> This one was designed by David Byrne of Talking Heads. I like the idea, but notice how someone has chosen to lock their bike to a lamppost instead.
> Might get to use this once in a lifetime.
Brilliant
In praise of the humble Sheffield stand
101–110 of 240 posts
Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand
#102I 100% agree. I have never found a bike stand design as good as the simple staple. One particularly annoying thing is stands designed to hold a larger number of bikes, often by lifting bikes and hanging them or something equally annoying. They all end up putting the bikes way too close so in practice people only use every other space and you fit even fewer bikes in. The staple design is just by far the best.
And when there are no bikes, they make good gymnastic equipment for kids.
Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand
#103In general, the author is right, and the simple design is by far the best. But the classic Sheffield stand with a circular cross section can be easily cut with a pipe cutter. Contrary to an angle grinder, a pipe cutter doesn't make any noise. Thus, the design has been improved by making it solid instead of hollow and giving it a rectangular cross section, like [1]. I used to hate the improved design because it's obvi…
At least in the UK, many of the sheffield stands are made of fairly thick-walled steel and 50mm outer diameter. It would take quite a bit of time and effort to cut one with any hand tool. A solid design would be complete overkill and make them really expensive.
That said, some do pop every now and then up that seem to be quite flimsy, often having been bent down to a 45 deg angle by a careless motorist.
Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand
#104For most bike "racks" here in NL it seems like the primary purpose is not security, but just having somewhere to lean bikes against and give people a sensible place to park their bikes (as opposed to "in a huge pile") Most people don't bother physically locking their regular city bikes to anything (only using a ring lock on the bike itself), primarily cheap beater bikes but also there's a guy in my street with a €200…
Those frame/ring locks are no joke. We had to have one cut off of one of our bikes after losing the keys.[0] It took the guy longer than I expected with an angle grinder, made a lot of noise, sparks flying, etc.
Swapfiets rental bikes have become popular in Berlin. They have a frame lock with an integrated chain. But even if you don't use the chain, what exactly is the theft scenario? The bikes are rather heavy—which I guess is intentional. Someone highly motivated could lift the bike into a van, drive home, and then worry about cutting off the lock. It just seems a bit far-fetched.
[0]: It was an ABUS like this: https://i.imgur.com/ytfVtex.jpeg
Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
You also have to to do some paperwork for buying a bike. I assume you have to transfer ownership when selling, so stolen bikes probably cannot really be sold on the open market.
Out of sheer ignorance: what are the implications of not having the proper paperwork? Do Japan's street policemen take note of suspicious looking bikes and follow up with their owners?
I have been stopped when driving suspiciously at night. I do not know what exactly constitutes suspicious, but the main thing they do is check whether your bike paperwork is in order, and (as a foreigner) that your residence card is valid.
Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand
#106These are my favourite: https://i.imgur.com/jpF0eZV.png
Slightly more complex design, but easy to lock, easy to park, bike doesn't fall over, doesn't damage the paint on your frame, fairly compact if you have multiple bikes.
They're pretty ubiquitous where I live in the Netherlands; although some stores have really crappy "wheel-only" stands like in the thread.
Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand
#107For most bike "racks" here in NL it seems like the primary purpose is not security, but just having somewhere to lean bikes against and give people a sensible place to park their bikes (as opposed to "in a huge pile") Most people don't bother physically locking their regular city bikes to anything (only using a ring lock on the bike itself), primarily cheap beater bikes but also there's a guy in my street with a €200…
In the UK you absolutely need security - London especially anything not held down will be stolen quickly. Battery powered jigsaws to go through locks and chains, bikes stripped of components, etc. Its a whole different world from the safety of NL Granted some of this is because of a culture of more expensive bikes but still if you used a beater bike it wouldnt be safe either
Honestly, that was my initial impression seeing this tweet storm. Living first in the Netherlands and then Japan, it seems like being so fussy about bike stands is wholly unnecessary.
Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those particular racks don't seem awful other than the way they're (not) secured to the pavement.
"Can be permanently secured to the ground" and "Can be temporarily secured to a bicycle" are the only two requirements!
Presumably the installers just used the wrong sort of concrete anchor...
Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand
#109It seems like people have an itch not only to reinvent the bicycle, but also the bicycle stand.
Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
Securely locking your bike means locking both wheels and frame to the rack. Any rack that doesn't reach all three of those things is impossible to securely lock to.
This isn't a question of a sufficiently long lock cable?
I guess. But if you design a bike rack requires a cable that's longer than most bike locks, it might be a bad bike rack.