It started with a simple request from Little Ed’s Bike Shop in Collingwood: could you build us a wooden bike stand?
A year later, these minimalist wooden stands have quietly become a local hit with riders and retailers looking for a stylish, durable and sustainable storage solution.
“We made our first prototype out of plywood,” says Venecia Bautista, who designs and produces the stands with her partner Mike Millard. “That was version one. It worked, but there were a lot of issues—wood movement, humidity. We kept tweaking it.”
Flat packed and strapped. Colin Field photo.
From plywood to phenolic perfection
After months of testing, the couple landed on their final material: FSC-certified Baltic birch plywood with a durable black phenolic finish.
“It’s heavier, but it’s great for durability,” says Bautista. “And it’s renewable, which is really important to us.”
Each CNC-cut stand is adjustable to fit a variety of bikes—from road to fat—and can be disassembled and flat-packed for travel or small-space storage.
“We tested shorter designs, but they weren’t as stable,” says Bautista.
Custom CNC and community roots
The stands are built in-house using a CNC router—an effort that took Mike months to master.
“Mike spent three solid months learning how to program it properly,” says Bautista. “It still takes testing before we do a full sheet. There’s a lot that goes into each one.”
Once CNC’d, each stand is hand-sanded, finished and packed with care.
“I clean them up, get rid of any fingerprints and then wrap them for shipping,” she says.
Each sheet yields nine stands and the team now keeps lifts of the material stocked in a local warehouse.
“Our supplier gave us a great deal, so we’re locked in at the same price and only pay as we take them,” says Bautista. “That kind of flexibility is huge for a small business.”
Functional, flat-packable and fun
The design itself is intuitive: two side panels slide onto a central plate and cradle the bike’s wheels. “It’ll hold anything up to a mountain bike, maybe even a kid’s motorbike,” Bautista says with a laugh. “One kid used his for that and it still worked.”
“People are finding us through word of mouth and Instagram,” she says.
Built to last—and made to matter
More than just a product, these stands are a reflection of thoughtful design and small-scale Canadian manufacturing.
“We wanted to make something that lasts, something that looks good and works well,” says Bautista. “And something that doesn’t end up in the landfill.”
Each stand can be personalized with a rider’s name or logo for an added cost.
If you want to order one, they retail for $75 and are available at the Millard Bautista Design website here.
What started as a one-off request, has become a small success story—one built on birch, grit and a whole lot of local support.