there is a picture of our diy stands here: http://www.freeridepgh.org/html/uses.html -erok
On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 1:22 PM, Bike City bikecityrecyclery@gmail.comwrote:
Hmm. "Bare minimum" and "functioning." That could mean a lot of things. I'll assume you've got some money.
I disagree with ratchets and pedal wrenches being essential. You can use a 30.-something (big fat) seatpost that's bent as a small dummy bar. We also have a salvaged length of steel pipe about four feet long that fits over most any wrench or tool. This provides excellent leverage and has saved my ass many times.
A workstand. No way around it really. We found a used double Park stand. -- 1 large adjustable wrench. -- A set of metric wrenches. 6-19mm is nice, but 8-15mm is absolutely essential. You'll probably want doubles on the 13, 14, and 15. You can get crap Chinese ones for a while, but the box end will round out really quickly. Sturdy pricey American-made ones are worth it for longevity. -- Spoke wrench. Also, truing stands are pricey but wheels are trouble enough without one. -- Cone wrenches. We lived with the double-ended Park ones for a year and a half, but the blue-handled ones are excellent (quality and leverage-wise). A set of 13mm through 17 or 18mm will do it. -- A caliper wrench, for brakes. It's a Park wrench with open-ended 8mm and 10mm. Old brakes are really touchy on the spring tension and if you don't lock the adjustment, the brakes will work themselves loose and fall off. Not safe. -- Set of hex keys. You can get any old metric set. The Park set comes in a sheath and has every size I've ever used on a bike. The long end has a diamondy-shaped head so you can use it at an angle in tight clearance. We've had these for two years and never lost or broken one. -- Crank extractor. Not the Isis drive one. Regular ol' puller. There's a double-sided socket wrench (14mm and 15mm) for removing and reinstalling the nuts (absolutely crucial). For cotter cranks, you can improvise a punch with an old pedal axle. -- Ball peen hammer. -- Lockring tool. There's an adjustable crap one, and there's a fucking sweet one with a chainwhip on the other end that is a pleasure to use. Also for bottom brackets -- a pin spanner, but you can get away with an improvised awl and hammer (expect this method to fuck up a lot of BBs, though). -- Chain tool. I'd say start with a couple of the "mini brute" with extra pins, but you can also file the smushed-down pins back into round. What I like about the mini brute is it has a section for spreading the bushings to remove stiff links. -- Some metal files from a pawnshop are cheap and great for all kinds of things, especially for cleaning up rusty threads. -- Cable cutters. -- Pliers. Another pawn shop endeavor. -- Air pump(s). Rebuildable ones are great. We find the life of a high-usage pump is greatly extended by using a presta valve adapter, which are a few cents apiece in bulk. -- Tire levers. Crucial. Metal ones last longer but don't slide on the rim as well as plastic.
Also, a vice is also very, very handy for a lot of things, like getting the pedal off a rounded crank. We've got a bench mount one. I can't imagine overhauling or adjusting a hub without an axle vice.
You'll also need chemicals.
-- Grease. We use tubs of red grease from the auto store. It's cheap and light enough for bearings that don't run hot (as in bikes). Stay away from the real stiff grease. -- Chain lube. So far we're running on donations on this. I like the Syn Lube a lot. I hate White Lightning because it makes a noisy chain. Pedro's Ice Wax has been very good to me. We have a gallon and are pleased. -- Penetrating oil. Tri-Flo is expensive but the best I've used, so throw this on squeaky derailleur pulleys and two-drops-will-do stuff. Liquid Wrench is a good cheap one for letting set on stuck seatposts and corroded threads and the like. -- Degreaser. We get the orange citrus stuff by the gallon from the dollar store. A spray bottle of it is great.
I also use a lot of steel wool. A bag of medium and a bag of superfine covers the bases pretty well. Wire brushes are also excellent to have. Ah, and sandpaper for cable rehab.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm headed in to the ol' Bike City now, so I'll keep an eye on what else I can't function without.
I'd love to help on the Wiki, by the way.
--andrea Bike City Recyclery, Fayetteville, AR
On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 2:47 PM, Colin Bennett < great_land_trust@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Me too!
*"andrew L." anyone@breathingplanet.net* wrote:
would love to see some pics of this freeriders?
andrew http://troybikerescue.org
veganboyjosh@gmail.com wrote:
josh @ community cycles here.
free ride in pittsburgh has some awesome diy stands, the design for which i've stolen for our shop. they're made 100% from bike parts.
here's what you need:
2 bmx bars with stems. 2 bmx forks. 2 sets of drop road bars, with stems. one top tube, which is the same inner diameter as the steerer tube on the bmx forks are outer diameter.
cut off the dropouts on both sets of forks. the bmx bars/stems are inserted into the bottom of the forks, one stem in each arm of the forks. this is the base, so that the steerer tube stands straight up. the top tube goes over this steerer tube, then the other fork (with road
bars/stems inserted into it's arms), goes into the top of the top tube. the drop bars are turned so that the ends of the bars are hooks to hold a bike to be worked on. the bmx bars are wide enough that the stand can hold two bikes at once, without tipping over.
someone on the list i'm sure has some pics, which make the design much easier to figure out than my paltry description.
cheap, easy, diy, and best of all, it looks bikey, so people are into
it...
On 9/28/07, *Urban Bike Project of Wilmington, Inc.*
wrote:
Don't know about grants but I have a few suggestions on necessary tools...
-Workstand (you don't need it, but it makes life wonderful ) -Ratcheting 14mm and 15mm wrench (indispensable for quickly removing wheels) -"Y" style hex tools with 8-9-10mm (everybody needs at least one of these for brakes) -Chain breakers (get both for 3/32 and 1/8in chains, i recommend the park ones that you can change the pins out on, get plenty of extra pins too. you (or someone in your shop) WILL break these) -At least 2 sets of Allen keys (they will get lost. it's handy to have one "flip-out" set with the keys attached) -Pedal wrenches (get good ones with a lot of leverage)
Perhaps we should all collaborate on a more comprehensive list to put up on the wiki "Bike Collective Starter Kit". I skimmed the pages but didn't find one.
Happy Friday!
Brian Windle Urban Bike Project of Wilmington
On 9/28/07, *Ariel raymon* < bikefarm@gmail.com
wrote:
Hey everyone, Ariel from bikefarm here. We're starting to make our space into a shop, and are looking at the tools we need to purchase. Suggestions on bare minimum tools for a funcitoning shop would be really helpful, as we'll be making a large order from the UBI distributors in a month or so. Also, Are there grants for things like this? Thanks, Ariel
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