Questions for the Board
 

I love my LBS but it's closer to work than home (ones around home suck). Also, I just think it makes all the sense in the world to do most of your repairs and maintenance yourself. I feel good when I take care of my bike...and it has taken care of me over the years. So...

What home bike stand would you recommend. I've read a few reviews with mixed results. I don't want to spend more than $140 if possible...less if I can still get agood quality. This stand looks decent but you guys are the pros on this stuff so let me know.... http://www.beyondbikes.com/BB/ItemDe...AC-TOO-brs-70b

Also, how do you adjust the rear derailor? I had done some cleaning of my chain, cassette and derailor and it seems like after that I was getting a lot of chain noise in certain gears (large chain ring and mid back gear) that I could relieve by putting some slight pressure on my downshifter. I have a TRek Antelope 830 mountain bike circa 1991.

Also, how difficult is it to get good at truing your wheels? I'm a big guy and I get out of true every so often...the guys in my LBS told me to get a book but that they weren't comfortable showing someone how to do it (liability issues??). Also, is it even a good idea to get a truing stand in addition to a normal cycling stand?

Thanks in advance for your help.

1. I've never personally used that Ultimate repair stand but many others seem to give it very high marks.

2. Check the Park Tool website for step-by-step derailleur adjustments. You almost surely just need about a half turn of additional cable tension.

3. Getting the side-to-side wobble out of a wheel is a piece of cake. To do a good job on wheels, however, you are going to have to learn to balance spoke tensions. I would seriously suggest getting a Park or Wheelsmith tensiometer. Get all of the spokes tensioned equally first, then worry about untrueness by tightening and loosening opposing pairs of spokes equal amounts.

Wow, well that's quite an order. But seriously, you should be able to get a good stand for much less that 140 clams. Park makes some very good "consumer stands" including their "PS-9" stand which can be gotten on ebay for less than $100 on ebay with shipping. Park even makes a relatively inexpensive truing stand that can attach to it's workstands for easy use. The workstand also folds and collapses for ease of storage, or even toss it in your trunk and give your friends a quick tune-up before a long ride. Now, as for your rear derailleur, sounds like you just have a little too much slack in your cable, which can be adjusted using the barrel adjuster on the derailleur (clockwise to loosen/counter clockwise to tighten the cable). But I do have a question for you....your saying that your bike is circa '91? When was the last time you had your cables/housing changed and just how old is your chain/cog combo? Excessive wear will dramatically decrease shifting performance and even ridability if let go for too long. Ok...so finally for truing your wheels....this really comes with practice practice practice. One, make sure that you have a CORRECTLY sized spoke wrench. Generally, the most used are the Park models (black, green and red, each a different size). VERY generally speaking, if you need to move the rim to the right, you would tighten a spoke on the right side, and possibly, loosen one on the left. These adjustments should always be made in very small incriments (sp?) with multiple passes on the same area and checking the entire rim multiple times as you true. If you can, see if your LBS has an old wheel that they'll give you or sell REALLY cheap that you can practice on. Your right by the way, everyone should know the basics about working on and maintaining your ride and I applaude you for doing so. I was a framebuilder and mechanic for over 12 years, and love helping, so feel free to PM me with any other questions! Good luck!!!!

I have an Ultimate stand and appreciate the ease of foding and sturdiness when holding the bike. With the stand you can easily do wheel trueing without a trueing stand. You use the bake pads as guide to trueness, and mount the wheel backwards to check the dish. A tensiometer makes trueing easier, but can be done by plucking the spokes and listening to the pitch.