Cycle Parking Farcility of the Month



A

Alan J. Wylie

Guest
http://wylie.me.uk/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/2007/01/23#cpfotm

A strange shiny stainless steel structure appeared outside work a
couple of days ago. It's probably not another work of art to join the
sheep and the chicken, so it must be a cycle parking farcility.

It's made by metalco.it[1], and is a stainless steel helix of rather
large pitch that I can only conclude you are supposed to put your
cycle wheel into.

It "supports" the bike I cycled in on this morning, with Shimano hub
brakes, on the brake fixing on one side and the spokes on the
other. In a bike with narrower tyres, and standard brakes, the wheel
would just flop around.

There is no way to lock the frame of the cycle to the structure.

This is what happens when artists choose things on their "shinyness"
factor, rather than asking the local cyclists what they want (good old
Sheffield stands).

[1] http://www.metalco.it/catalog/products_detail.php?id_parent=3&id_prod=67&id_cat=14

There is an English translation, but the selection is stored in
javascript/cookies, so you have to navigate your way back after
selecting it.

--
Alan J. Wylie http://www.wylie.me.uk/
"Perfection [in design] is achieved not when there is nothing left to add,
but rather when there is nothing left to take away."
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
 
On 23/01/2007 18:26, Alan J. Wylie said,

> A strange shiny stainless steel structure appeared outside work a
> couple of days ago..


> This is what happens when artists choose things on their "shinyness"
> factor, rather than asking the local cyclists what they want (good old
> Sheffield stands).


....or even asking cycling employees whether this new shiny thing would
be any good for parking bikes in, before they buy it!

Personally, I reckon you've got it all wrong though. How dare you
commit such a sacrilege as to park your front wheel in the new
caterpillar sculpture :)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/
 
"Alan J. Wylie" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> http://wylie.me.uk/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/2007/01/23#cpfotm
>
> A strange shiny stainless steel structure appeared outside work a
> couple of days ago. It's probably not another work of art to join the
> sheep and the chicken, so it must be a cycle parking farcility.
>
> It's made by metalco.it[1], and is a stainless steel helix of rather
> large pitch that I can only conclude you are supposed to put your
> cycle wheel into.
>
> It "supports" the bike I cycled in on this morning, with Shimano hub
> brakes, on the brake fixing on one side and the spokes on the
> other. In a bike with narrower tyres, and standard brakes, the wheel
> would just flop around.
>
> There is no way to lock the frame of the cycle to the structure.
>
> This is what happens when artists choose things on their "shinyness"
> factor, rather than asking the local cyclists what they want (good old
> Sheffield stands).
>

With all due respect, it wasn't the artists (unless you work for some kind
of art company) who chose to put this complete waste of space at your work -
it was probably some kind of manager at your work! Who has now ticked the
box "cycle parking" Have you disabused them of their misbegotten notion?

To be honest, most architects/designers appear to drive cars, not ride
bikes, so they don't have the faintest idea what proper cycle parking is.
You might have assumed, that being highly trained professionals, they might
have realised their own limitations, and they would have sought advice,
which has been around in published form, from the DfT, for about 15 years,
or even bothered asking a passing cyclist. Doesn't appear to happen for
some reason, perhaps arrogance is part of the training?

Last place I saw something like this was at the Cardiff Bay Barrage, where
they had obvious spent squillions getting lots of things right, but the
cycle parking was those godawful corkscrew things, which, coincidentally,
no-one was using.

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Alan J. Wylie wrote on 23/01/2007 18:26 +0100:
>
> There is no way to lock the frame of the cycle to the structure.
>
> This is what happens when artists choose things on their "shinyness"
> factor, rather than asking the local cyclists what they want (good
> old Sheffield stands).


You've got it all wrong. It is the most secure cycle parking available.
You lay the frame down along the length of the spiral and then you can
use lots of D-locks to lock the frame and wheels at multiple points to
the sculpture underneath. You do need to advise them thought that they
will need one per bike for this to work ;-)

--
Tony

"...has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least
wildly inaccurate..."
Douglas Adams; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
 
On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 19:29:51 GMT, "burt" <[email protected]> said:

> With all due respect, it wasn't the artists (unless you work for
> some kind of art company) who chose to put this complete waste of
> space at your work - it was probably some kind of manager at your
> work!


It's not who I work for, it's who manages the building that I work in.
One of them went to art college with David Hockney.

As well as offices, the building also hosts art galleries and a
theatre. In fact, looking at the web site, there is a large helix as
part of the artwork on the front page. I wonder if that is
significant.


--
Alan J. Wylie http://www.wylie.me.uk/
"Perfection [in design] is achieved not when there is nothing left to add,
but rather when there is nothing left to take away."
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
 
burt wrote:
> "Alan J. Wylie" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>A strange shiny stainless steel structure appeared outside work a
>>couple of days ago. It's probably not another work of art to join the
>>sheep and the chicken, so it must be a cycle parking farcility.
>>...
>>It "supports" the bike I cycled in on this morning, with Shimano hub
>>brakes, on the brake fixing on one side and the spokes on the
>>other. In a bike with narrower tyres, and standard brakes, the wheel
>>would just flop around.
>>
>>There is no way to lock the frame of the cycle to the structure.


A company that will be nameless for now demonstrated a cycle rack to
cycling officers today. A very clever piece of engineering, but no
locking points where you need them, and bikes held mainly by the wheels.

They gave us all their catalogue. I got 2/3 of the way through the
cycle parking section before finding anything with a usable locking point.

But on the inside front cover of the catalogue they had a photo of
their offices - with two boring old Sheffield stands in front, marked
'visitor parking'!

If manufacturers stopped making this rubbish, it would be a lot easier
to stop people installing it.

> With all due respect, it wasn't the artists (unless you work for some kind
> of art company) who chose to put this complete waste of space at your work -
> it was probably some kind of manager at your work! Who has now ticked the
> box "cycle parking" Have you disabused them of their misbegotten notion?
>
> To be honest, most architects/designers appear to drive cars, not ride
> bikes, so they don't have the faintest idea what proper cycle parking is.
> You might have assumed, that being highly trained professionals, they might
> have realised their own limitations, and they would have sought advice,
> which has been around in published form, from the DfT, for about 15 years,
> or even bothered asking a passing cyclist. Doesn't appear to happen for
> some reason, perhaps arrogance is part of the training?


Not just them. Facilities/Building Management depts do the same, even
in organisations responsible for specifying (planning dept) or
providing (highways dept) cycle parking for everyone else.

Colin McKenzie

--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at
the population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as
walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.
 
Colin McKenzie <[email protected]>typed

> Not just them. Facilities/Building Management depts do the same, even
> in organisations responsible for specifying (planning dept) or
> providing (highways dept) cycle parking for everyone else.


Unsurprisingly, the cycle parking outside the new CTC National Office
(or whatever they now call their HQ) is very good.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected]
Edgware.
 
.......it's a (very!) uncomfortable seat surely? At least, if it WAS a
bench the complaints (and derisive laughter) would at least make them
change it!

Robert
 
BigRab wrote on 24/01/2007 08:47 +0100:
> .......it's a (very!) uncomfortable seat surely? At least, if it WAS a
> bench the complaints (and derisive laughter) would at least make them
> change it!
>


Its not a seat but they must use bl**dy large slices of bread for that
toast rack ;-)


--
Tony

"...has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least
wildly inaccurate..."
Douglas Adams; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
 
In news:[email protected],
Paul Boyd <[email protected]> tweaked the Babbage-Engine to tell us:
> On 23/01/2007 18:26, Alan J. Wylie said,
>
>> A strange shiny stainless steel structure appeared outside work a
>> couple of days ago..

>
>> This is what happens when artists choose things on their "shinyness"
>> factor, rather than asking the local cyclists what they want (good
>> old Sheffield stands).

>
> ...or even asking cycling employees whether this new shiny thing would
> be any good for parking bikes in, before they buy it!


At the old Nut Mines they installed bolt-to-the-wall wheel-benders, for
which we were expected to be grateful. If you attempted to lock the rear
wheel to them, forget it if you have mudguards. If you attempted to lock
the front wheel to them, there was a very real chance of going to collect
the bike at home time only to discover that the pikeys had made off with
everything but the front wheel. If you got there early enough, you could
get the one in the corner, which /did/ just allow a long U-lock to go round
the head tube. If you didn't, you had to make do with one of the ones which
were falling out of the wall because they had been installed by the pikeys'
collective brother-in-law, using bolts made of cheese.

What is WRONG with these people, eh? EH? Gah!

--
Dave Larrington
<http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk>
The thing about Tony Parsons, though, the defining aspect of his
personality, is that he is a complete ****.
 
On Jan 23, 6:26 pm, [email protected] (Alan J. Wylie) wrote:
> http://wylie.me.uk/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/2007/01/23#cpfotm
>
> A strange shiny stainless steel structure appeared outside work a
> couple of days ago. It's probably not another work of art to join the
> sheep and the chicken, so it must be a cycle parking farcility.


Our local council have done a few good deeds for cyclists recently - I
think they've been listening to comments:
The bike shop on the main drag into town has now had the ralings
removed from the corner and 3 big beefy sheffield stands put in their
place. The railings were extremely well used by visitors to the shop
but now you can squeeze another bike into roughly the same space, it's
a lot easier to use and they still provide some protection from out of
control cars. The bike shop's only complaint was that they'd left the
plastic on them and it looked tatty - but when I came out there was
someone painting all of them and removing the plastic.

They also carried out a chainsaw massacre of all the fallen trees
across nat. cycle route 6 within 24 hours of me reporting it to them.

peter
 
On Jan 24, 8:58 am, Tony Raven <[email protected]> wrote:
> BigRab wrote on 24/01/2007 08:47 +0100:
>
> > .......it's a (very!) uncomfortable seat surely? At least, if it WAS a
> > bench the complaints (and derisive laughter) would at least make them
> > change it!Its not a seat but they must use bl**dy large slices of bread for that

> toast rack ;-)


A few big bits of painted plywood and you've got yourself another peice
of art!

peter
 
On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:12:29 -0000 someone who may be "Dave
Larrington" <[email protected]> wrote this:-

>At the old Nut Mines they installed bolt-to-the-wall wheel-benders, for
>which we were expected to be grateful.


Three or four of them would be enough to lock a bike to, though not
in the way the "designers" intended.

>What is WRONG with these people, eh?


Ignorance and/or stupidity.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54
 
On 24 Jan 2007 01:13:59 -0800 someone who may be "naked_draughtsman"
<[email protected]> wrote this:-

>The bike shop on the main drag into town has now had the ralings
>removed from the corner and 3 big beefy sheffield stands put in their
>place. The railings were extremely well used by visitors to the shop
>but now you can squeeze another bike into roughly the same space, it's
>a lot easier to use and they still provide some protection from out of
>control cars.


In "bike friendly" Edinburgh they have removed lots of these fences,
which is great. However, in most places they have failed to install
Sheffield Stands to replace them. To add insult to injury last year
they "consulted" on a "parking strategy", but this was actually a
car parking strategy and they ignored comments on bike parking.

It is one of the reasons why I measure party politicians and
officials by their actions, rather than their deeds.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54
 
David Hansen wrote on 24/01/2007 10:53 +0100:
>
>> What is WRONG with these people, eh?

>
> Ignorance and/or stupidity.
>


Starting with the numpties who designed and manufactured them in the
first place and their marketing spinmeisters who convinced customers
they were just what their cyclist employees needed.


--
Tony

"...has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least
wildly inaccurate..."
Douglas Adams; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
 
On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:38:40 +0000, Tony Raven <[email protected]> said:

> David Hansen wrote on 24/01/2007 10:53 +0100:
>>
>>> What is WRONG with these people, eh?

>> Ignorance and/or stupidity.
>>


> Starting with the numpties who designed and manufactured them in the
> first place and their marketing spinmeisters who convinced customers
> they were just what their cyclist employees needed.


They're neither ignorant nor stupid - if you can sell a useless, but
more expensive product rather than a cheap yet functional one you make
more money. Another "unacceptable face of capitalism"?

Mencken[1] had it right:

"No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public."

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken

--
Alan J. Wylie http://www.wylie.me.uk/
"Perfection [in design] is achieved not when there is nothing left to add,
but rather when there is nothing left to take away."
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
 
On 23 Jan, 18:26, [email protected] (Alan J. Wylie) wrote:
> http://wylie.me.uk/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/2007/01/23#cpfotm
>
> A strange shiny stainless steel structure appeared outside work a
> couple of days ago. It's probably not another work of art to join the
> sheep and the chicken, so it must be a cycle parking farcility.
>
> It's made by metalco.it[1], and is a stainless steel helix of rather
> large pitch that I can only conclude you are supposed to put your
> cycle wheel into.
>
> It "supports" the bike I cycled in on this morning, with Shimano hub
> brakes, on the brake fixing on one side and the spokes on the
> other. In a bike with narrower tyres, and standard brakes, the wheel
> would just flop around.
>
> There is no way to lock the frame of the cycle to the structure.


The way the bike is pictured it would be an effort to lock the frame
but I usually can lock the frame with the wheel at the same time using
a D-lock. It would probably be easier though if the whole bike were
placed over there frame rather than putting the wheel into the gap
intended for it.


> This is what happens when artists choose things on their "shinyness"
> factor, rather than asking the local cyclists what they want (good old
> Sheffield stands).


I'm not sure what is a "Sheffield Stand" but for me the ideal bicycle
locking facility would provide (1) a means to attach the bike to a
fixed device and (2) a means to lock the facility completely so that
you cannot even get access to the bike without unlocking it first. The
outer lock could be done by means of a PIN code chosen by the user at
the time, I guess thieves wouldn't hang around trying to guess it, they
would still have to get past the user's own lock once they had.
 
On Wed, 24 Jan 2007 09:12:29 -0000, "Dave Larrington"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>In news:[email protected],
>Paul Boyd <[email protected]> tweaked the Babbage-Engine to tell us:
>> On 23/01/2007 18:26, Alan J. Wylie said,
>>
>>> A strange shiny stainless steel structure appeared outside work a
>>> couple of days ago..

>>
>>> This is what happens when artists choose things on their "shinyness"
>>> factor, rather than asking the local cyclists what they want (good
>>> old Sheffield stands).

>>
>> ...or even asking cycling employees whether this new shiny thing would
>> be any good for parking bikes in, before they buy it!

>
>At the old Nut Mines they installed bolt-to-the-wall wheel-benders, for
>which we were expected to be grateful. If you attempted to lock the rear
>wheel to them, forget it if you have mudguards. If you attempted to lock
>the front wheel to them, there was a very real chance of going to collect
>the bike at home time only to discover that the pikeys had made off with
>everything but the front wheel. If you got there early enough, you could
>get the one in the corner, which /did/ just allow a long U-lock to go round
>the head tube. If you didn't, you had to make do with one of the ones which
>were falling out of the wall because they had been installed by the pikeys'
>collective brother-in-law, using bolts made of cheese.
>

At a Homebase not far from here, they've installed simla bolt to wall
wheel benders. Obviously someone elsewhere in the descision making
chain has realised they are **** and has tried to prevent their use.
This is done by constructing a fancy plinth thing at the foot of the
wall, postioned such that it forces a wheel to roll off it, away from
the bolt to wall wheel bender. Either that or they DIDN'T THINK AT
ALL. Com ca:


|
|-| Wheel bender
|-|
|
|\ Plinth


Wall




Tim
 
On 2007-01-24 13:42:26 +0000, [email protected] (Alan J. Wylie) said:
> Mencken[1] had it right:
>
> "No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public."
>
> http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken


A variation of a quote attributed to the great showman P.T. Barnum who
shuffled off
hi mortal coil at the end of the 19th century.

"You'll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people"


--
Three wheels good, two wheels ok

www.catrike.co.uk
 

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