Stopped by a shop in Portland that still uses a full wheel truing stand from the 80s

I was visiting family up there and wandered into this old school shop on Hawthorne. The guy showed me how he still prefers that Park TS-2 over the newer models, and after watching him work I kind of get it. Has anyone else used one of those older stands and think they hold up better for heavy rim work?

3 comments

3 Comments

jackson.matthew10d ago

Hold up, forty bucks for a TS-2 at a garage sale? That's insane, I'd be bragging about that for the rest of my life. I mean, I've heard people say the old ones are better but hearing about how the base doesn't give at all when you're really torquing a spoke makes total sense. My buddy has one of the newer stands and I swear you can feel it twist a little if you're trying to pull a really tight spoke on a bent rim. That old cast iron thing sounds like a beast, no wonder shops that still have them won't let them go. Makes me want to start checking every garage sale I drive by, even though I know I'll never find a deal that good.

hayden_nelson859d ago

My buddy Mark found an old TS-2 at a co-op in Eugene for 25 bucks, just needed a new indicator and some grease. He brought over this crazy bent wheel from a dumpster bike and that stand didn't budge a millimeter when he was pulling spokes like crazy. @jackson.matthew you're right about the base, it's completely solid. The spring on the caliper arm is way stiffer too, way less play when you're trying to dial in a spot. Mark uses that thing almost every weekend now and says he'd never trade it for a newer one.

scott.drew10d ago

Man, that's awesome! A buddy of mine back in Seattle still swears by his old TS-2. He bought it at a garage sale for like 40 bucks and rebuilt the whole thing. He was truing up a beat-to-hell touring rim last month and said the old cast iron base just doesn't flex like the new plastic ones do when you really have to crank on a spoke. He's always telling me how the dial indicator is way more stable too. I guess they don't build 'em like they used to, huh?