Review: Review: SCICON Bike Repair Stand

When the days become longer, and the evenings warmer, thoughts turn to more protracted bike maintenance. No longer happy to just spray the bike with water and then with lube, now’s the time to get those trickier tasks sorted.

Working at WyndyMilla I was spoilt by having an awesome mechanic deal with any bike related issues I created (of which there were many) and the key thing that came up in our discussions was the importance of a solid maintenance stand – enter the Scicon Bike Stand.

With 4 solid feet and a chunky weight to it, Scicon have produced a most excellent stand for the home mechanic  – and if truth be told, it’s of a similar construction to the one in the WyndyMilla workshop.

I’ve been using it now for several months, and in that time it’s been used for everything from general cleaning, to spray painting. It’s been left outside accidentally, having it’s seen some serious rain, and it is absolutely rock solid.

I’ve realised now that the word solid has appeared twice in two paragraphs, and the sums up the stand to a ‘T’, it is an excellent workhorse!

The stand has a good clamping action, achieved through a rubberised quick-release, which rotates through every conceivable angle – and with a simple tightening action you can hold the bike steady at a variety of angles to work at it however suits you.

The well-spread feet can take up some serious floor-space if you desire, but they do also provide the stability that is required, and welcome!

It’s possible to change the height of the bike, as well as the position away from the stand, and the clamping angle, meaning it can cater for pretty much any frame type (might struggle with a tandem though!), so you can work at the height that suits you.

When not in use (and not forgotten outside) the whole stand folds down well, required a 6” square amount of floorspace and about 2’ of space above it – I store mine next to the washing machine in the utility room.

A simple segmented tool tray affixes to the stand to hold your commonly used tools/sprays which is a welcome touch.

What are the benefits of a work stand such as this? For one, the bike is a whole lot easier to maintain! rather than wall-leaning and lifting the saddle if you want to move the pedals you have free access to the bike, and it makes a massive difference!

I find I clean and look after the bikes a whole lot more now, it’s not so much of a chore as it felt before. And that’s a good thing as it cuts down on my component wear because i’m a bit more diligent.

I think it also helps me to not cut corners with maintenance, because the bike is in the stand I spend more time on it, focussing on getting the details right, instead of wanting to head back in to the house.

In conclusion, should you get the Scicon stand? It’s a sturdy bit of kit, which makes fettling a whole lot easier, and helps keep the bikes running cleaner and smoother, and while it may not be cheap, it’s by no means the most expensive, and it probably works out around the price of a Gold service at your LBS.

It’s worth treating the bike in your life!