Bicycles not only take up a lot of space in garages, they also tend to get buried behind all the other stuff that's crammed in there. The Kradl is designed to help, by hoisting bikes up to the ceiling. And what's more, it doesn't use any electricity.
California cyclist and engineer Robert G. Ozarski invented the Kradl after realizing that there were times when he didn't go cycling simply because he couldn't be bothered to extricate his bike from his cluttered garage.
The resulting device is mounted on the user's ceiling via just two screws, which are screwed into a ceiling joist. A spring-loaded cable then hangs down from one side of the Kradl, while a release cord hangs down from the other.
When the user wishes to put their bike away, they start by pulling the cable down so that a rubberized clasp on its end is level with their bike's top tube. After wrapping that clasp around the top tube, they pull on the release cord until they hear a click, then push down on their bike to take up the slack in the cable.
From there, it's just a matter of holding onto their bike to guide it as it's gently pulled upward. The user can let it rise to right up to the underside of the Kradl, or they can pull down on the bike to stop it at a desired height part way up.
Getting the bike back down again involves just grabbing it by the bottoms of its wheels and pulling it downward. The clasp is then removed, and the cable is retracted back up out of the way.
There are actually two models of the Kradl, one for storing bikes weighing up to 25 lb (11 kg) and the other for bikes as heavy as 40 lb (18 kg). The former has a 12-ft (3.7-m) EZ Coiler cable, while the latter's cable can reach down 10 ft (3 m). Both models reportedly tip the scales at less than 5 lb (2.3 kg), and are priced at US$159.
You can see the Kradl in use, in the video below.
Source: Kradl via Berm Peak Express
