Best Truing Stand ???

[DHallerman]

Talking with a shop wrench at Excel Sports today, and he pointed out how the Park TS-2 truing stand tends to, well, get out of true.

That's this one:

http://www.parktool.com/images/products/productimages/det_TS_2wheel_2005830_96977.jpg

I've experienced this, too, and they make a good wheelset at Excel, so I would tend to listen to what they say.

That said, what is the best truing stand?

And, if it's a relatively obscure one, where would I buy it?

Dave, who is having problems right now with his Park TS-2 truing stand and doesn't have time right now to fix the darn thing

[11.4]

You actually illustrated the TS-2, which is the shop workhorse standard. The TS-7 is a lesser priced one, more for home use. Generally, unless you want to spend a fortune, the TS-2 is the nicest one you can buy.

But yes, the TS-2 does have a problem staying in alignment. You can adjust it, but it seems to choose its alignment position every time you use it. I've used a number and found that to be generally true of most of them. However, in a sense, so what? It certainly lets you check for roundness and trueness. The only place you'd have problem is with centering, but for that you should be using a centering gauge anyway. I can't begin to understand why anyone other than a pure production wheelbuilder would put dial measurement on a TS-2, but you can do it.

My most recent TS-2 was rather erratic for a while, so I finally just took it apart, filed the ends of the springs smooth, swapped a couple piece of hardware for some nicer pieces, etc. It made a world of difference. Use a file on the little truing guides to make the points smaller and the notch square. If one tends to be offset from the other, file the cam portion of it where the adjustment screw hits it. And I found it helped to dump the original knobs and threaded rods and use some bits from an industrial supply catalog. By the time I was finished, I liked it.

The TS-3 was sold by Park for a while mostly for shops -- big cast aluminum arms and the like, but it actually was more hassle to use. It tended to be harder to clamp the wheel tight in it, at which point all potential improvements in precision were lost. It was overengineered but didn't really do the job well.

If you own a Meivici and won't true your wheels on anything less than the best, DT makes a thousand-dollar truing stand. It actually doesn't work all that well, and certainly no better than a TS-2, but it's very bling-looking (much like a Meivici ). There are also a couple foot-operated $4-5 thousand truing stands for full-time wheelbuilders. I used to use one when I built wheels in Europe and it actually was worth the money. Amazing products. But you have to order them from Europe, they are never around used, and you should send me the money instead unless you really build a thousand pairs of pro wheels a year.

[Peter P.]

I've had my TS-2 for over 25 years. It DOES NOT get out of true. What is WILL do is get out of DISH. With my stand, how hard you tighten the know which secures the axle in the uprights with determine the dish. I don't mind it.

When I bought the stand 25 years ago, I was advised to get a dishing tool anyway, for the very reason mentioned above. I have not regretted making the purchase.

I believe Park makes an alignment gauge which replaces a wheel in the TS-2 stand, allowing you to align the tool for accurate dish. Simple, but I prefer to use my dishing tool on actual wheels and adjust the stand if necessary. Think of the TS-2's design as meant to SPEED UP the wheelbuilding process by using it's self-centering feature to get you close, quickly, rather than the be all, end all.

Reading your post again, I'm assuming you actually broke your stand but I find that hard to believe. Can you explain what happened?

[SoCalSteve]

I have both a TS-2 and a TS-8 (the TS-2 was given to me). 99% of the time I use the TS-8. Its just easier to use and for all applications except a complete build from scratch (which I've only done twice) the TS-8 is more than adequate to do everything.

Unless you are going to start building wheels from scratch (often) save a boatload of cash and get a TS-8. Its overbuilt in its own right. I bet it lasts me 25 years.

Good luck,

Steve

PS: The TS-2 is always out of alignment, but with a dishing tool, its really a non-issue.

[Too Tall]

The Park stand is great you just need to know the drill. First using a properly dished wheel adjust it according to instructions....yes it is adjustable and yes it goes out of dish...but here is the drill. Every time you put a wheel in to true it and assume you are not redishing (do this setup with a properly dished wheel first) first align the valve hole with the truing guages and adjust by tapping the arms so that one valve is equal dist between the turning arms. Now take the wheel out...flip it around and re-orient it with valve home in the same location and "make sure it is the same. Anywho that's my deal. Great piece of equipment.

Apparently Joe Young has some Belgian or Dutch wheel truing jig with run out guages in three places...yikes. The cooles jig I've ever seen were ones used by the Bretton mechanics during PBP. These looked like cobblers benches and they pinned the wheel from the sides and sat inside the frame and trued the wheel using an moveable arm for reference...kewl.

[Marcusaurelius]

I guess Park tool has discontinued their high end truing stand. It was available a few years ago and came with guages. It was very impressive looking but it was also quite expensive.

[DHallerman]

Okay, I wasn't being exact...I meant my TS-2 (the one I own, and the one I meant to picture) was misaligned for dishing.

And yes, I know a dishing tool is far better for that purpose.

But today, when I put a new, properly dished wheel into the stand to check it out, the calipers were so far to one side that I couldn't check the wheel's true or roundness, since the rim would not go between the calipers. In fact, it hit the right caliper.

Since I've had this misalignment problem before, and since it's a bit frustrating to fix, I wondered about other truing stands.

I see the BikeToolsEtc. site has one from VAR...very costly, but does anyone know about its quality?