My problem has been that better bikes kept coming...
May 24, 2013 5:15 PM Subscribe
James McDonald of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, collects bikes--at least one from every era of bikemaking. "If there were 200 bicycles here," he explains, "they would have been culled down out of probably two to three thousand bicycles that I've brought home over the last two years, and those two thousand would have been culled down from maybe tens of thousands of bicycles that I've gone to look at and left behind." Check out this 3 minute video for more!
And here I am, freaking out, trying to figure out how to fit just one more bike in my house.
posted by The Giant Squid at 6:09 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by The Giant Squid at 6:09 PM on May 24, 2013
And here I am, freaking out, trying to figure out how to fit just one more bike in my house.
Replace mattress with bike
Bike makes great bar stool
Tired of clumsy ironing board? Try bike! You will love.
posted by RustyBrooks at 6:41 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Replace mattress with bike
Bike makes great bar stool
Tired of clumsy ironing board? Try bike! You will love.
posted by RustyBrooks at 6:41 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
And here I am, freaking out, trying to figure out how to fit just one more bike in my house.
A couple years ago I got this elaborate bike hanging system in the garage that was designed for companies to use during Bike To Work Month. It's a rail and hook system and lets you hang bikes like clothes, but the 10' of space I had allowed for 13 hooks.
It was great to clean up the floor of my garage, and get my road bike, cyclocross bike, and mountain bike hung up, but then I also could fit a city bike, a rain bike (road bike for winter riding only), a 26" park/jump bike, and a 20" freestyle bmx bike. There are a couple bikes from my wife and kid, along with three wheelsets for my cyclocross racing and now I'm all out of room. For the last year it's been one in, one out, where I can only get a new bike if I replace an old one.
It's really great though, I feel like I have a pretty good tool for every occasion in my quiver and my garage isn't totally overrun with bikes anymore, they're all along one wall.
posted by mathowie at 6:57 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
A couple years ago I got this elaborate bike hanging system in the garage that was designed for companies to use during Bike To Work Month. It's a rail and hook system and lets you hang bikes like clothes, but the 10' of space I had allowed for 13 hooks.
It was great to clean up the floor of my garage, and get my road bike, cyclocross bike, and mountain bike hung up, but then I also could fit a city bike, a rain bike (road bike for winter riding only), a 26" park/jump bike, and a 20" freestyle bmx bike. There are a couple bikes from my wife and kid, along with three wheelsets for my cyclocross racing and now I'm all out of room. For the last year it's been one in, one out, where I can only get a new bike if I replace an old one.
It's really great though, I feel like I have a pretty good tool for every occasion in my quiver and my garage isn't totally overrun with bikes anymore, they're all along one wall.
posted by mathowie at 6:57 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
A couple years ago I got this elaborate bike hanging system in the garage
Man, we really ought to get one of those. We're at something like twelve bikes for four people now.
posted by padraigin at 7:03 PM on May 24, 2013
Man, we really ought to get one of those. We're at something like twelve bikes for four people now.
posted by padraigin at 7:03 PM on May 24, 2013
The downside is that it cost about $300-400 if I remember correctly, and it is really industrial, huge lag bolts go into the rafters, etc.
posted by mathowie at 7:06 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by mathowie at 7:06 PM on May 24, 2013
Just a few short days ago I bought a new bike[*] and I've been debating whether or not to keep the old one. The stories in this thread are making me feel a lot better about the thought of retaining a single backup bike. I have a lot of space in my house but a bicycle is such a clumsy thing but in the past two days I've already gotten accustomed to having two where there used to be one, so ... is this the path to madness? Is this familiar to you all?
I think I should turn back. I don't want 160 of anything in my house.
posted by komara at 8:44 PM on May 24, 2013
I think I should turn back. I don't want 160 of anything in my house.
posted by komara at 8:44 PM on May 24, 2013
I pretty much have to have a backup bike because I ride 5 days/week and what am I going to do if my bike needs to be in the shop or 3 days or something? The backup bike has a backup bike because you know, you need a little variety. I keep my 2nd backup at work though. Then there's the mountain bike... And you'll probably want a backup mountain bike...
posted by RustyBrooks at 8:59 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by RustyBrooks at 8:59 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
In New Orleans you don't need a mountain bike so much as you need a "Going to a [Festival / Party / Bar / Performance / Other] and may end up so messed up that I can't ride" bike that you are okay with leaving locked up outside overnight and are okay with having stolen.
posted by komara at 9:08 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by komara at 9:08 PM on May 24, 2013
$3 Dero
Large J hooks in decent beam
Hang from tire rim
I didn't want to sound snarky,
so I made it into a haiku .
Oops.
posted by epjr at 10:21 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Large J hooks in decent beam
Hang from tire rim
I didn't want to sound snarky,
so I made it into a haiku .
Oops.
posted by epjr at 10:21 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
The Dero system is very similar to stock sliding barn door hardware. It really could be a straightforward, cheap DIY project.
posted by klarck at 5:27 AM on May 25, 2013
posted by klarck at 5:27 AM on May 25, 2013
I have a lot of space in my house but a bicycle is such a clumsy thing but in the past two days I've already gotten accustomed to having two where there used to be one, so ... is this the path to madness? Is this familiar to you all?
Oh, yes. I had the backup bike as the taco-getter at my boyfriend's house, but I loved it so much I started taking it back with me...now it sits next to the commuter bike in my tiny entranceway, and that means...I'm going to have to get a new backup bike to leave at his place.
He has 7 or 8 bikes right now and who knows what frames, and I've always told him he should have as many bikes as he wants as long as there are no bicycles in the bed. All over the bedroom, sure, but no bikes in the bed, please.
posted by fiercecupcake at 5:34 AM on May 25, 2013
Oh, yes. I had the backup bike as the taco-getter at my boyfriend's house, but I loved it so much I started taking it back with me...now it sits next to the commuter bike in my tiny entranceway, and that means...I'm going to have to get a new backup bike to leave at his place.
He has 7 or 8 bikes right now and who knows what frames, and I've always told him he should have as many bikes as he wants as long as there are no bicycles in the bed. All over the bedroom, sure, but no bikes in the bed, please.
posted by fiercecupcake at 5:34 AM on May 25, 2013
Bike makes great bar stool
An adult tricycle with was actually used as kitchen seating in my last apartment. The wide, cushioned seat was very comfortable and as conversations with friends would slink late into the night, pedaling kept us awake.
I hope someone makes a feature length documentary about James and his bikes, kind of like a Gary Hustwit film for bicycle enthusiasts. I am already imaging drooling at the designs and nodding in agreement and/or illumination with the interviewees.
posted by mayurasana at 9:40 AM on May 25, 2013
An adult tricycle with was actually used as kitchen seating in my last apartment. The wide, cushioned seat was very comfortable and as conversations with friends would slink late into the night, pedaling kept us awake.
I hope someone makes a feature length documentary about James and his bikes, kind of like a Gary Hustwit film for bicycle enthusiasts. I am already imaging drooling at the designs and nodding in agreement and/or illumination with the interviewees.
posted by mayurasana at 9:40 AM on May 25, 2013
kind of like a Gary Hustwit film for bicycle enthusiasts.
Except maybe 5 hours long and of course I'd watch all of it, repeatedly.
posted by mayurasana at 9:42 AM on May 25, 2013
Except maybe 5 hours long and of course I'd watch all of it, repeatedly.
posted by mayurasana at 9:42 AM on May 25, 2013
It's a slippery slope from basic maintenance to major maintenance to swapping your own parts to building a project bike to hey let's rent THIS house because there's an extra room and then we can run an unlicensed bike shop.
Years later, I still have some of the tools, and I still check up on local Craigslist for deals on nice bikes, but none of the bikes are the same bikes. Ship of Theseus and all that.
posted by a halcyon day at 9:59 AM on May 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Years later, I still have some of the tools, and I still check up on local Craigslist for deals on nice bikes, but none of the bikes are the same bikes. Ship of Theseus and all that.
posted by a halcyon day at 9:59 AM on May 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
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