Workstand, or alternatives.

lukester

I'm adjusting the front mech on my bike, hit a few snags as I kind of messed it up the first time, but just wondering what you all do in terms of working on your bikes- do you get by without a workstand?

I priced stands locally, but they start at around €120. I'm aiming to do the maintenance on the bike myself- having to turn it upside down all the time ain't ideal but it's doable. It also so happens that my wallet is empty after buying the bike. Saw a thread on here about a cheap stand on ebay but the seller appears to have disappeared.

Explosive_Cornflake

I (and my father) made one quite quickly one morning out of some spare wood. I can take pics tonight if you want.
I'll attempt to describe it:
Basically an inverted L.
The top horizontal was fixed to about a 5ft high vertical post. The vertical post was fixed to a work bench.
There are actually two horizontal parts, one fixed, one on a hinge.
The two had a whole drilled vertically through them, the write size to fit in a seat post. This was lined with some old t shirt.
It held the bike rock solid, and allowed me to move it about on a horizontal axis. I built a bike from it, and it was honselty the best bit of prep work I've done in a long time.

Morgan

A workstand is a really worthwhile investment if you're doing a fair bit of bike maintenance. I have the Minoura RS4000.

This is the new version of it:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360011477&n=Minoura%20RS-5000%20Workstand

I've been happy with it. Holds the bike solidly and folds down small when not in use. The Park Tool ones I've seen have been pretty good too.

kona

Morgan wrote: »

A workstand is a really worthwhile investment if you're doing a fair bit of bike maintenance. I have the Minoura RS4000.

This is the new version of it:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360011477&n=Minoura%20RS-5000%20Workstand

I've been happy with it. Holds the bike solidly and folds down small when not in use. The Park Tool ones I've seen have been pretty good too.

these stands are cool for light decent bikes, if the bike is heavy, such as a dh rig, unless its screwed into the ground it rocks about like mad:D
fun times when your trying to line stuff up:D

penexpers

I have a BBB one that I got off a fellow boards user. It's definitely a worthwhile investment.

This is it I think

http://www.bbbparts.com/products/accessories/tools/btl22.html

liamtinney

Union do a good stand for €90 with a clamp that rotates 360 degrees, lightweight alu, folds down small, I have used one for 3 years (about 3-4 times a day) still working fine, the newer model has a improved clamp.

fish-head

I got a Park Tools one on ChainReaction for around 80 bones, really good investment!

Explosive_Cornflake

Here's the one I made. Hinge on the left side, clamps on the right. It's good for €0

Cassiel

:eek: Not good if thats a carbon fibre seatpost...

Explosive_Cornflake wrote: »

Here's the one I made. Hinge on the left side, clamps on the right. It's good for €0

Explosive_Cornflake

It's not clamped tight, there's a hole drilled in the wood a bit bigger than the seat post and lined with cotton. The light I have on the rear would put more pressure on the post.

blorg

You've made a fair few changes to that bike- wheels and groupset are upgraded? Looks good.

I did notice that Wiggle have 56% off the Lifeline Workstand - any opinions? I was thinking of getting the Lifeline toolbox while I was at it (think it's 40% off or so and any of the other Lifeline tools I got were fine.)

Explosive_Cornflake

blorg wrote: »

You've made a fair few changes to that bike- wheels and groupset are upgraded? Looks good.
)

Correct indeed; 105 groupset and Mavic Aksium wheels.
Bike has been a bit poor lately, fell on the ice one morning and broke the left shifter. Then a week later the hub went on the rear wheel, so I'm waiting on getting that back.