Bikestand mounting bar for Quest

[billyk]

To work on my Quest, I've been clamping it on the boom, leaving the rear wheel on the ground, per John T's advice in 2011. That works ok, except for working on the rear wheel, and it leaves the bike low down. So here's my new idea:

I cut a wooden bar to fit the distance from the upper seatback to the frame joint at the headtube (see pics). The only mod to the bike was to drill a hole in the seatback. I can clamp this bar in my workstand at the balance point, and have it as high as I want, or any angle I want. It's way more convenient.

See any problem with this? Am I putting too much strain on that welded joint? I had assumed I would lash the bar to the frame tube, but in fact it rests very nicely as it is.

BK

 

[MrSteve]

Ingenious!

A few suggestions:

-Whip the ends of your wooden dowel, to eliminate any tendency of the wide-grained softwood bar to split .
You know, 'whipping' as in wrapping the ends with lengths of stout twine....

-Drill through the end of the fish-mouthed/fitted pole end, thread a line through the hole, and tie
the line around the head tube.
You know, as a safety precaution.

-Seal the wood with tung oil, wax, something like that.
You know, to stabilise the wood.

I love your work-stand clamping solution, BillyK!

-Steve

 

[billyk]

Whipped ... and lashed

Whipping is not a word I usually associate with biking, except in the sense of getting whipped by someone faster than me, but yakmurph's suggestions are right on. Ironically, in my real life as an oceanographer, I'm very familiar with whipping lines ...

The pic below shows the improvements: whipped, and lashed to the frame to prevent the dowel from moving or sliding. A second, thinner dowel drilled into the large one makes a secure attachment for the lashing strap. If I ever stop fooling around with the bike I'll seal the wood, too.

BK

 

[John Tolhurst]

What about clamping to the

What about clamping to the steering column?

 

[billyk]

Re: what about clamping to the steering column?

Maybe I'll try that. Your original suggestion (Nov 2011, when I got the bike) of clamping to the boom is fine for working on the front wheel/gears/brakes, and I'll continue to do that.

I'll try clamping to the steering column, but that seems to have the same disadvantage of either leaving the rear wheel on the ground, or having the bike swinging around. With the handlebars fixed by a bungee cord to the dowel, my dowel method puts the bike up at eyeball level, at any angle. The dowel goes on in a jiffy. And can I really have the whole weight of the bike on a steering column clamp?

What do you do when you want to work on the headset or front shock?

One of the few things that make me jealous of DF riders is how easily they put their bike on a workstand and have everything within easy reach, tiltable at any angle, to work on any part. Also it's great to be able to flip a DF bike upside down onto the seat and handlebars to change a flat on the road. I've been tempted to make a bracket that would form a straight bar above the seat for that purpose ...

BK

 

[John Tolhurst]

Sometimes I rotate the bars

Sometimes I rotate the bars so the ends point up, and that lets me flip it. I guess I position the bike according to what I want to do.

 

[rrward]

Interesting change to your

Interesting change to your steering damper. Why'd you got from a spring to a pair of bungee cords?

 

[billyk]

Re: Steering damper

Hi rrward - I gave up on the steering damper soon after I tried it. Any spring strong enough to keep the front wheel swinging around when stopped is not safe to ride with. But I left the eye-bolt sitting there out of laziness.

For the workstand mount, I run the bungee cord from the seat bottom to the handlebar ends. That photo was taken in the first flush of testing before I realized that the handlebars are better: more moment arm, and the bungee doesn't get in the way of any work being done.

BK

 

[Vargas]

Is it a piece of wood under the seat?

In case yes, why/what for?

 

[Charles.Plager]

Is it a piece of wood under

Is it a piece of wood under the seat? In case yes, why/what for?

I'm assuming the answers are:

Yes, it is.

So that the seat bottom angles up more than it otherwise wood (err... would).

 

[billyk]

wood under the seat

There are TWO pieces of wood under the seat, one under each mount point. They do not change the angle, just lift it up about 3/4 inch.

When I ride with the fairing (during our rainy season, roughly Oct-Apr), I need to see over it. The extra 3/4-inch gives me just that little bit more.

The fairing is clear...ish, but the view through it is still not perfect, especially at the top where my view is tangent to the curve of the fairing (see photo). The whole fairing mount is a balance between the given size/shape of the fairing, the desire to maximize rain protection, the need to see over the top (else I'd need wipers), the need for my pedals to clear the fairing in front, and the length of my bike shed. It's not ideal, but much better than getting soaked every day on my way to work.

More detailed views of the fairing were previously posted here ("Somebody needs to start this thread: My Quest mods", 25-11-2012):

https://picasaweb.google.com/108555949105733959248/QuestModsNov2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCLG95PPd8p7DvAE&noredirect=1

BK