“An overly complicated fail”: Station’s double-decker cycle storage slammed as ‘ableist’ and ‘useless’

If I had to use any of these parking facilities, I'd be going for an upright on the cover, maybe the upright on the stand.

Hmm, I can just imagine the response if anyone suggested people use a bicycle instead. It's either seen as a right wing insult to the lower classes - "why can't the plebs cycle?" Or it's "but the old/ infirm/ disabled/ pregnant/ spherically challenged etc."

I agree, we still can't say the "C" word on the BBC... however if the train station's on one of those nice derestricted winding rural roads with not even a footpath alongside, height changes, no lighting, hedges etc. - possibly frequented by lorries, muddy farm machinery and locals driving at "local" speed... I can't imagine most people would give the possibility of cycling there a moment's thought.

On the other hand if someone fixed up one of these you might question her choice a bit more:

I thought they were just the standard double deck bike racks at all railway stations thesedays and used else where too. I think, hands up I've never used them in anger myself (because i like to return from a journey and still find my bike left at a railway station) they look worse to use than they actually are in practice.

On the security part they have a point but Sheffield stands are just as cuttable with an angle grinder and you'd never get one of those key fob compounds to work, they'd have to build a Cambridge style bike park, and real estate in Manchester isn't cheap.

When my train passes through Wokingham station I see three compounds full of these double decker things, I believe there is some "security" but the doors appear to be open, they have kept a few Sheffields, presumably because the "secure" racks would have been oversubscribed.

Reading has many of the double racks on the Thames side, originally very unsecure, but has kept Sheffields on the town side.

I am still incredibly unlikely to lock up any bicycle at the station. 

ktache wrote:

When my train passes through Wokingham station I see three compounds full of these double decker things, I believe there is some "security" but the doors appear to be open, they have kept a few Sheffields, presumably because the "secure" racks would have been oversubscribed.

Reading has many of the double racks on the Thames side, originally very unsecure, but has kept Sheffields on the town side.

I am still incredibly unlikely to lock up any bicycle at the station. 

Reading has the double deckers and they are shit. It does have a reasonable amount of Sheffield stands on the North entrance... I've never had a problem finding one free.

Many years ago I had a bike nicked from the stands under the car park cover. I stupidly thought they were under cameras so safer. Learned later that the cameras gave no pictures whatsoever which the thieves knew and would come in a lorry and take the lot.

I think it's better now since the redevelopment but I was locked up next to a guy a couple of weeks ago who had his wheels nicked.

Edit. I hate the arseholes who triple lock on the sheffields town side. I left one bike balanced upside down on top of it once.

Southeastern have these in varying forms. Gravesend has a large one that cost a lot. I use Dartford which is quite small and just the double decker type. It costs £50 a year and you get a key fob for access. There is also a lot of cycle parking outside, but it's largely taken by a bike hire company I've never heard of that is never used from what I see.

Dartford could really do with being expanded as a lot of people use it due to the station being the first in the London travel zones and where contactless can be used.

As an example cycling 6 miles to Dartford and using contactless Vs a ticket from my closest station cuts cost by more than 50%.

The stupid thing is they installed a large cycle store at great cost at I think Chatham or Gillingham and no one is using it.

Not helped by the fact they seem to have installed them in the wrong orientation.

I think you'll find that these are not dissimilar to what they have in a certain other country [1] [2].  They're needed there because they've been so successful at achieving mass cycling there wouldn't be space for low-density standard UK cycle parking e.g. Sheffield stands.

If there aren't any facilities for disabled users then that needs sorting.  Don't know if there are real issues with tyre width / dimensions?  If they've pinched a Dutch design directly wide tyres should not be an issue.  It is true that "traditional" Dutch bikes don't have disk brakes and tend not to have so many cables - partly to avoid things to get snagged / mangled when parking.  Note there is actually a specific Dutch "anti-wheelbender" design.  Although that may again cause issues for some bikes ("standard bike" is an oxymoron).

Here's how to work the racks - looks possible for most people, no?  As for bikes with additions or special cycles there should be suitable separate space (which would be provided in NL [3] [4] [5]).  Of course that may require some management / supervision to avoid the usual "tragedy of the commons" in which those who don't need the extra space / easier access monopolise those spaces...

Of course in NL they also update their parking facilities where they find there are issues!

If you are running disc brakes on a commuter then some activist will be along shortly to tell you that your not a ture mobility cyclist and must be a racer and hence part of the problem (prob same activist who now hate this but three tweets previous lauded the 'huge underground bike parking' in europe)  

Each to their own and the UK's in a transition period.  Hopefully...

My last "commuter" (Cube Travel Exc) had hydraulic discs which were overkill and I worried about banging the rotors / vandals puncturing the hoses but... I did like them.  I've had Sturmey Archer's drum brake / dynamo hub combo which hit the sweet spot for me even in hilly Edinburgh.  Particularly the "unaffected by water or sludge".  Although it's heavy - but then... "city bike" right?  You can also get a beefier version if you're carrying extra weight.

Never tried a coaster brake although I can see the potential benefit of hands-free no-cable braking.  Do they stop you though or merely suggest the bike go a bit slower?

Have you tried the ones in Edinburgh station? I thought I'd give it a go a few weeks ago, and they are terrible. I have no idea how they are meant to work - the bit where the back wheel goes isn't fixed, and there seems to be some kind of mechanism that is designed to clamp over the rear wheel rim but doesn't seem to work (or at least not in any intuitive sense). Vrey tricky to lock frame and wheels to anything that felt remotely solid. And they don't have a gas strut, so you have to do all the lifting/lowering yourself (or if they had one it wasn't working).

I'm a bit amibivilent towards the better two-tier systems (with gas struts and sensible, secure locking points). I appreciate they are not perfect and don't work with non-standard bikes. But they do dramatically increase the number of cycles that can be stored in a given place, which is a good thing. I also have a tendancy to think the upper tier can offer a bit more security in that it would be harder to do anything surreptitiously, and also off the ground means less purchase or stability for leverage/bolt cutters.

Waverley you mean?  Never parked there.  I'd had a quick look when passing - didn't notice anything unusual but wasn't looking hard.

Like many in the UK I also feel chunkier stands are "safer" but reality is that cheap cordless angle-grinders have changed the security landscape and people are reluctant to stop an armed thief (luckily there are exceptions!).  So it's always "do I feel lucky / not my best bike?"

Haymarket is my "local" - a bit over three miles from me.  Used to be there several days a week when commuting.  There's a double-stack rack with a set of single-height Sheffield ones.  Though they're looking very tatty now with abandoned / piranha'd bikes and broken racks.  I almost always use the upper of the doubled racks, have done with several different bikes.  I've never had any issues getting a spot, getting the bike in nor any damage or loss.  All the bikes I parked there were clearly 2nd hand though and I used a couple of solid locks.

The issue with Haymarket is they're actually outside the station.  So they don't even feel supervised.  The area is a real "hang-out" particularly with the local bars.  On the other hand, you don't feel like you're in an isolated location but I do find myself keeping an eye on who else is loitering there.

I've used Edinburgh Gateway also to vary the commute.  Low capacity and Sheffields IIRC (not been for over a year) with slightly annoying support bars on the ground.  No problems there either though.

Yeah, Waverley (not actually my closest station but normally if I'm getting a train I want one of the mainlines and so I just head straight there). To be fair, there are some sheffield stands too (often full) and the location is reasonable (within the station and covered by CCTV, although if I'm being fussy it's quite a long walk from the main concourse and in a relatively quiet area of the station less likely to have passing staff/cops). 

I've done a bit of googling and I thinks the ones they've got are these ones: note the "patented gripping system" (doesn't work) and the "Movable Security Bar" (not secure). 

Haymarket apparently has Falco racks plus sheffields.  FWIW I think they're the single-sided FalcoLevel Premium [overview] [datasheet].  So there's a gas-piston to slow down lowering / help with raising.  They've got fixed metal loops for locking to.  Not perfect but I've aways managed to find a way to lock both frame and wheels.  Mostly I could with a D-lock but for some bikes a chain was helpful.

They're close together of course so sometimes a bit of manoeuvering is needed to get cables / bars round the bike next to yours.  I always used the top rack in part because I thought using the lower one might lead me to bang my bonce and I'm not always wearing energy-absorbing headgear!

Never tried the recumbent in them!  Never mind the fit, I don't think I'd risk leaving that for too long in public.  Mostly because people's curiosity.  I have seen an almost identical one locked to the Sheffields at Haymarket once though!

You inspired me - thanks! Took the bike to Waverley this time. See my other comment but I agree - that design is poxy. Maybe closer spacing than Haymarkey? Also managed to bang my head trying to use the lower racks. Since someone's MTB handlebars then blocked me I tried the upper rack. That nearly fell on me (broken "piston" / spring or none?)

I found that locking to the front-tyre metalwork on the upper rack then blocked the rack from closing. I had to lean in and rattle and guide it past the supports - trapping myself behind the rack handles in the process. Their security loop by seat tube doesn't slide sideways so couldn't lock both frame *and* rear wheel.

The gripping system did "work" with a bit of encouragement though - but it does look like it might be bad for your spokes / wheel. The ones at Haymarket avoid this by having a bit at the back of the sliding bar which catches the back of the rear tyre - feels more secure to me, although that means if you had a very long wheelbase either front or back would ride up on the supports a bit. However the Waverley one looks like you'd be stuck in that scenario anyway.