Ever built a Repair Stand?
 

Hi All,

I'm just curious if anyone's ever built a repair stand out of readily available materials. I'm too cheap to spend $150 on one, but need to do some tuning. Any ideas would be appreciated. "Every"?! How did that get in the title? Jesus it's too early.

If you do some searching on the forum there have been a few threads on this. A stand really doesn't have to be that sophisticated. It just has to be sturdy and stable enough to hold the bike up off the ground to make it easier to work on. For most work you don't even really need to clamp it down, just hang it on the stand. I'm sure a Google search will turn up some plans.

believe it or not, I frequently use an ironing board, just hang the frame off one end, and put something heavy on the other end if need be. kinda silly, but often works just fine.

I've got a cabinetmaker's bench with a big vise on it, but you could improvise that part. My work stand is a 2x6 clamped vertically in the vise. There are two pieces of iron pipe (1.25" dia. +-) bolted to the 2x6 and running parallel, vertically and about 4” apart. They clear the top of the 2x6 by a few inches and are threaded on top. You can buy iron pipe in a hardware store that is threaded on both ends. Buy a 6’ piece and cut it in half. Thread a 90-degree elbow at the top of each pipe pointing towards you. Thread a 4-6” piece of pipe into each elbow to get the bike away from the 2x6. I bolted a 6” piece of angle iron between the ends of the short pipes with small headed machine screws and glued a strip of rubber in the v-groove to protect bike paint. This rig holds the bike for anything I need to do on it. I can raise or lower the 2x6 in the vise to get the right working height and I hang the thing on the wall when not using it.

Frankie Fixed, sounds like a real nice setup. I am unclear on how you made the 90 degree elbow. How do the threads make a right angle? Do you have any photos of it?

Frankie - nice design! Sounds like the start of a great stand. If you could clamp the bike down and find a way to rotate the stand/bike, that would be it! I guess you could angle the 2x6 in the vise, but then you give up the height adjustment. Seems like there ought to be a way.....

we hang our bikes from ropes in the rafters for repairs. tie one to the stem and one to the seat.

I made one really sweet repair stand once. TOTALLY CHEAP AND STABLE. Looked like crap though.

Take a wooden saw horse. You can get them cheap from the hardware store. What are they going for now? Like 10-15 bucks? And then buy a fork mount block from a bike shop. The ones that mount to truck beds work pretty good. Mount that thing onto the saw horse. Fold it up and store it in the garage when done. Cheap and easy!

Used Hollywood trunk-mounted bike rack (free to me), hanging from two utility hooks threaded into exposed 2x4s in the wall of the garage. The foot of the bike rack butts up agains the wall for stability.

Works for me!

I think the biggest reason to have a repair stand is so you can get the rear wheel of the ground to spin and adjust the drivetrain. Most other adjustments can be made while holding the bike or leaning it against something. Here is a cheap ($9.95) solution I've used:

http://www.biketoolsetc.com/index.cg...item_id=WS-405

It's a display stand that rests under the bottom bracket and lifts the rear wheel. It fits most bikes, although the diameter of the oversized down tube on my mountain bike makes it a tight squeeze. You might be able to get one from a local shop and save the shipping charge.

I built one recently. It's an "L" made from 1" black pipe, a 6" and an 18" piece. The short arm screws into a flange mounted on the front of my workbench, leaving the long arm upright. I screwed another flange into the top of that and attached a 12" piece of 2x4 lumber. To the end of the 2x4 I bolted an inexpensive swivel vise ($10 from Home Depot) with plastic jaw covers.

I just clamp the top tube (or other parts of the frame alone) into the vise jaws and it works great. I may eventually remove the vise jaws and attach two half lengths of PVC pipe padded with foam or rubber for a more secure hold.

As it stands, less than $20 total.

Get your self a large vise grips and weld a 3” piece of 1” angle onto each jaw face. Weld a piece of ¼” plate to the spine of the vise-grips so you can clamp them in a bench vise. Cut two 3.5” sections out of an inner tube. Make a slit in the wall at the middle of each and strech them over each v-section.

wow. great idea. i think im going to do this, and then attach it to a drum cymbal stand for the base. i just have to find something to use for the 1" angle that needs to be attached to each jaw face.. hmmm

Sounds pretty cool. Have any pictures you can post?

A trainer can do well as a stand if doing some minor tuning only... For overhauls, I suspend the bike from the ceiling using steel chains and some rope around the saddle and stem/handlebars - costs less than $5 from the local hardware
:D

someone reccomended that but what keeps the bike from wobbling around?

I am debating spending the 65.00 for an adaptor for my bent. it is so hard to deal with without some kind of stand. but it needs a clamp that has vertical jaws.

Just what amount of wobbling concerns you. Unless you are trying to tighten a BB cartridge, I can't think of any other item on a bike that requires manipulation resulting in a disconcerting amount of wobble. In fact, turning the pedals can reveal an out-of-true rear wheel.

FWIW, I've taken to suspending some light chain with a 2.5-metre-wide steel tubing a 50mm diameter from the ceiling of my bike-arage. In turn, I suspend the bikes by their seats from the pipe. Convenient height, no interference from anything while turning the pedals, and stable, even for tightening BBs.

like tightening a part and the bike moves away. unless you have one free hand to hold it? I am used to a solid bike when working on it. it does not move when you touch it.
till I try your method I am not condeming it just wondering.
I would have to think on how to do my bent since it is top heavy.

Hmmm, the heavier the bike, the less the movement, I would have thought. Even with a recumbent.

No, the amount of effort to tighten *most* items on a bike aren't sufficient enough to produce the movement you're concerned about.

I've used a single inner tube suspended from a fixture on the ceiling to work on a bike. Another inner tube will help stabilise things a bit more (to head tube and seat), but using one is not a deal-breaker. In fact, using the seat on a solid bar like I described is even better because it is remarkably stable.

I don't know, but do any bike shops in your area use the bar-and-suspend-by-seat method to store and showroom their double-triangle bikes? If so, go see how stable the system is. Given that you're talking about a recumebent, you might have to adapt, of course.

As an alternative, I rather like the device that goes under the BB, however. Probably because I run bike maintenance courses where this would be more convenient than tube suspended form the ceiling or investing in expensive stands.

Generally, I think you don't have to go expensive or elaborate to service a bike if you ar dealing with one or two. A workstand for a bikeshop pro, or someone servicing a race bike, might be more in order. I have plenty of witnesses to me working on upside-down bikes outside the cafe where I had my hire and tour business... no bikestands or ceilings in those days :)

I just took a couple. Excuse the workshop clutter:

Hey, thats a cool creative solution you have at the workbench! Great job!

Slow - Thanks for the pix! It really looks good. I'll have to check out Home Depot this week.

I hang my Burly Hepcat (SWB) from the rafters in my garage. $10 worth of chain from Home Depot did the trick. The bike does move around a bit, depending on what I am doing. However, it is the best solution I have come up with so far.

The trick to stabilizing the bike is how you arrange the chains. Hang the bike with vertical chains and it will move a lot. For the rear of the bike I used two chains that are anchored about 4 ft apart on the rafters. They cross to go to the opposite side of the top part of the seat. Where they cross I have a bolt to further stabilize them. Very solid. At the front I use a single vertical chain that attaches to the "T" fitting that goes into the top of my front derailluer riser. For added stability I should use two chains in a cross.

Working on the bike in any other fashion is a huge PITA. The bike is extremely unwieldy.

Ron

This thread should be renamed Bike frame torture devices