Anyone that’s spent any time in any shop, and has a two wheeled soul (because some people that work in shops, just don’t get it), knows exactly what this dude is talking about:
..The shop will be beautiful, stocked with every bike tool ever invented. French, Italian, Japanese, you name it, I will have it, hung neatly on the shop walls. Everything in its place. A place for everything. I will have two Campagnolo Cork Screws with Cherry handles. I will have seven different kinds of bike tool bottle openers. I will have four brands of headset presses. The 3000 square foot work space will have work stands and tools for 5 full-time mechanics, so I can work on 5 of my bikes all at once. 2 air compressors enclosed in sound proof cases. Truing stands bolted down to work benches 42.5 inches off the ground. I will have two Phil Wood spoke cutters/threaders. There will be cement floors and drains built in so I can hose it all down when the kegs overflow or the chainlube explodes or the cat pukes or the shit hits the fan. I will have shop dogs and shop cats. The bike book library will be monumental…
It only gets better. Read the full post over at New Spew. Thanks to Gordon 1-trackmind for the find.
February 20th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Actually, it was: http://1-trackmind.blogspot.com/.
But yeah, well described and quite the vision.
the Shop.
February 20th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
If I ever win the lottery, that’s what I’m going to do. ‘Nuff said. You’re all invited.
February 20th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Seems like a great place to be. Think I might steal that dream!
February 20th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Wha, sorry Jspann! I try.
February 20th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
The Gospel according to Park Tool.
I love it.
February 20th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
That was cool…reminds me the good times we used to have at a shop I hung out a long time ago.
February 20th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
A-fucking-men. If I ever meet you, I’d shake your hand and buy you a round. But you know of course that each mechanic needs their own set of all of those tools lest chaos begin anew…
February 20th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Kickstand, son. I’m down with Pilderwasser. Probably never been within a hundred miles of the kid, but I’m down anyway. I’m glad he’s hooked on that Ragbrai shit. That is some good times right there.
February 21st, 2009 at 9:50 am
Don’t forget the shoulder wide walkpath between the back wall and the dumpster. If this dumpsters a rockin’(or on fire) don’t come a knockin’.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:03 am
… I dunno.. I like my bike shop better. For one thing, it actually exists. Although not as grand as this fantasy.
It’s in my 350 square foot garage. 25 years of track, road and cross bikes hanging from the rafters. A small fleet of yard sale finds on the floor. There’s a compressor next to the door and only one work area. My old tool box filled with all the bike tools I can find. No boutique wine openers, but I do have a Maillard bottle opener and boxes of old Mirroir du Cyclisme dating back to the sixties.
I don’t have customers, I have friends. I’ll fix any bike for anyone for free because I enjoy fixing bikes and want to encourage people to ride. It’s part of my discipline and a way to keep my skills.
I also give away a lot of bikes. There aren’t any bike shops for thirty, forty miles so there’s a need for a wrench and we have a kick ass cross state bike trail behind my house. So I help out the odd tourist, too. I do about three hundred bikes a year. It’s part of my payback to the community. I don’t accept payment for my work outside reimbursement for parts, but do seem to get a lot of cool presents at Christmas.