I might have a little way to go to reach The Ultimate Man Cave, but I'm getting a little closer. This weekend was a good weekend for me to get the bike room sorted a bit tighter.
I'm quite a stickler for keeping my nuts and bolts nice and tidy (ahem), but the bigger job of getting my bikes off the floor a little and arrange the random bits of furniture has taken a little time. Not least because getting a hole drilled in these walls has proved just about impossible.
And so I had to improvise a little. Using some sawn off benches turned on their side, adapted with some shelf brackets and a few bits of wood cut / glued / sawn into the right shapes, I managed to get the track bike up and high with a few wheels on the side- stable enough that even the most adventurous cat won't be able to dislodge. Happily, this also provided a nice little spot for that crucial man cave component- some workshop tunes.
Every man needs a vice. And I have two. Someday I'll look to upgrade to a nice full blown workshop affair, but in the meantime these are very handy.
And yea, this is the best workbench I'm ever likely to have here in Hong Kong. I remember one of the hardest things about moving here was going back to just the basics tool wise, and the frustration of always relying on bike shops for stuff I knew I could fix myself with the right tools. And working on the floor, rather than with a bench. But slowly, surely, I've built up a decent collection once more. Sure, I'm missing a headset press, but it's not bad. Happily, the friends dining table turned work bench has now acquired the hue of WD40 and Finish Line, which somehow makes a man cave seem that bit more genuine.
A man cave should adapt and evolve- just like a man's bike collection. I'm also not sure if it should ever really be 'planned'. Every action should have a reaction- be that making room for the a stablemate, or re-arranging the boxes on the shelf to store more Campagnolo.
But at some point it is nice to take stock and reflect on things a little. 3 months into our new flat, I feel this set up is pretty much sorted, and pleasingly, I've done it with freecycled wood, the odd old bit of furniture and a bit of graft here and there to saw sh*t up. I won't have this man cave forever, but with each set up you learn a little and bring it forward to your next man cave. Until, one day, you have the Ultimate. Which might just look very different to how you originally envisage. And then you probably move house, and start it all again anyway.
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