From when my slight obsession began I’ve always had bikes in the house and I’ve always propped them up against the wall. Not an ideal way, often damaging walls or ending up with bikes falling over with parts damaged.
I invested in my first bike stand when I lived in the city centre of Leeds. I’d seen the stands used at shows and in shops so thought they must be the best on the market. At the time I had no idea how heavy and impractical they were and on further investigation there weren’t a great deal of options available either. The stands that were on offer did the job but didn’t serve any other purpose then to prop the bike up (not even all that stable).
Steve from Od-Designs introduced me to the TrackStand a few weeks ago and suggested I try it out as an alternative to the stand I’d been using in the past.
First impressions.
It’s so light compared to my original stand! At 720 grams against my other 2KG stand it’s cutting more then half the original weight off.
Beyond the weight, my main bug bear with the later stand was the fact it was so bulky. Unless it’s under a bed it’s not the easiest item to stow away.
The TrackStand folds up in to a tidy compact unit that can be stored in side or out very easily.
At first I was skeptical about how usable it would be as a stand to do minor maintenance. I don’t have a power washer to test it’s stability so a bucket and soapy water had to suffice! None the less I was pleasantly surprised, the bike didn’t budge and I was able to wash, dry and lube the bike without any concerns of it falling over.
Because the rear wheel is hoisted up it means you can spin the cranks and align the gears or lube the chain, something I couldn’t do on my previous stand. And whilst this stand doesn’t market itself as a workshop stand it works out as a ‘half way house’ between the bigger clunky maintenance stands and heavy single use conventional stands.
Overall I’m super impressed with this product. I only tried it with one bike but Steve also mentioned the ability to add more stands attaching one stand to another. Makes displaying bikes or even propping all your bikes up safely in garage much easier!
The TrackStand is a compact, lightweight and multi-functional bike stand for all cyclists, one I’d recommend strongly!
Od Designs have just launched a Kickstarter project in order to obtain the funding for material costs & to get this fantastic product to market – check out his Kickstart project here!