Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Ryanization

Tonight was the start of rack class series 2. Coincidentally, the racks from series 1 came back from powder coat today. So that officially marks the end of series 1. Or maybe the official end is when they officially get installed. I'm not sure.

Since John has been providing weekly updates, what I am sure of is that he'll post on his, so I'll not swipe his thunder. Ryan, on the other hand, doesn't have a blog, which obligates me to blab all over hell about his.

One thing about building racks that I love is the personal signature that you get to put on what you build. Ryan definitely signafied.

His is a pretty straightforward porteur rack.


But from the beginning, he was clear that he wanted a good u-lock holster. The design was his sole brainchild, churned over several weeks of class and conversation. It was tricky and took a whole class session to implement. Now that I see the end result, I have to admit that it was worth the effort. Pictures don't really do it justice, but are the best I can offer. You have to put the lock in the holster yourself, and feel how it wedges in, all secure, to really appreciate it. It kind of snaps in place. It's very cool.







That's my intermeditate length lock in the pics, and he has a short and long kryptonite of the same width that fit in the same sound way. Rad.

The rack weighs two-and-a-quarter pounds. Without the lock. The weight of the lock is off-center. This setup is not for children, it's grown-up business. Duly noted, duly signafied.

One other Ryanism worth noting. When I was his age, it was dual exhaust. Now, apparently, it's dual fender mounts.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

how will he load and unload the lock with a load on the rack?

Pat S said...

He'll remove the load or shift it. He's weighed the options and he's totally cool with that.

Robert Hammett said...

Very cool. How did you go about the powder coating? When you say, "the racks from series 1 came back from powder coat today", I have to wonder where you had them done. I've been looking for a place that will do small batches.

Keep up the awesome.

Rob. rhammett01@gmail.com

Pat S said...

Thanks, Rob.

The name of the powder coater I use is Powdertech - they're in Spokane Industrial Park.

They have no problem with small orders. They batch parts of a particular color run, so typical turnaround time is 1-2 weeks. They don't do blasting, but they have someone they work with. I just do my own prep with emery cloth - it doesn't give the same profile as a blast, but so far I've have had zero adhesion problems.