Do schools really need bike sheds?

Bike sheds are esscential so the bikes can be secured.

Like a locker system of sorts. They give you a number, or you give your student id and off you go.

Bike sheds for schools I vote AYE!

When I was at school they only served one purpose. Taking your saucy little minx of a girlfriend behind the shed and groping her, or vice-versa.

sheds also help protect your bike from the elements.

I wish my schools would have had sheds

I think many times in high school the threat isn't the bike being stolen. It's people doing things to it to be jerks. It's hard to use bolt cutters and cut a lock without getting seen in most schools. It's easy to pop someones tire, bend a derailleur, mess with brakes, etc. when you are getting your bike off the rack.

There was an article in this months Bicycle Magazine about bike cops. People do all sorts of stuff to their bike if the cop has to get off and attend to something. People even stick stuff in the chainring to try and tear up the cops ankle.

A shed would be much safer for the bike. Besides, how much does some plywood cost anyway?

-Matt

The bike shed is an essential part of a young man's education, many essential skills can only be passed on in that environment... 😉 School busses are way too limiting and do not allow the privacy and diversity of a bike shed.

Good racks might be enough if they were right outside your window so the kids couldn't mess with them, but if, simply by building basic bike lockers, you can avoid having pranksters remove another kids brakes and cause a serious accident then it might be safest to do it. Depends on the environment. In Japan you just wouldn't get pranksters doing stupid stuff like that.

gclark8 said:

The bike shed is an essential part of a young man's education, many essential skills can only be passed on in that environment...

precisely, if the took the bike sheds away, where would you go to get your first BJ?

flexton said:

A number of schools in my area have decided to reduce the school bus service in order to promote greater physical activity. Pupils are encouraged to walk or cycle to school. However, the schools feel they should provide bike sheds but they have very few funds to purchase with

My question is, do schools really need sheds or would a means of securing the bikes suffice? I notice that most universities and colleges only provide a row of stands. What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Firstly, are they really reducing the bus service to promote greater physical activity? Or are they doing it to reduce costs? Call me cynical, but I bet its a cost reduction exercise, with little thought for the health of the kids.

I think that all they'll achieve from this is a greater number of parents using cars to drop their kids off at school each day, making the road outside the school a far more dangerous place (for the kids in the cars, the kids who walk and especially the kids who cycle).

With regard to bike sheds - they're essential for many of the reasons already outlined:

1. To prevent vandalism to the bikes
2. To protect the bikes from the elements - and let's face it who wants to ride a wet bike at the end of the day.
3. To prevent theft. Locks can be cut if you can get at them.
4. To encourage cycling. Proper facilities encourage proper use - you'll get the kids with nice bikes bringing them to school, creating an "atmosphere of cool" around cycling in general.

Anything is better than nothing.

Racks will work.
They'll work better with a sheet of plastic above them to keep the rain off.
They'll work best if they're brick built with a lockable door that gets locked after registration and unlocked at home time.

My advice would be to nag them senseless for money (by 'them' I mean the schools, the education department of the local government, and the parents) There's money there somewhere which can be used to improve cycling facilities. What about the cash they're saving from the bus services?

Hope this helps,

Steve

We have locks at my school and some individual container box things. The locks are essential as pupils don't need to worry about their bike being unlokced and open to theft. Bikes have been stolen before, only because they weren't locked. Then again its the owner's responsibility to secure their bike. I think locks and sheds are a good thing.

MountainPro said:

precisely, if the took the bike sheds away, where would you go to get your first BJ?

Ummm, the wardrobe storage room behind the theater?

DiabloScott said:

Ummm, the wardrobe storage room behind the theater?

ROFL! There's nothing like experience eh?

Ryanotokyo said:

Good racks might be enough if they were right outside your window so the kids couldn't mess with them, but if, simply by building basic bike lockers, you can avoid having pranksters remove another kids brakes and cause a serious accident then it might be safest to do it. Depends on the environment. In Japan you just wouldn't get pranksters doing stupid stuff like that.

Is japan in need of spanish/english teachers? .... because I am going!😎😎

wheelist said:

Firstly, are they really reducing the bus service to promote greater physical activity? Or are they doing it to reduce costs? Call me cynical, but I bet its a cost reduction exercise, with little thought for the health of the kids.

I think that all they'll achieve from this is a greater number of parents using cars to drop their kids off at school each day, making the road outside the school a far more dangerous place (for the kids in the cars, the kids who walk and especially the kids who cycle).

With regard to bike sheds - they're essential for many of the reasons already outlined:

1. To prevent vandalism to the bikes
2. To protect the bikes from the elements - and let's face it who wants to ride a wet bike at the end of the day.
3. To prevent theft. Locks can be cut if you can get at them.
4. To encourage cycling. Proper facilities encourage proper use - you'll get the kids with nice bikes bringing them to school, creating an "atmosphere of cool" around cycling in general.

Anything is better than nothing.

Racks will work.
They'll work better with a sheet of plastic above them to keep the rain off.
They'll work best if they're brick built with a lockable door that gets locked after registration and unlocked at home time.

My advice would be to nag them senseless for money (by 'them' I mean the schools, the education department of the local government, and the parents) There's money there somewhere which can be used to improve cycling facilities. What about the cash they're saving from the bus services?

Hope this helps,

Steve

Since when you are this eloquent and thoughtfulll?

AH! ... end of the week! ... no money for beer!!

Bike sheds ... .100 percent agree.

Cost of busing our little fatso's around in the local school district.

3,000 dollars a year per capita!!

Busing is a difficult game, and for sure that its math is a liar.

Last policy from the local school district was to NOT to bus in a radious of 2 miles.

That sound fine and dandy on paper, but mind you the typical walking speeds of a kid? Is like 30 minute walk. For sure it beats taking the bus any day of the week, but there is no OPTIONS offered. At least to have a school bus with a sort of route on the main arteries would be nice. Some of this kids spend so much time in their buses that they have mastered the fine art of doing their homework while riding at 630 am.

I cannot imagine any of this kids riding the bike to school without a sort of storage, since pranksters are the scourge of the cyclists.

That being said .... Funny story.

The son of a friend of mine - now in college - used to miss the bus and complain about how far the school was and how much he hated the waste of time that riding the bus was.
His dad cycles recreationaly ... his mom was a Tri athlete ... get the picture?
So being annoyed because It was my turn to rescue the brat since he missed his ride after school I decided to take revenge on him.

I picked up his bike whilst riding mine ... you old guys know hor, hand on the stem and one hand riding, the whole 9 miles. Yes ... it took me an hour. You had to be there!!!!!! The look on his face!!!!
Anyhow, he was a little soft back then and the poor lad had no aerobic resistance. I just kept hitting him with my air pump all the way home.

That was the last time he rode a bike anywhere ....

Now he is away from home ... he is fit and muscular - trained by yours trully - but he trully regrets spending all that time in the school bus instead of riding the bike to school

huhenio said:

Since when you are this eloquent and thoughtfulll?

See. I'm not always a foul-mouthed muppet with sawdust for brains and a natural talent for incoherence. 😄