# Spin Doctor Truing Stand



## Wildcard (Feb 20, 2007)

Does anyone have experience with this brand of truing stand? I took my wheel in last week and was shocked how much it costs to get one wheel trued and since this was on my list of things to learn I decided there's no better time than now. I saw these on ebay for relatively cheap and figured it may be good to learn on. I saw someone posted on here about trouble with I believe a crank puller by spin docs and was wondering if they just make junk tools. Any advice on getting started with truing would be appreciated also, I was reading about it on the park website and it doesn't seem too difficult. Thanks guys :thumbsup:


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## One Pivot (Nov 20, 2009)

i have it. it works just fine, but its very low quality. id buy one again, it works. sufficient to true wheels!


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## Scorp979 (Jul 14, 2009)

I got mine as a gift last fall and have been quite happy with it. I too am new with wheel truing and building so I have little to compare to but I have had all types of hubs and axle combinations in it without a problem. It seems very well built and is plenty sturdy to sit on a bench. It does have mounting holes which would be better if you can spare the space.The two uprights move in unison and self center so there is no real trick to using it. Actually truing a wheel is a different story, I'm getting better but there is definitely some skill involved. Hope this helps.

-Matt


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## Wildcard (Feb 20, 2007)

thanks guys think i'll pick one up then. i figured for the price they're listing them it can't hurt. 

just curious, what's average for a shop to charge to true a wheel?


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## clutch_08 (May 5, 2009)

it is or was $15 at one of the lbs per wheel


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## Wildcard (Feb 20, 2007)

clutch_08 said:


> it is or was $15 at one of the lbs per wheel


that's about what i was expecting when i went to the lbs... instead it was $25! :madmax:


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## jrabikerepair (Dec 29, 2009)

The spin doctor stand works ok if you occasionally spot true wheels. Personally, I think the stand is too flexy and not very accurate (then again, I'm sort of picky about certain things). For occasional use to fix obviously out-of-true wheels, the Spin Doctor is fine. Otherwise, stick with a Park truing stand.


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## Scorp979 (Jul 14, 2009)

I'm new with wheels so forgive me the answer to this is obvious. What exactly would not be accurate with a truing stand? Do you mean self centering to the scale? If so all I do to check true center is flip the wheel over. If it reads the same both ways then it is centered. If not, it is simple enough to compensate. Bear in mind, my review of the stand was based on the occasional use and something inexpensive to learn on. It sounded like that was where Wildcard was at too.

-Matt


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## Wildcard (Feb 20, 2007)

Scorp979 said:


> I'm new with wheels so forgive me the answer to this is obvious. What exactly would not be accurate with a truing stand? Do you mean self centering to the scale? If so all I do to check true center is flip the wheel over. If it reads the same both ways then it is centered. If not, it is simple enough to compensate. Bear in mind, my review of the stand was based on the occasional use and something inexpensive to learn on. It sounded like that was where Wildcard was at too.
> 
> -Matt


Yea i was looking for something a little cheaper to learn on to see if I even have any aptitude for this. Sure I would like the Park stand but right now I don't have $200 to drop on it.


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## One Pivot (Nov 20, 2009)

you can absolutely build a high tension, very true wheel with the spin doctor stand. it doesnt even make sense to think you cant.


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## Scorp979 (Jul 14, 2009)

I tuned m first wheel with two 2x4's clamped to my bench with a v notch out of the top to hold the axles. I used a ball point pen in a machinist's vice to true it up. I don't have much good to say about this method other than it worked. Next I upgraded. I bought a new bike so my old trek 830 got cut up with a sawzall. The rear triangle sat in a bench, (by the seat tube), and the front was done using the old rigid fork. Again both had ball point pens attached with zip ties. So let me tell you, the first time I tried with the Spin Doctor stand, I thought it was slicker than sh*t. Take it from a guy who is used to making due with what he has the stand won't make a bit of difference the first time you try to mess with a wheel. Its not easy! I'm getting better at it though. Just go little turns at a time and keep spinning the wheel to see where your at.

-Matt


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## Wildcard (Feb 20, 2007)

Scorp979 said:


> I tuned m first wheel with two 2x4's clamped to my bench with a v notch out of the top to hold the axles. I used a ball point pen in a machinist's vice to true it up. I don't have much good to say about this method other than it worked. Next I upgraded. I bought a new bike so my old trek 830 got cut up with a sawzall. The rear triangle sat in a bench, (by the seat tube), and the front was done using the old rigid fork. Again both had ball point pens attached with zip ties. So let me tell you, the first time I tried with the Spin Doctor stand, I thought it was slicker than sh*t. Take it from a guy who is used to making due with what he has the stand won't make a bit of difference the first time you try to mess with a wheel. Its not easy! I'm getting better at it though. Just go little turns at a time and keep spinning the wheel to see where your at.
> 
> -Matt


LOL damn MacGyver guess in a pinch ya do what you gotta. I don't have an old frame I can chop up unfortunately.


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## mountainflow (Jan 24, 2007)

I've built almost 20 wheels with a Spin Doctor, and have generally had no problems. It is a little flimsy, which makes me a bit paranoid, but I just double check and then re-check everything as I am going, and haven't had any problems yet. Mine looks a little different than Scorp's, but probably just because it is older. Mine also came with a "T-bar" that makes centering the wheel easy. All of the wheels I've built with it have stayed true for many-many-many miles, except for one which had nothing to do with the stand.

I like building my own wheels, and I am seriously considering getting a Park stand just for the better lateral stiffness and overall build quality.

Oh yeah, mine has a couple of holes in the base for screwing it down to a bench. It definitely makes the Performance stand better if you have the space dedicated to it. You can also screw it to a big piece of ply-wood, and then just clamp or screw the ply-wood base to your bench when needed. It really makes the Spin Doctor better to do this, although I've been known to sit in the living room lacing wheels on the floor while watching the latest CSI episode. :thumbsup:


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## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

I started with a Spin Doctor and it was fine. I appreciated it even more after I bought a "self centering" Park stand and realized it doesn't **really** self center. Promptly returned the expensive Park and bought a one-armed Ultimate, which in some cases is a worse stand than the Spin Doctor (excess play in the feelers). But, being one-armed, at least it didn't pretend to be something it's not (not self centering!), though is graced with a weighty base and out-of-the-way-for-storage size.

In the end it's not self centering features, it's not perfectly rigid feelers, and it's not the stand that builds the quality wheel -- it's the user. You could have a dial gauge accurate to 0.001" and it's going to measure that damned bump at the rim joint every time the wheel spins around, just like my jiggly Ultimate feelers.


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## mr_chrome (Jan 17, 2005)

Just finished truing a 29er wheel with the tire on (2.25") with no issues......there is about a 1/2" gap between the tire and the bottom of the stand so some slightly bigger tires will probably fit but I doubt some of the bigger 29+ tires will fit.......that said, for the money, this is actually a very good stand - it has a gauge to check true / dish and did a great job on my wheel.......I used a park tool tension meter to tighten spokes, then worked on actually truing the wheel, seemed to work well in this order......this should also handle Boost hubs without any problem.........


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## One Pivot (Nov 20, 2009)

I still have mine! 

Actually I lose one in a move and bought another. I must have 100+ wheels built between the two though.

The feelers are pretty bad. There's a lot of YouTube videos out there showing how to modify it to have solid threaded feelers. That's my only complaint about the stand... And it's minor enough that I haven't bothered putting the threaded feelers on.


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## bakerjw (Oct 8, 2014)

I broke a spoke out on a road ride yesterday. Grabbed my Spin Doctor and trued the wheel. 
Always have to watch out for tension though and to make sure that you're not making an oval.


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## Slyham (Jun 24, 2015)

Looking to buy one of these. Do you need to buy adapters for thru axle?


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## OlMarin (Oct 22, 2016)

> Otherwise, stick with a Park truing stand.


My wallet isn't that deep. I didn't look closely at this Spin doctor but I imagine there's a way to clamp it to something stable. I have an old Minoura that is cheap junque by comparison. Having it anchored to the bench it works just fine. Still flexes a bit, but a few sets have been built and many a wheel has been trued using this.


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## Lemonaid (May 13, 2013)

building and truing a wheel isn't rocket science and doesn't require expensive tools. I've been using mine for years and have built many wheels using it and have never had any issues with any of my wheels.


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## OlMarin (Oct 22, 2016)

My old Minoura is one you need to remove MTB tires or no go. It has no centering capability, but I have a dishing tool. I may consider a Spin doctor in the future. I've been just checking the wheels with the bike on the stand and using the rim brakes to correct any minor issues. That is, once the wheel is 'right'.
I only have two tension meters that are pushing 60. In my day we didn't have no stinkin' tension meters. Yes I'm an old [email protected]


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