Tag: rack

February 8th – A poor photo, but this could have been expensive. In the bike shed at Telford, a brand new, barely used Boardman bike. Like the Carrera a few days ago, a Halfords own-brand bike, and like Carrera, pretty good quality for the money.

Sadly, the owner isn’t familiar with this kind of cycle rack – his front wheel is in the channel correctly, but his rear beside it. Hooked over the channel at the back end of the rack, waiting to get bent or snapped, the bike’s rear gear mechanism.

I gently lifted it out, and later in the day, found the owner and explained to them how close they were to a costly repair – works bike sheds are far from gently places at knocking off time!

June 28th – Oh dear. A short train journey mid-afternoon, and I found myself sharing the bike space with this nice, well engineered Specialized hybrid commuter bike.

Nothing wrong with it, and it looks like a nice ride – decent tyres, nice wheels and gears – but oh my, those mudguards are annoying my snobby sense of order.

Clearly fitted as an aftermarket add-on, the spacing between the guards and wheels is… all over the place. Also, the carrier tilts up to the back of the bike, and I notice another of my pet hates: seat post mounted rear lights – easily obscured by closing or objects on the rack.

Sometimes when you see other people’s bikes, it’s hard not to whip out the tools and start fixing them up…

July 18th – Commuting, security and bike racks. In preparation for tunnelgeddon hitting Brum at the weekend – when the city’s Queensway tunnels are closed for six weeks for refurbishment and traffic chaos is expected to ensue – Birmingham City council have been encouraging car or public transport commuters to take to their bikes instead. This is a good idea, and to support it, bike racks have been springing up around the city centre like mushrooms. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.

But then there’s what you do when you get to a rack. I was intrigued by the bike I spotted on the way to work this morning, which had no less than three locks wrapped around the seatpost. Only 2 looked like they were used regularly, and the third is made of cheese. That’s serious extra weight to be carrying.

An odd thing, indeed.

June 3rd – Spotted on a sunny Monday morning in Brownhills, parked up outside the closed branch of Natwest: a fascinating 3 speed Elite ladies step-through, replete with Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub, dynamo lights, front basket and rear, homemade rackbox. A lovely, functional 80s-ish steed, in excellent nick (note the cottered cranks, bike nerds!). I have no idea to whom it belongs, but clearly a well loved, well-looked after steed of convenience.

Beautiful. Perhaps Cycle Chic has come to Brownhills at last?

May 20th – A small result. The bike racks at Birmingham New Street Station – relocated to a dark corner on the the opening of the new concourse – were formerly only bolted to the ground and could easily be disassembled by thieves to steal users steeds. I noticed this morning that the ordinary nuts securing the Sheffield frames had been replaced with shear nuts, which are nigh-on impossible to remove. For added security, they’ve been bonded on with thread lock adhesive. This makes them much more secure.

I hope Network Rail have learned something from the bad publicity here. It ain’t rocket science really, is it?

August 1st – I was in Telford today. I noticed that to alleviate the congestion and overcrowding in the cycle shed, we have a new cheapo rack to use. Sadly, it’s of the worst type available – a wheelbender. So called because bikes fall over in them and end up with buckled rims, they’re also weak and the tubular supports will normally break off with a sharp kick. Trying to lock to them is lousy, too. 

Still, they’ve just had the car park sorted and there wasn’t much left for the cyclists, clearly…