Earls Court - Awful Bike Racks

il_principe

Was at Earls Court for the excellent CAMRA Beer Festival on Saturday and was struck by the truly awful bike racks outside the main entrance. I haven't pictured them, but they were this design:


As you can see, completely useless. I use a Kryptonite D Lock and cable and there was no way of securing the D Lock through the fame, except to attach it to the chainstays which of course could just result in this happening:


I locked my bike to the metal fence behind the racks and was sad to not, when I returned, that the rack were full of people who’d locked there bikes in the manner pictured above!

It's so depressing that the Venue that is hosting the 2008 Cycle Show has such useless bike racks. I think I’m going to drop an email to the Event organisers, but before I do does anyone know if Earls Court has better racks aside from the ones at the main entrance?

andyp

jashburnham wrote:

It's so depressing that the Venue that is hosting the 2008 Cycle Show has such useless bike racks. I think I’m going to drop an email to the Event organisers, but before I do does anyone know if Earls Court has better racks aside from the ones at the main entrance?

Last year they offered secure bike parking inside the exhibition hall. I would imagine they'll do the same this year.

hammerite

We had a new bike shelter put up at work. Our office manager knowing I was a cyclist was quite pleased when she organised it, so told me about it. The shelter is great, as before the bikes were out in the open. But they also changed the bike rack......

You put your front wheel onto a ramp and it has a metal bar looped to chain your bike to, but like the ones at Earls Court there is no way of locking your wheel and frame together to the rack. I don't fancy putting my bike on the ramp as it seems like the bike could get knocked over easily, and your wheel twisted as a result.

I don't have the heart to tell the office manager, that whilst part of the shelter is great, the rack is pretty naff.

Clever Pun

jashburnham wrote:

Was at Earls Court for the excellent CAMRA Beer Festival on Saturday and was struck by the truly awful bike racks outside the main entrance. I haven't pictured them, but they were this design:

not thought of putting the rear wheel on the rack?

il_principe

Clever Pun wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

Was at Earls Court for the excellent CAMRA Beer Festival on Saturday and was struck by the truly awful bike racks outside the main entrance. I haven't pictured them, but they were this design:

not thought of putting the rear wheel on the rack?

I did indeed. Note that photo is not of Earls Court - merely illustrative. I tried rear wheel first but the rack was simply to low to allow proper frame locking. Whoever designs racks like this has clearly never owned a bike, useless muppets.

geoff_ss

I think the bloke who designed that type of rack is a wheel builder - they're good for business They're also often too wide to support safely a bike with road wheels as they're intended for fat tyred bikes.

The bike racks in the shed at work were similar. I was usually an early arrival and always left my bike next to one of the shed uprights and locked to that. They don't usually work on rear wheels unless you can bend them to clear the dérailleur arm. If I used my trike, I parked in the motorbike sheds. It wasn't a problem as the conditions that brought out the 3 wheeler weren't popular motorcycling weather - ie icy.

Simple 'Sheffiield' racks are better. They're a simple loop to lean your bike against so I can't believe they're very expensive.

Geoff