One lesson I've learned over the years... you get what you pay for. And I didn't pay much for these stands. In the span of a few months BOTH of my stands have broken. I'll admit that I put more stress on my rear stand than the warranty (if there was one) would cover. But the front stand has never done anything other than lift the bike and lower the bike, and it's only a year old. No excuse I can think of for why it cracked like that. The rear stand is about 4 years old and for most of it's life was only used to hold the bike while I changed tires, though it bent while the Novice group used my bike for the hang-off lesson. Now the bent part on the rear stand can't hold the bike for more than a few hours before bending again under just the bike's weight. I got a new PitBull rear stand for Christmas and when I brought it out to the garage and put it next to the old el'cheapo brand stand it was blatent that the PitBull is built of sturdier and thicker stuff. The part that bent on my old stand is almost twice as thick on the PitBull. Lesson learned. The cheap stands really are cheap. Just thought I'd pass it along incase anyone's looking to buy a new stand. I paid $100 for that front stand. Now I'm going to pay $144 for a new PitBull front stand. An extra $44 a year ago would have saved me money in the long run. Same for the rear stand.
I agree that pitbull is a better stand but I have had the handystands for over a year and I haven't had any problems. I think they were well worth what I paid. But like I said I do agree that pitbull is better.
Mary, You could get a piece of square tubing welded to the rear stand upright. That would "fix it". PS I have a front stand that cost $80 (?) and have had no problems. It came from Lockhartphillips. I don't recall the brand just now but in general you're correct, you get what you pay for.
i got a rear pitbull from a old wreck truck driver and its the best i have ever used. i do have to brag on my girlfriend who made me a kick "A" front stand out of 4130 for our 1 year mark. she looked up the measurements for my bike, bent all the tubing and machined the pin herself. thing holds up like a brick and folds up into a nice little space. very proud of her ha ha
YOU ARE CORRECT I have a friend that has a cheap one,he was so happy with the price he paid,until it fall off the stand and now he doesn't use it ,he states it was a bad buy,and he should have spent more coin on a good one,
my girlfriend got me the t-rex's for christmas this year and they work great...they would be alot more strudy if they werent a 2 piece stand but I have no problems with them at all and they work just fine. the one complaint I do have about them though is the front. the front lifts the bike perfectly.....however yu cant remove the front wheel with it on it due to the fact that the design of the stand covers the freakin axle and axle bolt so yu can get to it nor pull it out even if you could. Anybody else run into this problem with these stands and if so what did you do to get around this issue.?
I borrowed one off of a friend and just rotated them 180 deg. Not sure if they are designed for it but it worked. Just watch, you have to get them just right or they will want to spin and drop the front.
dang I completely forgot I had posted that question...thanks for the respons craig....I'll try it when i get home
I have the T-rex stand and you can get the front axle out if you spin the mounts upside down on the stand. It's not quite as sturdy with them flipped but it does work...just did it recently to get my front wheel off.
Yep, Bum's got it right that the front axle will come out with the brackets on a certain way (seemingly upside down). You can do it that way or you can use the triple tree add-on that doesn't work too bad either. They're not great, but they're good. "Great is the enemy of good", Voltaire.
Check out GPi Industries online; full set front w/both styles & rear. Blemish factory pwr coat set complete with all makes of triple pins included entire setup for $180 delivered. Or unblemished finish $215. Quality material well made not Pitbull but tough enough! You have to order online but he will talk to you by phone.
There is a reason that when you walk down the pits during a race or trackday weekend that Pitbull stands are in 80-90% of the pits. They are worth every penny and will last longer than your bikes. Quit messin around with the other crap.
It came from Lockhartphillips. I don't recall the brand just now but in general you're correct, you get what you pay for...... __________________________________________ coach outlet|Coach Handbags|Coach Bags
you are not using the stand correctly. i have 2 sets of the T Rex stands and the front can be lifted 2 ways, the way you are doing to "just" lift the front, and you can reverse the pads to lift the bike higher for wheel removal, and the pad arms will be out of the way. i aqlso have the triple tree stand and i have parted out 3 bikes with this stand with no stability issues at all. i agree, that there are higher quality/beefier stands out there. but that doesnt mean that lesser priced ones are junk. amazes me how folks buy a product, in this case stands, then wanna pile on 3-400 pounds of weight, in addition to doing riding demos and such and wonder why the product struggles. some stands are made for simple bike service, and others are made for heavier duty use.
I have a few Pit Bull rear and front stands. They're definitely solid. The only negative is the finish tends to fade and "pit" over time.
:thumb: I have a 9 year old one that just keeps on giving great service. I have another set that is only 4 or 5 years old also.