Just buy a PCS 9 or 10 now, otherwise you'll be buying one later when the one you buy now breaks or just gets too frustrating.

I justified my stand by flipping two bikes. Didn't make a lot on them, but it paid for my Feedback Sport stand. Even if you're not into flipping, it might help balance the financial output for a good stand, and a nice stand is very worth it.

No complaints with my Spin Doctor G3. Rotate mechanism could be more fine pitched but not a huge issue. Big tripod base and it will hold my tandem if needed.

I made two different clamp style stands and never was really happy. I finally bit the bullet and bought a Feedback Sports Sprint stand. I love it. I've only used a clamp stand one or two times since I bought it two years ago.

No one here can name a must-spend price, but don't be afraid to drop some coin on a quality stand. I've an old Feedback stand from before Feedback was Feedback. I think I bought it in 2007. Quality stand. Heavily used. Many of my friends use it. Bikes in it all the time. Spare parts are still available, and I've twice made use of spares to keep the stand going all these years. My neighbor liked it enough he bought one of the black-color models -- I forget which. He's pretty happy too. Not saying you have to buy Feedback, but ten years later you won't regret buying quality.

I got a ParkTool PCS10 a couple years ago for $120 on sale at some fly-by-night website. Took a risk and it worked.
I would pay the $160 or whatever for it thats typical too.

With that said, i want to try and temper and counter a bit of the love in this thread and others for the PCS10.

Positives-
- height adjustable. I am tall and love this.
- stable. I can have the bike in all sorts of positions and i dont worry about it tipping.
- excellent clamp with easy adjustable tension level.
- well made all around

Negatives-
- the pressure clamps that hold the tubes together move WAY too easily. The whole stand swivels way more than it should(proper is 0 amount of swivel). I have the tools tray and it is in a bad location due to the tubes twisting.


I reset the tubes, reclamp the QR skewers that hold everything together, and it slowly moves again.

Disclaimer- I use it a lot because i work on my bikes, family's bikes, and i refurbish then sell bikes too. Perhaps the swivel wouldnt be as annoying if it were used less.

I agree with the previous assessment of the PCS-10. The swivel issue is definitely a flaw in the design. Although, for me, it hasn't been a problematic one. I do occasionally use it to my advantage, by slightly swiveling the stand to improve the angle of something I'm working on, instead of repositioning myself, so it's a mixed bag.

The screw-down clamp is a great improvement on the spring-loaded clamp on my old PCS-1. So is the height-adjustability, which my was absent on the PCS-1. Way more stable also; I used to have to step on one of the PCS-1 legs, when torquing something down, or it would try and tip over.

If I only had one stand, it would be from Feedback Sports. Light, stable, easily stowed or carried, nice clamp, anodized finish, high grade aluminum tubing, not prone to rust.