Work Stands
Browse used work stands for sale from riders across the UK. A work stand holds the bike at chest height while you index gears, bleed brakes or strip a bottom bracket, and most clamp a round frame tube or seatpost between roughly 25mm and 42mm, while fork-mount designs hold the bike by the dropouts instead. Load ratings tend to sit around 20kg to 30kg, which matters if you are working on an e-bike.
What should a work stand actually hold?
The clamp wants a round, parallel section of tube: an alloy seatpost, a seat tube, or a chainstay on some designs. Rigidity is what you are paying for, because a stand that flexes turns a fine gear adjustment into guesswork and makes a stuck bottom bracket feel like it is moving when it is not. Height range and how far the clamp rotates decide whether you can get the bike into a comfortable position for underside work.
Portable or fixed — which type?
Folding tripods like the Feedback Sports Pro Elite or Park Tool PCS-10 pack down and come to races; see portable work stands for those. Bench-mount and bolt-down stands are stiffer, take rougher treatment and never wander across the floor, which is what fixed work stands covers. Space and whether you own the wall usually settle it.
Will it clamp a carbon frame or an aero seatpost?
Clamping carbon tubes or a shaped aero post directly risks crushing them, and the frame is far more expensive than the stand. The usual answers are a cheap round alloy dummy seatpost slid in for clamping, or a fork-mount stand such as the Feedback Sports Sprint, which holds the bike by the dropouts and bottom bracket shell and touches no frame tube at all. Aero and D-shaped posts effectively rule out the clamp approach.
What wears out on a used work stand?
Check the jaw covers for perished, hardened or torn rubber, then clamp something and lean on it to see if the cam still holds. Work the height collar with weight on it, because a slipping quick-release is the common fault and the dangerous one. Look also for bent or oval main tubes, stripped plastic knob threads, missing rubber feet and play where the clamp head meets the mast.
What is a used work stand worth?
Well-made stands hold their value, and a complete one in working order at roughly half to two-thirds of new is a reasonable trade. A perished jaw cover is a cheap fix if spares exist for that clamp; a stripped collar or bent mast usually is not. Buy new if you are servicing heavy e-bikes and need a stated load rating you can rely on.