What Is A Bike Repair Stand?

No matter what kind of cycling or biking you are in to, you will most likely comprehend that there will come a day that your bike will be in need of some sort of maintenance or repair. From a safety aspect to just being able to go out and have a smooth ride, you don't want to have to take your bicycle to the nearby repair shop for every minor repair or adjustment that needs to be made. This can not only get expensive but really annoying as well. So what is a guy or girl to do? A bike repair stand is an amazing tool that will allow you to repair (or attempt to repair) your own bicycle. In so much, a bike repair stand is made for your convenience and it will save you time and money. Now don't get this confused with a bike stand.

Feedback Sports Pro Classic Bicycle Repair Stand

If you purchase an easy to use, good quality and stable bike repair stand, just like a bike, it will last for many years to come and you'll come to see how it offers a wide ranges of benefits. A few of the benefits are discussed below.

A Bike Repair Stand Is Affordable

A bike repair stand doesn't need to cost hundreds of dollars. Sure, there are professional models but for the vast majority of us who might be weekend warriors or college students, we can find a bike repair stand for under $50. At that price, you can buy some tools as well. One of my favorite tools is the spoke wrench. It seems that with all the potholes in Illinois, I can be constantly adjusting the spokes to make sure that my wheels are correctly balanced. Anyway, once you purchase a bike repair stand, you will really be surprised at how much money you will be able to save by doing all the maintenance and minor repairs at home. Plus you won't put off those minor repairs because your bike repair stand will be handy.

A Bike Repair Stand Keeps Your Bike Stable While Repairing

One thing that I found out very quickly is that if your wheels are constantly moving because you are trying to fix your bike while its on the ground, you will not only get aggravated but you'll also be wasting time trying to keep the darn thing still. So, a tip is that if you buy a bike repair stand with larger base, it will offer you more stability during the process of repairing.

Here is part of the reason why you might want to look at buying a bike repair stand. If you are trying to work on your bicycle and run across this scenario: While repairing the bicycle, you need to lift and hold your bike with one hand while shifting and adjusting with the other hand. That is a recipe for disaster and feeling frustrated. The bottom line is that if you want to enjoy the comfort, convenience, and workout that you get from riding your bicycle, make sure that it is tuned up and ready to go at any moment. The best way to ensure this is to have a quality bike repair stand. It also avoids the inconvenience that you might be facing if you have to carry or drive your bike over to the bicycle repair shop.

Here is another benefit: The bike can be held firmly with the clamp provided with the bike repair stand, so that you can easily brush and clean away grime and dirt which are deposited within places where you might find it hard to reach. No need to hurt your back bending over when you simply want to clean and wax your bike.

This is what a bike repair stand looks like

So, I hope you've gathered that I'm a bike proponent of working on my own bike by having a bike repair stand and hope you can make use of one too.

Can You Recommend A Spinning Bike?

My friends have been going to the gym and invited me to attend one of their "spinning" classes. I had a ton of fun and realized just how out of shape I was. With school and a job, I just don't have time to go to the gym to workout. Can you recommend a spinning bike that I can buy and use in my apartment?

Absolutely. Spinning is fun and is a great way to take your fitness to the next level or just plain go from the too much sitting mode to getting back in shape. There are a few spinning bikes that I highly recommend which are in a good budget range for most people. However it all depends on what you want to spend. The nice thing is that over on Amazon, at the present moment there are some great deals on spinning bikes. Meaning, I'm looking at one right now that is over 50% off. It is the Sunny Health & Fitness Pro Indoor Cycling Bike. I think I did a write up of this spinning bike earlier on this year. Yes, here it is.

A couple of other good names on the market are Phoenix and Proform. Both the ProForm 290 SPX Indoor Cycle Trainer and Phoenix 98623 Revolution Cycle Pro II Exercise Bike have received a number of positive reviews. I've personally ridden the ProForm model and at the current price I would jump on it or the Sunny Health and Fitness model if you have the money.

I'm going to keep this post short as I have relatives in from out of the country and we are heading out shopping. One last thing. What I also recommend while spinning is to have some upbeat music going on your mp3 player or click on Indoor Training For Cyclists over on the right hand side of this page and check out the DVD's that the gentleman is selling.

I Need A Cheap Bike Trainer

I'm starting college in a couple of weeks and need a cheap bike trainer to ride when the weather gets colder. Can you help?

You remind me of myself a bunch of years ago. My roommate and I lived in a dorm and we rode outside just about every other day. On the weekends we belonged to a bicycle club and would oftentimes put in a 20-49 mile ride. When we were riding outside, we would head to the gym and ride the exercise bike. For us it was a fantastic way to stay in shape.

Where I Bought My Cheap Bike Trainer

We went to school in southern Illinois and maybe because we were part crazy, were were able to ride outside into December. Then an ice storm hit. Shut down the whole campus, so the school and gym were inaccessible. That same day we both ordered the same bike trainer from Nashbar.

Summer sale at Nashbar : save up to 50% off on 150 bikes, clothes, accessories.

When we were in college and on a college budget, there weren't too many choices in bike trainers. It had to be a cheap bike trainer and it had to be cheap. Yes, cheap twice. That meant if it could be under $50, that would be about all that we could afford. As I look on Nashbar's site today, it looks as though the cheapest bike trainer is about $90 on sale. Heck, we are on a college budget right? That just won't do. So what I recommned you do is head on over to Amazon and look at the New Kinetic Bike Bicycle Indoor Exercise Trainer Stand. At a retail price under $50, gheeez... under $45 it us hard to be beat.

cheap bike trainer

We got some great use out of our bike trainers and I was very happy with our choice. One of the other guys in our bike club ended up buying a roller trainer. Nothing wrong with roller trainers but it was funny as heck watching him fall off of the trainer while he was watching TV and seeing him go straight into the wall. I still have my cheap bike trainer to this day and ride it from time to time. And if it makes you feel any better, I paid about $50 plus shipping when I ordered mine some 20+ years ago.

As much as I enjoyed my cheap bike trainer and still do til this day, I do have one caveat that I need to tell you. This trainer makes a lot of noise. Make sure that you put something similar to a bike training mat underneath the trainer when riding or otherwise if you live in a dorm, you're neighbors to the side of you and below you might gripe about the noise.

A Bike Trainer For Bad Knees?

I enjoy running and start off each spring running a few times a week. As I get visions of running a marathon, I start running every day. Unfortunately my knees end up bothering me to the point where I can only run about 2 days in a row before they hurt and I have to take a layoff. If I continue to run past those 2 days, it feels like my knees are moving bone on bone. Can I ride a bike trainer if I have bad knees?

My first question to you would ask if you have seen a doctor about your knees? Course I should take that advice because I have the same issue as you. I think that the pounding (maybe some of it is the shoes) aggravates and problems that we may have with our knees. My next question to you would ask if you have ridden an exercise bike lately? What I find is that I am fine on either an exercise bike or bike trainer. Of course the nice thing about the bike trainer is that I can simply put my road bike or mountain bike on the trainer, so I don't have to adjust the height of the seat or take a 20 minute drive each way to the gym.

Ride An Exercise Bike Before Buying A Bike Trainer

So here is my recommendation. If you have access to a gym, find a quality exercise bike that you can ride for a while. As in beginning any new exercise, you should start off slow. That way hopefully you won't aggravate your knee problem and you might just find that your butt hurts a couple of days after riding the exercise bike. The reason why I recommend trying an exercise bike first is because we want to see if your knees are up to the task and if you can handle what some call boredom from riding an exercise bike or bike trainer. As for me, I throw on an MP3 player and sometimes watch Spinervals videos for motivation.

Ok... so if you find out that an exercise bike doesn't bother your knees, then I highly recommend checking out a bike trainer. One piece of advice. As in anything, take it easy in both the number of days and duration that you ride the bike trainer when first starting off. Slowly build up the strength in your legs, surrounding tendons, and ligaments. I recommend finding a good magnetic trainer or a fluid trainer. Why you ask? Because both of these trainers offer a better form of "progressive resistance" over a wind trainer. If you have the money, go for a fluid trainer because you will get the best bike trainer for the money. If you need some assistance in finding a trainer that will fit your budget, check out my bike trainer reviews. There are no guarantees but with any luck, riding a bike trainer may strengthen your knees and allow you to get back in those running shoes and one day complete that marathon you have your sites set on.

I live in the Chicagoland area (about 20 miles outside of Chicago). Where can I buy a bike trainer?

Good question. I'm going to give you a list of local bike shops that you can check out further below. However, for the vast majority of people who have a similar question, I recommend that you first check out my site in regards to the particular bike trainer that you intend on purchasing (go to the search bar in the upper right hand corner) and then head on over to Amazon.
Why do I recommend Amazon? Simple. Because you will not only find a great price but you will also have access to reviews by folks who have already purchased and are using the same bike trainer that you are looking at. Wouldn't it be great to know what folks think of magnetic trainers in general or the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine?

Kozy's Cyclery - Kozy's Cyclery, is a leading Chicago bike shop for cycling, bicycles, and bike repair in Chicagoland Illinois. We specialize in Cannondale, Specialized, ...
811 S. Desplaines, Chicago
(312) 360-0020

Village Cycle Center
1337 N. Wells St, Chicago
(312) 751-2488

Trek Bicycles On Michigan Avenue
1118 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago
(312) 588-1050

Rapid Transit Cycleshop
1900 W North Ave, Chicago
(773) 227-2288