There are certain bicycle tools that once owned, signify much more than just ownership. For me, it was this Park clamp. No one starts out with a proper bike stand. For any cyclist, I see the early years of working on the bike as it leans up against the end of the bed. I also see no live-in girlfriend or second room to do this in. This era includes adjustable crescent wrenches and pliers as the go-to tools.
Once one fully realized the impossibility of replacing loose headset bearings on a bike leaning against furniture on a shag rug, the search began for a work stand. For me it ended with one made by Minoura; functional but a violation of all we hold dear. It was functional like a bowling ball is functional in a bar fight. Something unintended was going to happen and something was going to get damaged. It’s a folly of youth where one always wants to buy the best bike components but not best tools to install them. Bad tools make for graphic expletives.
The bike frame teetered on its bottom bracket shell on the Minoura stand. A cheap book clamp marred the paint on the downtube. I’ve put out of my mind what might have followed that in my work stand evolution. Whatever it might have been, it did suck.
The quantum change happened when @Rob’s and my LBS went out of business. The owner, like most, was worn down from years of barely making a profit. He threw in his Phil Woods waterproof grease covered rag and said Basta! He allowed me into the basement which was both stock room and secondary wrenching room. I pounced on one of his Park clamps, can I buy this – for cheap? (Yes, I’m a terrible person). I left there as excited as if I had bought a new bike. Merckx be praised, I have a proper work stand. Actually all I had was the clamp and its socket but I had access to all the things necessary to fabricate a support column and base. This was one of the things in life that actually lived up to expectations. It was fast. It was quickly adjustable. It was extremely Pro.
You want to work on your bike? You just chuck the frame’s steel seat tube into the clamp, throw the lever and done, perfect. And it was perfect until my Merlin Extralight entered and we weren’t allowed to clamp onto that seat tube. The seat post was the only thing legal to clamp to. What a world, what a world, perfection had come undone. The clamp was now too low for proper seat post clamping. Unhappy accommodations were made, but years later, when the wife’s new Madone seat post was too fat for the adjustable clamp, even I had to admit defeat. Oh Fortuna, you are a cruel and unreasonable mistress, FFS.
New frame materials meant the original Park adjustable clamp’s long run at the top was over. For everyone but me it was no doubt over ten years ago but I’m always the last guy to leave the party (too high to find the door). Park has adapted to new frame materials and new shapes. Minoura makes something approaching a normal work stand. Even I am on top of this. Soon a new Park adjustable clamp and taller (and adjustable!) steel column shall be fabricated. All will be right with the world once again.
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John Allis? Respect, that's a hell of a Sensei you got there!
@Oli John is a one of a kind. A terrific person and a great example of hard man. As my initiation I spent 2 years following his wheel on the Allis Loop 5 days a week and he had me on fixed and roller racing for winter training. He was responsible for my start as a racer and any success I had comes from the habits he taught me. He inspired many by his daily morning ride with Harvard and MIT men and women until he retired from Belmont Wheelworks a few years ago.
At age 70+ he still rides like he did 35 years ago!
Hey Gianni, spot on about tools and equally about the progression to a work stand . I've lost count of the scuffed bar tape and worse that came from fettling my bike while it leant on something. Picked up a cracking stand for £30 in the sales last year and have never looked back.
Very timely indeed. I have a biek workshop cum storage shed in the works for 2015 and have been researching stands. Looks like the Park PCS4-2 with the latest edition of the maha-clamp is the front runner. Have been hanging my bike by the saddle on a piece of rope that holds a ladder together. Not ideal!
Here I was thinking I was the only one who spent a few years chasing a moving bike as it edged down the wall/bed/bookshelf, moving just enough to make working on it impossible. I don't miss those days.
I have two stands - PT one where you remove the front wheel and it cradles the BB and then a mid-level one where you clamp the post or ST. Very nice to have two options. Now the final piece...come spring I shall build a proper bike shed where both stands can live, along with the bicycles. Can't wait!
Nice one, Gianni!
@rfreese888
That Park stand would be a good upgrade from the rope. The clamp on that stand is perfect. Believe me, I have hung my bikes from ropes too, barely better than leaning them against furniture. No, not ideal.
@gilly
There should almost be a Rule about this. Before one spends upgrade money on a light cassette/carbon handle bars/climbing wheels/ or other fancy bits, blow some money on a nice stand. It will make one a happy mechanic even if the only thing one wrenches is new bar tape. And it will last forever.
Nicely done. I have a tripod to peak Work stand... It would not have been my first or tenth choice, but it was a gift from family so it works well enough that I can't justify a new one...
The gentleman on the right is Peter Mooney, fame builder and WheelWorks principle. If you're thinking about a custom steel frame you should consider him, and if you reside in New England you should doubly consider him...
@Chris
Tell me about it. When my parents moved house in 93, a whole freaking bike (my Brian Rourke winter bike), tool box and my racing wheels (24 spoke, Royce Hubs, Mavic Rims, Clement tubs, with covers) disappeared. How do you lose that? I'm still upset by it 20 years on . . .