hi everyone,
i have started a project at kraynicks, we'll call it tentatively the "Wow, Kraynicks upstairs has lots of useful stuff project."
In this project I hope to make Kraynicks top two floors usable spaces for people to browse and find things that they are looking for.
Right now we need brains, man hours, 8'+ 2x4s and some 4"+ deck screws. Right now the only plan is to hang frames upstairs in the small room furthest from the staircase... we have started to organize the wheels upstairs too, but we need a way to store them. Hopefully someone has already invented this mass wheel storage device (lookin at you freeride) but we want lots of ideas.
right now the idea for the frame storage is to put 2x4s into the ceiling spaced on the rafters (24" apart) and hang them using either spokes bent into s-hooks or those bigger plastic dipped threaded hooks that everyone always uses to hang frames and wheels.
for wheels we've got no idea, but we are currently separating the 26" from the 27" wheels and trashing all the wheels that are way out of true or have lots of rust. there are hundreds of wheels that need to be stored though (maybe even more than 1000?!) so we need to find a cheap efficient way to do it.
any ideas?
m.
PS Gerry has some budget to pay for materials and whatnot, but not a ton, so keep the suggestions on the DIY side of things
My friend built a pretty cool wheel storage rack at the Sacramento Bike Kitchen. It looks pretty basic and could be adapted to your needs (extra layers, not mobile, whatever). You can see some pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sc0ttbeardsley/4582763173/in/pool-99278007@N00/
I have a small box of some pretty long deck screws I'll donate. I purchased them for a project and only needed 8 or so of the entire box.
we could definitely use screws... i can pick them up or you could drop them off at kraynicks
that looks really good for wheel hanging... much better than our current shelves, not too bad too build either.
Edit: I'll dig them up and figure out how to get them to you.
Wheel storage: I used a couple of turnbuckles, eye bolts, and plastic-coated steel cable to make an industrial-strength clotheline. Then, cheap shower curtain hooks over the line to hold the rims, wheels, and whatever other misc crap I have.
I spoke to my friend about his rack. He suggests either using two rows, like the picture, or use short hooks and long hooks with one row. The trick is to offset the hubs so you can pack more wheels in the space.
Mark, I have a 10" miter saw I can lend you for the project.
thanks guys, i really appreciate all the offers for help and ideas... we're still planning a lot now so it might be slow going at first, but the ball is officially rolling. i will let you know about tools and whatnot as the cutting starts.
dwillen if your friend has a drawn plan and things measured and a parts list for the rack i'd love to see it, if he doesn't we can definitely figure it out from the pictures, thanks for talking to him.
Yea, I asked him for plans. He didn't have anything on the computer.
Mark, do you know how many of the wheels are similar? Dwillian's link looks similar to the system they use at freeride (but theirs' isn't offset), but Kraynick may not need access to each individual wheel if a bunch are the same.
So it's kind of like: (where you pull out different ones from the sides)
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If the wheels are the same, you can just pull from the front >>>>>> and get rid of the space between the rows
Might be worth considering
A buddy and I cleaned his top two floors about 20 years ago. It was a good time.
The wheel rack in that picture looks pretty huge. I think the wheels in Kraynicks take up less space as they are. I don't even think a rack like that would fit upstairs.
I don't want to be a negative nelly, but there is so much stuff up there I don't think that you could organize it and make it accessible without getting rid of at least half of it.
Regardless, I would love to come and help out whenever you are working.
Tell Gerry he needs to have a sidewalk sale/open house on a Saturday in the spring. Move shit out, sell whatever possible, organize what's left.
ricky: its a nightmare up there now, and gerry is really behind doing what we are doing, so we're going to try to do it... worst case scenario is we get all this stuff built, he can't store all the stuff he has in it, and then he has a limit to how much he can reasonably store (that would actually be a great thing in my eyes)
we have started consolidating some boxes, grouping things, and eventually i think it will be a workable space... we cleaned most of the stuff off the 2nd staircase and organized two rooms upstairs... now we need to start figuring out what to do with all the wheels though, thats the major hurdle... definitely a feasible one though.
I second the idea of a sidewalk sale (or perhaps a giant bike stuff sale in friendship park that everyone can pring stuff to), but i feel like we need to get a handle on everything thats up there before we do something like that... i think gerry would be down though.
I wonder if he's actually loosing sales because it
It seems like he knows what he has and if he has it, people can get it
Is this to increase the browse ability of upstairs?
i guess the goal is when someone who's never been upstairs comes in and thinks 50 bucks is too much for a new wheel, instead of gerry saying: "here's a flashlight, you might find one upstairs" and them going up there for 5 minutes, getting confused/frightened/annoyed/overwhelmed and coming back down...
gerry can say: there is a rack of 26" used wheels on the third floor... 10 bucks each... and that person might use a wheel thats been sitting up there for 10 years, because most of the people who actually make it up there won't use those wheels, and most of the people who want those wheels don't have the expertise to find the one they need, nor the motivation to search through the mess.
replace "wheels" with handlebars, bags, racks, forks, helmet covers from the 80s... etc...
I'd go there more often if I knew the place was going to be open. I'm zero-and-two so far, disheartening finds after a 12-mile ride.
not open monday sunday wednesday, 11-6 tues, thurs, fri 11-4 saturday
Ah sweet. I'm both willing to go upstairs and put a ten dollar wheel on my bike 
(Points to taco wheel for example of what he'll keep on his bike)
If you guys do this on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday I'd be willing to add some labor. That guy's a large part of why I can commute 100+ miles a week
Could this be the final great Kraynicks pick? I need to go digging this week.
Dibs on a case of hot pink plastic pedals.
Mark, was that you there this week carrying
cardboard? I was standing there BSing with
him for a bit on Thursday.
Pierce, he's losing sales from me, so I guess that's a yes. I only have limited time, so I'd rather buy new than spend two hours on a potentially fruitless hunt for a used part that might, or might not work for me.
I love Gerry's... But I've never actually identified a stair case. I've seen people descend from the ceiling, and assumed that they came down a staircase, but never actually seen it... Like in Labyrinth when she first enters the maze and it appears to only go straight, then the muppet worm with rainbow hair helps her find a branch.
Gerry needs a muppet worm with rainbow hair to help people find stuff. Or what you guys are doing I guess could work, but muppet worms are cuter than organization.
I suspect Gerry would be more likely to employ sarcastic door-knockers than cute worms.
steevo, that was me carrying cardboard... we'll be there tomorrow with or without wood (if its with wood we'll be screwing things into the ceiling, if its without we'll be sorting wheels) feel free to stop by anytime, i'm going to try to be there for most of the day but i'll guarantee 1-5 if anyone wants to show up and talk/work/plan
don't forget construction junction has wonders galore.
Good point Ejwme,
Can we address the fact that you have to climb up the stairs with only enough room for one foot on each step?
@mark: not sure if you'll get this, but if you're going to be there, i'd like to stop by and have a look. Should be able after 3PM.
As long as you're taking on this project, a digital photo inventory might not be a bad idea at the same time. Not individual items of course, but some kind of groups or categories.
i took pictures of the top floor where we started, just for progresses sake... once we get everything a little more organized it could be a good idea for inventory as well!
re Consttruction Junction: we talked about this and its definitely a good idea... we just need to know what we need a little better before we go... we stopped by last week and had a look around though! we aren't forgetting about it!
ALMKLM: See you at 3ish!
Digital photo inventory? This sounds dangerously close to starting kraynicks.com.
lol, i should.
strictly a fansite of course.
ok i'm heading up there for a few hours... see some of you there i hope! I'm going to measure things, try to find rafters/studs, and sort wheels today. if anyone has a super studfinder thing feel free to bring it on up to the third floor!
studfinder = electric razor or toothbrush. just hold the butt of the handle to the wall, rather than the business end. change in pitch will tell you where the studs are.
these are plaster/wood lathe walls... would that still work?
I'd like to come help out but I have a class in an hour. Do you have plans to work any other days? I really feel like I should do something to help out, to say thanks for how awesome this place has been for me.
it'll work on plaster/lath... but you gotta listen keener. a small drill bit will remove all doubt - in stud it will still be drilling an inch in. Depending on the thickness of your plaster/lath.
_Usually_ studs are on predictable centers. I'd start at a window or door frame, find the next one, and measure from there. All bets are off if the framer winged it, you'd have to find every one. that's only happened to me once. I'm probably the least experienced house-fixer-upper on the board though, (I think ALMKLM does it for a living, if I recall correctly?), so better sources are out there, if currently silent.
@mark - sorry - thought you were there Monday 1-5, so I stopped by yesterday afternoon. I'll have to try again another time.
@ejwme - partially correct on the stud locations (insert joke here). Studs will generally be 16" apart, so start with that - but be careful, window edges aren't always reliable. However, the older the building, the less reliable that type of rule is. If you're not sure, take a drill with a smallish bit and make a hole. You will be able to feel the difference once the bit passes through the plaster and lathe, it will either grab onto wood, or it will spin free, in which case, adjust and try again.
ALMKLM - thank you for making more sense than I do. I tried to say some of that, but I think I still get a pass on blaming the flu 
Next week I'll have to find a new excuse for being wrong/vague 
@ejwme - no worries. Next time I go into detail about nuclear reactors, you can straighten me out. Hope you feel better soon.
we're actually trying to find rafters for this part! they are 24" apart!
i am leaving for a farm for 10 days now so i guess the project will resume the last couple days of february. if anyone wants to sort wheels up stairs feel free, the first room you walk into is unsorted, the second room is sorted. there is a stack of 27" by the windows, 26" to the left, less than 24" on the right, and 24" in a stack in the first room to the left.
or just wait till i get back!
24" seems typical for rafters in Bloomfield/L'ville rowhouses. kraynick's is brick, isn't it? There probably aren't any studs in those walls -- just furring strips that the lathe is nailed to. fwiw.
what do the joists rest on in such situations? are they incorporated into the brick wall?
The ends of the joists are built into pockets in the brick.
Mark, I stopped by Kraynick's today and dropped off a bags of hooks I had hanging around. I was going to venture up stairs to take a look around but didn't because a Sherpa was not available!
awesome, I'm going to be there monday if anyone is interested...if you show up around 1 you could probably get some pizza out of it!
by monday i meant tuesday.... not open monday... oops!
i'll be there 12:30-3 if anyone wants to stop by, i'll be upstairs!
we're going to finish the cleaning upstairs tuesday, and put in the frame holders in the frame room thursday probably... we could probably use a couple extra people thurs if you have time!
if anyone has any free time to do some things next week PM me, we have a bunch of wood upstairs, all the wheels are sorted, and we're going to try to hang the frames next week... some of these things take two people! lemme know if you have a spare block of time when kraynicks is open!
also someone called gerry "dr. J" today... blew my mind.
will be there today cutting wood and maybe putting some up... got one other person onboard but feel free to pop up and say hello! probably be there 1-5ish
Do I get free rum and pop?
there was free spak bros and natrona bottling co pop today... but you missed it!
i started designing the wheel racks today... they will be reusing spokes from old wheels as hooks and be generally awesome... i'm stoked... and full of good pizza
I have to work, well, pretty much all the time. If I didn't I would have been there. I actually enjoy that type of work!
i'll be working upstairs today on tasks that could use help, 3-6... see ya there.. maybe! we will probably finish the frame room today.
we got 50 bikes on the ceiling the other day and got the wood for fork racks! we're waiting on 40 more hooks to hang the rest of the frames...soon it will be time for building the wheel racks and the upstairs will be a whole new world!
thanks for all the help and supplies!
so all the bikes that are going up are up and the beginning of making mega fork racks is going on...
if kraynicks is open tomorrow I will be there most the day working on the third floor!
i'm here till close at 4!
100 forks are now hanging! the room is starting to look awesome
