Review: R&G Elevation paddock stand

Reviewed by: Mikko Nieminen // RRP: Paddock stands £74.99 each / M8 cotton reels £19.90 a pair // Info: www.rg-racing.com

I love riding bikes, all year, in pretty much any weather conditions. Unfortunately that means a lot of cleaning and tinkering with them, which I’m not so keen on. So, I try to make it as simple and easy for myself as possible.

Cleaning, polishing, lubing and greasing the bike are all easier if the bike is securely in place and you can move the wheels. Not much of a problem if the bike has a centre stand, but a bit of a headache if it doesn’t. The same goes for a lot of basic maintenance, from adjusting the chain tension to checking fluid levels.

I ride a lot of different bikes for work, many of them without a centre stand. And even with a centre stand, working on the front wheel is tricky. So, I went for a set of rear and front Elevation paddock stands and M8 cotton reels from R&G. And what a difference they make! Cleaning the wheels, lubing the chain and adjusting the chain tension are all easy as anything. I just wish I had got them sooner.

I had never used paddock stands before, so I wasn’t sure how easy they would be to get on with. Setting up certainly didn’t take much time at all. The cotton reels simply screw into the swing arms, giving the rear stand somewhere to grip as the bike is lifted. At the front you don’t even need them, as the stand uses the recesses at the bottom of the forks to lift the bike up. It couldn’t be much simpler.

The biggest challenge with the set-up was putting the paddock stands together. They both come in two pieces that are joined together by simply pushing one piece into the other. There are no bolts or catches to secure them, and therefore the fit is very tight. I resorted to banging the pieces together with a mallet, which did the job quite nicely. This, of course, only needs to be done once, and after a bit of banging the stands are ready to rock and roll.

Once all the preparations are done, using the paddock stands is very easy. The rear stand has to be secured first: the stand locks to the reels and lifts the rear wheel into the air without much effort. With the rear stand in place, the bike is stable and upright, and it’s easy to work on the tyre, wheel, chain, sprocket and the rest.

The front stand makes it easy to spin the front wheel and to remove it if needed. With both stands secured, the bike sits bolt upright and feels very secure.

The stands are simple to use, make working on the bike faster and take the aggro out of things that you don’t want to spend all day on. Less time working on the bike, more time on the road. As far as I’m concerned, they’re worth spending a bit of money on.

For more information, and to see the huge range of products that R&G offers, visit www.rg-racing.com