DIY bike stands and repair stations

I'd like to build a means to hold my bike up in my apartment so I can work on
it.

Anybody who cares to describe their DIY setup to hold the bike (preferably at
standing work-height), I'd be grateful.

Thanks.

In another thread, Peter described his setup thus:
"
If you put two sturdy hooks (I used swag-hooks in the ceiling of my
apartment) in the beam(s) of your garage you can suspend your bicycle
to work on it. I have three 48 inches long nylon toe-strap like straps
I use to hold my bicycle when I work on it. One strap goes around the
nose of the saddle and the other two are joined together and go around
the handlebars beneath the brake levers. What is really neat with this
setup is that just by pulling on the free end of the straps or
releasing the buckle a bit I can raise or lower the bike to work on
different sections of it. I can raise the bicycle so that I do not
have to lean or bend over to work on it and it means I can work on the
bicycle with the drive train, or other area I want to work on, at eye
level.

Cheers from Peter
"

Peter, I can't quite picture how the front strap holds the handlebars. Do you
mean you run the straps under the stem?

Can you describe it another way?

Thanks.

On Aug 15, 11:00*pm, DaveC wrote:
I'd like to build a means to hold my bike up in my apartment so I can work on
it.

Anybody who cares to describe their DIY setup to hold the bike (preferably at
standing work-height), I'd be grateful.

Thanks.

I've seen some DIY designs on Instructables.com. You can probably find
quite a few by googling. I was fortunate enough to find a good used
Park Tool stand on Craigslist.

The bike co-op at which I volunteer made their own from primarily
screw together plumbing parts but it did require a bit of welding.

-Tom

On Aug 16, 2:03*am, DaveC wrote:
In another thread, Peter described his setup thus:
"
If you put two sturdy hooks (I used swag-hooks in the ceiling of my
apartment) in the beam(s) of your garage you can suspend your bicycle
to work on it. I have three 48 inches long nylon toe-strap like straps
I use to hold my bicycle when I work on it. One strap goes around the
nose of the saddle and the other two are joined together and go around
the handlebars beneath the brake levers. What is really neat with this
setup is that just by pulling on the free end of the straps or
releasing the buckle a bit I can raise or lower the bike to work on
different sections of it. I can raise the bicycle so that I do not
have to lean or bend over to work on it and it means I can work on the
bicycle with the drive train, or other area I want to work on, at eye
level.

Cheers from Peter
"

Peter, I can't quite picture how the front strap holds the handlebars. Do you
mean you run the straps under the stem?

Can you describe it another way?

Thanks.

Hi there.

No, not just under the stem. I run the front strap under the each
brake lever. That prevents the front wheel from flopping from side to
side as will happen if the strap is just under the stem.

Cheers from Peter

On Aug 16, 7:00*am, DaveC wrote:
I'd like to build a means to hold my bike up in my apartment so I can work on
it.

Anybody who cares to describe their DIY setup to hold the bike (preferably at
standing work-height), I'd be grateful.

Thanks.

1. Clear the the kitchen table, turn the bike upside down on it, and
almost everything you want to work on is at a convenient height. Buy a
rubber mat to put on the table, or spread some cardboard, or your
better half might complain.

2. You can buy folding stands, some of them lightweight, reasonably
cheaply. At one townhouse we lived in where it was not convenient to
take the bike into the garden, I just worked in the back hall beside
the stairs when it rained, and outside on the front patio when it
didn't. You don't need as much width as you might first imagine, as
almost everything you do on a bike you do from either one side or
standing at the back or the front of the bike.

3. You can buy the tilting, swivelling jaws (that hold the bike) in
versions to bolt either onto a wall or onto a bench if you are in a
position to make a permanent or semi-permanent installation.

4. Topeak sells a little stand that fits under the bottom bracket and
raises the bike a few inches, which might be enough if you're young
and limber.

5. Before I had a stand, I liked the low wall around raised flowerbeds
on the front patio outside an earlier town house. For little jobs like
spoke checking or oiling the chain, I'd sit on the wall and bend over.
For bigger jobs I'd raise the bike onto the wall and drop the stand
among the flowers. By extension, a milkmaid's stool or the sort of
common low household step might also be useful to sit on.

Andre Jute
Visit Andre's recipes:
http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/FOOD.html

PS If you've never kept a SBC in the livingroom, you haven't lived.
When one girlfriend complained, I had a scrap V12 Jag block black-
chromed and mounted a glass plate on it, and replaced her in my
livingroom with this altogether more pleasing sculpture.

On Aug 16, 3:10*pm, Andre Jute wrote:
On Aug 16, 7:00*am, DaveC wrote:

I'd like to build a means to hold my bike up in my apartment so I can work on
it.

Anybody who cares to describe their DIY setup to hold the bike (preferably at
standing work-height), I'd be grateful.

Thanks.

1. Clear the the kitchen table, turn the bike upside down on it, and
almost everything you want to work on is at a convenient height. Buy a
rubber mat to put on the table, or spread some cardboard, or your
better half might complain.

2. You can buy folding stands, some of them lightweight, reasonably
cheaply. At one townhouse we lived in where it was not convenient to
take the bike into the garden, I just worked in the back hall beside
the stairs when it rained, and outside on the front patio when it
didn't. You don't need as much width as you might first imagine, as
almost everything you do on a bike you do from either one side or
standing at the back or the front of the bike.

3. You can buy the tilting, swivelling jaws (that hold the bike) in
versions to bolt either onto a wall or onto a bench if you are in a
position to make a permanent or semi-permanent installation.

4. Topeak sells a little stand that fits under the bottom bracket and
raises the bike a few inches, which might be enough if you're young
and limber.

5. Before I had a stand, I liked the low wall around raised flowerbeds
on the front patio outside an earlier town house. For little jobs like
spoke checking or oiling the chain, I'd sit on the wall and bend over.
For bigger jobs I'd raise the bike onto the wall and drop the stand
among the flowers. By extension, a milkmaid's stool or the sort of
common low household step might also be useful to sit on.

Peter has already made the crucial point about working at eye level.
You either have to raise the working parts of the bike to your eye
level or lower yourself *comfortably* to the bike's eye-level. If
you're cramped you hurry tricky jobs, if you can't see what you're
doing you wreck components and assemble things wrong, and so on.

Andre Jute
Visit Andre's recipes:
*http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/FOOD.html

PS If you've never kept a SBC in the livingroom, you haven't lived.
When one girlfriend complained, I had a scrap V12 Jag block black-
chromed and mounted a glass plate on it, and replaced her in my
livingroom with this altogether more pleasing sculpture.

No, not just under the stem. I run the front strap under the each
brake lever. That prevents the front wheel from flopping from side to
side as will happen if the strap is just under the stem.

Cheers from Peter

Ah, got it. Thanks!

Dave

DaveC wrote:
In another thread, Peter described his setup thus:
"
If you put two sturdy hooks (I used swag-hooks in the ceiling of my
apartment) in the beam(s) of your garage you can suspend your bicycle
to work on it. I have three 48 inches long nylon toe-strap like straps
I use to hold my bicycle when I work on it. One strap goes around the
nose of the saddle and the other two are joined together and go around
the handlebars beneath the brake levers. What is really neat with this
setup is that just by pulling on the free end of the straps or
releasing the buckle a bit I can raise or lower the bike to work on
different sections of it. I can raise the bicycle so that I do not
have to lean or bend over to work on it and it means I can work on the
bicycle with the drive train, or other area I want to work on, at eye
level.

Cheers from Peter
"

Peter, I can't quite picture how the front strap holds the handlebars. Do you
mean you run the straps under the stem?

Can you describe it another way?

Thanks.

I have my guitar repair shop in the basement and I have lots of clamps
they come in handy for bikes. I have a jig that goes around the metal
support beam in the basement. I simply take a clamp and two pieces of
wood and clamp the bike to this at the seat tube. The bike can be raised
or lowered to whatever you need. The only thing I really need is lots of
light so I have a clamp light I can out right where I am working.

The only thing I need know is more knowledge about working on bikes. I
can do the basics but frankly it might be cool to do some more
complicated things. Might even pay better than repairing guitars since
the ones I work one are usually worth much more than a bike, and are
much more fragile.

--
Deacon Mark Cleary
Epiphany Roman Catholic Church

On 16 Aug, 07:00, DaveC wrote:
I'd like to build a means to hold my bike up in my apartment so I can work on
it.

Anybody who cares to describe their DIY setup to hold the bike (preferably at
standing work-height), I'd be grateful.

I do as little as possible to my bike. Oiling of crank bracket is
performed by rolling the bike back on its back wheel and squirting oil
through the axle liner. Cheapo hubs are oiled through centere holes
and bike left leaning to one side, other side another day. Campag
rear hub wheel requires removing and the freewheel taken off to get at
the side4 oil holes so the wheel is swapped. To check rear mech
positioning, I stand the bike on the brake levers and front wheel. A
crate or small folding seat helps.

I have previously used wooden crates (upside down) to stand the wheels
in. I have also used the hanging strap method although using high
torque crank and pedal tools is a no no, and you have to revert to the
ground. Most jobs can be done on the ground. Professional team
mechanics need stands to assist in the daily washing down of multiple
bikes, a rarity for the individual. It is also not advisable.

On Aug 16, 2:00*am, DaveC wrote:
I'd like to build a means to hold my bike up in my apartment so I can work on
it.

Anybody who cares to describe their DIY setup to hold the bike (preferably at
standing work-height), I'd be grateful.

Thanks.

I have a 2x4 notched in a V so the top tube of the frame sits in it.
Clamp the 2x4 to something (bench in my case, kitchen table in yours?)
and clamp the top tube to the V in the 2x4. Cheap, fast, solid, and
goes up and comes down in ~30 seconds.

http://tinyurl.com/qnmljk
and the whole picture http://tinyurl.com/nzrou9

Not the best pics, but the idea is basic enough.