Our next bright idea
November 8, 2011
Introducing the Clank Plank Light (beta). When ClankWorks first started, this was a kernel of an idea that we hoped to someday achieve. While other products have taken the forefront as of late, we slowly kept mulling over how to make a fender that also doubled as a rear light, minimizing the number of items on a bike, but still increasing visibility.
This fender takes our (now, after lots of learning and trial and error) extensive knowledge of laminated bamboo fibers and adds a flexible string of LEDs to the mix. We had grown tired of injection-molded lights, and strived to achieve something different. There was also a desire to keep this integration as minimal, in aesthetics, as possible. By keeping the light source a thin layer away from the surface, the fender maintains it’s beauty by day, but is now incredibly practical at night.
There are still lots of hurdles to overcome, and testing to be done, before this becomes a sold item. We also are looking for feedback to see if it is worth bringing to market. So if you like what you see here, and would want one within the next 6 months, please give us a shout. With this fully functional, weather-proof prototype, we can garner the information needed from the real world about how well this will work. Expect more photos as we work through that process.
Cataloged as: Cool Products, News, Technology | Leave a comment
Stunning Good Looks
September 13, 2011Or at least we hope so! If you’ve found this post, then you have definitely found our new website.
The decision was made to streamline things a bit to reduce clutter, and to get the focus back on what we have wanted to do: make damned good things for bicycles. More on that in a bit! As for the website, images may not be sized correctly for the next few days in the blog. We are working on this, the automatic-resize feature didn’t go as planned, and we can only resize them once the new look is in place, so things will be wonky a bit.
If you find an area of the site is not functioning, looks weird, looks bad, or otherwise just needs some help, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Additionally, if you find any area lacking in information following this slim-fast diet, please let us know.
As to some production changes: Product life-spans are going to shorten, as we aim to create and evolve our works from here on out. Please let us know if there is something you’ve been dying to see, we would love some new challenges. Fear not, we also have a few ideas up our sleeves as well, this first and foremost of which is announced with this site launch.
We heard everyone asking for a vertical, wall based storage solution loud and clear! May we present…Perch!
Perch is designed to hold your bicycle vertically against your wall, as well as providing hooks and a small shelf space for storage of your accessories: locks, helmets, lights and keys to name a few that we use personally. We are excited to introduce what we consider one of the prettier vertical bikes racks, and are taking pre-orders immediately. We expect to ship the first 20 in October, and already have a small inventory built in the dark color.
Pinch Gets Boxes
May 14, 2011We really wanted to class up our act when it came to transporting Pinch to your doorstep. For those that have tolerated various boxes that may have arrived in the past, thank you! Going forward, we now have these incredibly attractive boxes to use for shipment. We cannot express enough thanks to our friend Andrew over at Run Rabbit Printing for making these possible. He’s got a great talent for screen printing, and did amazing work for us on these boxes. If you have any ideas you would like to try with screen printing, definitely check out his work and give him a shout.
Cataloged as: Design, News | Leave a comment
Ch-Ch-Changes
May 4, 2011Sorry about the radio silence. A lot of changes have been going around the shop.
Time for a rearrange
First and foremost, we have expanded our offices and workshop. This means we now have dedicated, separate space for forming, sanding and finishing. We also have a new expanded shipping and material storage room as well! While we don’t have a full video tour as there is some final painting and cleaning going on, check out this new/old bench for the finishing station:
Updated Hours
We are hoping to catch more visitors in the evening now that it will be light out even later over the summer. Our new hours starting this past week are as follows:
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday: 12–7
Sunday: 11–4
The shop will be open several other hours and days, please give us a call/email/twitter/facebook/smoke signal if you would like to stop by. We can always do appointments as well.
Website Update
We’ve update several sections of the website, including an overhaul on the Plank and Pinch description pages. Hopefully this will answer a few more questions about the products themselves, as well as installation and usage.
Expanding Production
As the frequent emails to us asking about stock levels have shown, we simply are having a hard time keeping up with demand. A great problem to have for us, but we really would like to let more people enjoy what ClankWorks has to offer. As a result, the expansions mentioned above have occurred, but we will be bringing on some extra help as well too. More details will come there in time. It won’t be an immediate change, but over the summer we will hopefully have more of our current offerings, and perhaps a new product or two, if things go exceptionally well.
Cataloged as: LoLa, News, Pittsburgh, The Shop | Leave a commentNow that’s safe cycling
April 30, 2011There are a common list of things that every cyclist dreads, from real dangers, to incredible annoyances, like having one’s bike stolen. Indoor storage is a great way to prevent this, but finding the space can often be difficult, especially for business and public spaces. Fortunately for the tenants of the Spalding Building in Portland, this is no longer a problem.
The historic building has had two of it’s three vaults converted into bicycle storage facilities for it’s guests. The security is real beyond just the impressive, but non-functioning, doors, as both vaults are monitored via video camera as well, and users have access to lockers for personal belongings as well. What a great way to keep a historic element of the buildings, as well as invest in cycling infrastructure.
Check out the rest of the details, and more photos, at Bike Portland »
Cataloged as: Cycling | Leave a comment