Portable Truing Stand

A bench stand is the right answer when the wheel and the workshop are in the same room. When they aren't (an event tent at a race weekend, a hotel room the night before a gravel start, the back of a team van between transfers) the Portable Truing Stand 1688 is the stand that travels with you.

At 2.3 kg with the lower support leg folded into the base, the 1688 packs into a tool case beside the rest of the kit. Pull it out at the venue, unfold the leg, clamp it to a workbench through the same bolt holes the bench-mount version uses, and you have the wheel reference you need to true a flat-spotted rim or replace a broken spoke between stages.

The capacities match the Pro Truing Stand 1689 inside the working range home and event mechanics see most often: 16 to 29 inch wheels, hubs up to 157 mm, and accommodation for solid, quick-release, and (with the Thru-Axle Adaptor 1689.3 or 12, 15, 20 mm adapter set) thru-axle hubs. The lower support leg folds into the base for stowage between events and clamps stably into a bench vise when the venue doesn't have a workbench available.

Compatibility

• Wheels: 16 to 29 inch.
• Hubs: solid axle, quick release, and thru-axle (12, 15, 20 mm with the matching adapter).
• Maximum hub width: 157 mm.
• Disc brake: accepts the same Rotor Truing Gauge 1689.2 as the Pro Stand.
• Cannondale Lefty front hubs: covered by the Cannondale Lefty Hub Adaptor 1689.6.

“Made of tool steel and durable powder-coat by Unior in Slovenia, this home mechanic stand is built to last a lifetime under DIYer use.”

David Rome, BikeRadar (2016)

Why the portable

The 1688 trades the Pro Stand's permanent bench mount and 230 mm hub capacity for a 2.3 kg travel weight and a fold-flat profile. For a home mechanic with one or two bikes, that's the right trade: most service work happens at the kitchen counter or the garage workbench, and the stand doesn't need to anchor a permanently dedicated wheel station. For an event mechanic who works out of a van, portability is the whole reason the tool exists. The same hub clamp, the same caliper geometry, and the same accessory compatibility as the Pro Stand; what's missing is the wider 230 mm hub capacity and the magnetic stowed-adapter system.

Built in Zreče, Slovenia

Unior has been forging hand tools in Zreče since 1919, and is the official technical partner of multiple World Tour and downhill teams. The Portable Truing Stand shares the same caliper geometry, hub-clamp engineering, and accessory compatibility as the Pro Truing Stand 1689; the cost-down is the construction of the base and the wider-hub support, not the precision of the calipers. The 1688 is the stand you take to a race weekend and trust the same way you trust the Pro Stand on the bench.

Pro tip from our mechanics

The fold-down leg is a feature, but it's also where things move. Before any event, set the 1688 on a flat surface and run the upright through its range; check that both lateral calipers come in dead-square to the rim, not at a small angle. If they do, the leg may need re-seating. The trial run takes two minutes and rules out the half-hour of chasing a “wheel won't true” problem that's actually a stand-not-true problem. The full truing workflow we use on either stand is in How to true a bike wheel →