Much better than the Park PCS-10
very beefy
easy setup
the clamp! It's awesome!
it's pretty too

pricey but you get what you pay for

What do you want a good stand to do? hold the bike well, adjust height and angle easily, allow you to work on either side of the bike, not fall over, right? This does that while the Park does not.
The clamp is extra nice in how easily you release it, just whack the release with your palm while holding the bike and it let's go completely, no turning knobs.
In 4 years, I've had to adjust the 2 clamps on the frame once.

Similar Products Used:

PCS-10 (sold it)

Light, strong, clamp is solid, highly adustable, high quality, folds up nicely and easily. Great product and a must have for the home mechanic.

None that I can think of.

Clamp is awesome. Nice strong and adjustable. The stand is high quality through and through. Can't really say anything bad about it. Its exactly what I thought I paid for and then some. Some of Park Tools are good but some are just garbage and their stands just blow IMO. Don't waste your money and go with the Pro Elite.

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Park PCS 9-complete pile of junk and waste of money. Made me appreciate the Ultimate Pro even more having owned a complete pile of garbage Park.

stable

after 14 months, it broke.

The bike worked well for a year. Now it won't tighten down to hold a bike. This happened to my buddies ultimate classic as well. I can't get any support either. It seems that ultimate split their music stands from their bike stands. The new support for the bike stands is awful.
Personally, I liked the stand at first, but now, I just want to fix it and sell it, only because of the lack of support.

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Park, Blackburn

smooth operation, extremely stout yet lightweight. locking and clamping mechanisms are top notch. folds into very manageable size for transport. one of the few out there hefty enough to hold a 50lb DH bike with ease.

can't think of one. this is perfect.

Super easy to set up and break down for transport. came with a heavy duty tote bag. big fat pipes (pictures I've seen online don't do it justice). the every moving part works like butter. basically one-handed operation. it's pricey, but 5 chilis on value because if you work on bikes this stand is worth double the $240 retail price. there should be 20 flaming chilis for this one.

Similar Products Used:

none

Looks like heavy duty military artillery on steriods, and holds my 40 pound Yeti ASX like its a carbon fiber roadie bike. Very fast clamp which ratches shut and spin a few times to clamp. Push botton release is a very nice touch. Wide tripod. Looks bigtime set up in my garage.

Opening tripod takes getting use to. Trick I finally figured out is toleave legs partially open in one direction. Gotta work straddling a leg for best stablility

Man, all my friends have gotten these stands over the last few years and I've been using theirs when camping and hitting Moab. I had parks PCS-5 pro and was tired of the heavy bike sag syndrome. So they spoiled me bastads using their so much! I got the newest Elite model which makes a sweet Pro stand even better. The clamp head opens wide so I can clamp pretty much any part of my asx. Holds my 40pounder easy. Super soft jaws really grip. Tripod base opens super wide and is high quality red bling anodized better than many bikes. Easy to wipe down after washing your bike. Looks great.

This one is the best, trust me. if you are looking you should save yourself some time. I can't say enough good things about aspirevelotech.com, they had really good prices and free shipping with great tracking/email follow up information.

Similar Products Used:

Ultimate Pro, Park PRS-5, Pedro's Race Stand

The Pro Elite stand is relatively lightweight, fairly portable, and extremely durable. The new clamping mechanism is easier to operate and jaws are a little shorter than the previous generation of Ultimate stand, which makes it great for clamping bikes with very little seatpost exposed in the frame. Also the stability of the tripod and the length and shape of the clamping head will allow you to put awkward bikes, like recumbents, tandems, or tri-bikes onto the stand.

When Ultimate first started to make bicycle work stands, they powdercoated them, which I liked because I could match it to our technical suppport teams. Now red is the only color, it's okay because it is easily identifiable. I also wish a hard case was available for my stand for those times when I have to fly into an event. This stand is one of the most important pieces of equipment I use to do my job and I cannot afford to get it damaged by the luggage gorillas at airports. Besided I truly value all the tools I use in my job.

For nearly 10 years now, I have worked for Shimano's Multi-Service Technical Support Program, and I have worked with the US National Team and other teams before that. Even before going onto the race circuit professionally, I too worked in bike shops. Way back when I was already using the Ultimate stands. In fact, my first workstand I purchased over 12 years ago is still in great working order. That's durability for you.
Now Shimano's Multi-Service Program exclusively uses the Ultimate Pro Elite workstands at all our events. The new stand is definitely an improvement on the earlier generations, and has proven just as durable. We at Shimano support over 75 events a year, road and mtb races, cycling tours and festivals. We perform quite a bit of bicycle services every year, on all kinds of bikes, all kinds of bicycle work, and the Ultimate Support Stands continue to be a solid performing tool of our trade. Thanks to Ultimate and the Pro Elite Workstand, Shimano Multi-Service is able to better do our job of supporting the world's finest bicycle componentry.
I want to also say Ultimate does not supply us our workstands. Shimano Multi-Service chooses to use Ultimate Support Stands and we purchase them just like everyone else.
Whether you are a Professional Mechanic or just a consumer who likes to work on bicycles, the ease of use and quality, of the Ultimate Pro Elite stand will allow you to perform the work you need to do.

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In the past I have used the Park Professional workstand and the Park portable workstand. The Park Pro stand is obviously too heavy to be truly portable and its height adjustment is too cumbersome. The portable stand is still quite heavy and requires some assembly, plus DH bikes sometimes caused the stand to topple over.

holds everything from 15lb. road bikes to 50lb. DH rigs. Can do everything from lubing chain to removing stubborn BB's. Love the quick release of the new style clamps.

the cam to lock the height of the stand can sometimes come loose causing the bike to slide down, but this is an easy fix.

Best stand out there bar none. If you want light weight, portability, and a stand that takes a beating yet still holds onto your trusty steed, ulitimate is the one. Ultimate is the only choice out there in my opinion.

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Tried them all from park to ultimate look alikes. Nothing compares

Review w/ pics in Tooltime forum: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=202942

- Portable & relatively lightweight
- Stable
- Holds bike at wierd angles
- Great height adjustment
- Some serious bike goo-gaw for a few extra bones
_

- Surface oxidation developed on heads of leg screws
- A little sticky to fold down legs at times
- A touch pricy in trade for some seriously cool bike geekdom
- Soooo close to 5-chili perfection!!!
_

In my mtbr review of the Ultimate BRS-70 Consumer modelI posted, I stated, “I've been working on bikes for (years) — upside-down bikes, bikes hanging on ropes rigged to the ceiling, bikes supported by milk crates, bikes leaning up against the wall, and bikes laying on the lawn. But — for the life of me — I don't know how I got along so long without a workstand."

I've been 100% satisfied with my Consumer model, but this winter I came across a deal I couldn't pass up on what is essentially a Pro Elite. Specifically, a BRS-80 Pro tripod retrofitted with a Pro-Elite head.

The fact of it is, Ultimate's tripod design isn't just good on the garage floor – it's great on the uneven surfaces of the unimproved basement where I sometimes work, it's great at the campsite, it's great at the trail head, and it's great on the backyard lawn come bike wash day. As long as the surface is reasonably level, it does its job holding the bike stable without any back and forth rocking or instability.

The Pro-Elite clamping head is an entirely different story.

Press the clamp closed with light finger pressure (remember, you're holding a 30-40+ pound bike in your other hand!), and the clamp's luscious red lips gingerly close on the frame. A twist or two of the well-designed spinner knob seals the deal, and the bike is held firmly in place. These jaws will delicately handle tubing as large at 2.5" in diameter..

It didn't escape me that the jaws have been reduced to 3" in height – a touch more than one-half inch shorter than previous models – making it convenient to work on bikes with little bare seatpost exposed (Thudbuster users take note!).

When work is finished, release is a breeze. With one hand, supporting the weight of the bike just enough to unload the clamp, a firm press of the Pro Elite's release trigger sends the clamp flying open with gusto. Ziinnnngggg and presto, a quarter second later the bike is free! No unscrewing of the spinner knob is required. Talking to the Ultimate rep, I was informed the clamp testing was halted at 75,000 cycles – roughly equating it to 8 years of daily use in a bike shop.

The stand is stout enough to withstand the forces of bottom bracket and headset cup removal, and in fact the increased tripod base diameter is noticeable in greater stability. The Pro Elite head is capable of holding some pretty odd angles through 360° of rotation. This is great for getting the ass-end of the frame up in the air for some disc brake work, or getting the business end of the head tube facing full-forward for a steering damper installation.

The “clutch" that allows this is a simple roller bearing sandwich. This allows easy rotation to occur without the clutch tightening (or loosening) on itself, and when the “screws are turned" – so to speak – the bike is held securely at whatever weird angle one desires. In fact, the stand is rated at 85 pounds, and is tandem rated. My heaviest bike is 35 pounds, but I've seen this standing handling 45+ DH rigs with ease in the race pits.

The stand folds down rather compactly. In the past I've compared these beasts to camera tripods on steroids, and I'm not far off the mark. Very easy to stash out of the way at home, or in the trunk of the car if necessary. Folded length is approximately 46”.

I've got two criticisms of the Pro tripod, neither of which were problems with my Consumer version. Most noteworthy is the tripod legs can be a bit “sticky" to extend when fully folded. I've resorted to turning the stand upside-down, and pulling the legs apart like chicken wishbones. If I store the stand with the legs slightly askew, this doesn't tend to be a problem. Secondly, I'm a little disappointed that the screws which fasten the tripod leg braces to the bottom of the stand quickly developed surface oxidation. A integral part of any home repair stand is bike washes, and these fasteners, unfortunately, didn't meet the challenge. Much like the heads of brake & shift levers that develop a slight coating of rust, I expect this is cosmetic only and doesn't affect the integrity of the piece.

Similar Products Used:

- Ultimate BRS-70 Consumer Repair Stand
- Performance Spin Doctor Essential (Minora ironing board style)
- Milk crates

Red anodized tripod, glass-polycarb fittings are stiff (not nylon), short jaws fit in tight spaces, ability to clamp any bike, new clamp head fast - very fast!

I got my first Ultimate stand in 1996, at the time no one made anything close. Back then, I could not believe the functionality given the weight, as mechanics tend to go for things that are a little overbuilt. Despite my skepticism, the stand kept going and performing 100%, earning my trust. My stand has seen 50+ pound downhill bikes, powerwashing on cyclocross rigs and daily washing of thousands of road bikes over the course of the last 10 years. No issues, ever. Just reliable performance. I hate to think how many of my other bicycle tools that I have had to replace in the same time period.

So I heard that Ultimate had a new stand, with an improved clamp - the new Pro-Elite. Despite that fact that my older stand was still working 100%, I decided to splurge and get a new one. It could not be a bad investment given the service life of the older one. I got my Pro-Elite stand just in time for a two week trip to Montreal and Philadelphia with the #1 UCI women’s team: Equipe Nurnberger.

Right off the plane and I am working on the current world champ’s bike. The new three prong knobs make it easier to clamp the bike and articulate the stand. With one hand I can positively clamp and release the bike, the new quick-release clamp works in both directions. I can have one hand on the frame at all times to ensure that I am in control of the bike, and work all the functions of the clamp with the other. Amazing, all the reliability of my old stand and now easier to manipulate.

Wrenching on race bikes is hard enough work; I like tools that I can trust unconditionally. Some people say that you really want a certain stand for at home and another stand for travel, etc. I don’t buy it. The Ultimate Pro-Elite is the best stand regardless of where you use it. Why compromise and use anything else? I won’t, and for that reason you will never find me working on anything else but an Ultimate stand. Solid.

Chris Davidson
Current - Shimano Multi-Service, USACycling Women’s Development Program

Ex - Equipe Nurnberger, TMobile, Pedros Racing Service, Mercury, Bontrager Racing Service, Mavic Service Course

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Pretty much everything. I've been around the block being a Pro Cycling mechanic so I know what works.

super stable tripod
clamp
impressivly easy setup and fold down workstand

upright

The tripod in my opinion is simply a work of art. The clamp is great to work with. Unfortunately joining the the clamp and tripod is a hopelessly inadequate upright. The upright needs to be at least 50% stiffer. So we're talking allot stiffer. I felt very unsatisfied working with such a flexible upright. Returned the product, and am now fully satisfied with the more expensive but superior Park PRS 15.

Similar Products Used:

park prs15