Bicycle Mechanics - What is the best consumer-grade truing stand?

I am pondering buying a truing stand to do my own truing. I have two bikes with 700c wheels, two with 26" wheels and one with 20" wheels. I am not going to be doing this enough to warrant the cost of a professional stand.

What is the opinion as to the best consumer-grade truing stand for around $ 100? Thanks for any ideas.

used ts 2 for 100, shops are clearing them out for the ts 2.2

I am having a folding Minoura ($70) and am happy with it. Like not, I am not a pro but was able to use it to true two wheels to my satisfaction.

http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_164238_-1___

If you want to be fancy and use a dial indicator, you can get inexpensive ones at Grizlly (e.g. http://www.grizzly.com/outlet/Dial-Indicator-1-4-Range-x-0005-/G9807 , they also have magnetic stand).

used ts 2 for 100, shops are clearing them out for the ts 2.2

+1. I bought an unused "used" in fantastic shape on Craigslist for about $85, If I recall correctly. The guy got it as a thank you from his uncle, for whom he had built a bike.

Look around, they do show up on Craigslist sometimes.

I have been building wheels for many years on nothing more than an inverted road fork mounted into a steel base with a dial indicator and some zip ties.

The tool only gets you so far and most minor wheel truing can be done using the bike's frame / brakes as reference points... I have even built wheels using the bike frame / brakes and then sent those wheels off for a few thousand miles of loaded touring with no issues.

i've trued a handful of wheels using nothing but the bike they were installed on. I just flip the bike upside down, push a brake arm to the side and move the wheel. the high points of the rim will make noise as they contact the brake.. slow the wheel down, find the points and turn the spokes. repeat on the other side and you're good to go

Anything that supports the wheel by the axle and serves as place to hold a reference indicator of some sort (dial indicator, rod, straightened paper clip, twig) will work.

Based on some Net research, the Feedback Sports truing station for $ 60-80 seems to get a lot of positive comments. More so than the Minoura. I am not seeing any barely used Park truing stations for cheap on the local Craigslist or eBay.

I am having a folding Minoura ($70) and am happy with it. Like not, I am not a pro but was able to use it to true two wheels to my satisfaction.

I have the same one. It gets the job done, but feels a little cheap. When it needs replacing I'll spend the extra ~$30 to get the Park TS 2.0.

+ 1 I had the Minura stand, nothing wrong with. I recently upgraded to a TC 2.2, used of course.

Bought a Spin Doctor truing stand from PBS about two years ago and I find it more than adequate for a home truing stand. Only thing that you might add to it is a wheel dishing tool, but you can just flip the wheel like I do and it still works out really good.
They go on sale once in a while at PBS for well under a hundred. I think I got mine for like 68 bucks! Some have noted that the stand is actually made by Minoura for Spin Doctor, so you can consider that if you are concerned about quality.. I've built up three new wheelsets and trued many others on the Spin Doctor stand and so far it's been good enough that I can recommend it.:thumb:
Heres a pic of the rear wheel from the last wheelset I built up on it late last year:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y44/BeckVFR/Picture122.jpg
28H Wolber Profil 20 aero rims with DT Aerolite oval spokes and Stronglight 28H Delta sealed bearing hubset.
It's the straightest/truest wheelset I ever owned so far, thanks in part to the Spin Soctor stand that was a treat to use!:thumb:

Chombi

Based on some Net research, the Feedback Sports truing station for $ 60-80 seems to get a lot of positive comments. More so than the Minoura. I am not seeing any barely used Park truing stations for cheap on the local Craigslist or eBay.

Get the Minoura (I have one) with probes on both sides of the wheel instead of the single sided feedback sports.

Based on some Net research, the Feedback Sports truing station for $ 60-80 seems to get a lot of positive comments. More so than the Minoura. I am not seeing any barely used Park truing stations for cheap on the local Craigslist or eBay.

Just about any stand can be used to build and maintain wheels. Even the bikes can be used in a pinch. The Park TS-2 (and 2.2) are the cats meow. Rugged, well made and easy to use. Like their professional grade workstands, they will last for generations. There's something to be said for paying only once for something:thumb: You may pay through the nose but it's only going to be one time.

On the other hand, even this stand (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=truing+stand&hl=en&safe=active&client=firefox-a&hs=88O&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1246&bih=835&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13579608211871290801&sa=X&ei=xdG2TfSBDMHt0gGq2_3bDw&ved=0CGkQ8wIwADgy#) is adequate. I built a couple of dozen wheels with one just like it. It works and is cheap. It may not out last you and 4 generations of your progeny but you can still build good wheels with it.

The Minora, Spin Doctor and others will do the job. I'd probably stay away from the single sided ones, however. Nothing really wrong with them. They just look wrong:rolleyes:

+1 on the Spin Doctor. I've built at least seven wheels on mine, and it is plenty to get wheels as round and flat as the rims will allow.

However, I recommend having a dishing tool too. I typically can't remove a wheel from the Spin Doctor without upsetting the stand, so one cannot simply flip the wheel and use the lateral truing feelers to get the dish precisely centered. But the Park dishing tool isn't too expensive at all, IIRC.

I have the Minoura stand. It works fine, but was incorrectly centered out of the box and the centering gauge they sent with it was not straight (and therefore it was useless). The best way to adjust the stand is not with the gauge, but with a wheel you know for sure is properly dished.

i just bought the minoura last week. it's a little bit flimsy, you have to be careful when you go to spin a wheel in it because it will wobble a bit before it spins but you get used to it. that issue is helped greatly if you use a quick release to hold it in place but ultimately it works pretty darn good for $70. My lbs charges $40 to build a wheel so one wheel build paid for it. IT also folds up nicely and doesn't take up much space which is great for me and my small apartment.

If I knew I were going to be building a lot of wheels I would spring for the park model

Based on some Net research, the Feedback Sports truing station for $ 60-80 seems to get a lot of positive comments.

I have the Feedback Sports truing station. There are some drawbacks. Dishing is a pain, because I have to keep undoing the wheel and reclamping it. For some reason, I almost always need to readjust the QR specifically for each side of the wheel, so I have to under the QR, flip the wheel, readjust the QR for the other side, reclamp, check dish, and wash/rinse/repeat until I've gotten the dish where I want it to be. A two-armed stand would be really nice.

The other problem I run into is that I have to take particular care when clamping the wheel into the dropout on the truing stand. It is surprisingly easy to get the wheel clamped at a slight angle, which of course messes with dishing.

It's also easy when truing to knock a wheel out of dish. That's because you've got the gauge on just one side of the rim, so your adjustments tend to keep on pushing the rim outwards from the stand.