cycle spares

In my less fat days, I used to cycle everywhere. Now that I have a new big shed I can finally get organised and repair an old bike.

When I used to fiddle with them in the old days, I had a cracking little stand - welded steel with 2 hooks for stays on one side, allowing you to fix things. Now I look at bike sites I see you have to pay £28+ for some daft stuff. I don't want it folding or be pocket size, lightweight, gortex, cordura or camomile..just metal

Does anyone sell them for a tenner?

 

I don't think you can get much for a tenner, but these are probably the cheapest places I know of for workstands:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk

Probikekit

 

If you want a Park Tools stand you're looking at nearly £200!
If you're mean like me you'll just turn it upside down, and be pleased about the money you've saved!

 

You can also hang two cables from your workshop/living room ceiling, each terminated by a double hook, one fitting under the handlebars, one under the seat. You then work at breast height and can rotate the chainset.

Depending on your brake/gear cable arrangement, turning the bike upside down may not be a good idea.

 

This is the sort of thing I've been looking into too, bike stands seem really expensive, for what a couple of bits of bent metal, ta but no ta, no turning the bike upside down, effects the gears, I found that I adjusted the gears perfectly when it was upside down but they where terrible in use, strange, its also a pain to adjust in that postion, I like Sir Galahad's idea of suspending it from the roof though, I might give that one a go. Though I really want to crack out my arc welder and make something, its been sat in my garage far too long and I've done nothing with it so far.

On a similar subject, does anyone use a Trainer (as in a mechanical device that you mount your bike on) and if so any recommendations? I was thinking of something along if the lines of a Tacx Cycle Force One Turbo Trainer

 

cheers guys, all good suggestions. I fixed the bike up today, but I will get a stand from batfinks URLs - they are very cheap. Easier to adjust gears and brakes and to hold the frame up when the back wheel is out.

 

I haven't used/got one, but might invest in one over the winter. Tacx are generally pretty good, although apparently the fluid trainers are the ones to go for (much quieter).

 

yeah I have one and used it a lot in my non-fat-and-fit days.

you've got air resistant type, magnetic, and the fluid type (from cheapest to dearest).

The air-resistant ones get harder the quicker you pedal, just like real life. They are noisy though.

Magnetic is silent but is not resistive - if you pedal like damnation it suddenly gets easy once you pass the resistance point.

I've never tried a fluid one (which is supposed to be quiet and resistive).

I have magnetic, but if I bought again I'd get an air one - they feel more like real cycling to me.

Cheers
Chris

 

The problems with putting the bike upside down are several...

Scratches the shifters, particularly optical displays on rapidfire and SRAM components
Puts fork and shock reservoirs the wrong way up so all the oil ends up in the wrong place
Puts brake reservoirs the wrong way up so air goes into the lines/to the calipers (depending how long its left)
Still a pain to try to tune up mechs properly because the shifters are now on the floor

I need a stand...

 

Mebbe I need a stand too then!
I learned all my bike mechanicing in the days before index shifters, suspension and disc brakes... Bleedin fangled nonsense