Ten pound Maintenance Stand

I didn't think about this being viewed by people who live outside the UK, or even outside Yorkshire, but as Matt from www.bikehacker.com points out in this post, Ive used quite a few terms that non UK people may find confusing. Im sure that everyone will understand the metric system, basically 300mm = 1 foot, but the UK currency is the pound and uses the £ symbol. We affectionally call £1 "a quid", hence the "ten quid" reference! Incidentally, if you like this post, please +1 it and consider signing up for the RSS feed!

The Maintenance Stand in its collapsed form	Ive wanted a maintenance stand for a while, but havent wanted to pay a huge amount in either materials or on one of the splendid models available in most bike shops. I thought of this design because it uses the cheapest possible materials. The main components are: 1) A 2.4m length of 75mmx50mm timber, from B and Q (£4) 2) A scrap piece of 12mm plywood 3) A bench clamp - I used an old one but I think it was about £5 4) Various screws, bolts, scrap blocks of timber etc.
The main hinges	In this picture, you can see the stand in its collapsed form. The length of timber is cut into two and I used a scrap block to provide an offset at one end. This is simply screwed onto one end of the timber, and a hole drilled through the scrap piece into the other length. The ply is cut into a delta shape and two more scrap blocks are used to make a substantial pivot. This pivot is important as it provides the stability of the stand. Drill a hole through the two blocks and add a bolt through all three thickness's of timber.
The open stand	You will need to cut some cutouts into the plywood as shown. The one at the point will be in the centre and the other one will be offset slightly. Its best to cut this in the correct place once you have assembled the stand. I usually use the stand outside on some gravel so you will see from this picture that I've allowed a small gap at the end of the ply. This works fine for me, but you might like to cut the central slot deeper or even add a curved profile to the delta so that it just touches the floor at the ends. Add the clamp and hang your bike on the stand so you can judge where to place the stop. This is simply a screw in the base.
The stand in use	In this photo, you can see the stand in use. I screwed the clamp onto the side of the top arm and added some 22mm pipe insulation, fixing it in place with a couple of cable ties. The whole stand took about twenty minutes to make and cost less than a tenner, leaving me with two important things - more time to actually use my bike and more money to spend of goodies for my biking!