$30 bike stand

I actually found a useful article in Bicycling magazine! Usually I read Bike Snob's article and then toss it in the recycling.
$30 Hardware Store Repair Stand

I carried the article around with me a while, and talked to lots of people about it. I compared it to plans on Instructables.com. I consulted with my bike shop. In the end I decided to go with this one.

The $30 price tag is incorrect. I spent about $75 on parts. Plus things like a 1 1/4" drill bit which I didn't happen to have. It's still a good deal: for the type of stand, one that holds it at the neck, the cheapest I could find at Nashbar is $150. The cheaper kind that holds it by the bottom bracket & the down tube won't work for my bike, because of its geometry.

The $150-$200 price tag has kept me from getting a bike stand before now. I keep thinking about it, but not wanting to spend the money. $75 is easier to swallow, and I'll LOVE having something that I built!

The guys at Westlake seemed really happy to help me find everything. They discussed all the details of the project and helped me make some decisions. Instead of trying to drill 8 holes through the pony clamp, they recommended 2-ton epoxy glue, for example. They took me 1 1/4" drill bit and drilled the hole and cut the piece there in the store so I didn't have to haul the rest of the lumber home.

Because of course, I rode my bike to the store to get the materials.

Last night I painted the base, and epoxy-ed the pony clamp to the wood bits! Today I'll put a second coat on the base and hopefully tomorrow I can start assembling it.

It's a trade-off. I love the excuse to go by the bike shop about once a week, more in this weather, to clean my chain. But sometimes it would be nice to be able to lube my chain really quick at home, not have to remember to bring my lube & a rag with me. What finally prompted me to do it was, my chain got REALLY rusty after one wet ride, and the mechanic told me to wipe it down after rainy rides. Next time, I attempted to do that--without a bike stand. There's too much stuff on my handlebar (light, odometer, jingle bell) to turn it upside down.

So I rested the bike on my head and tried to turn the pedal backward while holding the rag over the chain. It's a little bit like juggling, I think. I can't juggle. At that point I decided it was time to build the bike stand!

Oh, I agree, a bike stand is a great thing to have. Especially one you've built yourself! Very very cool.

But just curious - why do you need to turn your bike upside down to turn the pedals backwards? I usually don't bother with the stand for a quick wipe down, just lean the bike slightly against a wall and pedal backwards. But that's a mtb flat bar. Maybe road bars are too narrow.

That looks pretty interesting. I may scavenge around my Dad's garage and see what i can find that would work. Unfortunately, my mom has cleared out a lot of the odds and ends over the years

Good job, and handy!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lph

But just curious - why do you need to turn your bike upside down to turn the pedals backwards? I usually don't bother with the stand for a quick wipe down, just lean the bike slightly against a wall and pedal backwards. But that's a mtb flat bar. Maybe road bars are too narrow.

---

+1, with a road bike. As long as there aren't any projections on the wall (or if there are, you remember to lean your handlebars against them), not a problem. I guess it's technically possible to have a BB/crank/pedal assembly wider than the narrowest road bars, but I don't think I've ever seen such a thing.

Also - the instructions say you can use particleboard for the base. IMO that's a Very. Bad. Idea. Even if your garage is perfectly dry, as anyone who's owned particleboard furniture can attest, that stuff will not hold up to much torque, and at best it will deteriorate and get wobbly over a few years.

I think I ended up with plywood for the base. It's really heavy. I hope it lasts, but if it doesn't, it will be a simple matter to transfer it all to a new base.

Sorry, I didn't explain the upside down bit very well. I meant, I can't turn it upside down very easily because of all the stuff on the handlebar. (It's a trekking bar, which is a kind of weird looking thing.) So I try to hold it up and turn the pedals backward--but the whole procedure was precarious and I kept knocking into things and it kept wanting to fall on me or away from me...I was holding it up with my head so that my right hand could turn the pedal and my left hand could hold the rag onto the chain.

I needed two more hands to make that one work. Or more coordination. Balance is NOT my strong suit. Amazing I manage so well on a bike...

No, what we didn't understand is why you have to turn it upside down or lift the rear wheel at all, just to clean and lube the chain.

Let us know how it turns out. I had one of those cheaper stands from Performance that used the bottom bracket and down tube to support it. What a piece of c**p! The plastic quickly wore off the place where the bottom bracket sat and the bike was always slipping off. I ended up getting a more substantial stand from Performance based on a friends recommendation. I think I paid $ 130. If the article on building your own would have come out a few months ago I would have attempted it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OakLeaf

No, what we didn't understand is why you have to turn it upside down or lift the rear wheel at all, just to clean and lube the chain.

---

Ah. I don't turn it upside down. I lean it against my head (leaving both wheels planted on the ground). My head, though, isn't the most stable of places...

Anorange I LOVE your picture! How sweet. That is such a beautiful kitty :D

I got the base painted, with ice blue gloss that I happened to have. I epoxy'ed the bits of wood to the pony clamp.

Last night I worked on getting the flange connected to the base. (I'm learning new words here. The flange is the bit that connects to the base, and the tall pipe screws into the flange. Then I came across a word "countersink". Huh? Eventually I figured out that means I need a wider hole on the back side that the nuts & washers fit into. Uh oh. I don't have the tools for that.

I managed to create big enough holes for the nuts, but not the washers, using my largest drill bit and leaning it around to make the hole even bigger.

Once I got that on, the rest was easy. Screw the tall pipe into the flange, the elbow bit onto the big pipe, the piece that adapts from the bigger diameter of the elbow bit down to the smaller diameter of the short pipe, and then the short pipe. Then the pony clamp with its glued on wood bits, onto the short pipe.

Not quite done yet. At the bike shop we planned to glue pieces of inner tube to the wood bits, for better grip on the seat post. Now I'm running into a little trouble. The inner tube doesn't want to stay in place while the glue dries. And it needs two pieces of inner tube to be the right size. I think I've got it worked out now. I have the 2nd piece of inner tube wrapped around the seat post, and that is actually in the pony clamp (sans the rest of the bike), holding everything in place while it dries!

This thread is useless without pictures.

:D

Good work!

http://www.kemenel.org/gallery/main....serialNumber=2
I can always use help.

http://www.kemenel.org/gallery/main....serialNumber=1
The epoxy-ed pony clamp.

http://www.kemenel.org/gallery/main....serialNumber=1
Nearly final.

Ooooh! Cool! I see you got help from an expert, too ;)

Excellent! Hope you didn't have blue feet everywhere...I'm reminded of holding my kitty-helper against her will, shuttling her to the kitchen sink, in a panic trying to get the mint-green house paint off her paws after she inexplicably jumped in the paint tray!!!

Crazed memories aside -- GREAT work. :cool: Looks like the way you arranged the clamps you could just wrap inner tubes in the jaws if you have too much trouble with gluing.