noglider 

My Nashbar stand broke on the second day I used it.

squirtdad

this is what I thought also and spent a lot of time, effort and $$$. Non of the end results was as functional, as portable or as good looking as the park stand i finally got

but for the DIY here are some ideas.


8 Bombproof DIY Bike Repair Stands - BikeHacks

Kactus

As with most things in life, doing something right isn't as easy, or cheap, as it looks. If it were, we would be reading about how wonderful the $49.99 eBay specials are.

I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with.

gugie 

And a fine example of the 'ol bar end shifter double cross!

Michael Angelo 

It's a Park Tools ICS-1 internal seat tube Clamp. No longer made,
Very handy, and work great. Hard to find, not expensive, usually under $100.

T Stew

Yes, as long as it turns out well and functional, I plan on writing a post on it. Oh and I didn't mean to imply it would be easy or cheap for anyone to do, at least for someone that isn't a DIYer already with a good amount of tools and supplies. I just wonder how much mark up is in these things. For example:


I know, apples and oranges here but just compare the materials since both of these cost about the same. 4,000 lb rated engine stand to the left. Made mostly out of thick heavy duty 1/4" and 3/16" steel tubing. Also has 6 super heavy duty casters, and a hydraulic cylinder. Weighs well over 100 lbs. The bike stand can lift 80 lbs and features extremely thin tubing, a clamp, and a couple of joints that allow it to slide and rotate. Total weight closer to 20 lbs. I fail to see how the park stand is worth more than about $50. Oh... mark-up. yeah I think the profit margin is several times greater on the Park Tool.

One reason I thought of the engine hoist / shop crane is because I already have one in my garage. My thought is to actually us it since I have it laying around already... just make a bike clamp attachment that slides into the end where the short bit of chain and clevis grab hook usually goes. The steel tubing there is 2" I.D. and I happen to have some 2" O.D. tubing laying around from another project that slides into it nicely. And replacing the bolt with a quick hitch pin will allow to swap between engine hoist and bike stand back and forth in just seconds (well even with the regular bolt it would still be only seconds, but maybe 30 versus 5 seconds).

SvenMN 

Another vote for the Feedback Sports stand. A Christmas gift from my wife 3 or 4 years ago. She ordered through the LBS, and he upgraded the clamp to what they were using in their shop... (they modified their pro Park stands).

seypat

Thanks for the info.

seypat

Before I got the Feedback Sports stand I DIYed a portable stand made entirely out of PCV pipe. It was modular and I could configure it in a couple of ways. It took about 5 minutes to put up or take down. I think I spent around 20 bucks on materials. I was so proud of myself. It was flimsy, but would do what I needed. I always had to stay close because I was afraid it would fall down. It never did. I used it for a year or two, then I decided I wanted a wheel truing stand. I couldn't decide on a good DIY one so I bought myself a Christmas present. I bought the Feedback Sports one and the repair stand with it. It is night and day between the Feedback and my DIY that I thought was OK. I did make a DIY dishing tool, but I'm about ready to get one that is not DIY. Where a good stand makes the difference is when you are replacing bb or headset bearings. Same for adjusting derailleur cables.

Money is always going in and out the door as people work on their bikes. Some of that money is not chump change either. Some of those bikes aren't $50 flippers either. Investing some of that money in quality tools is a good investment. Better in the long run than just getting by with something you put together yourself. If you have ever tried to get a tire off and on with a cheap set of tire tools you know what I'm talking about. You can get it done, but they are not that dependable. That is just my opinion.

SJX426 

I was given a Spin Doctor stand that looks a lot like this one. I don't recommend it if you do serous wrenching. It is not stable enough and will tip over of the weight is wrong.

The worst part about mine is the tightening arm for rotation. It stripped. I was able to add some washers to ensure the stripped threads don't engage but I still don't like it. I have to hold the stand to turn it due to the resistance. It kind of sticks too.

I am not sure what my next stand will be. Since I have a work bench, I might get one that attaches to it, but I like the portability as well. There isn't much room for mounting many more tools on the edge of the bench either, vices, grinders, reloading presses, etc!

My last project was to remove a stuck seat post out of a steel frame. I mounted the frame on the stand in the drive way to keep the fumes from being contained in the garage. I forgot about he heat freshly mixed Lye creates and melted the rubber clamp protectors! They really fit well on a tube now! Since the tubing is AL, I had to wash them down while the Lye was bubbling out of the frame! It is now permanently stained. New Patina! I am looking for a failure so I can justifiably trash it!

miamijim

I dislike the two legged park stands. Do they work? Yes.

I have a Feedback Sports Elite.

Roger M

That's my stand in the photo. I bought it via Craigslist several years ago. It came with a trunkload of bike parts, for less than half of what it would have cost new. It's an older model, but it works great for a home wrench. Good used stands(Feedback, Park, Pedros, etc) show up on CL all of the time. Some are reasonably priced, others not. REI has 20% off sales on the Feedback stands every few months.

FWIW, I built this a long time ago from used pipe and fittings. It gets used more than the Park stand, for cleaning and quick maintenance. No clamp, just throw the bike on the hanger(there's foam pipe insulation on the cradles now). Not so shiny anymore though.

mechanicmatt

Any park stand with the quick release flip lever style clamp. Completely worth it. I have used shop style park's, own a pcs-1, and own a pcs-10. The pcs-10 is a truly great stand.

Also the comparison to the engine hoist is interesting but not apples to apples. The park stands are much more robust than you think but could use some replacement of the hokey plastic parts with metal. I'm looking at you height adjustment plastic holder thingie.

Murray Missile 

My Feedback Sports Elite came today. Wow! I love it, light but solid as a rock. Thanks to everyone that recommended them, I'd never heard of them before.

RoadGuy

When it comes to repair stands, stability seems to come with weight. The stands I've seen made out of aluminum tubing are lighter and easier to carry around than the Park Tool Stands, but when you get to the heavy wrenching, the steel in the Park Tool stands makes them more stable than the lightweights.

Would I like a third leg on my PCS-10? Sure I would, I think it would make a great stand even better. But other people are just going to complain about the added weight, so we probably will never see it happen.

markwesti

Prolly a pos , but tempting .
Pro Portable Mechanic Bike Repair Stand Bicycle Workstand | eBay

lostarchitect 

I just bought a like-new PCS-10 on Craigslist and it is 1000x better than the Topeak Prep Stand Pro I had previously.

I also have a clamp -- and ONLY the clamp -- from a Park shop stand that I grabbed when a bike shop shut down. If you want it, it's yours for the cost of shipping. Let me know if you're interested and I'll send you a photo.

poprad

Congrats; mine's getting pretty old (branded Ultimate) and still works great. My only advice is store with the spring-assist clamp in the full open position to preserve the spring's tension. It's kind of natural to close it, but that will weaken the spring and you'll have to strip and re-stretch it someday.

thinktubes 

Last year, I missed getting one of these at a church rummage sale. I was 10 feet too late. It sold for $20...

Murray Missile 

Thanks for the tip, I'm more inclined to leave it open when not in use, it probably won't get stored much but I will definitely keep that in mind.

blakcloud

My Cinelli stand that I purchased thirty years ago for $100. It was recently replaced with a Feedback Pro Elite only because I like the portability of the the Feedback. The Cinelli is a lot more stable.

curtiseddie

My DIY red neck bike stand. Temporary until I break down to buy a manufactured one. (I have things on higher priority.

I built this in less than 2 hours. It is steady, but heavy. I don't plan on moving it much.

randyjawa 

I have used a few different stands, and the Park PS-10 has proved to be the best of the bunch...

T Stew

Looks good to me

I would think heavy weight would be preferable. Personally I'll only be using one in my garage at home and I have a large garage so its not like I need the thing to fold up a stuff in a closet or anything. I can see a lightweight and folding design being a great advantage if you live in a small apartment though. I worry about all the stories of them getting knocked over and whatnot. I've no personal experience with bikestands yet, but something similar happened with a tripod and camera. I just didn't think a quality tripod was that big of a deal even though I had a somewhat expensive camera. My cheap on seemed plenty sturdy, despite it's light weight. And I'd rarely use one anyhow. Well even with the legs fully extended I still knocked it over once by accident. The camera did survive, but you'd think I'd have learned my lesson. It fell a second time and that time broke my 70-300 lens. After that I pitched the cheapie 1 lb department store tripod and went for a heavy duty 5 lb manfrotto. Sorry for the tangent, just reminded me of that.

due ruote 

Looks solid. What material do you have on the jaws?