Adjustable & Portable Bicycle Stand

With all PVC extension pieces inserted the bike chain can be some 40" above ground, at this height a lateral support is needed.
Tie the vertical pipe to some fence post, wall etc.

Step 1 The Parts

All parts are PVC 1.5" plumbing pipe with exeption of grey fittings which are electric non-metallic fittings. Mouse over for desciptions of parts.

Comments

[bike_jack]

i would be curious about how structurally sturdy this item is. looks like a great idea though, as i try to receive some solid ideas for building my own.
strong stand? or wires to hold it in place a necessary part of the bike?

[tony33770]

wires needed to stabilize this stand - check out other versions I have posted - I like the umbrella stand version, works real well.

[jddockery2]

love the idea, I think I am going to give it a go with EMT conduit should stiffen it a little

[diarch]

Great stand.  I made one significant modification: I rigged it with 1/16th steel cable to add a huge amount of stability which allows the stand to stand without being supported.  Here's the result. The bike on the stand by the way is a Peugeot I found for $15 at a garage sale. 

[jakdedert]

That's a nice stand, and gives me some ideas.  One question: does clamping the top tube like that make it difficult to do shift and brake testing...or does your bike not have cables routed there?

[tony33770]

The 90 degree radius electric conduit gives all the clearance for adjustments.

[lowman.usmc.2844]

Very nice design. For more stability i would try to use cross connectors instead of 45 at the bottom to put stability not only to the front but to the back and sides as well. I have a heavy bike and would need the extra support. Thanks for the great project.

[gfung00]

has anyone tried filling the base with sand to weight it down?

[tankpimp]

I built the stand but found the big weakness was the tee with the 45 at the base were the vertical pipe meets. My bike is heavier and once installed the stand starts to bend forward. I will have to modify the stand. At first I wanted to disassemble it once I was done but now I will glue it for strength. I think I will install a small plywood underneath it and use straps to hold the tee and its 45 degree bend down.

[tony33770]

All ground support fitting angles including the lower vertical must be glued (I discovered the same problem & found I had to glue all lower fittings.) For a heavier bike the design will not have lateral stability use a solid wall, fence etc and tie back upper vertical to a fixed structure. Good Luck

[jjt_nc]

I like the height adjustability, but think improved stability could be attained by simply rotating the two 45 degree legs 180 degrees to make a "Y"shaped base, instead of the "E" shaped base. Great pictures/ great ideas. Thanks

[jjt_nc]

Great design. Very clean looking!
(It's so much easier to tweak an existing design,
than to come up with something from scratch!)
Thanks!

I'm gonna build your design with a few tweaks....
Please, share any thoughts on the proposed tweaks...
Rather than clamping to the top (horizontal) tube,
I'd like to clamp to the seat post. I think I can use your
schweeet clamp design but mount it in a vertical orientation.

[tony33770]

Sounds like a plan - try instead of gluing the tee to the bent pipe, drill threw the tee one hole and 2 holes in the bent plate one horiz & one Vert fitted to the diameter of a pin or bolt to secure the tee in place. Rotate the tee as you desire, just a thought.

[dchall8]

Very nice. Once again I have to wonder why certain Instructables are "featured" and good ones like this are not.

[Iconoclastic Technocrat]

i did something similar for this part, but it was for holding a u-lock on a bike. i went a little oversize with the pipe diameter and used thicker foam padding (originally made for wrapping copper pipes) on the inside. this way, you can use regular bolts and nuts for the hardware (cut out voids in padding foam for nuts) . Of course, my way sacrifices some grip tightness since more padding is used (okay for u-locks) but maybe you can make up by using less flexible padding -yet something still easily carvable for voids - like silicone gasket material (1/8" thick, orange-red color, hardwarestore, 1 foot wide rolls usually, buy by the foot). Anyway - cool instructable. I'm tempted to make one myself.

[brainwise]

I like this, and I just might try it at home. Well done!

[rimar2000]

Your design meets the basic specifications that a project should have, as I think: It is easy, cheap and useful.

[monterto]

probably one of the best designs for a home-made repair stand I've seen

[fwjs28]

thats pretty sweet!

[canida]

Looks good! I bet an old mountain bike tire would line the T/gripper area well too.