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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Posted by Daniel Young on October 17, 2011 0 Comments
Hi, I'm Dan...
It's been a long process getting to the point where I can ink my first blog post for Kickstand. The path was a bit circuitous, but it was well worth the effort.
My background's in software and technology, a career in which I'm actively engaged. At work, we spend an inordinate amount of time sitting; at our desks, at a table, on chairs, stools, couches. We spend a lot of time not moving, which isn't good.
Many days I've been tied to my desk, looking for any break where I could cut out for an hour or so to get on my bike and ride. The problem was the time wasn't there. On the weekends, when I did have a chance to get out for a few hours, I felt slow and sluggish. This wasn't good.
Out of this frustration came the inspiration to combine a bike trainer and a desk; this is where Kickstand was born. After doing some research into how one can ride while they work, I found many options. There were desks built for treadmills, stand-up desks and flat boards that connect to bikes hooked to a trainer. None of these really address what I wanted: a desk that was substantial and could be used all day, every day.
Soon after I started exploring the idea, I met two cool gents, Lou and Grant. They make custom bike frames, specializing in polo bikes. We got to talking about the idea and it didn't take long for me to pull the trigger and have a prototype built with the help of Ezra and Freddy. That was in May 2011, and since then, I've been using my idea daily.
From that original prototype, we've evolved the design into what we think is an awesome desk. It's large, over-build and over-engineered. It's built to be used and designed to be appreciated, even by those that still haven't left their chairs.
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