Park Tool PRS-25 Team Issue Bicycle Repair Stand [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for. 

Park Tool is probably the biggest name in bicycle tools and can easily be identified by their blue coloring. Their products can be seen in just about any shop in the world today. They Repair stands however, can be seen in almost any garage in the world as riders of all skill levels seem to invest in a nice repair stand, whether they do their own repairs or not. Our favorite, and our choice for the shop are the PRS-25 Team Issue Repair Stands. Let's see what this customer thought of theirs:

Park Tool PRS-25 Repair Stand Review:

I'd been a long time user of the very old school (pre-1996) Park Tools, mostly all metal, PCS-1 home mechanic repair stand until late 2019 when I decided an upgrade was in order. Mostly for the sake of portability. Because while the old school PCS-1 was a joy for me to use, it just wasn't very portable. So after much research, I bought a Feedback Sports Pro Elite (FSPE) repair stand in November 2019.

But coming from the very low profile base of the Park Tools PCS-1, the tripod base of the FSPE just didn't suit me. I always had to be mindful of the base when working on a bike in that stand. Plus, although it's rated at 85 lbs, with a slightly 40+ lb touring bike on the stand the upright was leaning a bit too much for my liking so I didn't really feel comfortable with the idea of putting an even heavier bike, like an electric bike, on the stand. I've also read of the stand tipping over with even a lighter weight bike although I never experienced that myself. It was quite stable even with the 40+ lb bike on the stand. But then perhaps that's because I never went much beyond chest height or ~50" when using the FSPE. I'm sort of used to working at that height from using the fixed height (non-adjustable) PCS-1.

So between my dislike of the FSPE's tripod base and my lack of confidence in its weight capacity, I decided to buy the Park Tools PRS-25 repair stand in June 2020.

The only thing I'll miss about the FSPE repair stand is its clamp. It easily beats the PRS-25 clamp design for usability although the PCS-1 clamp will always be tops for usability in my opinion. Also, the clamp length of just under 3.25" on the FSPE made it easier to use as just a hanger for quick tune-ups by placing the bike's top tube in the clamp at the bike's balance point and very lightly clamping it. Whereas the slightly less than 2.75" clamp length of the PRS-25 makes that use a bit trickier, especially with a bike with rear weight bias. The PCS-1 clamp was tops for that use at 4" long. But the shorter clamp of the PRS-25 does make it easier to clamp on a bike's seat post.

Although the PRS-25 clamp has a specific area on the arm for placing a bike's seat nose for quick adjustments I won't use it for that purpose for two reasons. Firstly because it doesn't provide the stability of the bike's top tube lightly clamped and secondly because no way, no how am I going to risk potentially damaging a very expensive nose-less bike seat by suspending a relatively heavy bike from it.

Here's a short specs comparison of the FSPE vs the Park Tools PRS-25:

For me, the most critical spec is weight capacity. And so far, no issue in that regard. And although the PRS-25 gives up 11" in maximum height to the FSPE, for me that's unimportant as I've never had to have a bike that high. Chest high works for me and at 5'9" that's about 50" so the added 10" of the PRS-25 is more than adequate for my needs.

Of course, I couldn't just buy the repair stand, I also had to buy the Park Tools 15 travel & storage bag, 106 repair tray and TS-25 wheel truing attachment. About the truing attachment. It's not something I'd use to build up a wheel but I think it would be good for touchup truing of a wheel at the trailhead or in camp.

Conclusion:

"Compared to the FSBE the PRS-25 seems chintzy in build. It definitely should be priced less than the FSBE. And the FSBE travel/storage is a much nicer design that includes padding, whereas the PRS-25 travel/storage bag is simply a relatively thin layered material with no padding. I know, not exactly a ringing endorsement of the PRS-25 but I think it's way overpriced compared to the FSBE. But still, although I've only had the PRS-25 for a little less than two months, all in all, I'm satisfied with my purchase."