Don't worry, I haven't given up hiking and backpacking. But I have gotten into cycling this year because it's a fun way to exercise when I can't get up into the mountains or don't have time for a hike. One thing led to another and I've started to maintain and rebuild my own bikes. It's surprisingly easy, what with the help of some enthusiast YouTube videos, and a few friends who are happy to give "advice."
While you don't need a bike repair stand to perform simple maintenance tasks, they're a necessity if you want to do anything more complex or you want to stand up straight while you work. When I work on my bikes, I use a steel Park Tool PCS-10 bike repair stand which has a professional grade clamp capable of rotating 360 degrees and is sturdy enough to hold a 40 pound fat bike without collapsing. Before I got the PCS-10, I used an aluminum Bikehand repair stand, but it's not sturdy enough to hold the weight of a heavy bike and the clamp was much harder to use.
The PCS-10 is sturdier because its legs lock into reinforced slots (with a push-button pin) at the base of the stand instead of the hinged collapsible legs you find on a lot of lighter weight aluminum bike repair stands. Since it's made of steel, it's quite a rigid and heavier-duty stand good for use in a home shop, although a little less portable because it's so heavy (25 lbs.) That's less of a concern for me since I have a fixed space set aside to work on my bikes. It'd be different if I lived in an apartment or had to put my bike tools away every time I worked on a bike.
The PCS-10 also comes with an excellent clamp that's easy to engage one-handed when you hoist a bike onto it, The clamp has a top and bottom channel built into the grip that lets cables brake and shifter pass through, and rotates a full 36 degrees so you can work on the bike from any angle. I find that I can really put some torque on a bike clamped to the stand, like when I'm taking off pedals: it's that solid. It's pretty impressive, especially when I'm working on a heavy fat bike. The PCS-10 is about as close as you can get to a pro bike repair stand but in a model designed for a home mechanic. Highly recommended!
Disclosure: Park tool provided the author with a bike repair stand for this review.
Written 2017.
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