LIFELINE PRO WORKSTAND
£149.99
SPECIFICATION Weight 9.5kg • Length (folded): 1.5m • Contact: chainreactioncycles.com
The Lifeline Pro workstand claims to blend pro-level build quality with ease of use, at a price that’s appealing to the home mechanic. It also boasts a maximum bike weight limit of 40kg, making it suitable for e-bikes, and has a wider range of height adjustment than most competing workstands too. At just under £150, this is Lifeline’s top-spec stand, and although one step up from the hit-and-miss world of chain store specials, it’s significantly cheaper than benchmark workstands from Feedback Sports and Park Tool.
It uses a design that’s similar to many brands, with folding twin legs and a telescoping keyed strut within the main tubular steel support. This stand’s smaller footprint is a plus point over tripod stands though, especially when working in restricted indoor spaces, and it can be slid easily into a corner when not in use.
Lifeline uses a mix of heavy-duty aluminium and steel tubing to aid long-term durability and deal with heavier e-bikes, and at 9.5kg its weight is noticeable. It is 4kg heavier than more portable lightweight options, and is 1.5m long when folded, making it a less than ideal choice for the car boot.
A highlight is the head and clamp unit, which Lifeline has put plenty of thought into. The head uses a compression-fit cup and cone mechanism to lock it in place, has a full 360° of rotation and uses a sliding bar lever to speed up operation. The clamp is seriously well built and mimics the design used on Kestrel workstands, which are a mainstay of many a professional bike workshop. The dual cantilevered aluminium jaw has rubber sleeves to cushion your frame and can clamp a wide range of tube diameters. As with the workstand’s head, the clamp runs on bearings for added smoothness and longevity and there’s a removable tool tray too, which slides on an arced rail, giving a choice of positions – aneat touch.
In use, the solid build quality is immediately apparent, as is the broad range of height adjustment – at 6ft 2in (188cm) I could raise the bike to a more useful working level than with my usual workstand. Although the Lifeline doesn’t have the speed-release head of the Feedback Ultimate Pro Elite, its smooth-running adjuster allowed me to accurately dial in the clamping pressure on a frame or dropper post shaft.
After a year of hard use the Lifeline Pro has not only impressed me, but it’s relegated my usual go-to workstand to the back of the garage, now gathering dust. It’s not light, but it definitely feels built to last and I had no issue with the stand’s stability, with very little flex in the framework and no loosening of the fastenings over time. As
