New Workshop in Back Alley Bikes!

So I got a bunch of photos for you in this post which I know everyone likes. Lets start with a

John is on the left and Delrio is there on the right.
John is on the left and Delrio is there on the right. Heather is photobombing in the background.

photo of John and Delrio. John is a volunteer here at Back Alley Bikes and Delrio has earned a few bikes here over the years.
John also happens to work at this place called Shinola. This place Shinola decided to give us a surprise by donating a large amount of money towards buying new tools and supplies for our workshop at Back Alley Bikes. John recommended some new, stronger work stands. We agreed with him. We also found a way to buy a few other tools and supplies as well.
Heather and I took the budget we were given and found a way to get six new workstands, two new truing stands and an assortment of other tools for the shop. With these new stands we knew that we were going to have to redesign the workshop. This was a job we were very happy and excited to undertake.

When our goodies arrived two weeks ago, we planned a workday for the following week when the workshop would not be used. On that chosen day I came into the shop and took

Your totally qualified construction crew
Your totally qualified construction crew

everything out of the workshop. It was like moving – you really learn how much stuff you have when you need to move it all.
With the workshop empty we chalked out the new floor plan. Heather then did all the heavy lifting with drills as I prepared other materials to arrange the shop.
It turns out that drilling into a concrete floor and bolting workstands to that floor is harder than it sounds, but at the end of the day we had most of the workshop in place. Luckily we had a few hours the next day to finish everything.

Alright, enough story telling. Lets get to some more photos. Here is a view of the workshop at the beginning of May:

Bike storage, two truing stands and two workbenches.
Bike storage, two truing stands and two workbenches.

And here is what it looks like now:

Four workbenches
Four workbenches

Here is another view of the shop before:

Five workbenches
Five workbenches

Same view during construction:

Heather installing a workstand
Heather installing a workstand

And now it looks like:

Two workbenches and bike storage
Two workbenches and bike storage. Ignore the trash on the floor, it was a long day okay?

Alright, one more view on the South side of the workshop before:

The remaining workbenches and small parts organization
The remaining workbenches and small parts organization

During construction:

Two new truing stands in boxes waiting to be added to our truing station.
Two new truing stands in boxes waiting to be added to our truing station.

And now it looks like this:

Four calibrated truing stands, bike storage and small parts storage.
Four calibrated truing stands, bike storage and small parts storage.

Wow, what a fun project! We are super excited about this new workshop. Along with some new ceiling tiles we got from a Boy Scout project, Back Alley Bikes keeps looking better.

So again, we should thank those folks over at Shinola for the assistance to get these tools and materials to remodel our workshop. And as you can see from all those bikes hanging up, we’ve got many youth coming to our Youth Earn-a-Bike programming that will benefit from this workshop. This year keeps getting better and better!