Simplify Bike Maintenance with Feedback Sports Classic Repair Stand

When I bought the Feedback Sports Classic Repair Stand back in 2012 I had just recently moved to Colorado and was newly working at my first real job out of college. So, essentially I was broke.

Even so I still confidently swiped my credit card even if I knew that the transaction wouldn’t be paid off for another few weeks. I’m not bringing this up because I think this repair stand is expensive. No, I’m saying this because even as a broke, newly inducted ‘adult’, buying this stand was worth incurring some debt and eating noodles.

During my final years in college I worked at a bike shop that used the Pro Elite Commercial Clamps. I had become a bit spoiled taking my personal ride into the shop and working on it during lunch or after hours. I was only there part time though, so when I wasn’t working my at-home setup consisted of only hand tools. To work on it in any meaningful way I would either flip it over or hang it from a tree in the yard at my parents house.

My bike at the time had Avid brakes and if you’ve ridden older Avids you know that if you ever flip your bike over those brakes won’t be working until you pump the level a number of times to get the fluid re-situated in it’s rightful spot. And I know I could have bled the lines, but I didn’t have a full time work stand, remember?

Coming to Colorado my main objective was to ride my bike as much as possible. Riding a lot means more maintenance, so I knew it was time to invest in a work stand. Having had experience with Feedback already I didn’t really spend too much time researching alternatives. Park Tool has a lineup of repair stands, but I’m not a fan of their clamp system. When I have used theirs it’s a pain if you have multiple bikes since you’ll have to re-adjust the clamp pressure for each individual post. With the Feedback models the process is exactly the same no matter the bike.

Using the Feedback Sports Classic Bike Repair Stand

Getting a proper repair stand is a game changer. It is single handedly one of the best purchases I have made for working on my own bike and means there are a lot of things I can do on my own instead of taking my bike to a shop.

With a bicycle repair stand, your bike gets lifted to your preferred height so you don’t have to hunch over or sit on the ground to do any repairs. The clamp arm is then long enough to allow you to pedal the bike while it is being securely held in place. To rotate the bike so that one end is higher than the other there is a knob on the back of the clamp that can be adjusted, allowing you to swing it one way or another. With those simple adjustments you can easily reach every part you need.

With the Classic stand being a portable unit it is also very quick to set-up or take down. This means that for almost anything I need to do on my bike, no matter how small of a task it is, I’ll likely set up the stand and put the bike in it. For the penalty of maybe 15 seconds it’s way easier to work with the bike secured and in an elevated position than trying to save some time and lean it against a wall.

One Tip on the Classic Stand Setup:
The Feedback Classic Stand has three legs. When opened, there should be one leg pointing directly at you with the other two legs pointing away. This is so the bike won’t tip towards you. If there was one leg pointing directly away from you and the other two were pointing ‘around’ you, if you will, the stand and your bike would have a tendency to fall towards you, where there is no direct structural support.

Classic Bike Stand Durability

The Classic Stand and I have spent a solid 7 years together at this point. It’s been with me through 5 residences, 2 cities, 3 jobs and all sorts of other milestones. You would think with that kind of history there’d be a little romance.

Instead, it gets tossed in the trunk of my car, leaned up in the corner of the garage (or used as a doorstop), and generally abused when in use at home, at the trailhead, or wherever else I take it. Come summer it gets repeatedly hosed down during bike washes and if I’m honest I’m not too shy about folding it back up soaking wet.

Even through all of this it still works as expected about 95% of the time. Sometimes the clamp gets a little stuck, but the legs fold and unfold without much effort and when I get it out to work on the bikes it’s something I don’t need to fuss with before getting started.

Amazingly the red anodization has also held up really well as have the other components of the stand. When it is clean I’d take some convincing to get someone to believe it’s as old as it is.

About that clamp though. Feedback has two types; the Slide Lock Clamp, which I have, and the Speed Release Clamp. The slide lock has a knob at the end that allows the sliding of the clamp to lock or unlock. Rotate left and you can then slide the clamp open or closed. Rotate right, and it’ll lock the clamp. Tightening to the right also lets you cinch up a bike if it’s in the stand and the clamp is closed.

The Speed Release works in a similar fashion, but uses a ratchet system to close the clamp and hold tension. To tighten or loosen you can rotate the knob as well. Then, to release the clamp, there’s a large button you push and it snaps open.

The issue I have is that sometimes the clamp doesn’t hold tension when I close it on a seatpost and when I attempt to snug it down the knob feels locked. I’ll end up having to loosen it, re-clamp it, then snug it down. Alternatively, it occasionally sticks when trying to open it up, too.

To be honest though this isn’t such a big deal as it only happens occasionally. I’d also wager that if I actually serviced the clamp with a spritz of oil this problem would go away. I’ve never lubricated anything on this work stand so this ‘criticism’ should maybe be considered a testament to the fact that it’s still working day in and day out even with my abusive ways. Feedback Sports has a few tips on their site on how to give their work stands some TLC, so maybe I should follow through on some of those steps.

Comparing the Feedback Sports Stand to Park Tools Offerings

At $224.99, the Feedback stand is closest to Park Tool’s Deluxe Home Mechanic Repair Stand. Both sit right in the middle of the respective brands line-ups and are suited for the at-home mechanic and bicycle repair enthusiast.

Spec wise these repair stands are fairly close, but the Feedback stand has the edge in maximum height, weight, and overall load capacity. A 6 lb difference is nothing to scoff at, especially if you have to carry it over any distance further than one end of your garage. For all you weight weenie cyclists out there you’ll never find a better deal than a 6 lb weight savings for $25.

Where the Park Tools stand shines a little brighter is in the clamp’s maximum opening size. While most bikes will be clamped at their seatpost, the Park clamp allows for other options if you ever want to clamp a downtube or some other larger area of a frame. For reference, the largest seatpost size is 34.9mm, which equates to 1.37” – so still plenty of space in the Feedback clamp.

Bicycle Work Stand Accessories

While I don’t own any of them, Feedback does make a few accessories for their work stands. These are compatible across most of their models (check first) so if you decide to get fancy with the Pro-Elite stand they’ll still work.

• Travel Bag – for looking pro
• Tool Tray – so you can stop losing your 5mm allen
• Pro Truing Stand – for when you test the flexibility of your wheels
  • This stand is the reason all Feedback bike stands have exposed frame above the clamp. It’s so this guy can sit up top.