I decided after a bit of back & forth that this doesn’t qualify for the Tunnel Talk series since I didn’t ride my bike home from work. Or, even drive through a tunnel. School is back in for the Clairebarian and that means a bit more time in the car for me. 

I’m sorting out a plan for mix-mode transportation (if you can’t ride from home, ride from somewhere) and I’ll be in the market for a commuter bike for Claire once our cargo rig sells. Thanks to everyone who shared it around. We still have it for now, so if you do know someone who’d be interested please put them in touch.

Anyway, it was yesterday – Thursday – and Nice Guy Geoff and I were having a proper laugh, at Boss-Jac’s expense, over the entire wall of frames she currently has at the shop. Keeping in mind, I’ve worked in shops with more storage space than her whole shop takes up. 

I’ve worked in small spaces before. Moving around James’ garage with Pope Jimmy, D’Nutz The Friday Guy, and I (Mandrew at the time) all working required the poise and grace of the SuspensionWerx Salsa (cha, cha, cha). And back at the Different Bikes Parkgate location having more than two staff in the shop at a time was like asking Azerbaijan and Armenia to share a border. 

Anyway, aside from any opportunity to take the piss, Jacyln’s Wall Of Frame had me thinking about a conversation I had with Kim Steed on a hot day in July many years ago. Between the number of staff and customers in Steed Cycles that afternoon it’s questionable what the fire marshal would have said had they wandered by and as I popped in there were two shop staffers figuring out how to best pull a bike down from the ceiling in the midst of the throng while an excited customer vibrated next to them, ready to take his new rig home. 

Taking it all in, Kim walked by smiling and I remarked that his shop was bursting at the seams. He replied something to the effect of “if your space isn’t way too tight in July, it’s too big the rest of the year.” 

I’ve been talking a lot to friends lately about living, with bikes, tools, and a piano, in our tight space with my family of three, and I do think a lot of my ability to enjoy it greatly comes from years of working in small spaces where we have to maximize every square foot. 

In the summer, just like in the shop, we open the doors and move enough of our living outside that it doesn’t feel as cramped and the air can breeze through. In the winter we hunker down and enjoy lower heating bills and less area to clean. And, also just like working in a shop, every time we talk about more space it’s a matter of balancing whatever benefits would come with having to find ways to pay for it. 

“We’d have to fix a lot more bikes” actually applies in both cases. 

This fall and winter I’m embarking on a few projects to find even more space in our current space at home and I’m planning to share a few of them. Maybe it’ll inspire my friends who are downsizing or making due? Maybe it will make someday owning a space, albeit a tiny space, seem more possible for my friends who are renting houses knowing they’ll never own one? Anyway, to paraphrase Kim, if your space doesn’t feel really, really tight for at least part of the year you probably have more room than you really need. 

Thought food if nothing else.