Our choose
This tripod stand has every thing you want: It’s light-weight, sturdy, straightforward to make use of, and simple to place away.
The anodized aluminum Suggestions Sports activities Sport Mechanic Bike Restore Stand is our favourite possibility for most individuals as a result of it’s so frustration-free. It’s extra compact, light-weight, and foldable than different choices, making it straightforward to maneuver and retailer. The clamp design is easy and intuitive, and likewise incorporates a crank which you can flip to open rapidly, so securing a motorcycle doesn’t flip right into a chore, plus the stand is shipped absolutely assembled, not like many who arrive in items that it’s important to bolt collectively.
It additionally comes with complete working directions—a rarity in work stands. Weighing not fairly 13 kilos, it could actually maintain 65 kilos, which is greater than sturdy sufficient for any common bike you’re more likely to work on, and even just a few ebikes.
The clamp head swivels 360 levels (most stands provide that characteristic), however can accommodate smaller seatposts than most of its rivals, as a result of it’s solely 3⅔ inches lengthy high to backside. That’s an enormous deal, as a result of which means regardless of how quick you’re, or how small your bike, you most likely gained’t want to lift your saddle to suit your bike into the stand.
Not that it’s unimaginable to lift a motorcycle seat, it’s simply annoying and time-consuming, and would possibly tempt you to make use of the clamp in your bike’s body as an alternative, which is a foul behavior to get into. “By no means clamp the body—at all times clamp the seatpost,” warned Jon Stynes, former proprietor of San Francisco’s Metropolis+County Bicycle Co and a longtime bike mechanic. “The seatpost is loads cheaper to interchange than the bike should you break it, and moreover, it’s tougher to crush a seatpost, as a result of it’s a smaller diameter than the body.”
One other factor we like about this stand is that it makes use of three legs as an alternative of two to stabilize the load of your bike. The tripod design might be difficult in case your flooring shouldn’t be degree, although. Mine shouldn’t be, so I’ve to watch out to place the stand in order that two of the legs are on the “downhill” aspect. Knob-controlled latches on the bottom and legs allow you to fold the stand for storage, one thing you’ll be able to’t do with any of the home-workshop Park Software stands. (When you’ve got sufficient house in your storage or basement to depart a stand arrange on a regular basis, this won’t matter to you, however many individuals don’t.)
Regardless of this one problem, each single skilled or semipro bike mechanic, rider, or author that we spoke with loves Suggestions’s line of stands—a lot of them mentioning it earlier than we even requested what stand they most well-liked. And after I put the decision out on my bike-commuter e-mail record for suggestions, the (normally limitless) dialogue rapidly got here to settlement on the prevalence of Suggestions’s choices.
Improve choose
A pricier model of our high choose, this stand is slightly sooner to arrange and put away, and it has a “one-hit” clamp launch—helpful for professionals, however overkill for most individuals.
Additionally weighing about 13 kilos, the anodized aluminum Suggestions Sports activities Professional Mechanic Bike Restore Stand prices $175 greater than its Sport Mechanic sibling. What you spend in cash you save in time: This stand makes use of the identical three-legged design, nevertheless it has quick-release levers to fold the stand and a very fashionable (amongst skilled mechanics) “sizzling button” clamp launch.
Hit the large crimson button and the clamp springs open, and you’ll slide the jaws shut onto the seatpost virtually as simply, utilizing a knob to fine-tune the match.
Suggestions Sports activities launched a brand new model of the stand in spring 2023. The jaws, previously fabricated from crimson plastic, at the moment are a extra seatpost-friendly black rubber. The wheel that you simply flip to tighten down the jaws has a deal with now, making it simpler to spin. General, although, the way in which the stand works hasn’t modified a lot. In case your livelihood is determined by working your means by bike after bike—or should you’re a hard-core commuter who rides every single day, rain or shine, and you end up placing your bike within the stand just a few occasions every week—this could possibly be a worthwhile improve.
