BIKE RACKS BLOG

Well, you certainly don’t have to be a super-human type being to get up on the ceiling. And you don’t have to be a rock climber hang upside down. And you really don’t need to work for the phone company, either. How do you do it? Let me explain to you how. Feast you eyes on some serious awesomeness. This amazing Aluminum Overhead Garage Rack and Hoist takes your bike, and HANGS IT!

Pretty neat, huh? The first time I installed one back in 2003, my kids and I stood and stared. My ex-wife said it looked like a scene out of her favorite film, “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial”. She was exactly right, and the Aluminum Overhead Garage Rack’s tough cam lock and frame is exactly right as well. You know what? It also holds ladders, if your bike is out in the shop. Or you’re out riding it. It’ll actually safely hoist up anything you want, up to 75 pounds! That was great for my cramped garage, when it existed. There just so much stuff around in there, the Aluminum Overhead Garage Rack really helps. It helps your bike “rise above”! (Ha-ha, sorry, bad pun.)

I’d nab one of these Aluminum Overhead Garage Racks quick, and hang your goods up, if I were you. You’ll be envied by your neighbors, and like I said, your kids will love watching things float up there. Mine used to. And my new fiance was so happy after I bought one, that she said that she could overlook all of my “wacky eccentricities” because I finally came though on something I said I could: I made a bike float in the air. Ha-ha! Peace!

Hi friends.  Still here.  Yes, I got all of your e-mail.  No, I still can’t talk about what happened to me.  My lawyer says I have to wait.  SORRY!  Ha-ha.  Don’t worry, though, it’s worth the wait!  Ain’t that the way life always goes?  You’re not kidding.  And then you die!  Ha-ha.  But hopefully not before you learn about what happened to me.  And speaking of hellish nightmares, is there anything worse than eating it?  You know, really eating it, like bad, like wrecking your face?  How about eating it and wrecking your face and having some dude standing there with a CAMERA?!  Oh snap!  Looks like this poor fella ordered a wrecked face for lunch.  Instant delivery!  Is he on Facebook?  Because he just booked it into his face.  And thanks to the internet, we get to re-live it forever:

Maybe he should have stayed indoors and used this instead:

There’s a lot to be said for floating.  If the face-wreck gentleman had the ability to float, he wouldn’t have eaten it!  Ha-ha,  I know!  Okay, but you’re saying, “how can I float a bike?  I don’t have an alien in a basket attached to the front.”  Guess what?  Nobody does.  But they do have access to the internet, and they can shop at Stacks and Stacks.  And there they can find the “Bike Lift - Floating Bike Rack“.  And with it, you can float your bike. You can lift your bike up, up and away using the Bike Lift. This system is light-weight and easy to use. Just use the adjustable gripping hooks to grab your bike and pull up to 50 lbs up and out of the way. The rope locking mechanism ensures that what goes up does not come down until you want it to. This system can be used on ceilings up to 14 feet. Take bike racks to the next level with the Bike Lift. Because eating it on the street is kind of a bummer.  Okay!

Remember way back when, when you first learned to ride a bike? I know, it was totally a loooooong time ago. But think back to when you took your first bike ride. Scary, terrifying, heart-stopping. Blind fear. Horror. The horror. Gravity. Pavement. Pain. Busted bike, terrifying memories, awful nightmares. Thanks to my militant father who laughed at my tears and fed me shame, I got right back up on that bike and rode it. Right down the street, right over the curb, right down the hill, right into the parking lot, right into the moving station wagon. Right into the darkness of concussion. Right into the hospital. But it was all okay, because I gained a lifetime of respect for bikes and bike riding and bikes and bike racks. So thanks, dad. But you know what would have helped waaaaaaaay back when, helped me to avoid the cruel, excruciating agony of that first day riding a bike? This Skuut Wooden Balance Bike from the gang over at Stacks and Stacks.

Cool! Supercool! Your kids can take the fear out of riding a bike with the Skuut! The Skuut is a wooden bike meant for kids ages two to five. It has no pedals, no at all, and no training wheels. None! The Skuut teaches children the principles of balance, steering, coordination and - most importantly - confidence with a bike. Confidence! Now check out this coolness! Kids sit on the Skuut, and kick off the ground, as if running, thus pushing or ’skuut-ing’ themselves and the bike forward. Scooooot! Skuut! After some time mastering balance on the Skuut, the transition to a traditional two-wheel bike is a snap! Boy, I wish my old man knew that! Oh well. Ha-ha! Choose from just the Skuut, or the Skuut with a matching bike rack! Because this blog isn’t just supposed to be all about my hellish childhood, but about bike racks. Bike Racks Blog!! Remember, your kids will think it’s a hoot to Skuut! Good luck!

Sometimes when I’m searching for great new Bike Racks to share, I’ll come across an item that will totally surprise me. Completely surprise! I have been well schooled in the ways of “normal” Bike Racks, or “standard” Bike Racks, if you will. In fact, I could probably teach a master class in the subject, ha-ha! But after looking at, buying, using, and reviewing only the best in Bike Racks for years, I was totally knocked over when I saw this:

Do you know what that is? Can you tell? Your eyes are probably playing tricks on you, but don’t be fooled, that’s a BIKE RACK! And even better, it’s a FOLDING BIKE RACK! I found it over at StacksandStacks.com, and man, it’s stunning! And innovative! It stores two bikes flat against the wall, and when this rack isn’t being used, it totally folds down! It folds flat! So it’s not hard to move around like most big racks, and because it’s small, when you fold it down, it takes up NO ROOM except a small amount of space on your wall! It also has a neat shelf to store shoes or helmets. The Folding Bike Rack is made from tough epoxy coated solid steel, and it has PVC cushioned sleeves to protect the bike’s finish AND comes with a lifetime warranty. Amazing! You should check it out. I’ve ordered 3, and I’m going to surprise my family. I’m sure my wife will figure out what it is quickly, but my two daughters, not so fast! It folds!

Christmas was a real blast. The family really had a fun time, a great day. It was certainly a vacation from Bike Racks, but as you’ll see, Bike Racks are never too far away from me on any given day!

So, Christmas morning I received a neat new pair of Ibex El Fito Knickers (the kind with flexible Spandura® in the seat and inner thighs for maximum durability!) and a new Bell Ghisallo helmet in my favorite colors BLUE and WHITE, but — ha-ha — Christmas isn’t all about ME, is it? Nope, of course not. Alison got a new instant computer camera, and my sons Aaron and Michael got a Super Nintendo and Sega CD, respectively. But my boy Aaron got the real prize this year: a Rocket Scooter! (You’re exactly right, Michael is not yet old enough for one!) The Rocket Scooter is of course powered by a rocket — a real rocket that propels the scooter at some pretty cool speeds! Aaron got all the neat things to go with it, too, including Helmet and Faux Rocket Backpack (faux means fake!).

It was designed by my friend Theodore Bennet who works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada. (No, thats not a fancy way of saying CANADA. La Cañada Flintridge is in Pasadena, California, America!) Theodore built the Rocket Scooter out of a titanium-dipped tri-weave aluminum frame and disc brakes and high speed wheels with sealed roller bearings! Awesome! It also has a 350 lb thrust hydrogen peroxide rocket motor. It’s clean fuel, and safe for the environment, too.

So where to store the Rocket Scooter? I have my Bike Racks know-how down pat, but a Scooter is something I had to really think about. Then it hit me. My friends at STACKS AND STACKS have a terrific Scooter Stand available! It’s a jet-black beauty that features anti-skid rubber feet to keep the stand securely in place when it’s in use. And it also includes mounting hardware, so you can easily install it without hunting for extra screws and whatnot. This Scooter Stand is perfect for storing scooters and keeping them free from damage! And you’ll want to keep your Scooter safe, especially if it’s a Rocket Scooter.

The Scooter Stand from STACKS also works great for regular Scooters, which is good, because the family enjoys Scooters almost as much as Bicycles! (Ha-ha, I know. I DON’T, but they do!) We take the regular non-rocket variety sScooters out to the path they have around Lake Ridley at least once a month. Alison likes to take pictures of me and my sons all the time on Scooters, but I’d love to have some more shots of us ON BIKES! Ha-ha. (That’s probably why she got a new camera for Christmas! Hint! Hint!)

Innovations are coming at us so fast these days, it’s easy to forget that not so long ago you needed to carry loose change with you to make a phone call on the road, and computers were 9 foot tall air conditioned cabinets with less storage than 1/16th of your laptop. It’s crazy, isn’t it? But the world of Bicycles and Bike Racks are no strangers to quantum leaps in design and technology, either. Way back in the ‘30s we were using high-tech alloy steels for Bicycle frames and fork tubes – these days men of science have given us aluminum alloys, carbon fiber and titanium frames to boot. And Lance Armstrong thanks them.

Why then should the classic outdoor Bike Rack not be afforded some Star Trek-era innovation? Some futuristic coolness that is both visually interesting and helps to relive the congested Bicycle friendly neighborhoods and downtown areas? Well friends, they have. Take a look at this amazing bit of invention: The Anti Gravity Bike Rack. Abhinav Dapke of Bahrain and India has designed what he playfully calls a “parking stand design for congested bicycle parking.” Modest, he is. Because what Mr. Dapke has designed is not only functional, not only fun, but I think it might qualify as the first piece of Bike Rack Art.
The Anti Gravity Bike Rack keeps multiple Bicycles high off the ground, safe from thieves, children or floods. And the Bike Rack’s security is completely modern: each control panel features a finger print recognition sensor! Thanks to the Human Race’s one-of-a-kind fingerprints, no one is going to walk off with your Bicycle. The Rack’s control panel branches out of the trunk at user friendly height, beneath the hanging Bicycles, so it’s ergonomic and easy to use.

The Dapke Rack is a breath of fresh air, intensely creative, and an exciting look at where the Bike Racks of tomorrow might be going. I hope major corporations follow the lead, put this terrific innovation into use, and we start seeing Anti Gravity Bike Racks on street corners across America. Thanks for the inspiring ideas, Mr. Abhinav!