mjac

This very simple bike stand I have found to be more stable and easier to work around then any tri-pod stand I have ever used. Go to your lumber yard and pick out two straight pine 8' 2x4s with as straight and tight grain as you can find. Measure in between the shoulders for your cable housings on your cross tube and a little less then that will be the length of your cross blocks. Cut the blocks and nail one at the end of the legs using 4 10D nails. With the other block gauge the width of your cross tube and nail the second block to where the cross tube fits snugly with just 2 10D nails. Gauge the fit of the cross tube and adjust the second block by tapping one way or the other.When you have it right nail the second block with two more 10D nails.If you have a finish you want to protect, allow for a terry cloth towel or a piece of inner tube draped between the blocks. You can mount the legs perminately to a work bench or just put about 60 or 70 pounds on the legs on top of a raised surface.

Iride01 

Still a little too fancy for me. I just hang mine on the edge of a table saw in the shop. Certainly you have mine beat for portability.

sdmc530

its a good solution, but you need to clean your van

TiHabanero

Word of caution about the van loaded with stuff. Friend of mine is an electrical contractor with a van full of stuff on shelves and on the floor. One day a driver crossed the center line and hit him head on. Not only did he get a frontal impact, but all that crap in the back came down on him and caused a serious head injury and a broken spine. Took a full year to recover. A year without any income.

He now has a metal partition between the front seats and the rest of the van.

mjac

Still to fancy? I can't help you. This is as basic as it gets. I thought people would make fun of it because it was so simple.

mjac

k

That is what is holding everything together.

mjac

Good observation. The way this thing is set up now, I would be dead.

u235

In a van down by the river...

I've used similar, a 2x6 in my bench vise, yours looks more stable. Any pedaling on a smaller board and the bike goes everywhere. I bought a "real" bike stand from Aldi for $12 a few years ago, still going strong.

I own an old company work van and it has the metal partition. It doesn't even have to be a lot of stuff in the back, it only has to be one thing flying in the wrong direction!

Retro Grouch 

For years I worked on bikes dangling vertically from the front wheel. I've also hung bikes from a noose around the saddle nose.

Iride01 

I'm just glad to know there are some of us left that don't have to have a store bought bike work stand for the handful of bikes we might work on in a year. I just don't have the space for one, nor do I want the hassle of folding it up and storing it, no matter how little time that might be.

Fatter Frank

A firefighter friend of mine told of a traffic collision fatality, that resulted due to a tissue box sitting on the rear package shelf of a car, flying forward and striking the driver in the neck at the base of his scull. Things that make you go huh?

sdmc530

sorry this is a myth. I am an LEO and all the crash's I have investigated this is a non issue. The mass is not enough to actually kill a human.

I believe the mythbusters did an episode on this too or something. I have seen some really crazy stuff but a tissue box can't get enough momentum for the lack of mass. HOWEVER if something is stuffed in the tissue box then absolutely!

GeneO 

Then you won't loose any pay

mjac

I have used a number of tri-pod stands at a bike COOP and I did not like the way the wobbled around, you tripped over the tri-pod legs and the jaws to clamp the bike were too short and the bike oscillated up and down. I like this better. It is easier to mount the bike too.

Ya'll making me self conscious about my glorious collection inside the van.

mjac

You got me. It might have been tough though repacking my headset bearings with the bike dangling vertically from the front wheel. That would be a neat trick.

mjac

If it is sto bought, that means you didn't make it.

TheDudeIsHere

You should get some rubber bands and a clothes pin. Mount it on those aerobars and shoot paperclip at the cyclist ahead of you!

I use my trainer to do maintenance and building my bikes. And the couch for photography.

mjac

How about 1,500 lbs. of tools, hardware and a kayak?

mjac

But I will be dead.

mjac

Them aero bars are home made. Don't make fun.

sdmc530

yeah, that will probably leave a mark! lol

ramzilla

This is my world famous bicycle repair rack made with wood & rubber "quick fists" that were originally intended for fishing rod holders..............................

mjac

Now that is fancy.

GeneO 

details, details

mjac

An important detail.