public bike stands

[euan]

i am going to specify some bike stands for outside a university building. i am keen to hear opinions as to which is the preferred type. i personally don't like the sheffield style as the distance between each bike is so great and when you have only a certain amount of area allowed, you want to put as many bikes in as possible.
i prefer the one up/one down approach that they use lots in holland.
thoughts?

[Jon]

You probably don't want to hear this, but my preference, as someone who uses bike stands most days, is for sheffield stands. They are simply the easiest to use.

If they are spaced correctly then they don't waste any space - don't forget that people need to have space to access the bike. And you can lock two bikes to a stand (one either side), although some people seem to think they only take one each. The only way to pack in more bikes is to use some sort of vertical stacking, which raises the question of why cyclists should be expected to have to lift their bikes just to park them, and also questions of accessibility again.

Also while you are looking at questions of siting cycle parking, don't forget security. Having the stands stuck out of the way behind some old shed somewhere isn't as secure as having them somewhere where people are passing regularly and they are in view.

[Anthony]

I vote for sheffield stands as well.

There is a nice page about their spacing:

www.nationalcyclingstrategy.org.uk/vbulletin229/upload/showthread.php?t=29

[Anthony]

Avoid this type of situation:

www.nationalcyclingstrategy.org.uk/vbulletin229/upload/showthread.php?t=29&goto=nextnewest

[mike6]

Sheffield Stands every time.
They are the only design suitable for all types of bikes loaded or unloaded, and all users, tall or short, weak or strong.
The stands you refer to in Holland are perhaps ok for Dutch utility bikes with a more standard wheel/tyre width which have stronger wheels able to stand the torque exerted when someone leans or falls against a bike in the stand. British bikes tends to have a variety of tyre widths, unsuitable for use in stands with wheel slots or tracks.

[CJ]

Tight stand-spacing is a false economy: being main cause of the only-one-bike-per-stand syndrome. Remember that even with the most spacious provision you can still get at least a dozen people's bikes in the space of one person's car.

[661-Pete]

I quite agree - Sheffield Stands - and I insisted on this point most emphatically when suggestions were being canvassed by my local authority. If you are cramped for space you need to consider ways of gaining a bit of extra space for bikes, at the expense of other users. Removing one or two parking spaces maybe? There is no reason for the cyclist to be forced to yield ground here.

[nigel]

Another vote for Sheffields.
Some years back, Blackburn council put up some 'street art' near the town centre. After many letters in the local press asking what the hell it was supposed to be the council replied that it was a cycle stand! I've still bnever seen a cycle locked to it.
Everyone knows what the Sheffields are.

[euan]

i see opinion is divided.
everyone = sheffield style
me = not
so i will specify the sheffield style ones!
thanks for your input.
so far as parking goes, this project has more cycle parking than car parking which is a small victory for cyclists.
euan

[Tim]

yes definitely sheffield, not those stupid front wheel only stands they have at the CalMac ferry terminal at Ardrossan (for Arran ferries) or the daft bespoke stands in Wigtownshire, Scotland at various points along the otherwise great cycle routes there.

[661-Pete]

Glad to hear it Euan. Please make them at least 80cm apart, 1 metre is ideal if you can manage it (I managed to get 1m out of the powers that be, for our local shopping precinct). I only wish workplaces and other establishments could follow your lead and secure more cycle space than car space (as a typical example - my workplace has 16 cycle spaces - not all used - and over 100 car spaces).

And while on the topic of inappropriate cycle parking: our local Halfords for Chrissake! They've had this for years: some sort of wheel-trapping device which needs a pound coin deposit to operate it. Do other Halfords use the same? Has anyone been on to them? Well at any rate *I* don't use it!

[Jon]

My local Halfords has sheffield stands, although only two, and those of the 'slim' type. Unfortunately the motorists seem to think they are a trolley park!