DIY Portable Bike Repair Stand

Intro.
I've been using my ceiling mounted bike lift to hold my bike when doing minor repairs or adjustments. I just lower the bike close to ground, it kinda works, but it's not portable and it's a little wobbly and not stable when you are cranking the wheels. After reading several post from a bike forum on how to built your own bike stand, I decided to make my own. I wanted it to be portable and able to adjust the angle of the clamp to accommodate different bike geometry and able to tilt the bike at a certain angle.

To make it portable, I decided to use a PA tripod speaker stand as a base. I found a good deal from Craiglist. New ones from Amazon will cost you around $20 to over hundred dollars for the fancy ones. My goal is to keep it all under $50....and Craiglist is a life saver. The tripod is the key part for this built; if your getting one make sure that the tripod top tube can accommodate a 1" diameter pipe. Also, the pipe wall thickness is crucial for the design to work, the 3/4" diameter pipe should be able to fit inside the 1" diameter pipe (if you look at the pictures below you'll see what I mean). I got black pipes from Home Depot and it is a perfect fit.

Materials and Tools you need:
PA tripod speaker stand
3/4" Pony clamp
2= 1" diameter , 6" long black pipe. (threaded each end)
1= 3/4" diameter, 21 inch long black pipe (threaded on one end)
1=1" diameter Galvanized Tee fitting
Red permanent loctite
34.9 mm QR seatpost clamp
Paint (optional)
2x4 block of wood, 12 inches long
Old mouse pad with rubber padding
Contact Cement

Tools you need:
Chop saw or hacksaw
Drill with drill bits
Pipe wrench and a table mounted vise comes handy
Rivet setter/revits or metal screws.

Pictured below is the finished bike repair stand:

Step 1:

1. Using a pipe wrench, thread one of the 1"diameter pipe to the 1" Galvanized Tee as pictured below, use red loctite to permanently secure it.

Comments

[ptacnik]

make sure you remove the fabric from the mouse pad, if it has fabric!!

[smartil]

the pony clamp is what's used to hold the bike and you have the scooter clamp help with adjusting the clamp angle. but you have them installed on opposite ends of the pipe. how do you use the scooter clamp to help with the clamp angle?

[halfmumi]

Flawless! loved it!

[ListenLoudly]

Hey, I'm wondering if you completed this project? I'm confused about fitting the 3/4" x 21" long piece inside the 1" Tee - I don't think the 3/4" pipe fits inside 1" pipe because they're essentially the same size. Did this work for you?

Thanks!

[elic]

Very good idea. I thought to use a Locking Plier to hold the bike, after welding to it two halfs of cutting 1" pipe.

[3.1415]

Best homemade bikestand I've seen yet! It's even better than my storebought one.

[Furball_Fidelis]

By far one of the best stands here on Instructables.....had part is finding a tripod liek that..

[chuck222]

This is what I used. Excellent stand.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E0PPG0/ref=pe_175190_21431760_M2C_ST1_3p_dp_1

[winter rider]

Very nice Stand. I made mine close to your instructions made a few changes.
I used a adjustable stand from garage sale $1.00 Instead of wood I bolted 2 11/4" angle iron to clamps It took a while to get the 3/4" pipe to run freely in the 1" pipe I used a wheel cylinder hone in the 1" pipe and sanded the 3/4" down. All works Great !!! thanks for the great idea.

[ns.robert]

I got a friend with a lathe in his garage to bore out the 1" pipe. I tried the grinding route, but it was going to take too long since I had 4 to do.

Thanks to Harvey, my car racing friend, with the great tools.

[ns.robert]

This is a drop dead gorgeous design. I built 4 stands with a wood base, 3/4" pipe and a pony clamp (thank you Bicycling magazine - Nov or Dec 2009) and will be revising all or some of them re the slots & clamp to adjust the clamp angle.

A second guy built two. We're volunteers with Bikes for Kids - we refurbish old bikes and give them away to local kids.

[rportillo1]

I made this with a few changes:
Used an old Directv dish stand as tripod
instead of the Pony Clamp, I have used a Rotozip hold fast with a piece of angle steel beam.
I had to sand/file the 3/4" pipe because it fit pretty tight in the 1" pipe.
I had a look at those fashion signs at stores like JCP which have clamps like the pro bike repair stands, and I'm wonderin where I can nab one

[DoDo729]

Great stand, I really like the clamp and am going to use it on mine, What a great idea. Love the site and thanks for sharing.

[WVvan]

Double plus good.

[tdrum]

What type of pipe clamp did you use? I assume you found one with some type of hole already in it so that the 2x4 wood piece could be attached.

[lucyfanclub]

NIce. Very professional looking.