List Price: $129.95
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As others have said here, the weak point in this stand is the clamp connectors that lock the stand in place. The description is misleading in suggesting you can lock this stand in any position, as you can with higher priced stands. The problem is that the plastic connectors just are not up to the task of supporting the weight of an average bike in an UNBALANCED position. You will likely never get them tight enough to support an unbalanced bike without breaking them, however, there is what I believe to be a flaw in the assembly process that might result in a better working stand if you tend to it first.
Here is what you need to look at: BEFORE YOU USE THE STAND, loosen the bolt that holds the main clamp to its tube and remove the clamp. When you do, you will see there is a notch in the end of the aluminum tube, and inside the clamp there is a tab that is supposed to line up with the notch and go into it. I question whether or not this tab and notch are lined up with each other when the stands are boxed up. I don't know if it will work any better if they are, since I had already damaged mine by using the stand, but it seems obvious that is the way it should be. I drilled a hole where the tab used to be in mine and inserted a screw into it so that it would key into the notch, and it greatly improved the stability of the stand.
That being said, this stand will never hold an unbalanced bike without slipping long-term. Higher priced stands use clamps that are metal on metal, or they are geared or keyed to accomplish this. In practice, the rotating clamps on this stand are only good for changing the angle of the clamp to fit the tube you are trying to put it on. You will need to find the balance point of the bike for whatever angle you want it to sit at, and then clamp it down. I doubt you could use this stand to do something like clamp the bike upside-down from the top tube. Just ain't gonna happen.
But most of the time you will have the bike straight to work on it anyway, and for that it seems quite stable. The legs are wide and stable, and under normal use I don't see it falling over.
One other small annoyance: If you are to believe the instructions, it says to leave at least 3 inches of the top tube exposed on either side of the clamp, or it could become unstable. The problem I have found with this is that if you do it that way, it doesn't always leave you enough room to rotate the pedals without hitting the main bar of the stand, a problem solved on other stands by using an angled main bar. So far I have chosen to ignore this rule, without incident, but we'll see how that goes.
I'm giving the stand a 3 out of 5 mostly because the advertising leads you to believe it can do much more than it actually can. I bought it expecting this after reading the reviews, and I think it will do what I want while spending what I was comfortable spending. Make sure you take that into consideration, and consider saving up the extra bucks if you're going to use a stand a lot, or if you need it to do things that defy gravity.
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As one of the other reviewers on here mentions, the most important part of the stand (the clamp that holds your bike) attaches to the base via a set of very weak, very flimsy, plastic tabs. Even when at their tightest, the bike is able to rotate freely if not perfectly balanced on the clamp. I made the mistake of over-tightening just a little bit, because it was proving impossible to make adjustments to the bike with it rotating at the slightest touch, and ended up driving the allen head bolt through the tabs, rendering the entire stand (even more) useless. Without the bolt there to keep the tabs together, the clamp that holds your bike to the base of the stand FALLS OFF.In an attempt to salvage the stand, I went to Lowe's and bought a pair of face clamps, but no matter how hard you clamp the plastic tabs together, the bike STILL rotates. At least now it doesn't fall off the stand.
This is the worst kind of cheap junk. Spend an extra $50 and get a spin doctor. Or flip the bike on its seat and handlebar.
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well... the darn thing looks solid. It sets up fast and it will hold a bike without any fear of tipping/falling. It is easy enough to use without a helper....Unfortunately it fails in 1 important field. The clamp is attached to the metal arm with a bolt inserted into plastic tabs that squeeze it onto the pole. The clamp on my unit came loose immediately. I tried to tighten the bolt with the included allen wrench (by hand)... The bolt slipped through the plastic tabs with very little pressure, and will no longer fit in the larger sized hole left by the damage. The clamp now slips of the pole freely. Lame.
I noticed, however, with the clamp removed and the arm exposed,that there are predrilled holes in the arm. I believe I can drill through the hard plastic clamp (carefully) and firmly secure it with a bolt going through both the clamp and pole. Of course, this sort of modification should be unnecessary, but I have the idea that this piece of crap would be improved with the makeover. Unfortunately, the way the arm is fixed to the stand is with the same sort of plastic tab/bolt contraption that immediately failed on the clamp... so no doubt I will also be drilling holes to hold this tighter as well.
The only reason this piece of crap got 2 stars is because I believe with some slight modification, this will be a great stand. Like I said before it is sturdy/solid, and for the price that is something...i guess.
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