Fifty Plus (50+) - Show us your workshop!

I was telling Yen about the maintenance class I was taking, and that I had set up a corner of my garage as a workspace. I still have more tools to go on the board, but I'm pretty happy with it!
http://homepage.mac.com/sbacig/.Pictures/Mondonico/IMG_1777.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/sbacig/.Pictures/Mondonico/IMG_1778.jpg

WOW!!!!!!!! I'm very impressed! Is that the stand you don't like, or did you get a new one?

I like the blue bike (I'm partial to blue anything)... what is it?

Yes, that's the stand I don't like!

That is my brand new vintage Italian hand made Mondonico!!!!!!

http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=5225590&postcount=10

Absolutely beautiful!! Is that the one you built up and cleaned up? It must be your pride and joy.

Oh no, your not getting any pictures of my shop after that. I'm pretty sure that I could not get that wide a shot without falling over something.

I must have missed your other post. Why don't you like that stand.

It is the cheapest one and it doesn't hold the bike vertically!!! It basically just holds it high. For about $20 more, if I had shopped around better, I could have had a better model.

My garage is just too crowded with bikes, bike trailer, bike equipment, etc to have room for working on them:eek: I am allowed in this one to watch and learn while they do minor adjustments to my bike.

Absolutely beautiful!! Is that the one you built up and cleaned up? It must be your pride and joy.

No, I just picked it up last night... I'm going to replace my Klein with it as my road bike. Although you'd like the SR, too (the one I've been overhauling), because it's blue, too!

I was telling Yen about the maintenance class I was taking, and that I had set up a corner of my garage as a workspace. I still have more tools to go on the board, but I'm pretty happy with it!

Great looking shop...As a suggestion, it may not be a good idea to clamp your bike by the top tube in the stand. It is better to grab it by the seat post. The new bikes have very little material where you have the clamp and it is easy to damage the frame. The next time you are in a bike shop take note where they clamp the bikes in the vice. This is even more important with tandems that are longer and heavier.:)

It is better to grab it by the seat post.

Exactly!!! That's why I don't like this stand. It only clamps horizontally. Although, I have to clamp my bikes by the seat tube, usually, anyway, because I don't have enough room on the post. I have to buy my bikes with minimal standover because my torso is freakishly long.

Not a tidy worker but The Bike shed

Oh no, your not getting any pictures of my shop after that. I'm pretty sure that I could not get that wide a shot without falling over something.


When I get home I'll get some shots of my basement workshop. Then you won't feel so bad about showing a mess. In fact maybe we should make this a contest to see who has the messiest workshop.

Exactly!!! That's why I don't like this stand. It only clamps horizontally. Although, I have to clamp my bikes by the seat tube, usually, anyway, because I don't have enough room on the post. I have to buy my bikes with minimal standover because my torso is freakishly long.

Unscrew the long black handle on the back and the clamping tube will rotate to any angle you would like. Then tighten the handle again. Its like a collet clamp.

Horizontal will be ok for the steel frame but when you start to work on the exotics you might want to get a temporary seat tube to use as a clamp. Also, if you inadvertantly clamp the brake cable its hard to work on the brakes (scratches the paint too.)

No, it doesn't rotate. It's a PK-9 or whatever. I've tried everything. It tilts, though.

Oh, wait. I see what you're saying. I don't know if it tilts that far. I think* that was the first thing I tried. I'll experiment some more.

There's a brake cable "tunnel" in the clamp. That should be OK, right?

It rotates. That handle may be torqued way down from the factory, but it is a rotation clamp. Got one sitting in my shop. Its like a drawbar collet clamp. The front of the horizontal inner bar is tapered and is pulled to the rear as the black handle is tightened.

maddmaxx! THANK YOU!

Because I trusted you, I loosened the crank arm and put a hammer in the clamp and just cranked on it! It made a loud noise, and now it rotates freely and can be tightened down in whatever position. I never* would have forced it like that without your reassurance. It hadn't said anything about it rotating in the directions.

I am so* much happier now.

Susan

http://www.pointhappy.com/gcf/commute/DSCF0001.jpg

That's it. When I want to work on my bike I must take it out on the walkway in front of my apartment and hope that my next-door neighbor does not need to go by.

maddmaxx! THANK YOU!

Because I trusted you, I loosened the crank arm and put a hammer in the clamp and just cranked on it! It made a loud noise, and now it rotates freely and can be tightened down in whatever position. I never* would have forced it like that without your reassurance. It hadn't said anything about it rotating in the directions.

I am so* much happier now.

Susan

You trusted me!......:eek:

Glad you like it. You can live with the tilt if you get (or make something like) the park handlebar holder to keep the front wheel from swinging.

Most of these stands are not suitable for serious torque applications like bottom brackets. For old style bottom brackets with the internal splined caps I put the bike on its wheels and stand on the other side of the bike from the cap to be removed (or installed). Now the advantage of my bell middled shape shows up as I pin the top tube down while pulling up on a long torque wrench. Your other hand is holding the tool in the BB cup (and the whole job tends to push the tools into the spline instead of slipping out)

Pulling up on wrenches keeps your hands from punching the floor when things come loose.
Pulling in toward the job keeps splines from slipping out which makes a mess of the tool, part and unfortunately you.

Have fun with your new not so unfavorite "inexpensive" bike stand. :)

OK. OK. Here's mine. If you look closely, you can see my Giant leaning against the unused stationary bike. Actually, the garage doesn't usually look like this. We are getting ready to move after 29 years in this house and what you see are the garage sale items. But, even i good times, I have to back my truck out to work on my bike.http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/tomfrady/CIMG1181.jpg

OK, I cleaned it up real quick and here it is

I think your plants need some water !

They are there to remind me what happens when I let my wife into the workshop!

Madmaxx: Is that the Minoura or Spin Doctor wheel jig? How do you like it? I've been wanting to try wheelbuilding for awhile.

OK, I cleaned it up real quick and here it is

Who was responsible for taking care of the plants in the window sill:)

I really like seeing these other workshops.

Stapfam's looks so peaceful and...english!

I can't see Mojo's.

Artkansas's is bauhaus art.

maddmaxx's is efficient and ergonomic.

Beverly's is the biggest!

I am jealous. The one thing I lack is space ("the final frontier," for your Star Trekers). I have the same Park Tool workstand, which has worked great once I re-engineered it to compensate for three factory defects in the base. After the two boys came along, my wife and I needed more space, so I converted the old garage into a great family room / art studio / ballet studio / teen hangout and built a new garage. Because of setback regulations, I had to settle for a code-minimum 2-car garage. I have two walls lined with pegboard and another lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves, and the bikes all hang from the rafters. If I push the cars a few feet back, I have enough space to set my truing stand workbench or to use my bench vise for freewheel or bottom bracket pulling. It's neither tidy nor terribly attractive inside, but it is adequate. A meter or so of additional width and depth would have been great, however. :(

"My" workshop is Adams Avenue Bicycles:

I really like seeing these other workshops.

Stapfam's looks so peaceful and...english!

I can't see Mojo's.

Artkansas's is bauhaus art.

maddmaxx's is efficient and ergonomic.

Beverly's is the biggest!

I finally have a place in the garden that is mine. The wife has her pool-I have my bike shed. I don't go in her pool-She doesn't tidy up my shed. And on sizing- The shed is 16' x 10' and that extra width means that I can walk all the way round a bike on a stand without any problem. I can even work on the Tandem but that has to be suspended from hooks on the rafters or turned upside down.

Messy I can provide.....Believe it or not, I do know where everything is.
Problem: I need to convert this to winter storage for our Conversion Van by
knocking out the back wall into my current Bicycle Shed.

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r152/crankyolddude/IMG_0470.jpg

Plus additional storage in the back....

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r152/crankyolddude/IMG_0471.jpg

If I ever get things straightened around, I'll be sure to post AFTER pics.

Someday I'll have a workshop - after I get the kids, who have moved out, to take all of their stuff.

I need to find out how Mojo Slim got into my garage to take that picture!

Due to all of the stuff that two of my daughters have "temporarily" sitting in my garage, there is no room for cars in it.

As to a workshop, I use my front sidewalk. I have a 3/4 acre lot, lots of room out there for doing the small adjustments and stuff that I limit myself to doing on my bikes.

1. Answer #one. Untill I looked at the pictures I didn't even know that there were plants in my workshop. That was the storage area for my torque wrenches which now seem to be laying in the small parts junk on the bench. Hmmmm I may have to have a talk with the wife. Remember she hasn't been real mobile the last few weeks and she may have expected my to keep them alive.........me, the guy who lowers the lawnmower blade in August. Geesh

2. Answer #2. I think its the Minoura truing stand. Both legs swing in and out together so it is a centering/dishing stand as well as a truing stand. It is not heavy duty, the forks are plastic and considerable care must be taken when closing the skewer so as not to crush them or cock the wheel at an angle. The lateral pointers are friction fit, the scraper plate measures radial true and is marked off with a millimeter scale on which you can judge the distance of each sidewall from center. Spend the extra $10 for the calibration tool which sets up the dishing center line. Check every now and again by turning the wheel around and seeing if the centerline has shifted. Not a real heavy duty stand but adequate for the 2 dozen or so wheel sets I've done in the last 2 years. The price is just too good for the home mechanic not to like it. I've seen this stand go for as little as $49 when the off season sales get stupid.

answer #3 (no one asked this question) Spend the money you just saved on the stand to buy "4" sided spoke wrenches (the slot is in the corner as different from one missing side). You will be amazed at how many fewer nipples you will round off and how much more spoke tension you will be able to put in the wheels.

Do as I say, not as I do.....put the stuff away. It would be so much easier in some of these other shops than mine to find the DT spoke wrench than it is in mine to remember that its under the milky way wrapper over there.

I only wish I had one for the bike. My workshop has wood working tools and a ski tuning area, but no bike working area. I clean the bike in front of the house - luckily it really never needs any work.

It ain't much but I can do a lot of damage here. It looks so tidy in this view but believe me it's not so.

I have now lost my workshop...

I've been having trouble with my beloved Subaru Outback. At one point I resolved to get a new car and picked a model out. I knew my dad had the same van (a Honda Odyssey) and that he was on his third one, so I asked him some questions about it. Seems he's going to get a pick-up and will sell me his. It has high miles (100k) on it, but I know they're all freeway miles and he's taken good care of it, and the price is a non-negotiable steal.

Well, at the same time I found out that what had been causing all my Subaru issues was the failing of a microphone that listens to the engine and sends messages out to different parts of the car to adjust things! So for a couple hundred dollars, it runs great--but it also has 112k miles on it and I travel a lot.

So I've decided to buy the Honda now and save it for when the Subaru goes, but that means my 2-car garage will really be a 2-car garage and I will lose my shop where I planned to while away a few winter months.

I am very sad. And now what do I do with all the bikes???? I think I need a Stapfam shed.

I can't imagine having a reason for selling the Atlantis, unless I start shrinking and have to drop down a size. If that happens, you will be the first person I'll offer my bike to! So keep that shipping crate handy!

Yah, well I'd make you an offer you couldn't refuse, Big Paulie!

Don't know if you're Italian like your namesake, but I* sure am! And my honor has been assaulted with that image! :p

Witness Protection and I are old, familiar friends. You wouldn't be the first Paisan I sent to the slammer!

This is me after my last testemony in front of the Grand Jury...

I see you're on a white bike. :D

I envy you guys with the big suburban garages and walk in basement. I have a tiny garage that barely fits the car. Just yesterday I was re-arranging stuff so I could cram in the bikes:

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd44/donheff/DSCN2413.jpg http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd44/donheff/DSCN2412.jpg

I envy you guys with the big suburban garages and walk in basement. I have a tiny garage that barely fits the car. Just yesterday I was re-arranging stuff so I could cram in the bikes:

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd44/donheff/DSCN2413.jpg http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd44/donheff/DSCN2412.jpg

You have to understand the priorities. I have a bike workshop but the garage doesn't exist.:D

You have to understand the priorities. I have a bike workshop but the garage doesn't exist.:D
Yeah. I have been waiting for my wife to get to that point -- then we move the car to the street.

My wife got the carport. Its now a 25 X 17 windowed and screened sun poarch with cast iron stove, refrigerator, furniture and entertainment center.

Ship your Atlantis to me, preferably set-up as illustrated below!!!
:)

If I get another bike the Atlantis will be it.

I was telling Yen about the maintenance class I was taking, and that I had set up a corner of my garage as a workspace. I still have more tools to go on the board, but I'm pretty happy with it!
http://homepage.mac.com/sbacig/.Pictures/Mondonico/IMG_1777.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/sbacig/.Pictures/Mondonico/IMG_1778.jpg

Dang, shown up by a girl agin!

Road Fan

When I get home I'll get some shots of my basement workshop. Then you won't feel so bad about showing a mess. In fact maybe we should make this a contest to see who has the messiest workshop.


I can win this one, just ask Mrs. Road Fan!

I have now lost my workshop...

I've been having trouble with my beloved Subaru Outback. At one point I resolved to get a new car and picked a model out. I knew my dad had the same van (a Honda Odyssey) and that he was on his third one, so I asked him some questions about it. Seems he's going to get a pick-up and will sell me his. It has high miles (100k) on it, but I know they're all freeway miles and he's taken good care of it, and the price is a non-negotiable steal.

Well, at the same time I found out that what had been causing all my Subaru issues was the failing of a microphone that listens to the engine and sends messages out to different parts of the car to adjust things! So for a couple hundred dollars, it runs great--but it also has 112k miles on it and I travel a lot.

So I've decided to buy the Honda now and save it for when the Subaru goes, but that means my 2-car garage will really be a 2-car garage and I will lose my shop where I planned to while away a few winter months.

I am very sad. And now what do I do with all the bikes???? I think I need a Stapfam shed.

I volunteer to feed and clothe your Mondonico until you can restore it's home.

Road Fan

I have now lost my workshop...

I've been having trouble with my beloved Subaru Outback. At one point I resolved to get a new car and picked a model out. I knew my dad had the same van (a Honda Odyssey) and that he was on his third one, so I asked him some questions about it. Seems he's going to get a pick-up and will sell me his. It has high miles (100k) on it, but I know they're all freeway miles and he's taken good care of it, and the price is a non-negotiable steal.

Well, at the same time I found out that what had been causing all my Subaru issues was the failing of a microphone that listens to the engine and sends messages out to different parts of the car to adjust things! So for a couple hundred dollars, it runs great--but it also has 112k miles on it and I travel a lot.

So I've decided to buy the Honda now and save it for when the Subaru goes, but that means my 2-car garage will really be a 2-car garage and I will lose my shop where I planned to while away a few winter months.

I am very sad. And now what do I do with all the bikes???? I think I need a Stapfam shed.
You use your garage to store your cars? Wierd! That must be some Yankee thing. Down here we keep our $30,000 cars in the driveway and keep our stuff in the garage. A couple of years ago, I was working on my bike in the garage early on Saturday morning. All of a sudden some stranger shows up and starts walking around my garage, looking at my stuff. He thought I was having a garage sale. From then on, I have kept my garage door closed on Saturday mornings.

I don't really have a workshop. I just make do.

She wants me to work here:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/GonzoDawg/bicycles/shop1.jpg

When it is too hot or too cold, she let's me work here:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/GonzoDawg/bicycles/shop2.jpg

But when she is away for long enough, I work here :D :
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/GonzoDawg/bicycles/shop3.jpg

This was my workshop when I had half the garage. Now I've had to move it to half the laundry room. Very, very cramped. I am very sad, but pleased I was able to get it as functional as it is. All I have to do now is improve the lighting.

Then:
http://homepage.mac.com/sbacig/.Pictures/Mondonico/IMG_1777.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/sbacig/.Pictures/Mondonico/IMG_1778.jpg

Now:

http://homepage.mac.com/sbacig/.Pictures/Me/IMG_1988.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/sbacig/.Pictures/Me/IMG_1983.jpg

Have a problem with my bike shed in that there are more bikes than I have storage for. On top of that I am trying to line the roof and walls to keep it a bit warmer so have to keep moving the bikes around. Garage is filled with the wifes "New" pool that won't get built till April or May- lot of groundwork to do when the weather changes. So no chance of using that space till I pull my finger out and build the damn thing.

Still, after the ride this morning, I had time to do a bit of maintenance on the bikes and finish one I have been rebuilding for a colleague at work. So that will be one less bike before next weekend. Still have to tidy the workbench after a days tinkering and now have 4 tubes to repair. Got my first puncture this morning on the TCR that only went down after I got back. That is still on the bike though.

And a pic of the Kona Explosif that I keep threatening to post.