destro713

This past week I transplanted my hubs and spokes into new rims and trued them using my upside-down bike as a stand. It worked, but it was maddening.

What's the cheapest truing stand that can be sensibly recommended? Anyone have experience with the stands on eBay in the $55 range (seems to be the same stand under many brand names), or the Minoura?

DrIsotope

I have the Minoura FT-1, and it is absolutely acceptable as a consumer-grade truing stand. Is it as nice as a Park TS2.2? Well, no... but it's 1/3 the cost, and I'm not truing wheels all day. I maintain the bikes for my family of 4, and it does a fine job.

prathmann

The stand I've had since about 1980 was in the $10 range and is definitely minimal in function but I've found it to be perfectly adequate for my needs. It consists of an aluminum bar bent about like a fork and flexible enough to accommodate various hub widths plus a second bar that swings out and holds a couple binder clips that you adjust near the rim to see how true the wheel is. It can either be bolted to a table or clamped in a vise (I do the latter). Dishing has to be done separately. Wouldn't be suitable for anyone building wheels regularly, but fine for my needs where I'm not concerned if it may take me an extra 10 minutes or so to build a wheel compared to using a stand with all the bells and whistles.

The Minoura looks like a significant step up from mine and I'd certainly view it as being suitable for personal as opposed to daily professional use.

Andy_K 

+1 on the Minoura. Sometimes I feel like I have to futz with the centering more than I would like to get really fine truing, but it's something I feel like I can live with. I've built ~10 sets of wheels in the last 8 years with this stand. I don't think that's enough to justify the expense of even a used TS2.2.

Raiden

There are a couple of ts2s on eBay for cheapish right now. You only need the 2.2 if you're doing 29ers with the tires on all the time. Though that minoura unit looks passable.

Retro Grouch 

In the end, all that a truing stand does is to provide a stable place for you to measure from. Cheapies work just fine.

svgeek

I was waiting for someone to say that the best truing stand is your bike, flipped over

A quick Google search reveals that there's a review (from 2005) of the Minoura truing stand in this very forum!

I've used both of Park Tools' truing stands. The very inexpensive one-sided one is good enough to remove rim wobbles etc but not so good to actually center the rim on the hub. This is based on personal (noob wheelwright at that time) experience. YMMV.

himespau 

+1

pdlamb

+1. I've got the rebranded version (Performance had it on sale for $35 one end of the season), and it works fine.

fietsbob

A rope hung from the ceiling or a tree..

destro713

Does the Minoura give you a good visual reference point to gauge flaws in your lateral truing?

D1andonlyDman

Your front fork and brake calipers is the least expensive truing stand worth considering.

destro713

Isn't it great when people don't read the first post?

techsensei

I'm spoiled from using Park Tool's shop stand, so every consumer stand I've ever put a wheel in felt like a joke. Anyway, I only use the Park for building or seriously messed up wheels; for touch up work I just true on the bike.

I saw this in a search; you could probably dumpster dive for a trashed frame:

Wheever

Has anyone used or tried the the feedback sports pro model truing stand? It looks pretty cool, but for only being able to do one side at a time, and has the handy rotor truing feature.

Just curious.

techsensei

I suppose it looks cool, but $90?! You could do the same thing with a fork ... and your bike already has one.

79pmooney

"What is the least expensive truing stand worth considering?" Literally? 4' of scrap rope and steel hook from Home Depot, probably $1.98. Screw the hook into an overhead in your shop. Tie a 6" loop at one end of the rope and the other to the hook. Hang your bike by the saddle nose in the loop. Use the brake pads to true to. Turn the wheel around to get the dish. Use a pencil and an elastic across the fork or seatstays for out of round.

All the wheels I raced were built that way. My wheels now are better but that is far more the experience of 100 or so wheels and better materials, esp spokes, than 40 years ago. And I still use a very cheap stand I have had for 30 years. I do use a dishing tool, equally cheap. If I were doing it for money and building a lot of wheel I would spend the money to get a good stand because I would save around 5-10 minutes per wheel. But the bike wouldn't care.

Ben

cyccommute 

I built a whole lot of wheels with a stand like the Fleabay ones. The Park stand is a wonderful tool (and I have one) but the cheap ones get the job done. I'm not sure that the Minoura FT-1 is really worth the extra $30.

Don't let the Perfect be the enemy of the Good.

Andy_K 

I'm not sure what you mean by this question. The "feelers" adjust in an out for lateral truing. When you get down to the last fraction of a millimeter it can be hard to tell which one is rubbing. I generally put a piece of paper below the wheel to create a better background, though I just learned that Minoura intends for you to only use one feeler at a time with the other locked out away from the rim. I didn't even know you could lock them out. It's amazing what you can learn by reading the manual.

For radial truing, there is a vertical gauge that adjusts in and out, but I find that to be more trouble than it is worth -- the noise it makes is awful and it's hard to get a good enough view to judge radial true apart from contact with the gauge. I typically use the horizontal arms and some visual reference point on the rim to judge radial true. Rims with a wear line in the center of the braking surface are great for this, but the outer edge of the rims works too.

BTW, here's the manual: https://www.minoura.jp/_userdata/ft1-e1.pdf

himespau 

Mine came with a T-bar for centering the stand. That doesn't appear to be in the instruction manual.

Andy_K 

Mine has that too. I never use it. The wheel being trued seems to do a better job. The pillars just aren't stable enough for the centering to survive the process of putting a wheel in the stand and still have anything like precision.