Getting By With a Little Help From Our Friends

It's hard to put into words just how much we appreciate the help of friends and family in getting this shop open and running.  Katharine and I have been pursuing a pretty aggressive timeline.  We signed our lease mid January, started work in early February and have been racing to prepare ourselves and our space for the last two months.  As hard as we have been working there is no way we could have gotten here without the help of our amazing friends and family,  This past week we once again leaned on our friends to get our bikes built from boxes.  Katharine and I haven't had the time to build the sixty or so bikes we ordered for the shop and with the opening date quickly approaching we reached out and got a incredible response.

Multiple work stations are set up.

This morning our friend Kris Powell arrived from Michigan with an incredibly beautiful handmade service counter and cash wrap.  He wanted to do something for the shop and asked what would be helpful.  I asked if he could build our counters and he said sure!  We gave him a timeline and some rough dimensions and off he went.  They are incredible!  He sourced actual barn siding to front the counters from a neighboring barn which partially burnt down near his home.  It means so much to me that he built them by hand.  They match the space perfectly and the incorporation of reclaimed lumber mirrors our refurbishment of the space itself.

Double parking on Penn.  These things were heavy. 

The design and craftsmanship were amazing.  The countertops are made of Oak and Maple tongue and groove flooring.

Nail Guns = Fun

Finishing up.

While we had Kris Here we put him to work building some more of our fixturing.  Luckily our friend Mary Heyne was also on hand to help.  We are building our own bike racks out of galvanized steel gas pipe.

actual bikes hanging

Keep posted.  The shop should really come together in the next few days!

The Final Countdown...

Whew!  It has been a whirlwind these past couple weeks.  Katharine and I have been working hard to get the shop open and ready for spring and we think we have made some great progress.   The goal is to open the doors by the time the weather breaks which means next week or the way this winter has been going sometime in July.  The is still a gigantic amount of work to be done but we are feeling scrappy. 

The storefront is old and dirty.  It's time to get some paint up.

One of the big projects of the past week has been refurbishing our storefront.  I'm not sure how  old it is but it was definitely in rough shape.  With all of the things we had going on we tried to outsource the prep work to a local handyman but he was a no show so we got to work.  We scraped and putty'd our butts off.  We then got the thickest primer available and went to work.  It looks pretty decent now and we hope to put the final paint up this sunday if the weather holds out.

getting there

Up until last week we were getting electricity from the adjacent building via extension cords.  Lighting was through string lights and there was no bathroom (thanks to our neighbors at the  Pittsburgh Public Market) .  This week walls finally went up,  a bathroom was installed and we got our own electrical service.  

We decided to make our own light fixtures for the shop.  My grandfather donated a drill press to the shop and we put it to good use.  We drilled out some gas pipe to make anchors for a wires suspension system to hang string lights. 

Good thing those glasses fit her face perfect....

Check it out.  Ceiling fans and lights installed.

We have started to hang our filtering, and we are lucky to have some great friends.  Gregg Shanefelt was at the shop till 2 A.M with us last night hanging grid wall.  We think it looks better than slat wall and it allows us to hang product without hiding the brick we put some much effort to expose.

We got a brand new door!

So...We hope to be open really really soon.  If you come by the store next week during business hours Tuesday-Friday we will be at the shop from 10 A.M-7 P.M and 11 A.M- 5 P.M Saturday and Sunday.  We are calling it a soft opening.  We won't be fully functional but we we are welcoming visitors.  We should have some bikes on the floor and product merchandised.  Here goes nothing. Thanks for all of your support. 

Update...Finally More Progress!

I have been thinking that I need to shoot out an update but have justified not doing it because of being busy.  Well...I think it's pretty clear that we are going to be pretty busy from now until...forever, so I'm just going to have to make time. Plus, the progress posts in a few years could be really fun to look back at.

As mentioned earlier, we have been putting in work!  Getting a bicycle shop open in under six months we knew would be a challenge and boy were we right.  We have been focused on two major areas.  Getting the physical space ready and sourcing the right mix of products.  Both have had their fair share of challenges, but I am really happy of the progress we've made.

We have made some great partnerships with some really cool bike companies.  We will be representing Fairdale Bikes, Kona Bicycle Company,  Brompton folding bicycles, and Tern.   We're up with our parts suppliers and have gotten our shop tools in.

Christmas came early for Katharine! 

The space has really transformed in the past two weeks.  The upstairs apartment had been getting all of the recent attention, making Katharine and myself a little worried that we would be able to reach our deadline.  They were doing the same wet-work on the upstairs apartment that they did to our space and making quite a mess.  We had to wait for it to be finished before our floors, electric. plumbing, etc... could go in.  Two weeks ago they finally finished the upstairs space and began major work on our space.

This shot shows the space right after the stairwell to the upstairs apartment was removed.  It really opens up the front of the space.

This picture shows the original staircase to the upstairs apartment.

Here you can see the stairs have been removed.  It really opens up the front of the space.

Hardwood being laid down!

More hardwood.

Staining the hardwood.  We thought about leaving it natural without a stain but after it went down.  We thought a light stain would bring out the grain of the wood.

Golden Oak

TCB... Taking Care of Business

It;s really starting to look like a bike shop.

We paused for some beers and took a look at the upstairs apartment.  The floor isn't in up there so we could get a bird's eye view of the space.

I forgot my camera upstairs so I got a chance to go back and surprise Katharine with a photo.

So...the back wall of the shop and bathroom walls should be up by the end of the week and we are continuing to acquire product to fill the space with.  The electrician Is working there now and should be finished by the end of next week.  It is really starting to look like an actual store which really hit me this evening.  Sometimes it's hard to see the forrest for the trees and I started to get a little lost in the details and not the finished product.  Tonight was the first time I could actually see us working in the space and it felt really neat.  I can't wait to get this store open. 

Cheers,

Aaron

Update, we received our first bikes... and they are rad!

Kindred Cycles is happy to announce that we have accepted our first shipment of bikes.  We have partnered with Fairdale Bikes out of Austin Texas to bring their unique line of commuter focused bikes to the Pittsburgh market.   These bikes are super rad and we are very excited to carry them in the store.  Katharine and myself both have a soft spot for cool city bikes that are meant to last and we think Fairdale is really hitting the mark with their line.  They focus on making bicycles that are functional, durable, great values, and most of all fun.   Our goal has alway been to sell bikes that we ourselves like and would want to ride and with these bike we feel Fairdale hit the nail on the head.  These are bikes we want to put our friends and families on and that is exactly what we plan on doing.

I can get out of bike carrying duty if I claim that I am take pictures for the blog.  

Unfortunately, Katharine also knows how to use a camera.  Shuttling the bikes to storage.

The Weekender OG pictured below is pretty much the reason we decided to pick up Fairdale.  This bike may be the perfect Pittsburgh commuter with its sweet butted chromoly frame (fender and rack braze-ons of course), Avid disc brakes,  durable double walled rims with sealed bearing hubs, super comfortable riding position, and the 1X9 Sram drivetrain that has all the gears you need but none of the complexity you don't.  They even ship with sweet Continental flat protectant tires! As an added bonus they look really good too.  I am pretty sure I will be buying one of these myself for my daily commute to the shop so keep posted for a full review sometime in the spring or early summer.  

Weekender OG.  Killer hybrid with disc brakes and a 1X9 sram drivetrain.  What's not to like?

Not only are these bikes functional, durable, and reasonable they also look great.  This particular bike is called the Flyer and its a pretty basic single speed cruiser.  It was designed to mimic the older BMX cruiser of yesteryear and we think they did a great job.  Super durable butted chromoly frame and fork combined with a relaxed riding position and 26" wheels makes this bike a great cruiser. 

We are chugging along to get this shop open for spring but should you have any questions about the bikes prior to our official opening feel free to shoot us an email.

Words for the Beardless

Words for the Beardless

I’ve been wanting to reach out to my follicle challenged friends this winter, and see how yinz cold bald chins are.

Over these very cold winters, envy of awesome beards skyrockets. Why must my face be so cold? Can’t I be warm and building icicles simultaneously? Should I just post pictures of frozen nose hairs?

Honestly, I couldn't face some days without my neck gator, cowl thing of awesomeness.  I love this thing best of all my winter cycling gear.  How's everybody else keeping warm? (Bearded folks, I'm sure some of you are layering up this year, yeah?) 

Stay warm and pedal.

-k