The best mountain bike repair work stands make working on your mountain bike a much more comfortable and convenient experience. Whether it’s regular maintenance, installing an upgrade, or fixing a broken part, a decent work stand elevates your bike off the ground to improve access and let you spin the wheels and operate the drivetrain while working on the gears and brakes. And because most home work stands are lightweight and foldable, they don’t take up too much room when not in use.

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1. Feedback Sports Ultimate Pro Elite

Best for committed DIY mechanics

Weight: 6kg | Working height: 1,070-1,800mm | Folded size: 203 x 1,168mm | Max. load: 38.6kg | Rating: 10/10

Reasons to buy:

• Should last years and years
• Sturdy and stable
• Rated for e-bikes

Reasons to avoid:

• OTT for the occasional mechanic

Feedback Sports Ultimate Pro Elite workstand is for any home mechanic serious about looking after their pride and joy. Yes, it’s not cheap, but it will pay you back with years of faithful service; we know this from experience – ours has been going strong for over 20 years. The photo above shows our original stand (circa 2001) and the brand new version. Suffice to say Feedback Sports hasn’t messed around too much with its winning formula.

There’s a nice long main support column that keeps your bike clear of the ground for working on both wheels at a comfortable height. It’s rock-solid thanks to the folding tripod legs and the revised clamp head makes getting your bike secured even easier than the original. Sure, the Ultimate Pro Elite costs a bit more initially, but it will almost certainly prove economical in the long run if you do a lot of DIY maintenance.

Read our full review of the Feedback Sports Ultimate Pro Elite stand

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2. Feedback Sports Recreational Workstand

Best home workstand on a budget

Weight: 6.04kg | Working height: 131cm | Clamp offset: 26cm | Leg footprint: 110cm | Rating: 9/10

Reasons to buy:

• Well-built and durable
• Good working height
• Works with e-bikes

Reasons to avoid:

• Could be easier to fold and unfold
• Not very compact when folded

Like its more expensive stablemate, the Feedback Sports Recreational Workstand has been in service with one of MBR’s staffers for nearly 20 years. As such it’s lived in the corner of a damp shed, being brought into use on a semi-regular basis for all manner of DIY jobs, and is still going strong.

The working height is decent and the clamp easily adjusts to grip onto a dropper post. It’ll hold both wheels clear of the ground and even cope with most e-bikes, remaining stable on a sloping garden. The thru-pin can be tricky to slide into place for folding and the rotating clamp is difficult to torque up, but overall this is a great workstand that’ll probably last a lifetime.

Read our full review of the Feedback Sports Recreational Workstand

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3. Decathlon/B’Twin 500 Bike Workstand

Best workstand under £100

Weight: 4.24kg | Working height: 151cm | Clamp offset: 28cm | Leg footprint: 100cm | Rating: 7/10

Reasons to buy:

• Great value for money (if you use occasionally)
• Good working height

Reasons to avoid:

• Not very stable
• Cheap construction
• Inside pedal can catch on tool tray

Decathlon is always a great source of bargains, and this B’Twin 500 Bike Workstand is no exception. Nothing else will let you get both wheels of your bike off the ground, and ready to work on, for less cash. The working height is really good, too, so it’s a comfortable stand to use.

The tripod base has quite a small footprint, and the copious use of plastic in the construction means it’s not the most stable design and can flex when you’re loosening tight components. Also the clamp is too big to work on the upper tube of a dropper post without some kind of shim. That said, it’s still a bit of a bargain if you own an analogue bike and only do the odd light maintenance at home.

Read our full review of the B’Twin 500 Bike Workstand

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4. Park Tool PCS-10.2 Deluxe Home Mechanic Repair Stand

Dialled workstand from the biggest name in bike tools

Weight: 7.5kg | Working height: 146cm | Clamp offset: 23cm | Leg footprint: 126cm | Rating: 9/10

Reasons to buy:

• Heavy duty
• Good working height
• Quick clamp
• Stable even holding an e-bike

Reasons to avoid:

• Legs can be sticky to fold up
• Head won’t grip a dropper post upper tube
• Heavy to lug around

Park Tool is a trusted name in the bike tool business and it sells a range of different workstands that are popular with pros and home enthusiasts alike. It’s a chunky bit of kit, weighing over 7kg, so not the easiest to carry. But the folding legs are sturdy, even outdoors, and the clamp puts your bike at a comfortable working height.

The angled main upright means there’s plenty of pedal clearance when turning the cranks, and the small tray is useful for holding tools to hand. Our only complaints are relatively minor – the clamp doesn’t grip dropper post upper tubes and the legs don’t fold/slide up easily, but these points have been addressed on the new and improved PCS-10.3 version.

Read our full review of the Park Tool PCS-10.2 Deluxe Home Mechanic Repair Stand.

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5. Granite Design Hex Stand

Best for car park tweaking

Weight: 678g | Rating: 9/10

Reasons to buy:

• Packs down to a small size
• Comes with shims and adapters for most cranksets
• Height adjustable

Reasons to avoid:

• Only works for bikes with hollow axles
• Can be a touch unstable with heavy bikes

Highly portable, the Granite Design Hex stand is designed to take the hassle out of those last-minute pre-ride jobs, wherever you are. Made from strong but light 6061 aluminium, it uses a folding tripod design to retain stability despite the small size and weight. You just flick the quick release on the back of the main strut and slide the two legs downwards. There’s a handy indicator to tell you where to lock the legs in place to make sure they are flat and in a stable position. Then lift up the retainer arm until it slots into place. Obviously you need a bike with a hollow BB axle, and the ground needs to be relatively flat, but the Hex Stand is a great gadget for keeping in the car.

Read our full review of the Granite Design Hex Stand

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What to look for in the best mountain bike workstands:

Having the knowledge and the tools to service and repair your own bike will save you time and money, make your rides more enjoyable, and reward you with a tremendous sense of satisfaction.

There are broadly two types of bike workstand: those that have clamps and those that use some sort of cradle or arm. Don’t be tempted by anything that isn’t a clamp work stand though. Sure, cradle/arm race workstands are cheaper and look like a good idea. But they don’t hold the bike stable enough to be able to work on it accurately.

How does a workstand clamp the bike?

There are numerous different types of clamp design, but the best ones hold the seat post securely (eliminating the chance that you’ll damage any frame tubes), are quick to adjust to different diameters, and sprung-loaded so they can be tightened and released quickly with one hand while you’re holding a heavy bike.

Look for soft rubber-lined jaws and some sort of semi-quick-release function with tighten/loosen lever on it. It needs to open/close quickly with one movement of a lever and then clamp down just enough to hold things just-so whilst you fine-tune the final clamping force. The more squidgy rubber used, the better. It not only prevents cosmetic damage to your bike but it also holds things more securely. Try to avoid really deep/long jaws, as they often don’t fit modern curvy, tight-space full-suspension mountain bike frames very well. Modest jaws with plenty of rubber on them are best.

You also need to make sure the clamp is rotatable so it can hold your bike at different angles. This is really useful when gravity-bleeding disc brakes for example.

Does a workstand take up a lot of space when not in use?

It’s an important question, as unlike most bike shops, most of us don’t have the luxury of a permanent workshop. Luckily all the work stands here are foldable to some degree, although only the more expensive versions tend to telescope in height. We wouldn’t worry too much about speed of assembly/collapse; the key thing here is striking a balance of compactness when stowed away versus stability when in use. Small work stands tend to fall over. And then they go in the bin. Hand-in-hand with foldability is weight. Again, you’ll need a decent budget if you want a stand that’s light, stable and durable.

Are three legs better than two?

When it comes down to the number of legs, we’re big fans of the classic two leg design, where an angled central telescopic column forms the third contact point with the ground and leans forward to place the bike’s centre of gravity in-between the two legs. Workstands with three or four legs may be great for accessing a full 360° around the bike but, in the real world, you rarely need full access and the footprint of the stand can be larger, making it harder to work on the bike in more compact spaces. Far better to have a long two-legged stand with a good clamp that can be quickly and safely repositioned.

Accessories and spares

One of the best things about going with a workstand from one of the established premium brands is the availability of accessories and spares. Not only do these brands’ work stands tend to last a lot longer anyway, but it is great to have the ability to buy replacement jaw pads, QR brackets, rubber feet and accessories like magnetic dishes or part trays that mount on the central column.