load is the problem. The weight of a bike isn’t a set value. ie, one bike may be 6kg another bike may be 9kg. Factor this into a load of other variables like bike width (very important – the wider the bike the more load on the point of contact for the wall fisxing to hold securely) and suddenly those 2 overprices sticks have the potential to f••k up your wall and your bike and if you’re really unlucky, someone walking underneath it when it collapses. I understand what the ‘designer’ of these is trying to achieve but there’s a reason why something like this isn’t everywhere, the reason being that the idea is fundamentally flawed. Good design doesn’ just look nice, good design is an end result that really does answer a problem with a well thought out solution. This doesn’t do that. I look at this and it makes me think of those crap floating shelves from IKEA that can hardly support a till receipt never mind a few good books. Does this help in illustrating the mechanical problem at the heart of the idea?
Spacca, it will depend on the construction – if the wood has a 10mm metal bar all the way through and a corresponding thread and wall anchor goind deep enough into the wall, it would probably hold a human. If it’s built like that, it may even be not that much overpriced – even though, if you have acces to a workshop, you can probably do it yourself for like 5 dollars.
Good point Michael. I’m just assuming that the person who designed this is an idiot and that it won’t be done right. (also, seems like a lot of engineering for a very simple problem).
If I was doing this I would rather have a nicely designed bracket giving it two points of contact though. Running a single point into a wall might be fine for a while but I’d be conscious of all the usual suspects I mentioned plus the impact of constant use making the fixing loosen over time (ham fisted people are all over the place). How far would you have to run the bar into the wall for a reliable and solid fixing for an indeterminate bike weight?
Heh heh. I think the only way for this to work structurally is to drill a hole PRECISELY the size of the dowel, into a wooden stud, and insert the wodden dowel. Now, the odds of doing this cleanly enough to ‘match’ the elegance of the dowels and the minimal design, is highly unlikely. You would have to be a talented craftsman to come close to achieving this. I agree with the other comments that the design is likely flawed. The comment by the seller that ‘it might not support heavier bikes’ says to me ‘the connection will loosen over time, regardless of bike weight, and your bike will slide off the sagging bracket”.
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Besides swissmiss, Tina founded and runs TeuxDeux, CreativeMornings and her Brooklyn based co-working community Friends Work Here. (She also started Tattly which was recently adopted by BIC)
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Is that oak wood gold-plated to excuse the €65 price tag? Call me not hipster enough.
Nov 25th, 2012 / 3:23 pm
Not very useful nor good looking. Cycloc mount makes much more sense for this price.
Nov 26th, 2012 / 3:40 am
Can’t thing of a simpler sollution
Nov 26th, 2012 / 4:46 am
bad design. Period. The designer of these has literally no idea
Nov 26th, 2012 / 5:53 am
Also I really wouldn’t want my carbon fiber frame brush against wood. I much prefer plastic Cycloc mount http://flic.kr/p/dtRfM1
Nov 26th, 2012 / 6:09 am
@spacca Can you please explain what makes this a bad design? I’d like to understand.
Nov 26th, 2012 / 6:21 am
load is the problem. The weight of a bike isn’t a set value. ie, one bike may be 6kg another bike may be 9kg. Factor this into a load of other variables like bike width (very important – the wider the bike the more load on the point of contact for the wall fisxing to hold securely) and suddenly those 2 overprices sticks have the potential to f••k up your wall and your bike and if you’re really unlucky, someone walking underneath it when it collapses. I understand what the ‘designer’ of these is trying to achieve but there’s a reason why something like this isn’t everywhere, the reason being that the idea is fundamentally flawed. Good design doesn’ just look nice, good design is an end result that really does answer a problem with a well thought out solution. This doesn’t do that. I look at this and it makes me think of those crap floating shelves from IKEA that can hardly support a till receipt never mind a few good books. Does this help in illustrating the mechanical problem at the heart of the idea?
Nov 26th, 2012 / 9:22 am
Wow…$86.00+ for two wooden dowels…shipped in “unique packing,” i.e. a cardboard tube. I agree with spacca’s arguments.
Nov 26th, 2012 / 11:09 am
Spacca, it will depend on the construction – if the wood has a 10mm metal bar all the way through and a corresponding thread and wall anchor goind deep enough into the wall, it would probably hold a human. If it’s built like that, it may even be not that much overpriced – even though, if you have acces to a workshop, you can probably do it yourself for like 5 dollars.
Nov 27th, 2012 / 7:28 am
Good point Michael. I’m just assuming that the person who designed this is an idiot and that it won’t be done right. (also, seems like a lot of engineering for a very simple problem).
If I was doing this I would rather have a nicely designed bracket giving it two points of contact though. Running a single point into a wall might be fine for a while but I’d be conscious of all the usual suspects I mentioned plus the impact of constant use making the fixing loosen over time (ham fisted people are all over the place). How far would you have to run the bar into the wall for a reliable and solid fixing for an indeterminate bike weight?
Nov 27th, 2012 / 8:17 am
Heh heh. I think the only way for this to work structurally is to drill a hole PRECISELY the size of the dowel, into a wooden stud, and insert the wodden dowel. Now, the odds of doing this cleanly enough to ‘match’ the elegance of the dowels and the minimal design, is highly unlikely. You would have to be a talented craftsman to come close to achieving this. I agree with the other comments that the design is likely flawed. The comment by the seller that ‘it might not support heavier bikes’ says to me ‘the connection will loosen over time, regardless of bike weight, and your bike will slide off the sagging bracket”.
Nov 27th, 2012 / 8:59 am
This is another wooden bike rack design worth looking at, although not as minimal:
http://woodstickhandlebars.blogspot.ca
Nov 27th, 2012 / 5:30 pm