Bike Stand

I've been busy riding with my wife for the last few weeks and that means more maintenance and possibly more bikes; if I can find a place to store the 6 we have.

This morning I spent an hour working on her old bike before a 40 mile ride to Stillwater and back. It was early and I just wanted to get on and go but I had to change some parts and I made do without a stand for the last time.

When we got back I went to the hardware store and got some 1 inch pipe. 90 degree, 2 short pipes, a flange, and one coupler for $18 (wow, I know. I could cut and tap the pipe myself but I bought to save time) . I go into my shop and start working out the plan to build a bike maintenance stand.  (my shop is a mess from winter)

I don't really have a plan for the clamp but I think I can start with this as a bench mount if I can figure out the clamp. So I pace around the shop looking for inspiration and trying to work out a simple clamp with few parts and no precision machining (I don't have a milling machine - yet)

I have an old 10 inch Vise-Grip that is mostly fried from years of welding and figure that will do. I cut some angle for jaws (I have a few 100 pounds of assorted steel on a rack under my workbench) and tack it with the welder and it looks promising.

I need to weld the Vise-Grip to the mount but the flange is a issue. I had hoped to use that for a rotation clamp/lock but I flip the mount and the clamp fits well on the coupler that was suppose to convert to floor stand.

I tack weld the clamp to the coupler and bridge weld the front in order to get vertical alignment as needed. I tighten the pipes with a wrench and I can adjust the rotation on friction. I'll tap and install a jib screw if needed but for now friction seams to work.

Weakly welded but it holds and it has all the design elements, simple and easy to adjust. The two small Vice-Grips holding it to the welding bench are just for design work.

Fully welded. At this point I consider the project a success.I have about 1 hour into the project.

A quick grinding to clean up my welds and a coat of paint to give it a finished look. I only had red and white paint on hand ....

I put a cup holder on it, because I could! It took almost as long to install as the entire build. I only had metric taps in the correct size, and my screws were all standard and I had to search my stock for a match between what works with bottle cages, what screws I had, what taps I had, and what fractional drill bits I had.

I'll add some padding to the jaws to protect the seat posts. I'm thinking urethane weatherstrip or some heavy rubber hose if I can figure out how to affix it.

Cost is $18 for pipe and I had everything else so even if I replace the Vice-Grip it's about $28.

Finished. Carpet worked. W00t Mayor.