Posted by Daniel Young on January 08, 2013 0 Comments
After almost two years of working with these desks, we're in the process of redesigning them. From all of the feedback we've received from our customers and the community, we're going to be rolling out a desk designed specifically for the home. The foot print will be small (like our smaller desk), and the cost about half.
What we'd like to know is what else would you like to see in the new designs? Are there any features you want to see added? We're curious to hear what you have to say.
Once we get some feedback, we'll post some of the ideas on the blog.
We're looking forward to it.
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Posted by Daniel Young on October 01, 2012 0 Comments
Quick update: These two desks sold. Currently we don't have any scratch and dent desks left in stock. If you're interested in any (if any become available), let us know.
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Over the summer, our fabricators made a couple goofs. Rather than hand them back and waste the material, we're going to put them on sale for discount off of the retail price.
We have one large desk with a dent on one of the support beams. It comes with a wooden top and standard footers. The dent is hidden under the table top, so only you and your kids will see it. We're willing to take 10% off of the price for this unit.
There's one small desk with the recycled maple top. The top has some stains on it from the fabrication process. The legs and stands are fine. We'll take 10% off of this unit.
If you're interested in either of these, let us know. We'll give you a coupon code when ordering.
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Posted by Daniel Young on October 01, 2012 0 Comments
As many of you have been getting ready for the colder months, our inventory has been almost bought up. We still have enough to get us through to the next order from our fabricators. Nonetheless, if you're interested in ordering one, send us an email to verify that we have your desk in stock. If not, we'll at least give you an idea of lead times for the next batch of desks.
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Posted by Daniel Young on October 01, 2012 0 Comments
It has been a long and wonderful summer. Now that the weather hints at changing, our focus is to preparing for the winter and looking ahead to spring.
I'm starting to clear some room in our new office to set up a couple of desks. Once the snow hits, my summer bike will have a comfortable home, I'll be able to keep riding and not neglect the "day job."
If you are considering a cycling desk, here's what you need to know. First of all, you'll need a good trainer. You can find these through REI or your local bike shop. They can set you up with one that best suited to how you ride. With or without the desk, they're a great way of staying in shape all winter long.
Next up is space. If you go with the big desk, you'll need some room. These were designed to replace a standard office desk. If you're looking to set up a riding desk at home, go with the smaller one. It takes up about half the size of the large one and is easy to move around.
If you're using the desk on a hard surface such as office carpeting or a hard floor, you should be good. Just remember to order the desk for hard surfaces as the footers are different. You may also want to consider a mat to protect your floor. Sweat and moving bike trainers may scratch or leave marks, so taking precautions is never a bad thing.
If you're on carpet with padding, you should be okay. Just order the standard footers.
Computer monitors are okay on the desk. We designed these things to be heavy and strong. They're pretty stable, so long as you don't really knock the thing. As for cables and other items, you can tie them against the cross beam to tuck them out of the way.
Once you have it set up, it's a great way of getting work done while staying true to your cycling addiction throughout those cold winter months.
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Posted by Daniel Young on December 10, 2011 0 Comments
Two years ago, I broke a toe. If my memory serves, I was doing something heroic like fighting off a team of stealth ninjas or something like that. Anyway, when I saw the podiatrist, he mentioned something about my big toe. The X-ray for my broken foot showed that I had a spur and some bone fragments lodged in the adjacent joint. Joy.
As I looked into this further, it was clear that the pain I had been feeling in my foot for the past few years was an indication that I needed to have some work done. I needed to have the fragments and the bone spur removed. Like most of you, the though of a surgical procedure that would keep me off my feet wasn't my idea of a fun time. Alas, after procrastinating for a number of years, the time came to have the surgery.
That was last week. Thankfully, everything went well and I can focus on the recovery. As I do, I've been spending time catching up with work while doing some light spinning, biased around my good foot. The desk has been a great way of helping me slowly start the reconditioning process in December. Even though I'm weeks away from being 100%, having the ability to spin and work--at home--has been fantastic. For the first time since going under the knife, I'm starting to feel like my days of hobbling around at home are finally numbered.
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Posted by Daniel Young on November 13, 2011 0 Comments
Since we launched the site, we've had thousands of people visit Kickstand. This has been way more than what we expected. Thanks!
With all those eyes looking at our product, we're always surprised to hear what people see; often it's quite different than what we expected. One thing that few people noticed is one thing we'd like to point out. When you're done riding, you can use the desk as a standup desk with co-workers and colleagues.
Yup, spending eight plus hours per day spinning will put you into awesome shape. However, there will be times when you need to move the bike out of the way and use the desk for meetings, collaborative sessions or as a place just to get work done. When these times come, just put the bike aside and enjoy.
The sliders we used on the big desk have been selected to remain in place even when people are leaning on the desk or using it for things other than cycling. Even though it's been designed to ride, it works great standing by itself.
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Posted by Daniel Young on November 13, 2011 0 Comments
As you may have seen in some of the news articles on Kickstand, we are tweaking our designs and lowering our prices. The biggest news is that we are releasing a smaller version of the big desk. It's a smaller version for smaller spaces and budgets.
While the big desk was designed for the office, the small desk has been designed for a home or apartment. The small desk has a desktop that's 80x60 (31x24 in), which is about half the size of its bigger sibling. Since its smaller, it doesn't need the sliders. The desktop comes standard with a recycled maple surface; optional desktop surfaces such as glass, steel or anything else you can think of are also available.
The finish for the desk comes standard in a raw steel finish. As with the desktop, we can finish the frame in a brushed or powder coated finish to match your taste.
Thanks to everyone for providing their feedback on the idea and the design. What you've said has been invaluable to us in tweaking our designs, pricing and options to match what you like most about the kickstand concept.
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Posted by Daniel Young on October 27, 2011 0 Comments
Ho, ho, ho... it's that time of year again. Yup, it's time for the Americans everywhere to celebrate their favorite commercial holiday. Soon the stores will be filled with the festive signs of the season: sale, sale, sale.
We, at Kickstand want to join in the fun too, considering this is our first trip through the holidays. To celebrate, we've lowered our prices permanently to match feedback we've been getting from our customers. This may not be a real holiday special, but it feels festive for us anyway.
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Posted by Daniel Young on October 27, 2011 0 Comments
When we launched Kickstand last week, we did so with a long term plan. It was to launch our flagship desk (the one that's for sale now) and add smaller, less expensive desks closer to the holiday season in the US. We figured that it would take some time before anyone noticed who we were. Oops.
Last week, Wired Magazine wrote a review of our desk. This was awesome, albeit a bit snarky. We were nonetheless extremely flattered and excited.
Thanks Wired for the coverage!
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Posted by Daniel Young on October 18, 2011 0 Comments
You may have seen some of your co-workers start using them. Maybe you’ve read about the health benefits of them. Love them or quizzically gawk, the stand up desk is in vogue; they’re the new trend in office furniture.
As early as 1964, DJ Depree, the creative mind behind Herman Miller, developed an early prototype of a stand up desk. Later the company modernized the design for cubes and offices. Antrho, a company who has earned a reputation in the IT business, has a few of their own stand up desks for more than a few years. Until recently, the concept of standing up at work wasn’t really embraced. Lately that trend appears to be changing.
I’m not sure when the trend of stand up desks, started to grow, but over the years, I’ve noticed that after sitting at a desk for hours on end, my back would hurt and I’d be more stressed. To combat this, I’d find any excuse to break away from my chair and walk about my office. Whether it was the movement or simply the act of standing, I’d notice that my back would feel better, I’d be less tired and my concentration would sharpen.
When I’m not using my cycle desk to pedal, I’ll put my bike to the side and use the desk as a stand up desk. In that role, the design has been perfect.
As I’ve invited co-workers and clients into my office, meeting around my desk, the general response to standing up over sitting was surprisingly well received.
Like anything else that’s new, it takes time for people to feel comfortable with change, especially with something so core to most people’s day-to-day lives: their desk. To banish the office chair from their lives, maybe too much for most people, however, for those of us who do, the experience is liberating.
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