Park Tool TS-2.2P Truing Stand: Customer Review

Do you build and true your own wheels? If you don't, already having a sturdy truing stand makes the job that much easier. Here in this review, our customer Carlos talks about using his new Park Tool TS-2.2P Powder Coated Truing Stand. Read more below!

Overview

After a few years hiatus from building wheels, I decided to get back into it. As I got rid of most of my wheel building tools, I decided to pick up the Park Tool TS-2.2P to replace my previous stands. I learned to build wheels on pretty cheap stands and the last build I did was on a one-armed style stand. This time around I wanted to get something more sturdy and robust as I remember the trials and tribulations of trying to learn how to build a wheel on not so great equipment.

Coming from that type of setup, the Park Tool TS-2.2P has been a revelation. It is something I should have picked up from the very beginning. It would have saved me the headaches of working with less reliable tools and would have made the learning curb of wheel building much more manageable. The stand came packaged very well and was fairly easy to set up. The only thing I needed to do was align the stand a tiny bit. The Park Tool website has some information on how to this. The fit and finish are great, and I do not foresee the blue powder coat version presenting any functional problems anytime soon in comparison to the chrome plated one.

Set Up

The only thing I needed to do was to drill the stand down to a piece of wood to make it stable (it has screw holes for this). If you do not want to do this, you can buy the base stand. In addition, like all other stands I have used, it is not meant as a dishing tool. You will still need a dishing gauge to make sure your wheels are centered. Even when stands advertise that they can double as dishing tools (not sure that park tools does this with this particular stand), I have found that using a stand for this is not reliable. Also, if you have any thru-axle wheels, you will have to get their adapters. This is the only area where I think Park Tools needs to adjust their stand to future proof them a bit better.

Final Thoughts

So who is this stand for? I would say that if you want a stand to do truing and occasional maintenance, you do not need something this robust. However, if you are building wheels regularly, this stand is wonderful. I would even say that if you are learning how to build wheels, this stand might save you a lot of time and energy and make the learning process much more streamlined than a less reliable stand or a stand that is less feature packed. Do you need this stand to learn how to build a good set of wheels? Not at all. Would I have just spent the extra money on this stand when I first started? Absolutely. The stand has very few weaknesses. Aside from the initial set up headaches that may come from aligning it for first use, and the additional accessories that Park Tools makes you buy for thru-axle compatibility, the Park Tool TS-2.2P looks and feels like it will last a lifetime.