Recumbent - Repair Stand for Recumbent

My wife and I both have Bacchetta Giro's (http://www.bacchettabikes.com/recumbents/bikes/giro26.htm) I have the 26 and she has the 20.

We got them last fall and love them. I am using mine for commuting back and forth to work. I am looking at buy a repair stand so that I can do more of the maintenance myself. What repair stands would you recommend?

Right now I am leaning towards the Park PCS-9. (http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=23&item=PCS%2D9) It has a clamp that will accept the 3" frame tube that these bikes have. It seems to go for around $80 with shipping on eBay.



Do you guys have any other recommendations?


Thanks,

Kirk

The Park is a GREAT repair stand! But because I have a heavier, more awkward long wheel base bike and was afraid the stock stand would be too wobbly, I bought a bench mount Park (basically just the top part of the stand) and welded up a heavier stand for home use. I scrounged a large heavy disc blade and welded up a stand of my own design which all comes apart and hangs on the wall of the shop out of the way while not in use.

I then welded up another stand for when we travel, which comes apart into several smaller pieces, and when put together plugs into a standard 2" class 2 - 3 trailer hitch, the pickup itself then being used as the stand base.

Works great - The Park "holder" part itself is very strong, and infinitely adjustable, and with my home brew stand bases, I can use it to hold my Burley LWB bent rock solid both on the road or at home. I have to admit it is one of my "better" inventions!
I used some of that square steel tubing with holes about every inch or so - the stuff that they use for roadsign posts. There is miles of the stuff in scrap yards and it comes in various sizes and each size nests into the next size, so the stand bases themselves are infinitely adjustable. Very handy, strong, stuff. Just be sure to weld it outside or grind the galvanizing off it so as not to inhale the vapors - the stuff is galvanized and you might inhale some lead - I hate it when that happens! Ha!

To hold my Burley without taking the seat off it (takes a couple of minutes as I have the "speed struts" on it I modified the stock Burley LWB bent attatchment so I can attatch it to the seat base in 2 seconds to hold the bike securely and it clears the front of the seat OK.

A bit hard to describe what I did. I wish I wasn't so computer illiterate. I'll try to post a couple of pictures if I can bumble it through.

But getting back to the original question. I can sure vouch for the upper part of the Park Stand. It is very strong, well made and infinitely adjustable. I have no experience with the lower tripod part of the stand, but I think it probably would hold your Giro's or any SWB bike with no problem. I just wanted a more solid stronger base for my floppier heavier LWB bents.

I modified the meausrements of this to work with my baron and it's superb and cheap:

http://www.bicyclecommuter.com/PVCWorkStandMeasurements.htm

The problem I have with that type 2-bar stand is that my recumbent when supported by two bars like i have on my bike rack on my car is not bottom heavy. So it tends to want to roll right over and fall off. I want to have a clamp type of repair stand.

I've adopted a simple super-cheap solution that gives me a "workstand" both at home and on the road: I use a long piece of string to hang the bike, to a hook in the ceiling in the garage, or to any tree branch or road sign on the road. One end of the string has a loop, I thread that loop to one handle, around the branch, back down to the other handle, around the branch again, and back down to the rear rack. Then I pull the string, helping the bike up with the other end, and once both wheels are clear off the ground, I tie a loose knot and ta-da, instant workstand. It's amazingly effective and costs nothing, and it works even if the bike is fully loaded, which is truly a blessing to fix a flat on a tour.

i use the string from the ceiling method or just use my stationary trainer and put the bike onto a table in the garage ... holds it steady and i can work around it ...

i use this system at work ...

I use a similar Park setup with my Rotator Pursuit, which has a 2.125" tube, but I have 3 open wire cables underneath the frame (der + brake) and you have to be careful not to clamp the wires, There is a central cutout in the clamp which can be used as a wire channel. On your bike the most likely clamp point will be just behind the seat. In front of the seat wgt back may be too much for the clamp to overcome, bike will sag down. Look at the bike and see how the clearances are. The clamp on the stand pictured differs from mine and probably would work better than mine does. Clamping behind the seat would require the clamp to be rotated 180D, but this should be feasible. Mounting the bike unassisted is not a piece of cake. Finally all bents are difficult to actively adjust, it is hard to rotate the cranks and eyeball what the chain is doing at the cassette and RD for that final tweaking! Junior assistants are really handy here.
Steve