the top tube, not very stable but everything is accessible.

this one is going for $5 and is a lot more stable and is local pickup only 381mi from antioch
https://cgi.ebay.com/Park-PCS-1-Bicyc...QQcmdZViewItem

My method of buying things is as follows: if I don't need something I don't buy it. If I do need something, I buy it, but i don't mess around with cheap stuff that will break on me or cause problems down the road. I'm like the family bike wrench, i maintain 9 or 10 bikes on a regular basis for family members, so if I do get a stand I'd get a nice one that will be around for several years.

supcom

From the auction:

For just a little more, you can buy a similar Minoura stand from Nashbar and return it if you don't like it or it breaks. Or save your money and buy one of the many tripod stands with rotating clamp and have something that makes working on the bike much easier.

DScott

I love how the first ebay auction warns to "be aware of fraud" while selling a no-name brand of "ultimate" stand, and obviously hoping to confuse people that this just might be is an "Ultimate" brand stand.

Ultimate stands are first rate, this one is junk.

I'd run away, save your money for any of the decent stands as described by others above.

mikejavo

Lots of great used stands go on sale once in a while on Craig's List in your local area. Park stands are all great. Don't waste your money on this silly contraption.

BikeWise1

Ultimately, a waste of money.

DMF 

I don't agree with y'all. Functionally it appears to be identical with the Spin Doctor Essential stand (Performance) and that one works quite well. Plus it has a parts/tool tray.

On the other hand, it's the same price as the Performance stand (when on sale) and you might (or might not) feel more comfortable dealing with Performance.

BikeWise1

If all you ever work on are old, gaspipe steel bikes, have at it. There is no way I would ever put one of today's pop-can-thin-downtube aluminum bikes on a stand that applied or transferred any force to the downtube. Much less carbon....

I wouldn't use that Spin Doctor Essential stand, either. Same problem. IMO, the seatpost is what gets clamped.

supcom

I have to disagree. The ebay stand is very much different than the Spin Doctor stand. The ebay stand is not a generic copy of the Spin Doctor stand.

DMF 

I didn't say it was; I said it is functionally identical (words mean things). It holds the BB, clamps just in front of it, and has a second support farther up the down tube - just like the Spin Doctor stand.

n4zou

Just put two hooks in the ceiling of your garage, porch, or any other place where hooks would safely support the bike where you're going to be working on. Purchase a pair of tie down straps usually used for holding stuff down in the bed of a pickup truck. Use the two straps to hang your bike from the hooks above. Height is adjustable with the mechanisms used to tighten the straps over whatever was to be held down in the bed of the truck. I have a Park stand but I only use it when working on bikes away from my shop. I prefer working on bikes using my hanging straps stand as I can apply lots of downward force on stuck parts, which is not possible on a "normal" bike stand.

BigCatDaddy

I have this exact stand that I also purchased on eBay from this exact vendor. They are legit, you will get the product. Mine came within a week. So I'll speak as one who has real use of it.

The stand.....
The bike is supported by a plastic cup that supports the bottom bracket shell like a craddle. A "U-bolt type" arm clamps around the down-tube just in front of the bottom bracket. The arm is easy, but cumbersome to use. You have to turn a wing-nut and compress a spring for adequate holding power....takes about a minute to secure the down-tube. Because of that, I often just set the BB shell in the cup and skip the downtube clamp. But then the bike is precariously balanced....if you apply any torque, it will slip out and down off the stand when you don'y use the downtube clamp. A couple of cheap front tire stays flip forward (from the front of stand) and hold the front tire assembly from flopping all around while you work up there. Another plastic cup craddles the downtube up closer to the headset.....the problem for me, is that this cup and the BB plastic cup....often compress or hinder movement of the shift cables and you have to jurry-rig the assembly so you can adequately set derailer limits and cable indexing issues (what I'm saying is the stand setup compresses the cables against the frame).

Yeah, I figured it's a $40 stand with the shipping, and thats what I got, so I'm happy. I used it to build my first bike ever, an aluminum BP Stealth Tri setup. It worked, but I could have had a much nicer stand that was much more user friendly for a few more $$. If moneys tight, then you can certainly make this stand work for you. If you've got $20-40 more available, I'd tell you to upgrade to a better designed, easier to use product.

After my build, I'd say I'd personaly upgrade to a better product. Wanna buy mine for $25 total? Just PM me.

cccorlew

Thanks fo rteh review. I'll pass. You talked me out of it!

bkaapcke

I use the ratcheting tie downs described by n4zou, above, with one addition. I run a bungee cord from a chainstay to an eye set in the concrete floor. This stabilizes the bike. $7.00 for the tie downs, $3.00 for the Z hooks that go over the rafters, and $6.00 more for the bungee set up. I use it for my wifes DF bike and for my LWB recumbent. It makes working on the rides a pleasure because I can set it at the right height to work from a lawn chair. bk