Ok, so they won’t do themselves but there are so many nifty gadgets to assist. In Andreas’ post of yesterday "Breathing New Life Into An Old Bike", there was a picture of his bike on a workshop stand. I’ve been toying with buying one of these for a while but I wasn’t quite sure if I’d get any use out of it and to get a good one, I think you would need to spend about £100. A couple of weeks ago I saw something called an Andystand on the internet. I asked Andy to send me one to test out and he duly obliged. Andy has just started his business manufacturing the stand after one of those eureka moments in his garage with his mountain bike. I thought it might solve my problem of how to fix my bikes without shelling out for that work stand that I may never use.
At that stage I wasn’t sure if I could do any routine maintenance, or was going to do any on a routine basis, so I didn’t want to buy an expensive stand. The Andystand seems to be the perfect compromise. Each stand is only about £40, with a discount for two or more and they come in different colours.
It’s a tubular frame, the top tube of which slots very neatly into the hole in the bottom bracket of most modern bikes. There must be a hole in the bottom bracket of about 20 ml diameter otherwise it won’t fit. Disappointingly, my upright bike doesn’t fit because it doesn’t have enough clearance. The point of the stand is to hold the bike steady, either wheel touching the ground, while repairs and general maintenance, washing etc. can be carried out, and because it’s incredibly light and portable you can use it to hold the bike when travelling. I was out on the South Downs on Sunday morning and it was blowing a gale. On the top photos you can see that I used my Andystand to hold the bike while I put my shoes on and got ready (can’t drive in cleats!) otherwise it would have fallen over in the wind! When I got back home I put it on the stand to give it a clean up and once over, and I also use it just to store my bike on at home. It takes up much less room than a conventional work stand.
A really great little gadget for when a work stand is too expensive, or too big for the bike shed.
Looks nice, but its still a lot of volume for storing and not much height. Not wanting to put Andy’s idea down, but Topeak do a pop up workstand which is cheaper and folds up flat. Perhaps not quite as stable but good enough for quick maintenance and cleaning.
http://www.topeak.com/products/StorageAndDisplay/FlashStand for the details. We use it on trips and at home. Its just about light enough to carry with you if you are obsessive about preparing for the worst case scenario.
Thanks for the heads up Craig. I’ve not had any negative experiences with Topeak gear so far so I’m sure that’s another great product.
It looks like you need to take the bottom bracket out for that to work.. seems a bit involved
I have one of these little atands form halfords, http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_522919_langId_-1_categoryId_228853
It’s handy for cleaning the bike and lubing the chain etc. as it lifts the wheel off the ground. I wont want to do anything to involved on it though.
£9.99
when i get my new shed I’m going to try and to a home made workstand fixed to the wall.
That’s really good value from Halfords. Thanks for pointing out. I’ll do a roundup of these soon..
that halford stand looks decent for the money, hope to see you review it soon andreas, i may have to get myself one of those too as it is in my kind of budget, i am regularly cleaning my chain
The stand is not universal. Your bike needs to have a hollowtech crank and neither my Kona or my Ridgeback do!! The Topeak stand looks good though and will work for any bike.
No, it doesn’t work for all bikes. If your bottom bracket has the clearance, then it will, with no modifications needed. It doesn’t fit all of my bikes either, but it does seem to be a lot more stable than the tripod-like portable stands out there. It doesn’t move at all which is good.
Looking forward to the roundup, then we’ll be able to compare.
I have a Park Tools PCS9, it’s great.
But like all clamp-type work stands, you must use care when using it on frames that might be damaged. Take particular care on lightweight Aluminium frames and Carbon.
But it should be safe clamping on the seat post.
Stable, good working height and adjustable.
I’ve not encountered any real problems with it.
None our bikes would fit on the AndyStand, even though some are almost new, so it would be totally useless for us.
I won’t be buying one.
I would naturally opt for a more expensive stand that isn’t so restrictive. Which is why I opted for the Park PCS9, and why I’d still buy one, and by shopping around it wasn’t that much more expensive.
At £40 the AndyStand sounds too expensive for what it really is.
I’ve had this Minoura stand for a few years.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/minoura-ds30blt-workstand/
Its cheap, folds flat so it takes up no room and is dead easy to use. I find it ideal for drive train maintenance or just supporting the bike.
“the bottom bracket of most modern bikes”. What a crock. Most bikes don’t have hollowtech/gxp cranks. And those that do often have covers over the end that need a special tool to remove. One you won’t have if this is the stand you are using.
Very dear too. You can get a full workstand from Decathlon for £50, or for £5.99 they do stand, which looks like a coat hanger, that fits under the BB in a couple of seconds. It just raises the rear wheel enough for cleaning, etc and you can do gear work as well. The Halfords and Minoura stands are also cheaper and more versatile.
Full workstand:
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/bike-workstand-53433343/