Alternatives to buying a repair stand?

Question

I'd like to buy a repair stand, but I can never seem to convince myself to drop the $100 minimum it seems I'd need to spend. Has anybody had any success building a stand themselves, or is it worth it to just buy one?

Answer 1

I can tell you from experience that your best option is to buy a repair stand.

I worked in a shop for a number of years and thought there was no way I could use a consumer grade stand when I left. I purchased park tool PRS-4W at cost before I left the shop and built my own stand from it. The consumer price is now $200 for that so that is obviously not dealing with your $ issue. And even if it did, I have since purchased and use a consumer grade stand with less features to maintain 4 bikes of different size frames for 5 years now and it was well worth the $ spent. It gets the job done. Bite the bullet, get the stand you'll be glad you did.

Answer 2

As a number of other posts have pointed out, your best option is to get yourself a proper repair stand. They are not that expensive, and you will find that you and your friends all get good use out of it. But, if you are determined to do it on the cheap, here are a couple of techniques that worked for me before getting a workstand:

• Turning the bike upside down - this is really simple and requires no additional purchase. You may want to look at putting some form of drop sheet down underneath the bike both to protect the saddle and handlebars, and to catch drips. This works well for pretty much any work on the wheels or transmission.
• A bike storage rack or car rack - obviously these are already designed to hold a bike, and you may already have one to hand.
• Suspending the bike with rope - If you have some overhead attachment points, this can work, however it is not going to provide an immovable mount for the bike - you will still need to hold the bike against the force of your tools when fastening and unfastening things. A trick to be aware of is to use two suspension points overhead and two on the bike (head tube and seat tube) otherwise the bike will spin in the air.

Answer 3

A lot of bicycle repair shops I've been in have metal double hooks hanging on a rope or a light chain from the ceiling such as these:

One hook goes under your saddle and the other on your handlebars on either side of the steering support. If you attach them a bit farther apart on the ceiling than the distance between your saddle and handlebars it makes for a pretty stable "repair stand". You can get them for EUR 3.95 (here for example) or you could make something similar.

Answer 4

A storage stand can make a pretty good repair stand, anything that lets the wheels and pedals rotate. A car rack will also work well.

Answer 5

Between the ability to turn the bike upside down and having a trainer that I can hook it to, I never found the need to buy a repair stand (and my current bike was assembled completely from components, so I had to do everything to it that one gets to do to a bike!). I see that a repair stand would save a bit of time, so I would get one if I was doing repair professionally. However, for the amateur, it seems like overkill.

Answer 6

There are a large number of sets of instructions for making your own DIY Bike Repair Stand over on Instructables, this page is the result of searching for Bike Repair Stand on their site. I keep meaning to try out one of these but I never seem to have the time to build one, some of the results look more practical than others, as ever YMMV.

Answer 7

It may be possible to improvise a stand with PVC pipe. A quick websearch brought up this instructable (http://www.instructables.com/id/PVC-Bike-Repair-Stand/) but there are many more designs. PVC pipes are pretty cheap, and you can buy a small hacksaw to cut sections as you need. The notable problem I found was that because the pipes weigh so little you need some ballast, or the whole thing can tip over.

If space and weight is not a concern (and if you have access to cheap welding), you should be able to do the same with L-sections of mild steel (this is pure speculation).

Answer 8

I have built a number of workstands in the past, and it's very difficult to get something as good as the clamp that comes with a decent bought one. Also, many of the cheap "home" stands have useless clamps that make them not worth the hassle. In my experience Park workshop stands are the best, and the copies of those work just as well. Buy the clamp and bolt it to something solid, portable stands are not worth the hassle (they wobble).

The more a "work stand" looks like the transport rack on the back of a car, the less usable it will be. The are easy to make, and that's what I've made in the past. My welding stand is as basic as you get - it's a couple of 10cm lengths of angle iron, one welded to the fixed stand and the other welded to a cheap pair of vice grips, that are welded to the stand. It works, but it's brutal and it's not adjustable enough. Many of the cheap "work stands" differ from that only by having padded jaws.

If you have a work space that you can hang stuff in, the various "hang my bike" rope systems are quite usable, or you can build your own with some pulleys and rope. I do that for my larger bikes (I have a long john and a quad bike), but they're somewhat annoying as the bike isn't held rigidly - it sways when you push on it. It's as bad as using the cheap, light workstands with skinny poles that bend when you push on them.

There are lightweight stands that hold the bottom bracket, so they don't have the long pole going up to shoulder height, and they work relatively well for most maintenance. You can't apply a lot of force to the bike in those stands, but for 90% of the work you do on the bike that's not an issue.

If you have somewhere to bolt it to, I suggest getting the Park clamp and be done with it.

Answer 9

I have a large workbench with a bench vise mounted on it. I made a jig from a couple pieces of wood to hold the bike upside down, then I clamp the bike either high or low so it doesn't twist in the jig. This holds it in place, rock solid.

Answer 10

I built one out of timber, part of an old car bike rack (you could easily pick up a damaged one 2nd hand for this) and a few plumbing fittings. I usually use it for storage, but I built it as a work stand. The timber was left over from other jobs, all the other bits were parts I had anyway, so total cost was zero.

Realistic cost in the region of £30/$50 if you don't have to buy a bike carrier (which was disassembled, not destroyed in the process). I also painted it with fence paint so I can leave it outside if it gets in the way, or use it for cleaning bikes if I want to get the gears to a nice working height.

The upright is only 2x2" though, I'd recommend a fence post instead for stiffness. I'll try to get a picture at the weekend, when I can get to it in the light.

Answer 11

For years I used three old tubes that I staple gunned to a basement ceiling. It worked great.

I had one tube that I wrapped around the seat and two tubes for the handlebars.

Answer 12

I used some pipe, an old concrete umbrella stand, and some motorbike tiedown straps to make this:

Its intended to hang off my landrover (the toolbox-on-wheels) for community fixups. The whole thing unbolts and fits in the back. Can also tie a tarpaulin over the top for on rainy days, and provides easy access to the toolboxes and spares in the back. I also have some old plastic pallets that provide footing if its muddy.

The pictured scene was doing some video testing of freewheeling for a front hub motor compared to a normal front wheel hub. This conclusively proved that the electric motor freewheels about the same as a normal wheel when unpowered.

Answer 13

I suggest buying one. They come in very handy for all sorts of tasks, especially if you are into doing your own maintenance.

Answer 14

My dad's garage contains a large workbench with a bench vise mounted on it.

He takes a piece of flexible closed-cell foam, perhaps 1 cm (0.25") thick. He wraps the foam so that it protects the bottom and sides of his bike's top tube. Then he puts the wrapped top tube inside the bench vise.

This works fine for him.

Answer 15

Take a lighting or speaker tripod/stand and mount a bar on it. Onto that bar mount two pipe brackets on it with the movable part removed. The pipe brackets should have rubber pads in them to prevent your frame from getting scratches and moving around.

You can buy such stands for under $50. Pay attention to the maximum load these stands take.

Tip: you'll probably find tripods/stands easier in a dumpster than you find repair stands in a dumpster.

Answer 16

If you already have a bike carrier that attaches to a trailer hook, you can also consider a trailer hook to mount on a wall and then mount your bike carrier on it.

It won't replace a true stand, but it can make tasks such as cleaning the bike or some maintenance operations. For carriers where the bike is hung at the top tube, it's also possible to make some drivetrain maintenance, by hanging the bike at the further position.

Another side benefit of this method is that you can use the hook to store the bike carrier, and also the bikes.

Answer 17

A repair stand isn't necessary. Wheel changes are bit harder, but hey, nearly every one of us has removed a wheel due to puncture on the road so you can change a wheel. Chain cleaning, chain changing and disc brake pad changes require you to kneel but if your knees are in good shape that isn't an issue.

I have assembled a complete bike from parts without a repair stand. I did everything except installing the headset (because I didn't have headset tools back then). I even built the wheels.

Today I have a repair stand for convenience, but it isn't strictly speaking necessary for anything.

Answer 18

Probably not the best, but my bikes have a double leg kickstand that will pick one of the wheels off the ground. Then I can put it on a regular workbench or table.

Answer 19

I got an idea of making a pretty good repair stand from this youtube video.

Basically you take a cheap front hub and attach it to a small saw horse or builder's stand. I'm planning on building something similar but have not been able to source a stand yet. I might attempt to use and Ikea Finnvard trestle.

Answer 20

I have been using this stand to service my bike and storing it too;

They are very cheap, at around 20 MYR (5 USD). You could start with using this first and if needed, go get an actual bike service hanger.

For storage, these hook under the left-side chainstay and seatstay,and balance the bike from falling. You can raise the height to lift the rear wheel off the ground when working on it.

Answer 21

There's an alternative and it's far cheaper and more useful.

A repair stand may very well cost $100, or you may find a good enough cheaper no-name model. My no-name stand cost $93 (according to the current exchange rates) in a country with 24% value-added tax, this would translate to $75 in a country with practically no taxes. It isn't as good as a Park Tool model but it gets the job done.

Repair stand is very useful for jobs where you work on the drivetrain or brakes. It's also useful for jobs where you remove the wheels. However, note that every cyclist will occasionally get a flat that needs to be fixed on the roadside. So you need the ability to lay the bicycle on its side during which you have the wheel off the bike. If you have that ability, it means a repair stand isn't strictly necessary for working on the wheels off the bike.

So that leaves drivetrain and brake jobs. Rim brakes are up so high that for working on these, a repair stand isn't strictly necessary. Disc brake pad changes require the wheel to be off so an option is to lay the bike on its side, but then you need to lay flat on the floor while doing the job. Might be doable.

Chain removal, installation and lubrication is possible without a repair stand, I have done it many times. It's awkward but not impossible. I have also removed and installed cranks and bottom brackets without a repair stand.

In fact, I have built a complete bike from parts (on a Surly Long Haul Trucker frame) without a repair stand. So you don't absolutely need a repair stand.

So what is my secret weapon that allowed me to do all this? A kickstand. It keeps the bicycle upright while working on it, but at a lower non-adjustable level than a repair stand. If you need to spin the rear wheel through the drivetrain, you just push the bike slightly towards the kickstand, which raises the rear wheel from the ground so it isn't a problem that on a kickstand the rear tire touches the ground.

Kickstand is also very useful in cases where you need to lock the bike to something else than a horizontal post with a small U-lock. Without a kickstand, you have far fewer options of parking the bike while stopping at a grocery store for example. There are structures that are intended for locking the bike into, that only work when used along with a kickstand. For example if the bike is intended to be locked into a post with a long large metal chain on it, that chain won't work work as a kickstand substitute.

Don't buy anything that you can't use outdoors. For example hooks on the ceiling mean you have to use them indoors. Thus, you can't use them for lubricating your chain, one of the most frequent jobs on a bike, far more frequent than changing the brake pads or chain. Or maybe you can lubricate your chain indoors, but then your floor may get drops of chain lubricant on it.

(Oops, after this I found I already answered this question. But the previous answer didn't contain suggestion to buy a kickstand, so I'll post this answer too.)