I recently purchased a Park Tool PRS 3.3-2 workstand and while I was happy to pay the (trade) price for the stand, the price the UK Park distributor wanted for the base felt excessive.
The base is a substantial chuck of (>30kg) metal but still, it is only a 570mm square piece of 12mm thick mild steel with x4 holes in it and rounded off corners.
So, I decided to see if I could source something locally or online. Online was an option but all suppliers said the cost of postage would be prohibitive as the size I wanted would be over 30kg and therefore incur additional costs. They could supply a plate with either smaller dimensions or use a thinner plate.
I did find a local metal supplier that was able to make a plate the exact same dimensions as the Park one for £20 more than a smaller/thinner one from online, so decided to go with that as the price was still just over half
the Park one.
The plate arrived and is perfect*. I look forward to using this base and stand for many years.
I’ve attached the drawing of the plate with measurements for the holes in case they are useful for someone else. . The holes are 7mm hole and one of them, is slightly offset to the others.
*I did forget to ask for the 7mm holes on the underside of the plate to be countersunk but I’ve a good selection of metal drill bits, from 8.0mm to 12mm in 0.5mm increments, so could easily do that myself.
Agree, transporting that plate is not insignificant but I feel Park have infated their price a bit.
The highest plate + postage costs I was quoted online, was still ~£50 cheaper than the Park one.
I think all of Park’s products have inflated prices, as if they’re the Snap-On of the bike tool industry. They have some good stuff, but boy are some things expensive.
I suspect a lot of the cost in that base is due to B2B freight. It doesn’t hugely surprise me that the base would be expensive in the UK. It’s a similar story in Australia. I’ve worked at a number of shops where the stands, or at least bases, were custom-made. It was a big saving.
For those in the USA, it’s worth looking at Remco Tools. Their base is fully compatible with Park Tool’s shop stands, it’s better priced, and has levelling feet (grub screws).
As for Park Tool being cycling’s Snap On… I don’t agree. At least in the USA, Park Tool is actually quite reasonably priced for a lot of its tools. Most of their general tools are mid-tier and are closely comparable in price to brands such as Craftsman or Tekton. Snap-On is in another world for price, where a wrench set or even single ratchet may cost as much as a Park Tool shop workstand.
To give one specific example, a Park Tool MW-SET.2 metric wrench set (made in Taiwan) is US$98 at full retail (dealers get it for less). This set spans a 6-17 mm range. The nearest Snap On set is the OSHM713 which spans a 7-19 mm size range and is priced at US$610.
Wow, now I’m even more stoked and appreciative about the PRS 3.2 workstand I scored when my LBS mate shut one of their stores! It came with the base plate and tool tray.
We had 4 made for our community bike shop in Port Melbourne but with centre mounting for double work stand.
It’s not just that they were half the wholesale price, at the time the importers time line was at least 4 months
You can hardly fly in steel plates
Very cool.
Not that I need one, but it would be awesome if you could share a STEP or DFX that someone who wants it could take to their local laser cutting supplier.
(I’m happy to do this for someone if they want/need, but I figure you have already based on the CAD image)
but I’ve a good selection of metal drill bits, from 8.0mm to 12mm in 0.5mm increments, so could easily do that myself.
