Bike repair stand/rack/clamp?

Al k

New Member
My RT 750 is supposed to be delivered Monday or Tuesday. I think I am ready. I have the basics, ie helmet, mirror. locking cable (I will probably also purchase a u bolt lock), air pump, emergency repair kit/tools and hitch rack w/ramp (thanks for that advice sic puppy). I also have some Tuffy tube protectors coming from Amazon. This will probably be a bottomless pit but I am excited. My question is - What do you folks do for a bike repair stand/ rack/clamp? I see a lot of them on Amazon but none I see say anything about being strong enough to support an electric fat tire bike. I guess I could just flip it over but it seems like it would be easier if it were lifted off the floor in an upright position.
 
I bought a Park Tool PCS-4 stand which has a weight capacity of 100lbs.
I bought the Park tool PCS-4 as well...after buying a cheapo $85 tripod stand that I could not apply any torque on bolt without tipping. It pretty much fell apart after three months. Lesson learned.

Given how heavy my bike is, I still have a hard time getting the bike up into the stand safely and without strain. More often than not, I ask my wife to help clamping the bike into the jaws while I lift the bike and hold it in place.

Given that I am now maintaining four ebikes, with a bike in the stand at least three time per week and ride an average of over 600 miles per month, I bit the bullet and ordered the EVT (Efficient Velo Tools) EZ lift Repair Stand.

The EVT stand is made start to finish in Portland, Oregon. It sits on a steel base plate that weights 112 lbs. The clamp slides up and down on a 7 foot pole with a counterweight hidden inside. You clamp the bike to the stand while the bike is on the floor and lift it up with up to a 30 lb. a counter weight on a pully make lifiting smooth and easy. When the EVT Easy lift arrives I will have a good deal for someone on the ParkTool. The EVT is expensive but way less so than dealing with some injury from the physcial strain or damage to a bike that might result from lifting a heavy (and costly) ebike with one hand while clamping it into a stand with the other.

https://www.efficientvelo.com/tools/ez-lift-repair-stand

ez-for-web.jpg
EZ4.jpg
 
I posted this in a similar thread recently but will repost.

I spoke to Park Tool about this a few months ago and they recommended to me their entry level shop stand, the PRS 3-2.2, for eBikes.

For a cheaper, home stand option, the PCS 10.2 is recommended over all of their other home stands for an eBike.

They said the tripod design of the PCS 10.2 is more stable than the leg design of the PCS 4-2.

Surprisingly, they also said the PCS 10.2 (rated to hold 80 pound) is preferably for heavy eBikes over the more expensive PRS - 25 (rated to hold 100 pounds ). This is because the PCS 10.2 is made out of steel tubes, and the PRS-25 is made out of lighter weight materials. Since the weight of the eBike is not centered, the stronger tubing of the PCS 10.2 is more stable and the preferred option for eBikes.

eMtb magazine speaks highly of Park Tool stands


The thing that concerns me is whether it is ok to clamp to the dropper post on my eMTB.
 
I am going to hold off on the maintenance rack until I get the bike. Looking at u-tube clicked my pea-brain into thinking "Ya, know you have that deer skinning hoist set up in the garage🤔".

I'm wondering if I couldn't use a series of soft straps (got plenty of them) to fashion a sling that will hoist the bike up to various levels to work on? Stay tuned🙄
 
Given that I am now maintaining four ebikes, with a bike in the stand at least three time per week and ride an average of over 600 miles per month, I bit the bullet and ordered the EVT (Efficient Velo Tools) EZ lift Repair Stand.

Followed the link and saw the $500 thinking "that's pretty expensive" and then quickly realized that that was just a deposit and that gives you a spot in their order Que.

That's a nice stand. I got my Park Tool stand cheap on Ebay from someone like you making the upgrade move. 🙂
 
Followed the link and saw the $500 thinking "that's pretty expensive" and then quickly realized that that was just a deposit and that gives you a spot in their order Que.

That's a nice stand. I got my Park Tool stand cheap on Ebay from someone like you making the upgrade move. 🙂
Hopefully at the end of February, there will be another like you. I really don't want to ship it, so I'll try Craigslist.
 
Saw this, it looks like it fits the bill for lite maintenance

 
I bought the Park Tool PCS 10 and it works well but the bike is pretty heavy and a little difficult to lift and attach to the stand, so, I purchased a Harbor Freight 1/4 ton manual chain hoist. As long as you have an overhead beam of some sort that is high enough the hoist can be suspended from it. Then with one or two lifting straps you can easily hoist the bike to a comfortable working position. Through various means the bike can be secured so it does not move around (much) and you can buy or make something to keep the handlebar from turning. You could also buy an electric chain hoist if you want to spend the extra money.
 
I bought the Park Tool PCS 10 and it works well but the bike is pretty heavy and a little difficult to lift and attach to the stand, so, I purchased a Harbor Freight 1/4 ton manual chain hoist. As long as you have an overhead beam of some sort that is high enough the hoist can be suspended from it. Then with one or two lifting straps you can easily hoist the bike to a comfortable working position. Through various means the bike can be secured so it does not move around (much) and you can buy or make something to keep the handlebar from turning. You could also buy an electric chain hoist if you want to spend the extra money.

I have a Park PCS-10 as well. You don't have to lift the entire bike. A milk crate and a bungee are all you need. The trick is to lift just the front of the bike and set the wheel on the milk crate. Attach the clamp, remove the crate and pivot the bike up off the floor. I use the bungee to keep the wheel from turning.

I work on my bikes frequently and to save time & floor space setting up the PCS-10, I bought the Park PRS-4W:
45085

It clamps to the leg of my work bench and the clamp head is easily removed from the mounting bracket when not is use.
 
I bought the Park tool PCS-4 as well...after buying a cheapo $85 tripod stand that I could not apply any torque on bolt without tipping. It pretty much fell apart after three months. Lesson learned.

Given how heavy my bike is, I still have a hard time getting the bike up into the stand safely and without strain. More often than not, I ask my wife to help clamping the bike into the jaws while I lift the bike and hold it in place.

Given that I am now maintaining four ebikes, with a bike in the stand at least three time per week and ride an average of over 600 miles per month, I bit the bullet and ordered the EVT (Efficient Velo Tools) EZ lift Repair Stand.

The EVT stand is made start to finish in Portland, Oregon. It sits on a steel base plate that weights 112 lbs. The clamp slides up and down on a 7 foot pole with a counterweight hidden inside. You clamp the bike to the stand while the bike is on the floor and lift it up with up to a 30 lb. a counter weight on a pully make lifiting smooth and easy. When the EVT Easy lift arrives I will have a good deal for someone on the ParkTool. The EVT is expensive but way less so than dealing with some injury from the physcial strain or damage to a bike that might result from lifting a heavy (and costly) ebike with one hand while clamping it into a stand with the other.

https://www.efficientvelo.com/tools/ez-lift-repair-stand

ez-for-web.jpg
EZ4.jpg
I bought the Park tool PCS-4 as well...after buying a cheapo $85 tripod stand that I could not apply any torque on bolt without tipping. It pretty much fell apart after three months. Lesson learned.

Given how heavy my bike is, I still have a hard time getting the bike up into the stand safely and without strain. More often than not, I ask my wife to help clamping the bike into the jaws while I lift the bike and hold it in place.

Given that I am now maintaining four ebikes, with a bike in the stand at least three time per week and ride an average of over 600 miles per month, I bit the bullet and ordered the EVT (Efficient Velo Tools) EZ lift Repair Stand.

The EVT stand is made start to finish in Portland, Oregon. It sits on a steel base plate that weights 112 lbs. The clamp slides up and down on a 7 foot pole with a counterweight hidden inside. You clamp the bike to the stand while the bike is on the floor and lift it up with up to a 30 lb. a counter weight on a pully make lifiting smooth and easy. When the EVT Easy lift arrives I will have a good deal for someone on the ParkTool. The EVT is expensive but way less so than dealing with some injury from the physcial strain or damage to a bike that might result from lifting a heavy (and costly) ebike with one hand while clamping it into a stand with the other.

https://www.efficientvelo.com/tools/ez-lift-repair-stand

ez-for-web.jpg
EZ4.jpg

[Hi Alaskan,
You might be interested in this item from Harbor Freight: https://www.harborfreight.com/1-ton-capacity-foldable-shop-crane-61858.html.
I have actual hands-on experience with this fold-up crane, thanks to a 74 year old, 6'3", 250 pound VietNam vet neighbor who has a propensity to occasionally lose the feeling in his legs and collapse onto the floor. His 84 year old brother is only 5'5" tall and 120 pounds, thus he cannot lift/assist his large brother in getting up and onto a chair. I encounter these two gents courtesy of an EMS unit that had to be called upon to raise the fallen fella. The EMS folks were very nice, but they also inferred that these visits could not be a regular thing-- assisted care living would be their eventual solution. I am 68 years old, weigh 185 pounds, and there is no way that I'm gonna take a chance of screwing my own self up while trying to assist dead-weight Big Guy up onto a chair.
Anyway, I chatted with the brothers and we formed a thought in regards to the matter. This most excellent fold-up crane was the result. There is a Harbor Freight store a few miles away, so we went over to check out the floor display. Needless to say a remedy to their "lifting" problem was a done deal-- a 4" fat tire from my ebike, its' inflated inner tube, and a large 10" Harbor Freight clamp rounded out the contraption. While horizontal (on the floor) he could be shimmied up thru the tire and, with his upper body/arms thru the tire, be lifted perfecto-amundo. And, hey, it worked out great.
I assembled the crane and, thanks to a timely visit to the local VA hospital by those fella's, I was able to dink around with this crane for 2 days in my condo.
It folds up/collapses to an area the size of your ebikes handlebars squared. Also, if you have a garage wall, etc. to store it next to, you can leave one leg down and locked while the other leg is folded up out of the way. The only "down side" to this unit is that the ebike will swivel on the chain. However, that can very easily be rectified by thinking outside the box in the form of fabricating a fixed bar-type bracket to mount onto the square top boom and then onto which the ebike frame can be secured-- no need to even use the seatpost as your clamping location. In addition, the handlebars can be used as an additional mounting /support location just by using bungee cords/ web straps thrown over the top bar of the crane.
This crane is a quality item. The only downside is that Harbor Freight does NOT offer shipping, so you either need to live near a store or be willing to order another similar brand (ship-able) off the internet.



/QUOTE]
 
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