My friend Thomas is an engineering/manufacturing genius. His "day job" is keeping the big office building operating properly... but as a moonlighter, he's truly a Renaissance Man. He has a passion for hot rods... his tastes lean toward American muscle cars, but I think he can make anything run.
Probably six years ago, the office was dealing with a sudden onslaught of bike riders - due to nice spring weather and expensive gas. They did some shopping and discovered that there aren't a lot of sturdy multiple-bike racks out there. Thomas and the management decided that manufacturing a rack would be the way to go.
I'm proud to say I was a "consultant" on the first one. I explained to Thomas the pitfalls of commonly-occurring bike racks... we measured tire widths, etc. He took the assembled information and built a sweet rack.
Since then, he's built three or four more. Each one is a little more refined than the one before.
He's currently finishing one up, and he gave me a tour. This one has one meaningful functional enhancement... he's added one slot for a "fat bike" tire. And - this one is "personalized" for the building where it will reside.
There's no need to bolt these racks down... when they're empty, they probably weigh 500 pounds. I told Thomas our great grandkids will still probably be using them.
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