Rachel Dawson runs parking and transportation at Kent State. She ordered 240 of our staple racks last week. But the story started months earlier.
Her old racks were the cheap kind. Students hated them. The facilities page got complaints almost weekly. Her crew spent too much time bending wheels back or cutting locks off bikes that had fallen over. She wanted something that didn't break.
Someone on a maintenance forum mentioned KSHD. Rachel ordered two samples. Hot-dip galvanized. 3.0mm wall. Standard staple shape. She put one outside the library, one by the student union. Then winter happened. Snow. Salt. Plows hitting them. Thousands of students locking and unlocking.
She checked those two racks every couple weeks. Not once did she find rust. Not once did a leg wobble.
So she called. "Send 240. Surface-mount. And can you do blue and gold – school colors?" We ran a test panel, sent a photo. She approved the same day.
First batch shipped yesterday. Rest before fall semester, just as students come back with new bikes.
We kept 50 raw galvanized units. No color. Just the basic spec. Anyone wants to test one through their own winter – just ask.
