Park PRS-15 Repair Stand Review

So my 10+ year old Ultimate repair stand finally bit the dust. It had a long, hard life and served me well through more events/races than I can remember. It will be missed.

I searched around for a replacement and finally settled on the Park PRS-15. Really, it came down to two models: The Park PRS-15 Professional Race Stand and the Park PRS-20 Team Race Stand. The PRS-20 is a Euro-style stand the holds the frame by the front or rear dropout and bottom bracket. This is much more stable and also saves you from having to clamp around potentially fragile carbon seatposts. Downside is you have to remove a wheel to mount the bike. At a mass ride where you may perform dozens of repairs a day that extra step could get to be a real pain so I opted for the more conventional style Park PRS-15. Plus at 'cross races you can quickly hang the bike from the clamp arm by the saddle nose while you hose it down between laps - something you can't do with the PRS-20.

Overall, this stand weighs a fair bit more than my old Ultimate. Set-up was a bit more involved than with the Ultimate. With the Ultimate the three legs are connected together and spread out simultaneously. On the Park stand you have 4 legs that are not connected which makes it a tad more difficult to unfold and set up. Mind you, I'm not saying it's hard to set-up, just saying it's less easy. Once in place the Park stand does feel much more solid thanks to the 4 footed base. 4 feet are always more stable than 3 feet - this explains why goats, mountain lions, and other critters tend to be quadruped. Also the two rear feet have adjusting knobs to help maintain stability on uneven ground.

The main mast of the Park is a hefty chunk of airfoil shaped metal. This is much better than round mast on the Ultimate which could rotate under pressure. Like the Ultimate it can be raised or lowered by the flick of a quick release.

The clamp has nicely padded and narrow jaws that shouldn't have a problem clamping onto most seatposts even when a seatbag is fitted - no need to modifgy them with a hacksaw. One nice feature is the quick release mechanism. You unwind the main clamp handle a copuple turns and then hold down on the quick release and slide the clamps open. Very quick, very simple.

Overall, the Park is a professional level piece of equipment that no race mechanic should be without. It is an improvement over the Ultimate stand and I haven't seen any other stands on the market that feature this much stability and portability. There are other stands that are more stable (the Pedro's Rockstand being the current champ) but they're not nearly as portable. Many other stands are lighter and more portable but I wouldn't feel secure cranking on a bottom bracket cup with them. Is it expensive? Absolutely, but so is any piece of professional equipment. They're not throwing the word "Professional" into the name for nothing. Home mechanics should stick to a less expensive stand (like the PC-9). Park did everything right on this stand which is exactly what we've come to expect from them. My Ultimate stand lasted more than 10 years and I suspect this Park stand will last even longer than that.