Bikonic's Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for a gas-assisted workstand for e-bikes and heavier bikes was launched recently at the National Cycling Show. If you have ever tried to lift a hefty e-bike up onto a workstand, you will know how heavy they can be. Whilst electric workstands exist, they are generally pricey options that are usually reserved for businesses that need to invest in such technology. Bikonic are therefore looking to use gas strut technology as a lower cost solution for the heavy lifting in a bid to come up with an effective e-bike workstand more suitable for home use. 

What are gas struts?

If you have ever opened a modern car tailgate or a self closing door, you may well have used a gas strut without realising it. Gas struts contain pressurised nitrogen to help move and support heavy items. Pressurised nitrogen is generally used as it helps exclude the water content found in regular air which can accelerate damage to the inside of the strut. It's important to have a well made and longlasting strut as pressures inside can be up to 200 bar (a typical bike tyre has around 3 or 4 bar of pressure). 

Using the technology on an e-bike stand sounds a neat idea; indeed it appears it has been used in similar fashion on a two-tier bike storage rack. However, we couldn't find any examples of gas struts being used on bike workstands, with pricier, heavier electric motors generally being the preferred solution. 
 

Bikonic's offering

Bikonic's Indiegogo homepage says: "We need the Indiegogo community to raise £25,000 to allow us to press the button on factory production."

To that end, they are offering a 20% discount to crowdfunders, meaning the possibility of buying a Bikonic stand for £600.

More than that, you will get a "Founder's Edition"  - one of an individually numbered production run of 100 units, each with a serial plate displaying the edition and your unit serial number.

Bikonic say they are not reliant on Indiegogo and if they don't reach the funding target, "We will finance against the sales we have made and continue to develop. It will mean we grow more slowly than planned but we aim to be here to stay."

The current shipping estimate is September 2024 with shipping to the UK, US, Canada and the EU.