GALION, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW)—A creative craftsman with a passion for woodworking is “pedaling” his way into a new venture – bicycle baskets.
Kurt Dobbins, 34, has turned his two-car garage workshop on South Boston Street into a small business operation. He’s building dozens of 12-inch-tall wooden crates with denim covers designed especially for bicycles. He calls them “The Cycle Crate.”
“I like making things and I like making things for people like myself,” said Dobbins, who regularly rides a bike around town. “It’s got some flavor to it. This is the flagship product that will hopefully start out the business. We’re gonna’ see how they sell first and go from there.”
Dobbins uses cherry, white oak, walnut, and other hardwoods to build the 13-by-13-inch crates – “a regular size apple crate that will fit a vinyl record.” He designed a racking system for mounting the baskets, which can be conveniently removed and carried into grocery stores or other places.
Dobbins, who bought a new commuter bike last summer, said he shopped around for a bike basket but couldn’t really find a consumer-friendly product that he liked. “That was kind of like an open window, an open window to create something. That’s the foundation on how it all started.”
A machinist by trade, he made a wood router and came up with a plan for the product – a sturdy container that could be mounted on the rear, replacing metal baskets or the saddlebag style he used that fits under the seat. An accessory that offered cargo space as well as functionality.
Dobbins found a wood supplier, Garret Leonberger, who has a farm near town. Zace Denim in Fredericktown was enlisted to tailor the custom covers, which snap on with hop-stamped buttons, while Buckeye Engraving in Akron, Ohio, did the die stamp logo on the sides. Jason Phillips designed the logo. Candy Maria is the sales and website designer.
At first, Dobbins said, he constructed and tested about 20 crates to iron out the bugs. Now he’s in full production mode, filling his workshop with sawdust – and stacks of slatted crates. Ready to launch June 1 at a cycling event called Bike the Cbus in Columbus.
“Hopefully it’s a good product and people like it,” said Dobbins, who also tried his hand at building banjos a few years ago. “I’ll always be making things. I’m never gonna’ stop.”