The storage area for the bike workshop has been feral since long before I took over, and entering it has always been something of an adventure akin to looting a booby trapped pyramid.

With a health and safety inspection announced for next month this clearly will not do, I set a deadline for sorting the worst of the store to a state where the inspector wouldn’t be in danger of tripping over bike parts.

This got me moving a bit faster than my usual “Never mind we can do it tomorrow” type of speed.

I’d already removed some of the most dangerous/ useless items, to the accompaniment of indignant howls from various clients, but last week the order from the top was “Throw everything you won’t use”. I decided this was a good time to deal with the strange construction in the corner including the Shelf of Evil, launching point for cycle components to attack unsuspecting bike mechanics.

The area below the Shelf of Evil was a safe haven for many unmatched and broken pedals, chain wheels, and a mudguard colony that self-identified as a kraken.

This took a day of sorting out broken parts…

However, eventually I found the floor…

And replaced the strange bins with a pair of tables borrowed from another part of the store:

Meanwhile the wheel breeding colony had long been developing territorial ambitions:

Thanks to my current client who patiently helped dismantle and remove the remaining wheels therein, I was able to replace those very dodgy hanging rails and finally get the colony under control:

The ‘handlebar rack” came about after I tidied the rack by the entrance and realised it was held up by two screws, a cable tie, and presumably, skyhooks, so a replacement had to be built, and fast.

On top of this my very accommodating client helped dismantle the rest of the Shelf of Evil and then removed the strange contraption for storing seat posts, so I was -just- able to finish tidying up the opposite corner by the end of the working day yesterday:

This isn’t the end of this project, merely a step to make sure the storeroom passes the H&S inspection. After the inspection we will take some donated kitchen units and place them around the room, with the wheels hanging above from brackets on the wall to save space.

You’ll also notice I’ve not added pictures of the workshop itself; this is because it spent the week being a dumping ground/tool store for what we were doing here and looks like a pigsty whose occupier lost interest. Once it is vaguely presentable I’ll show the changes we’ve put in there…