Birzman Feexstand

The Birzman Feexstand takes the traditional chainstay storage stand and adds fork-secured drivetrain fettling capability. If you are very pushed for space it might work for you, just be aware of all the bits needing a home. And the price.

Check out our guide to the best bike repair stands if you're looking for a more traditional option for working on your bike.

Storing of bikes can be a challenge if you live in a flat, or lack dedicated space like a garage. Or maybe you need to work on your bike indoors, and don't want it leaning up against furniture. Or maybe you are travelling, and want storage plus Fettleability in one package.

At a penny under £140 the Feexstand certainly isn't a cheap option, as you can purchase any one of a dozen chainstay stands for around £20. The additional £120 in value needs to come from the hybrid functionality of being able to flip the stand through 90 degrees to enable drivetrain work, by fixing to the stand through the front axle.

Firstly, as a chainstay stand the Feexstand is much the same as other models out there – you hook your bike's chainstay and seatstay over the two hooks and there you go.

The height of the hooks are adjustable as one unit to get things just right. Height is adjusted by flipping the lower hook then sliding the assembly up or down.

You're limited to a maximum chainstay or seatstay width of 23mm, which does then create some instability if your upper stays are thinner, as the bike is not held securely, inducing front wheel flop that needs managing. If someone walks past and brushes the bike, it will move around. It would be good to see Birzman introduce some sort of spring loading inside the upper hook to stop this happening. Also, for the money, independently-adjustable hooks would be good, as some bikes will struggle to fit the pre-determined distance.

For fork mounting, there's a can o' worms right there with multiple fork axle diameters and dropout widths to accommodate. Included in the set are endcaps for traditional QRs (remember them?), standard 12 and 15mm thru-axles, and 110mm ('Boost') 15 and 20mm.

Each standard (no sniggering) is two caps, meaning you have 10 endcaps, or eight loose at any one time to store. It would have been good if Birzman had thought of some option to store them on the stand, maybe on little protruding nubs or something.

The endcaps push in easily enough and stay put until needing removal.

As a fork-mounted stand for fettling, there's the usual caveat that if you have a long front mudguard fitted, it won't work. And by 'long', basically if it comes more than a few cm below a line drawn between front axle and BB.

Then there's getting it fitted – you take out your front wheel, hold the axle, position the bike on its BB, then lower the fork down over the axle-specific inserts you've remembered to fit. You can slide the fork mount back and forth, locking in place with a large lever.

The act of threading the axle through is a bit hit-and-miss too, and requires some pushing and twisting to get home.

Once fixed, the overall package is reasonably stable and will survive a reasonable push from the side. Certainly it's stable enough to spin the cranks with some welly while fettling shifts or cleaning/lubing the chain.

If you use one of those chain baths (which do a bang-up job of evenly-distributing the fine grit so detrimental to chains, but that's another opinion) you need to be aware that the chain angle is now pointing downward considerably, so the fluid is highly likely to spill out the front.

Weight limit

While the maximum weight is stated as 25kg, I wouldn't recommend using the Feexstand to fettle or clean an e-mountain bike or Dutch bike – the stability afforded at that height for that much weight is just too questionable, the likelihood of a heavy bike tipping over too high.

To be honest, for the faff involved versus extra stability, leaving the front wheel on and lifting the rear wheel using the chain/seatstay function is going to suit most needs. Which really begs the 'why spend an extra £120 in the first place?' question.

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Looking at value, Birzman really has a challenge here proving £140 is reasonable. In comparison, for £25 the Minoura Chainstay Portable stand looks a real cracker. Folds flat, and the bike is balanced on both stays. Width is adjustable too.

Jon rather liked the now-£74.99 Topeak Tune-Up Stand X, which lacks the fork mount aspect, but if the job is to lift the rear wheel while holding the bike upright, job done.

Conclusion

Overall, I struggle with the value proposition of the Feexstand. As a chainstay stand it's really no different to others costing a fraction the price. For travel use it doesn't fold up. And for fork-mounted work, there's little you can't do in that setup that you can't do using the chainstay configuration.

Kudos to Birzman for looking to create a new hybrid workstand product, but the execution is lacking. If it had more adjustability to fit more frames, and it were collapsible, and had endcap storage, I'd rate it as a viable product even at the high £140 price. As is, it's hard to recommend.

Verdict

Looks to combine the traits of stay- and fork-mounting, but struggles with overall value