Rear stands are very handy for working on the bike. Think of it as a service stand rather than a race stand. It holds the bike upright, is secure, allows you to rotate the rear wheel/chain for maintenance, and take the rear wheel off to change a tire. Add a front stand and you can do front wheel maintenance/removal with equal ease. If you might want to work on the front forks, you need to get a front stand that goes under the steering bearing instead of bottom of the forks. A $200-250 investment in a set of stands will pay for itself in $$ saved in tire changes alone. If you can find a shop that will remove the wheels to mount tires, they usually charge about $25-50 per wheel instead of $10-15 if you bring the wheel in loose.
There is the bling factor as well.
