Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Hi All

Does anybody know anything about the Vulcan bike repair stand, which I've seen advertised in a few places. It looks like good value, but only if it's any good (blinding flash of the obvious). Has anybody used one, or had a close up look at one?

Looks the same as the Aldi one that comes up every 6 months or do for $40. Also seen it on eBay for about $55 delivered. I have one, and the only issue I have is the clamp rotates and uses a hand screw which pushes against a steel rod to fix position. There is no issue if the weight is balanced roughly equal, ie top tube clamped, but for instance if you clamp the seat post, there is too much weight forward and the screw won't hold. To overcome this, I drilled a hole through the champ & rod in the vertical position which I drop a bolt through when I need to clamp by the seat post.

ozdavo wrote:I have one, and the only issue I have is the clamp rotates and uses a hand screw which pushes against a steel rod to fix position. There is no issue if the weight is balanced roughly equal, ie top tube clamped, but for instance if you clamp the seat post, there is too much weight forward and the screw won't hold. To overcome this, I drilled a hole through the champ & rod in the vertical position which I drop a bolt through when I need to clamp by the seat post.

+1

It's pretty good apart from that flaw. With a drill and a decent bolt you can fix it

Hi,
I have same stand (bought at aldi)
It does the job, its not the highest of quality, but for what i use it for (general cleaning and maintenance) its fine.
The clamp is hard plastic on the jaws and some of the blue knobs have cracked slightly and the nuts inside them spun, but easily fixed with some epoxy.
Cheers .

I have a Vulcan workstand, bought it from Cycling Express and it is NOT the same as Aldi one (I have one of those too). It is larger (taller) than Aldi one and the legs spread out wider. It's like the big brother stand of the Aldi one. They both must be made in same factory though, they both use the same tubing and same blue plastic knobs to tighten.

Ozkaban wrote:

ozdavo wrote:I have one, and the only issue I have is the clamp rotates and uses a hand screw which pushes against a steel rod to fix position. There is no issue if the weight is balanced roughly equal, ie top tube clamped, but for instance if you clamp the seat post, there is too much weight forward and the screw won't hold. To overcome this, I drilled a hole through the champ & rod in the vertical position which I drop a bolt through when I need to clamp by the seat post.

+1

It's pretty good apart from that flaw. With a drill and a decent bolt you can fix it

my cordless drill was flat, and I could see a brand new tube of superglue on the bench.... 10 min later, job done.

Thanks for the responses, guys.

ozdavo wrote: To overcome this, I drilled a hole through the champ & rod in the vertical position which I drop a bolt through when I need to clamp by the seat post.

thanks for the idea

btw - it definitely looks the same as the aldi one.
i.e. don't pay more than $40

Sorry for bringing this old post back. I have one of these and all the plastic knobs which are meant to tighten everything are pretty much gone.

Managed to arrange for a replacement. Looks like a decent unit if modified to be solid. Any ideas on the best way to turn this cheapie work stand into something solid using some component from our mates at Bunnings? Having a Carbon bike I only clamp by the seat post and this unit as is does not do the job very well.

Out of interest, is it the screws themself that are worn/dethreaded?

AUbicycles wrote:Out of interest, is it the screws themself that are worn/dethreaded?

Its all the cheap plastic blue tightening knobs have cracked. Put the bike on and all component move around due to the unit not being solid so you try and tighten it and eventually the cheap plastic cracks.

Also the clamp has come off. Was cleaning the bike and the whole thing came off lucky I got a decent hold of the bike before it came crashing down and did some damage.

I got one from Melbourne Bike centre for $50something and it's not too bad... But then again I don't use it too much, just slight adjustments every now and then.

Are there better alternatives for under $100?

Mine is crap.

Want to start to learn all about servicing. I've got my old Trek I want to use as a guinea pig for maintenance training. Gear adjusting etc.