CT bike space

[doubledeez]

I've been lurking here for a bit, getting ideas, motivation and learning. It's about time I post my space!



Living in Connecticut for the last five years, 2 of which I have been renting a great apartment mostly for the 2 bays of this great 3 car garage. I'm working in the bike industry so always taking work home and tinkering... Garage was a must.

I also picked up my first project car about 1 year ago, a '76 BMW 2002. Learning and picking away at things when I have time, it's been great fun, but man am I in the deep end [emoji23][emoji23].



I have hanging bike space for about 6 complete bikes. I keep about another 6 loose on the floor, I really should build some type of rack for them





Bench was found on the side of the garage, the landlords father made it and it serves a purpose for now. I'd like to make something a bit smaller to reduce clutter, and have a rolling toolbox next to it for storage.







As I pick off some projects I'll make sure to update here, looking forward to more learning!!

David

 

[2fat2fly]

That's a cool garage. I like the space and layout.

 

[Karl's Garage]

Nice use of space for the bikes and you can still fit a car in it.

 

[doubledeez]

Made some time to get out to the garage tonight and clean up what I had posted earlier.

Cleaned workbench top and organized the tools in the bike toolbox


Set frames up on one side of the overhead storage and wheels up on the other



I have been practicing mig welding a bit at night. Soon I will attempt to weld in patch panels on the floors of the 2002. Practicing on thicker material than the ~22 gauge floor panels.


This weekend I will work on a workbench/welding table. The work surface I have now gathers bike parts, and is quite big. 96" L 29" W making a table will be good welding experience/practice before I move over to the car.

I'd like to make something half that length, with a better mounting surface for the vice. Ideally a 41" tool cabinet would fit next to the table so something ~ 50" L and 29" W would be good.

 

[wasfast]

LOTS of extra road frames! Must work for Cannondale:-0 There's a few other bicycle guys here but not many. I have a 2012 EVO HiMod road bike with Campagnolo 11 spd Chorus.

 

[Irongrave]

Nice work space and quite the collection of bikes makes the 4 my wife and I have look like a small collection.

 

[doubledeez]

LOTS of extra road frames! Must work for Cannondale:-0 There's a few other bicycle guys here but not many. I have a 2012 EVO HiMod road bike with Campagnolo 11 spd Chorus.

Yes lots of extra frames, storage for complete bikes isn't the most convenient yet! Have some Cannondales accumulating here, been working for Cannondale a little over 5 years.

2012 Evo is a great bike, I really like the feel of the Chorus hoods, sounds like a great build!


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[doubledeez]

Nice work space and quite the collection of bikes makes the 4 my wife and I have look like a small collection.

4 bikes is a lot as well, if I wasn't doing this for work, I might only have a road and cyclocross bike!


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[Irongrave]

4 bikes is a lot as well, if I wasn't doing this for work, I might only have a road and cyclocross bike!


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She has a road bike and a hard tail 26er mountain bike I have a cross/gravel grinder and a 29er trail bike

 

[tweidman]

Hey DD's what is the IF doing in that sea of Dales.
Nice collection of bike hardware.
Are you an outside rep?

 

[doubledeez]

Hey DD's what is the IF doing in that sea of Dales.
Nice collection of bike hardware.
Are you an outside rep?

The IF, a Marinoni track and a KHS track I think are the only non Cannondale bikes I have. The IF was something I raced on just out of juniors, really great bike. Deal was I couldn't sell it.

I'm working in product for Cannondale


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[doubledeez]

Girlfriend went down to Long Island for the day. Whole day in the garage for me sorting out some new stuff. She did come home with a sixer of montauk brew



I had work trip to Germany the last week, before I left I picked up a grinder at Sears for $9.99. (Very worth it worth not having to change between wire wheel and cutting wheel).


I also picked up my first real toolbox, had to find a home for it, not sure if this is the best space.


Got the Hobart set up with shielding gas, no more flux [emoji41]


Workbench has a new home. Still plan to make a smaller bench/welding table to replace this.

 

[sean Buick 76]

Thanks for sharing, I like all the bikes!

 

[mach1mustangman]

Very nice layout.

 

[tweidman]

Nice purchases, you will love welding with gas, it's so much better than flux IMHO.
I figured I would share with you my only C dale. This is my wife and I at the Bicycling magazine fall classic gran fondo this year.

 

[M-technik-3]

Nice bikes wished I still had my old Crit Cannondale 2.8 bike was very fun to thrash on after I got out of racing. There is a decent BMW 2002 shop in called Sports Car Restoration in Plainville CT.

Another of my buddy's father owned the shop near Sikorsky and they made Extruded the tubes for the older Made in USA Cannondales.

 

[chruler]

I was a big Cannondale fan myself back in the day.
Had a T800, R6 and a KV700. One for every occasion.
Still love working on bikes and often fix them for the neighbors.

 

[bergs]

Nice work space. I ride a 2016 Cannondale trigger myself. I see all the old frames on the wall, what do you ride currently?

 

[runt262]

Nice collection and awesome shop!
What year is the 2002? Is it actually considered a 2002? I always just call them that. what is the current of that thing?


That is a great looking garage though. What are your plans for it? Anything occupying the 3rd bay and the loft? Pretty envious of the building that you have!

 

[doubledeez]

@mach1mustangman thanks, always working to make it better for workflow for me. I'm trying to make this space work for the bikes, but also now the car that I am spending time doing that.

@tweidman the tandem looks super fun! great riding in PA by bicycling headquarters.

@M-technik-3 It would be a dream to send my shell off to sports car restoration and get the rust heap fixed. I either have a lot of years and patience ahead of me, or a lot of dollars...

@bergs We have some pretty good dirt road riding or mixed riding in CT. We take advantage of linking together singletrack, dirt roads and fun paved road whenever possible. I am riding SuperX and Slate most of the time during these rides. Fun bikes with room for big tires! For general road riding I like the synapse, which takes a bigger tire, 30-32mm and is super smooth feeling. I have a scalpel for doing some XC racing. Glad to hear you are riding a Trigger!

@runt262 it is a '76 2002. my understanding its because it has 2 doors and 2.0L motor. I cant wait to drive it, one of these years...

 

[kjdhawkhill]

Knowing the location of the building, I barely had to look at the density of C'dale frames and regalia... I was a proprietary seat post away from getting a synapse a few years ago and still wish my favorite shop carried the brand.

Your rental garage beats the smoke out of my permanent place... And that's without the contents. I'd love to get to the point where I have 6 hanging and 6 on the floor ready to go, let alone N+1 hanging as frame sets.

 

[doubledeez]

@kjdhawkhill, we had some ups and downs with the teadrop seatpost on the last synapse. Now we have a round 25.4mm post that is comfortable, but increasingly better aftermarket support and less proprietary.

Thanks for the nice words about the shop space, it was a big part of signing the lease.

6 bikes ready to go might be a little bit of a stretch, non of my projects are ever FINAL it seems [emoji23]

When we look to buy a place, it's going to be tough to find a place with a garage in our price range that tops this place.


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[doubledeez]

I said early on in the thread that my girlfriend and I were shopping for a house. We got engaged and bought a house here in CT! Garage space and workshop space were requirements.

We found a cape that the original owner still lived in, with 3-4 phases of additions. It has all sorts of nooks and crannies because of the additions. This really fits our style!

I'll post some updates here now that I'll be separating the bike work/ projects from the car projects into two separate spaces.








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[doubledeez]

Latest and greatest photo from the side of the garage, morning light into the garage is great.





Took time today to remove the "ceiling" or attic "floor" I will reuse some of the wood, the tongue and groove to make a lofted storage shelf, for the things I don't use too often. Otherwise, I prefer having the higher ceiling!



Pile of things from the attic that I won't use...



Pesky wall removed from the living room, opening up the stairs, the landing to the living room, floors are next!


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[Kevkx125]

Looks cool, Good luck with the new space. Nice to own instead of renting.

 

[doubledeez]

Thanks Kevkx125! Fiancé and I feel the same way, but we haven't had to deal with any major repairs yet [emoji23] just the fun stuff!

Dimensions for the garage are:
Garage
24" wide
23' 4" deep
13' 9" at peak of roof
7' 11" at ceiling beams




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[doubledeez]

A couple of updates from inside the house, floor shots while the poly is still wet. In most of the rooms we have gone with a really bright white BM "chantilly lace". Painting, painting, painting.

The 2002 has been moved into the garage, along with the toolbox etc. update on that soon, for now, off to Austria!

 

[SVTKID92]

Nice place!!

 

[driftpin]

You have a great start on a shop, but this is just a rental, yes? I wish you luck on getting your own space down the road.

UPDATE!: I just saw page 2, congratulations on the home purchase.

In the 1960's BMW's were 1500's, then 1600's, then the 2002 in the 1970's. That car saved BMW's car division. They also made larger cars too, the 1800 and the 2.0. The 3.0 CS and CA were gorgeous cars, inline 6's with beautiful wood trim, lots of room, and not cheap. Bob Lutz worked for BMW around then, and he has some great stories of his time there. He pushed for the BMW R90S motorcycle, which helped save the bike division the way the 1600 helped save the car division.

Elvis owned a 1950's BMW 507 V8. Since they only made a few of those, they are very pricey, the same way they were when new.

In the summer of 1967, my parents wanted to get a second car to add to the family. I persuaded them to go look at a BMW 1600. The closest western NY dealer was in Honeyoye Falls. My dad and I went down there after he had made a call to the dealer. He wanted to be sure that they had demo drivers available. Since I had recently gotten my license, and was a kid interested in pretty-much anything automotive (my dad and I were regularly-attending the F1 race in Watkins Glen in the fall), I got to take the trip to the dealer's. It was a perfect summer day, and we got a 1600 coupe for a test drive. We took it out into the surrounding Finger Lakes country for a good test drive, and it handled the curves well. The pickup was considerably more than the VW beetle cabriolet now a few years old, that my parents had purchased new. I recall being impressed with the build quality, and how solid it was.

On the way home, my dad said he was impressed with it but he was concerned about how-far away the dealership was for service. It definitely would have been an issue.

About a month later they bought a new Toyota Corona 4 door, which was about $500 cheaper than the BMW, both were <$2750. I was a bit disappointed, but I understood about availability of service and parts. The Toyota dealer was much-closer.

I still recall my dad rowing-away on the shifter, as we went up and down the roads around the area, and how-well the car responded. It was a good trip with my dad, a memory worth having as he'd be 105 years old this month. I still recall the square-edged mushroom shape and the rough texture of the shift knob in my dad's hand as he pitched that 1600 into another elevation-changing corner.

About 25 years-ago, I looked at a Cannondale MTB equipped with a Campy offroad gruppo. It was silver and Campagnolo was written in royal-blue script behind the steering head on the top tube. It was gorgeous, and I was very tempted to buy it, until I went to a friend's shop and saw a new Klein Attitude frame hanging from the ceiling. I ended up buying it outfitted with Shimano Deore XT, which was their highest offroad gruppo at the time. The next year, they released XTR, and I had the shop install that, and put the XT onto a chro-moly Jamis I had as a bike rack lock-up bike. I still have both.

 

[doubledeez]

@driftpin this latest place is our first purchase, here's to the next 30 years of debt! Thanks for the congrats! The BMW history is appreciated, it's also cool to hear your stories on personal connections and memories to BMW and cannondale, I hope I triggered some good thoughts! Klein attitude is a legend of a bike... do you have the bar/stem too?

We have been motoring on painting and getting things sorted at the house.

The garage wiring was a nightmare. Future father in law helped me rewire it over the last few weekends. We plan to upgrade the service to 60amp and give the garage its own panel.



Previous owner had left a 16' unstable bench in the basement made of 2x6. Last weekend I turned the 16ft benchtop into a much more sturdy 6ft bench. It has a lot of character and will be great for bike workshop duties.



We have been busy painting everything, the place is getting mostly Benjamin Moore Chantilly lace and white dove. We will mix in some greys etc.

I'll post some up some updated photos of the garage and basement workshop early next week.


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[doubledeez]

Before

After





Putting the garage workshop to good use now. Fiance and I are making a bathroom vanity. It will be white molded concrete top, with a rough cut lumber base.



This is the inspiration, ours will be a bit different. Ours will have a center sink. It is planned to be about 22x48' We are still deciding if we want to do open shelves or doors. We have a nice linen closet in the bathroom, so I kind of like the idea of open shelves.

The workshop is shaping up to be more useful. I just picked up a used Makita table saw. That will be useful for the next projects I have planned so it is a welcome addition. Some additional organization needed in the garage...cabinets or some contained storage. Overall it is amazing to be able to have space to work, separate of the bike stuff!

 

[M-technik-3]

Very nice work.

 

[doubledeez]

Wrong time of year for keeping the garage warm. But Summer is coming up, and the insulation will be really useful for summer as well. Its been awhile since I posted, but this is really one of the first spots of progress for building out the garage into a better work space. This past winter/fall, my future father in law and I worked on the wiring. We got 60amps into the garage, vs. the 15amps that existed prior.



The 2002 has been sandblasted, and is nicely tucked into the space on its shipping pallet dolly.



Spray foamed all the studs prior to insulating.



2 walls insulated so far, ceiling next...

 

[M-technik-3]

Might have some e30 bottlecaps lying in my storage unit for your 02.

 

[kwyjibo]

Bikes and bimmers, two of my favorite things! Although I have to admit that I wasn't too excited when I first heard that the team I was with almost 20 years ago was picking up Cannondale sponsorship, I really connected with my bike. It's one of the few that I still have after all these years.
What's the plan for the '02? LRP can't be too far from you....

 

[doubledeez]

@M-technik-3 that would be cool, good looking classic wheels. You are in western mass? I head up that way for bike riding/bike racing sometimes.

@kwyjibo I have a couple of bikes I will hang on to as well. It becomes more and more sentimental and not necessarily logical. Even after all these years bikes still keep getting better and better. I hang on to one of my first Cannondales that I got, also on a sponsorship team deal, a CAAD9. I recently found a photo of it on my photobucket



I sold it off to a friend about 7 years ago, it got him into cycling. I got him a new race bike in a trade for it back. Now I have my sentimental piece and he has a new fast bike.

Back to the garage. 5.5mm plywood ordered for the walls yesterday and set to arrive today. I will have enough for the 3 perimeter walls. I still need to figure out what to do about additional ceiling joists and a ceiling/attic floor. I priced out the lumber needed, but it was just alittle too much in one shot for me. Ill get the walls done first then sort the ceiling. scope creep...

 

[doubledeez]

Started hanging the plywood for the walls last night.

 

[driftpin]

It's been awhile since I posted here, or read your thread. I'll answer your question about my Klein Attitude.

Yes, I have the integrated stem/handlebar. It's the right size for me, I bought the frame from a shop that is no-longer around, Gary's Megacycle in North Miami Beach FL. The bike was built from a pile of parts that I spec'ed, with guidance from a couple of people. Gary had a very good mechanic, Jorge, Jorge's brother Carlos is a USA Cycling race steward for the velodrome we are fortunate to have here in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. http://www.broward.org/Parks/BrianPiccoloPark/Pages/Velodrome.aspx

I raced the Attitude in NORBA sanctioned races here in south Florida, but I never did anything but amateur classes. I was too-old and too-slow to try to do anything else. It has been dusted by the offroad trails in the San Francisco Bay area, including multiple trips to Marin County, and riding back and forth across San Francisco when visiting family there. Mt. Tamalpais, the birthplace of mountain bikes. http://www.7x7.com/the-ultimate-sunday-bike-ride-the-mt-tam-hill-climb-1781704973.html My Attitude has one of those distinctive, bright triple-fade paint jobs Klein was known-for. The bike is now a quarter-century old and my **** is the only one to rest-on the Selle Italia Flite titanium rail seat.

I also have a Litespeed road bike. It's one of the very-first bikes (in their first 20 frames constructed) they ever welded. I sent it back a few years ago to be checked-out, and the guy in their shop called the bikestore that I had send it in, to inquire about its provenance. I have it with a mix of Shimano 105, Ultegra 600 and Dura-Ace, I built it on a budget, and people often ask about it, when I am out riding.

Your home and shop are coming right-along. The house looks great, w/the refinished floors. Are you familiar with bona wood floor products? They seem to have good stuff for maintaining your finish.

I'd suggest going to a 100 amp sub-panel in the garage if you can swing it. Then you'll have plenty of space for whatever you choose to install from heaters to welders, besides your lighting and utility duplex outlets. Here in south Florida, I put a 120 volt weathertight duplex outlet outside the overhead door on one side, and a 240 volt 30 amp on the other side, so I can run saws and welders outside, and keep the door closed, to limit the debris in the shop. I don't have enough space for a dust collection system. It's just a 1 car space, things are tight.

@driftpin this latest place is our first purchase, here's to the next 30 years of debt! Thanks for the congrats! The BMW history is appreciated, it's also cool to hear your stories on personal connections and memories to BMW and cannondale, I hope I triggered some good thoughts! Klein attitude is a legend of a bike... do you have the bar/stem too?

We have been motoring on painting and getting things sorted at the house.

The garage wiring was a nightmare. Future father in law helped me rewire it over the last few weekends. We plan to upgrade the service to 60amp and give the garage its own panel.



Previous owner had left a 16' unstable bench in the basement made of 2x6. Last weekend I turned the 16ft benchtop into a much more sturdy 6ft bench. It has a lot of character and will be great for bike workshop duties.



We have been busy painting everything, the place is getting mostly Benjamin Moore Chantilly lace and white dove. We will mix in some greys etc.

I'll post some up some updated photos of the garage and basement workshop early next week.


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[doubledeez]

It’s been awhile, and a good amount has happened. The garage has made some progress, but the bathroom in the house has really been the biggest undertaking.

It started off like this:



Previous owners chose to build the shower to a stock 36” pan size. When we opened up the walls we realized we could make the shower 68” by 36” it was a no brainer for me.



My wife and I talked and I was convinced we should remove the closet and go with a bigger vanity. She’s practical and liked the idea of storage first. I let the idea sit and have her some time to sketch.



We installed some new doors while we planned the bathroom and the hallway.







Successful demo!

And we started to rebuild. Replaced the subfloor, redid the electric, plumbing etc. sheet rocked and installed the wedi system for the shower.





Got to tiling and doing all the finish work and it’s just about there!



All finished up, only thing we had to have others do was the glass install, and make the vanity. So rewarding to have this first project complete.



Now that this is done, it’s back to the garage for a bit...

David


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[kwyjibo]

Wow! That bathroom looks excellent, that's something to be proud of.