Are there tips to protecting the decals on vintage frames when they're held in a work stand? A recent bike I was working on I had the assembled frame in a Park work stand clamped to the seat tube. Efforts were use to put the rubber padded clamp in a clear area between decals but either slippage through time or didn't see it but one got "squashed and distorted" with some of another sticking to the clamp.

I generally clamp to the seat POST not the tube as my vintage road bikes are quite tender and sometimes( bottom bracket maintenance ) I put quite a bit of force on the bike. If I am just taking a wheel off to clean or repair I may use the tubes and then I wrap one of those lint free detail rags around the tube.

I’ve got 2 old Blackburn stands with the hard rubber clamp. I always use the top tube, so just put a folded over polishing cloth over the top tube of the bike before clamping it. Haven’t trashed a non clear-coated decal yet
Tim

Raising the seatpost and clamping that is effective and side benefit add a bit of grease before lowering it back to insure it is not stuck.
Too hard to extract?, ream or hone time, once done, works like a charm.

Thanks for the tips. Duh moment, didn't think of the seat post.

I have an old Blackburn bench top clamp that I've had it since the 1980's. For light stuff, I wrap a cut to size cloth around the top tube. When I'm working on bare frames, sometimes I'll put in a proper sized old steel seatpost and grip it in the Blackburn. For heavy work like removing or installing a BB I'll sometimes grip the frame near the bottom of the down tube. I put the bike on the ground to remove stuck pedals.



verktyg

Totally agree. No worries damaging decals, paint or denting anything (especially carbon). Also allows for easy drivetrain work because pedals clear the stand vs using the seat tube.

Yeah on a newer bike I’ll use the seat post, only way the Blackburn work stand will work. My 2nd Blackburn is a bench top mount.
Tim

Yeah, "don't clamp on a frame tube." If you're worried about losing a hard-won saddle height by clamping on the seat post, either mark the post in some way or use a tool to restore the saddle to the correct height after working on the bike:

This all sounds hideously familiar. The first I had a frame resprayed, I put in the stand clamped by the seat tube. That did small bit of damage to a decal. Not a big deal in the overall scheme of things (you have to look pretty closely to see it), but I was not a happy camper. I mean, I hadn't even gotten the bike built up and on the road before it had been schmutzed up.

Since then, I clamp the seat post each and every time. I have yet to mess up a decal that way.

I always wrap the tube with a microfiber cloth even if there's not a decal in the way.