A little insipration goes a long way...

On a random autumn evening, a volunteer couldn’t find a replacement 26” front wheel and was asked “Did you look in the wheel pile?”. Said volunteer stared at the pile – frozen like a deer in headlights – and thought: “There must be a better way”. And so the journey began…

The aforementioned wheel pile (aka “The Inspiration”):

The wheels were separated (by size, front, rear, etc) into “cages”. These cages were donated by a volunteer whose company was ready to send them into the scrap metal abyss. While it was not a perfect system, it was a step in the right direction...


Once the wheel aisle was sorted, it was time to focus attention on making the most efficient use of the warehouse space. Many will remember that the upstairs area, just outside of the workshop, looked like this:


The cages were erected and slightly modified to ensure the bikes on the second level stayed in place (approx 12” extension on each side). This allowed for the bicycles to be stacked vertically with the idea of maximizing the usable space and at the same time establishing fixed rows and hopefully maintaining clear isles!

A space that once accommodated approximately 100 bikes without the cages now allows for storage of about 175:

It was decided that road bikes are better placed on the top level because, on average, they weigh less than mountain bikes or “cruisers”. After separating the bikes into the three different categories it became clear that the cruisers currently outnumber the others by a factor of about 3.



After the first section of bike “shelving” proved successful, space for a second section was allocated:

This is the view from the top of the stairs as of December 2009, directly outside of the enclosed (and heated!) workshop:

An aisle was created between the cages / shelves to allow mountain bike wheels to be easily accessed:



The search for space for a third row of cages was on:




With a little help from a volunteer’s workhorse (VW Beetle)...

...additional shelving materials were delivered. The before pic:

The “after” pic (which is a bit fuzzy) shows a space that could once accommodate only 80 bikes now stores nearly 140.

...and space for additional cages has been cleared and is ready for more…

This organizational effort could not have been realized without the help of the usual suspects (Lee, Raul, and Aaron) as well as volunteers Garry Vandevusse (donated the shelving) and Pete Travnicek (manual laborer).

Working Bikes could not thrive without the help of its volunteers. If you have an idea that you believe will help the Co-op better continue its mission (see here: http://workingbikes.org/about) we humbly ask that you bring your unique skills, energy, and effort into Working Bikes during volunteer hours:

• Tuesday evenings from 5pm to 9pm
• Wednesday afternoons from noon to 5pm
• Saturday afternoons from noon to 5pm