What piece of kit would you buy?

[StevemOs]

This is all really great ad(vice) . And very much appreciated...and hopefully helpful to other newbies....

From the comments it seem bike stand is the best first investment for me... polishing mop on drill works OK. Workmate doubles as a vice/pair of hands....but I will keep my eye out for one..

Great shout on cable cutters.....wasn't expecting that...Will be purchasing very soon...I don't need them just yet, but that day is coming...

Interesting no-one mentioned sonic baths or wheel jigs..

Intrigued as to what the cheese grater is needed for? @novocaine sandwiches?

 

[Gtpulse]

This is all really great ad(vice) . And very much appreciated...and hopefully helpful to other newbies....

From the comments it seem bike stand is the best first investment for me... polishing mop on drill works OK. Workmate doubles as a vice/pair of hands....but I will keep my eye out for one..

Great shout on cable cutters.....wasn't expecting that...Will be purchasing very soon...I don't need them just yet, but that day is coming...

Interesting no-one mentioned sonic baths or wheel jigs..

Intrigued as to what the cheese grater is needed for? @novocaine sandwiches?

Sonic bath - nothing an old ice cream tub, a toothbrush and some white spirit can’t clean!

I do have a wheel building jig, I’ve not often used it as I don’t build many wheels. It was an impulse purchase as it’s Cinelli branded and was cheap. If I need to true a wheel I always do it in the frame while it’s on the workstand, tightening the brakes to find the spots that need my attention.

 

[StevemOs]

Cinelli .....mmmmmmmmm

 

[StevemOs]

It's what I thought about sonic baths tbh. Things come up pretty clean with soak and a scrub... I assume empty 'hero's' tubs work just as well, or does it have to be ice cream ?

 

[novocaine]

cheese grater is for cleaning the dirt of my father in laws chain.

things like ultrasonic baths are great, but all they are doing is saving you time (displacing the time so you can use it for something else), so far from essential.

wheel stand, yes it's great. I build wheels though. they are far from a necessity in most restoration projects and there are work arounds, when I stopped working in bike shops, I didn't have one for a long time, so adjusting wheels was done in frame with a tie wrap, building wheels was done in a similar fashion.

depending on what you want the vice for, you might be worth looking at a drillpress vice. they aren't huge, the aren't uber strong, but for holding stuff still they are great.

 

[jim haseltine]

My ultrasonic bath is used for cleaning car fuel injection parts - it's useless for bike stuff. 35 years ago I left the bike trade, I didn't actually own a wheel jig until 2 years ago when one located about a mile from me appeared on a popular auction site for very little money. My almost brand new spoke threading tool came from a local hospice charity shop, where on earth they got it from I've no idea.
As for bike stands, a solid traditional workshop stand is fantastic but is heavy takes up a lot of room. Unless you're using it every day a Crivit-style stand is more than good enough, Halfords sell their version for around £45 but true Crivit items appear in Aldi and Lidl from time to time at much lower prices. It's light weight and easily portable - mine gets used in my garage, in the kitchen or dining room (sometimes even the living room) and outside on the decking when the weather is good.

 

[novocaine]

the crevit one is fantastic, it must be, it's survived Sam Pilgrim.

my workstand hangs from the ceiling.

for a long time I used a set of hooks on pulleys, one at the handle bars and one at the saddle. cost was something like 12 quid and it's been fine. fairly sure it was an aldi purchase. I have had a clamp style on a pole for a bit but I don't like it as it doesn't have the adjust

Recently I've been designing my own for 3d printing that works around some 20mm conduit. I have the basic designs, I have all the hardware, what I don't have is enough filament left to print it, so it will have to wait till the end of the month.

 

[StevemOs]

I'm currently switching between heath Robinson ceiling cables and workmate.....think I might keep my eye out at aldi and lidl @jim haseltine can't image Mrs being too happy me coming inside though... I'll stay banished to the garage..

3D printing...woah man.. @novocaine - you lost me at cheese grater

 

[novocaine]

3D printing...woah man.. @novocaine - you lost me at cheese grater

Definately not a tool for the everyday restoration, but I'm coming up with a few rather interesting ideas, some of which are around plugs for casting parts.

It wasn't bought for that though, honest.

 

[StevemOs]

If it could print a Mavic MA2 rim ..then I'm in.....