Not sure if I read this idea in these forums or somewhere else. Decided to give it a try today, worked like a charm. The original idea said to use a broom stick but that was to fat to slide through my seat, luckily I found this steel rod, so much for spending hundreds of dollars on a stand, this works for my purposes:

that's a 1st!

The ladder sort of limits your access to the bike, but hey, it works. I've never had a bike stand, I just turn my bikes upside down and put a piece of carpet under the handlebars and seat.

People spend all kinds of money on upgrading this or that on their bikes. Seldom is it necessary, or beneficial. A proper bike stand, however, will prove to be one of the best bike purchases you'll make (besides the bike itself.)

Looks nice!
One step up:
On the net, there are several DIY manuals on building a stand based on pipes and a pipe clamp. I did this with a slight variation to make it cheaper:
Get an old crate as bottom plate (invert it, if necessary), get some 2x4 lumber to build the vertical beam. Get a short pipe, mounting plates, and pipe clamp (mine came off kijiji/craigslist, cheapest kind) to build the horizontal arm. Cut some lumber pieces to serve as interface between pipe clamp and seat post and line it with pieces of old tubes. In addition, I use an old tube hanging from the ceiling to support the structure from the top and another one to keep the front of the bike at the right tilt (the pipe/pipe clamp will turn in its threads and thus not hold the bike level)

You'd be surprised how little it limits access. You can shift the bike back and forth and side to side enough that I can't think of it ever being in the way.

This. A functional bike work stand doesn't cost that much. I bought one a few years ago and it's been worth its weight in gold.

More specifically, what if you want to work on your pedals, BB, crank, FD, or whatever? That ladder hack isn't going to help. In fact, tons of places on that bike aren't going to be very accessible.

Besides, some people spend a fortune on their bike. I just spent $6k on my once-in-a-lifetime, dream bike. There's no way I'd prop it up on a step ladder and broomstick to work on it. This is penny wise and pound foolish.

While I agree that bike stands don't have to be hundreds of dollars, but what do you think is going to happen to the bike propped up on the ladder? You think the bike is going to get hurt feelings and not perform well?

While necessity remains the mother of invention, it's not a work stand unless you can use it to do... work. That's a bike hanging from a ladder, which makes it easier to take the wheels off.

Beyond that, I'm not the only one that sees that humpback-bow in the saddle in pic #2, from it having load placed on it in a way it was never intended to, right? Wouldn't recommend leaving it like that for long periods.

TRUTH! Thread coulda' ended right there.


-Kedosto

Yes, that's exactly what I think. I'll go a step further and state that it might be triggered if supported on a step ladder like this, and a work stand would work more like a safe space for my bike.

Your microaggressions are showing; you'd better check your privilege!

Check out how the bike is "propped up" on the ladder. It's just resting on an iron rod under the seat. It dangles fine, but if you were actually working on it, how easy do you think it would be to accidentally shift the bike enough for it to fall off? What if the rear wheel were off and you bumped it off that rod and it fell down onto the dropouts and rear derailleur on your concrete floor? Bottom line is that the right tools for the job aren't that expensive. Do you know many folks who would jack up their brand new Porsche and then support the front end on some cinder blocks to work on it? Can it be done? Sure. Is it the best tool for the job? Nope.

That's not entirely true. The rod appears to be going through the seat rails, so there's a reduced chance of it falling off. Still, a proper bike rack holds the bike still and secure while you work on it, and is worth every penny. I know when I got mine, I kicked myself for not getting it years before. As I alluded to in my earlier post, it's a much better investment than almost any upgrade on your bike.

Bikehand Pro Mechanic Bicycle/Bike Repair Rack Stand https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D9B7OKQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_cwddAb5H7ZJ9T

I bought this years ago. Works fine for my very basic bike maintenance skills.

You have the rod going through the saddle in such a way the bike will not fall off. Good job, I'm sure you'll get everything done you need to on your bike. It really is nice to be able to have the bike suspended to work on it.
I bought a stand, which is nice, but I obviously spent more than you did.
Thank you for posting this idea, I'm sure others will benefit.

Looks like you're in a garage. If you have exposed rafters, tie some loops of rope around them. You can hang the bike by the seat and handlebars to work on it.

But a real bike stand is better than any of this stuff, and not too expensive. I've got one that folds up stashed in my computer room. Definitely worth the investment for me.

That might work for some simple stuff but if you really are serious about repairs and maintenance, your ladder is completely insufficient. As others have said, a decent bike stand is not really that expensive, especially considering you will have it for years.

The rod is quite long and goes through the actual saddle brackets you would have to shift it pretty hard to get it to fall. That being said yeah it's clearly not the best tool for the job, but I bet it's absolutely fine for whatever work the OP is doing which likely is light duty adjustments. I doubt very few of us actually possess the "best" tools for the job, but what we have is absolutely fine.

LMAO, looks like something I would do after drinking too much beer. Please, get a life. Sorry, but IMHO just about anything is better than that contraption. Hang some parachute cord from the ceiling with a couple hooks or something.

Confused. Is it using a ladder or spending a fortune on a bike that is penny wise and pound foolish?

It's the ladder. It's both penny wise and pound foolish. Buying a $6k bike is not penny wise, just pound foolish.

Thing is, knowing my wife I knew I was only going to be allowed to buy one really expensive bike once, so I may well swing for the fences. We all know if you pay $3k for a bike you don't get twice as much bike as the guy who pays $1.5k, and paying $6k didn't get me twice the bike as I could have had for $3k, so it's definitely a matter of sharply diminishing returns. That said, I'm really liking it so far (either because it's a really good bike, or because my subconscious knows that I paid $6k for the damn thing so it had better be worth it), and that's what's important to me.

My previous main bike was a 2003 Trek that I paid $450 for in 2012 and have put over 8000 miles on since. It cost something like $2100 when it was new, so it was a decent bike, and it still had its original tires on it when I got it. I've gotten really good use out of it, and for now I'm keeping it as a backup, or to eventually mount on an indoor trainer. I have to say, though, that I'm really loving this new bike so far. I put around 62 miles on it since my first ride on it yesterday, and it's just way better all around than my previous bike. It rides very smoothly with the 32mm tires I put on it. I was getting similar or better speed as I was getting on my previous bike but at lower heart rates (5-10bpm lower). It's 11-speed Di2 instead of 9-speed Ultegra 6500 with highly worn mechs. It turned some really bad roads I ride on from bone-rattling ordeals into mere annoyances. Wide cracks in the road surface on this one road (1-3" wide cracks) were so bad on my previous bikes, even with a 28mm rear tire and a 25mm front (both just barely fit with less than a mm of room to spare), that I had to slow down dramatically, unweight my seat, and aim for the narrowest parts of the crack on the very edge of the road. With the new bike I just ride over these at full speed. Yeah, I feel a bump, but it's just an annoyance, not something that makes me feel like I'll either pinch flat, taco the rim, or break a weld (old bike was aluminum and I'm a heavy rider, so I've been growing increasingly nervous about fatigue).

Easy there.

I like it. I once tried a 2 wheel dolly with a bungee cord on it, works about as well I think.

Really, I'm sorry. But - that ladder thing is just pathetic. I learned how to tie a bike from the ceiling with a cord when I was a child. And, I still use that technique when necessary. People talk about cheap bike stands all the time. I can make one for about $0.50 worth of nylon cord and coat hangers any day of the week.

I suppose it is alright if you want to calibrate your derailleurs, but not much after that. You would have a hard time removing a crank. Even removing/installing wheels would be more difficult

A proper clamping workstand can be had from Amazon starting around $30, so I fail to see the ingenuity in using a ladder.