Cyclists: what are your rack preferences?

[soulman]

I think it depends what lock(s) you have in the first place.

 

[Sunray]

I personally quite like Cyclepods, look cool and fit 8 bicycles on a very small footprint.

www.cyclepods.co.uk

What a load of rubbish. The person that designed that does not own or cycle a bike.

 

[Sunray]

The instructions that came with my lock suggest removing the front wheel and placing it next to the back wheel, then putting the lock through both wheels and the frame.

Not that I've ever bothered

I do that every time, clearly only sensible if you have a quick release front wheel.

 

[gentlegreen]

I've had a daily routine for at least 15 years.

• I park next to my favourite rail,
• throw my gloves on the ground near the pedals, hang helmet on handlebar (wooly hat goes into there)
• grab the cable from the rear basket,
• kneel down up close - knees on gloves.
• thread cable through wheels
• release D lock from frame, unlock, hang over the rail and top tube.
• I've built up a ridge of self-amalgamating tape on the D lock so when I loop the cable ends over one at a time they stay where they're put.
• grab lock end with keys from the ground to my right.
• get up carefully - putting gloves into helmet.

I've never seen anyone do it like this, but it's kind to my back.

 

[soulman]

You'll miss that rail if it ever goes.

 

[gentlegreen]

You'll miss that rail if it ever goes.

I get worried sometimes - the way it's going, I'll be performing this ritual for another 18 years at least ....

 

[soulman]

Change of scenery, relocation?

 

[teuchter]

Ok... I suggested the hoop type racks and here is the response:

**** – we’re using wall mounted brackets in the other buildings which tend to give us more space – also cheaper and easier to install. Are the walls blockwork to the bike shed? If not, we’ll need to put up sheets of ply. Are you happy with the layout if we use wall brackets?

****

and my reply:

*****,

Obviously the decision is ultimately yours, but I've done a bit of research on this (including asking cyclists I know) and there seems to be a very definite preference amongst cyclists for the hoop-type stands that I've specified.

Firstly, the wall bracket type can buckle the front wheel if the bike gets knocked around and for this reason many people won't use these. Secondly, cyclists much prefer the hoop type system because you can use a proper D-lock to secure both the frame and the wheel(s).

A couple of people have told me that their workplace provides those wall-bracket types but they prefer not to use them and lock their bike to a railing outside instead.

Have a look here:

http://olybikes.blogspot.com/2006/12/ok-i-suck-but-bad-bike-racks-suck.html

Also, as far as I can see, using the wall brackets wouldn't actually allow you to store any more bikes in that space than the floor-mounted hoops - I think it's a bit of a myth that they are more efficient.

Let me know what you think -

****.

We shall see what he says.



E2A:

This is what he wants to use: