Bicycle Mechanics - tool mods or improvements

As I look around my shop I realized that a lot of the tools have been modified or improved in some fashion. The most recent mod was on the Park TS2. The original knob for adjusting the stand to different hub widths broke. We attached a little hand crank to replace it. It turned out to be an improvement. I attached a link to the photo. I appologize for continually using links to post photos but I couldn't get it to upload.

http://www.morcmtb.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=2105&cat=527&limit=recent

Another tool mod that has been real helpful is that we cut off the excess clamp material on the repair stands. They are about half of the original length. We glue the rubber pads back in and they stay better than before. The short clamps are helpful because we don't have to raise seatposts as often since the short clmaps fit inbetween most peoples seat and frame. This saves time and we don't have to mark the seatpost to get it back to the original height.

Does anyone else have any cool tool modifications that make wrenching easier?

cant think of any mods, but ive made a few of my own from scratch. like a headset cup remover, various freewheel tools, a couple free-hub tools, and my favorite was a bendix 2sp kick-back hub tool.

I created a tool to hold a BB tool in place, a la QR with cassette lockring, with a long, threaded axle, a large washer, and two nuts. This is for those beach crusiers that I work on for a living.

A chain whip from 20someodd links of chain and vise grips.

A stuck QR tool: a seat post with a handlebar grip on one end.

A cup-and-cone type bb fixed cup wrench holder made from a 4" long 5/8" bolt with two big washers and a nut. I take out the spindle and bearings, screw the adjustable cup back in a few turns, stick the bolt through the spindle hole and clamp the wrench over the fixed cup flats by sandwiching it between the frame and one washer held together with the nut.

I make my own 1/4" or 3/8"-square drive hex bits by cutting straight sections from regular Allan keys using a Dremel tool and a cutoff wheel. I superglue these into hex sockets. These are much cheaper than commercial bits and i can replace worn bits cheaply and easily. I can also make bits as long or short as I want for special uses.

I had to make a hex bit tool for my old Rock Shox Indy SL (long since gone). It was an allen wrench cut and glued into a socket and a 6 inch extension. I still have the tool, but have not used it for years.

Not to go off topic, but links to pictures are not bad. They get around the really stupid 100K limit for attachments. what you can do is to learn to use the IMG tags like in the example below (please note that I am using {** in the example and they must be replaced with square brackets to work):

{IMG**http://www.morcmtb.org/photopost/data/512/medium/Dscn2117.jpg{/IMG**

The code above results in this image imbedded in the message:

http://www.morcmtb.org/photopost/data/512/medium/Dscn2117.jpg

Or you could get really fancy and use the very small picture as a link to the page with the bigger picture. To do this you can combine the IMG tag and the URL tag, like this:

{URL=http://www.morcmtb.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=2105&size=big&cat=527&limit=recent**{IMG**http://www.morcmtb.org/photopost/data/512/thumbs/Dscn2117.jpg{/IMG**{/URL**

The code above will take the small thumbnail that your hosting site creates and makes it a clickable link to the bigger picture you posted there and results in the image below being displayed within the message (better for dialup people than imbedding a large image directly):

http://www.morcmtb.org/photopost/data/512/thumbs/Dscn2117.jpg (http://www.morcmtb.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=2105&size=big&cat=527&limit=recent)

Not to go off topic, but links to pictures are not bad. They get around the really stupid 100K limit for attachments. URL]

Thank you. I always appreciate good advice like that.

One of my favorites, a broken spoke bent like this <__> to hold the chain while I repin it.