I'm a lazy maker. I will live with problems for a long time, waiting until I stumble on the simplest, cheapest solution I can imagine. I find that I often end up with elegant, low-tech fixes that are easy to make as well as easy to live with.
A recent problem that waited a good long time for a solution was my bicycle-littered porch. My wife and I agreed that we needed a rack to organize a family stable of bikes that numbers between 4 and 7, depending on what's being built at the time (I regularly build or fix bikes for friends and local folks-in-need). For my rack, I imagined all sorts of constructions, but didn't really have the energy to cut and assemble. Like I said: I'm a lazy maker.
The solution I finally hit on was so simple as to be ridiculous: two wooden pallets leaned against each other. It's so simple that it's hardly worth saying a word about it; the picture ought to be enough. But following are a few thoughts ...
A recent problem that waited a good long time for a solution was my bicycle-littered porch. My wife and I agreed that we needed a rack to organize a family stable of bikes that numbers between 4 and 7, depending on what's being built at the time (I regularly build or fix bikes for friends and local folks-in-need). For my rack, I imagined all sorts of constructions, but didn't really have the energy to cut and assemble. Like I said: I'm a lazy maker.
The solution I finally hit on was so simple as to be ridiculous: two wooden pallets leaned against each other. It's so simple that it's hardly worth saying a word about it; the picture ought to be enough. But following are a few thoughts ...
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These two pallets, salvaged from a dumpster, are slightly different, in ways that make a difference for the project. The one with thinner boards will be the upright pallet, as its narrower slots will hold bike wheels better. The other pallet will go upside-down, for reasons that will be clear in the next step ...
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rippa700
says:
Dec 23, 2012. 11:01 AMReply
Perfect! I have about 20 bikes renovated from the dump for guests to use and I have an inelegant rack but i do have some pallets. Thanks. Looks simple and effective. Nice one!
20
PKM
says:
Aug 5, 2012. 3:07 PMReplyBrilliantly simple! This is already a good result from an "absolutely no woodworking" standpoint, though if you wanted it looking a bit more "finished", nailing a spare slat over the exposed ends of the pallets would perhaps make it look a bit tidier.
2
maudlin (author)
in reply to Aug 5, 2012. 11:33 PMReplyYeah, of course you're right. Paint would be nice too. But I was really going for the minimalist DIY here.
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