BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

neat!

On the other hand there's Etan's take on it:

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2010/09/hands-off-from-do-me-to-do-it-for-me.html (maybe half-way down)

wow. i get what that blogger's going for, but they completely miss the mark by attacking the originator of such a novel idea.

My bike is too dirty to hang on my wall.

As for that bike, what kind of a frame is that? Looks like welded steel tubing with a rear brake bridge.

Spinballer: Exactly. Sometimes bikesnob is smart and funny, a lot of the time its snarky for the sake of being snarky.

But where's the hook for the $300 custom messenger bag?

Sewing is for sissies, obviously.

@rob if the shelf cost $50 i'd agree he was just being snarky - but for $300?

also, no way you're going to be able to hang your bike on that without toppling all those books in the process (especially the extra-tall and thin one on the end). but i guess using bookends wouldn't be suitably "minimalist".

Its a handmade good made of quality wood. If it was plastic veneer on fiberboard - ikea or walmart, then sure, I wouldn't expect to pay more than $40 for it. But as someone who calls themself a woodworker, I might consider that making custom furniture might call for $50/hr, its not far fetched that there is enough attention to detail in this that after all the prep, fitting and finishing that 4 hours of time goes into each shelf. Easy to make, but time consuming + the original idea + overhead.

The lumber itself is also not cheap. I took a furniture building course a couple years ago and scrapped my plans for actual furniture because I couldn't afford materials. I ended up making a small walnut and oak cutting board and it cost me maybe $40 just for the wood. I'd guess 30-40% of his cost is actual materials if he is using solid hardwood for the shelf.

The concept of a bike shelf itself does strike me as a little silly though. I'm not sure I'd pony up $300 so I didn't have to lean my bike against the wall.

My own wood-shop fantasies took a dive when I discovered that I would have to invest in stuff like planers (no, you can't just use materials as-is; they need to be shaped in these really basic ways).

Anyway, BikeSnob's remarks need to be understood in the context of his ongoing commentary about bike culture. Bikes should just be a part of life, not something to be made into a fetish or into an instrument of aspirational lifestyle. At the same time, biking is not just an alternate mode of transportation: there's something intensely compelling about having the power to propel yourself through space, under your own power. That should be enough, it doesn't have to bleed into the rest of your life. Keep some perspective.

and here I got all giddy about a thread pointing me to a product that would enable me to get my library fix in on my bicycle in a more organized fashion than Crate Bike.

I dream of a Bookmobile on a bicycle... Bookcycle. Add a small container garden, and it's home on wheels - modern nomadism. Full time employment really saves me from myself - there is no end to the amount of trouble I'd get in otherwise.

I'm sure could build myself a shelf out of titanium and crabon fibre with gold and diamond accents, and while it might be "worth" whatever it cost, that wouldn't make it any less ridiculous. +1 for what Ahlir said.

My thinking is, if you're riding your bike, you'll get it dirty. On the other hand, if you're going to fetishize the piece of machinery, fetishize something with some craftsmanship in it. On the gripping hand, there's a thick squall of irony swirling around how deeply the anti-materialist modern generation has been suckered by the consumer culture. It's the same old game, only with a NEW! candy coating of crunchy hypocrisy.

Just go ride...

I think passing judgment on what others should or should not think about what they do in life in kind of lame. (I don't mean this in offense to anyone in particular, just riffing) There are some people who really love to knit, they love the colors, the fabrics, the tools of the trade and everything in it. They might love it so much that knitting is their form of meditation. Thats cool with me, because no one is knocking on my door saying there is something wrong with me because I don't dig knitting as much as they do. I on the other hand consider myself a creative and a craftsman, which is about as general as I can get about what I do. I fetishize over things like pens that feel butter smooth on a nice piece of paper and lathes that hum as the finely tuned chunks of metal and machine as they are. I spend extra money and time on the things that matter most to me and I share them with those that think alike.

Is there anything wrong with some guy making a shelf that brings together his love of woodworking and the love of bikes that his friends have? No one is forcing me to spend the money on his shelf nor have anything to do with it, so as much as we might wander past a bike rack, see a sweet set of steel lugs and think "man thats a nice set of wheels" while the next passerby might not even notice a bike, no, there is nothing wrong with it.

To the same token, thats just how I look at things, and if anyone doesn't agree, thats fine by me.

Yeah, I'm with robjdlc - +1. I'm a creative person too and admire the craftmanship of talented designers, regardless of the direction he/she wants to take it.

That rack looks awesome to me. If I was into wood, I'd love to hang it in my office and prop up my bike on it's well-deserved, jacked-up, superior position on my walls - average as it is, my bike is a work of art to me too.

My office is designed using urban steel/metal, including a very cool table created from reclaimed bridge steel. I'm visualizing a grunge metal rack that includes tortured looking steel with huge rivets/bolts. $300 might barely cover the price tag. Yeah, that would be cool!

Furthermore (never pass up the chance to use that word, ever), if no one ever fetishized about anything, man what a boring world would that be. Every house would be square and every car would be the same color. Its the nerds, the people who care more about a particular thing than anyone else, who keep the world moving in an interesting way.

Three observations:

1) This bookshelf would look fabulous with a nice (color co-ordinated) Pista on it. But once you have it up there, why would you ever want to spoil things by riding it?

2) The Google weather-thing indicates rain for the next 3 days. What's your plan here? Are you going to ride your fixie with a wet ass or will you risk compromising the look of your bookshelf with some fenders on the bike? Not to mention the puddle on the floor. (I guess this only applies to commuters.)

3) I appreciate good design. I also appreciate functional design. (And, hey, I even have Design Milk on my news feed.)

geez, i guess i know what i'm getting rob for christmas...

If someone built this for themselves, just for the love of it, it's beautiful. If they want to sell these things, meh. Too much done for style, not enough for function.

Personally I would just lay the books on top of the shelf, no bookends, more minimalist. If I'm going that route, I like as much minimalism as possible.

I could see doing this for a special, sunny day only bike that I never wanted out of my sight. I would also have a crappy weather bike. I also have bikes for partly cloudy, windy, and several other weather conditions. I could never be a minimalist.

But the guy's seat is tilted too far forward. I would walk into this guy's apartment and immediatley say "nice shelf, your seat is tilted too far forward". If you're going to fetishize something, do it right. But he appears to be quite tall, so, "nice shelf!".

Also I like my pedals at 3 and 9 o'clock.

oh, bsnyc...

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2010/09/hands-off-from-do-me-to-do-it-for-me.html

I'm a function guy. Form is nice, but function has to come first. I personally like the idea of hanging the bike on the wall, especially in a cramped apartment, and if I can pin it to an existing object like a bookshelf, all the better.

The first thing that struck me was, how much weight is that sucker holding? The bike alone (mine, anyway) is upwards of 25 pounds. Put an unabridged dictionary or a couple dozen LPs up there, you're adding another 10 pounds, at least.

There had better be steel bolts already embedded in the wall to attach that thing to, directly connected to the structure of the building. No drywall screw alive is going to hold something on the order of 50 pounds of shelf, contents and bicycle, even if you do anchor it to the stud.

The mud, the puddles and wall gouges from the pedal are on my nickel. I'll deal with that.

Not everyone under the age of 50 with a nice bike is a clueless hipster.

Not every bike needs to be some fendered, flagged, lit up, panniered internally geared ultimate commuter either.

As for what bike that is, it appears to be an older EAI Bareknuckle, which I don't believe is in production any more. There are lots of steel track frames with rear brake bridges out there to choose from though.

I'm with stu - Getting the shelf attached solidly to the wall is the hard part. Without a good way to do that, it is just a weird pricey knick-knack

Without a good way to do that, it is just a weird pricey knick-knack

To be fair, it also may inspire someone to build their own variation.

One good thing about expensive handicrafts is that maybe, just maybe, they provide that initial spark for someone to say "That's too much to spend! Hey, wait...I bet I could do that myself..."

I thought the obvious thing to do with the shelf is to put your keys, wallet, phone, etc on it. One stop to grab your "going out the door" stuff - including the bike.

good idea, jz. i need to have a shelf for all that stuff to begin with, instead of a repurposed dining room / bike room with scattered items everywhere!

@mick - I'd imagine a properly mounted French cleat (and a screw or two) would be more than secure enough.

Mounting it to a stud would be no problem. A cleat, like Nick said, is pretty spot on, and would support an easy 75lbs.