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In praise of the humble Sheffield stand

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Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand

#161

Post by [deleted] »

ghostly_s wrote: post #63
mrsuprawsm wrote: post #37

For 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…

No one locks their bikes in Japan, either. According to Wikipedia this is thanks to "strong policing and general public disregard for stolen items." I can certainly say I've never heard of a US police department doing anything proactive in response to a reported bike theft.

[deleted]

Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand

#162

Post by kstenerud »

mrsuprawsm wrote: post #37

For 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…

The lower the income disparity, the lower the theft crime. In places with high inequality like London, SF, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Paris etc, even beater bikes will have their locks sawn through.

Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand

#163

Post by bambax »

blamazon wrote: post #31

In my car-centric city (southeast USA, population ~125k) when I visit private property with no bicycle parking, I try to find the owner and offer to install one of these just for the cost of materials. The idea being, they can put in another one when they see more than one customer on a bicycle at the same time. It's very cheap, less than 100 bucks typically as I have the requisite tools in my garage to make them fro…

For bike owners: a wheel lock [1] is not very high security but it's usually enough for a 3-minutes stop and it's extremely fast to lock and unlock, unlike chains.

[1] https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/abus-wheel-lock-5650l...

Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand

#164

Post by Doxin »

Cockbrand wrote: post #52
Cockbrand wrote: post #45

In 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…

That said, there are also a lot of similar and different designs as recommended by the largest German bicycle lobby organization [1]. I'd be curious to know what designs engineers from the Netherlands or Denmark have come up with. [1] https://www.adfc.de/artikel/adfc-empfohlene-abstellanlagen-g...

These[0] used to be rather common in the Netherlands And are actually pretty much fine on the wheel bending front if there's enough bicycles parked. You'll just stick your bicycle at the end of a group of bicycles and it'll be prevented from falling over by its neighbors. Still sometimes seen in lowish traffic areas where theft is not very likely.

These days you'll more often see these[1] which are a bunch more dense because of the vertical staggering, and you'll note the convenient attachment point for a chain lock. Less ideal with respect to brake and shifter cables, but there's a reason the preferred style of city bike has no gears and a kick brake.

At big places you'll often see these[2] which are incredibly dense. Bicycles on the top rows can be accessed by sliding the rail out and tilting it down. No real provision for a chain lock, but if you're parking at a train station you're already not caring too much about theft. Never mind that there being so many bicycles means that having even a halfway decent lock means any would-be-thief is just going to pick from one of the thousands of other slightly less securely locked bicycles.

Hope that gives some insight on how it's done in the netherlands.

[0] https://www.fietsparkeren.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wsm... [1] https://www.velopa.nl/media/20001/velopa-fietsparkeren-fiets... [2] https://www.velopa.nl/media/5008/nunspeet_station_10.png

Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand

#166

Post by jwr »

Praise indeed! I don't even try to park my bike at those "spokebreaker" low stands that you put your wheel into, they might as well not exist. Those are the stands that people who don't use a bike think bikers want. I didn't know this inverted U design was called a "Sheffield stand", but this works very well.

Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand

#167

Post by jwr »

causality0 wrote: post #10

I don't understand why many of the stands he calls useless are useless. Sure most of them are less economical but as long as there's a loop of metal anchored to the ground how is it useless?

Let's consider the "wheel-grabber" stands, anything that you put a wheel into. If you have a bike with a high center of gravity (think a city bike with a crate, an E-bike, or any bike with a child seat), you are guaranteed to at least bend your spokes.

Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand

#168

Post by beachy »

collaborative wrote: post #165

Anecdotal. My new life of biking to work ended on day 1: bike stolen in less than 1 hour. And it was from a Sheffield stand too

Bike theft seems like a problem that could be solved, or at least beaten down a lot. Super easy to attach tracking devices and monitor remotely, then just go around and arrest the thieves. There could hardly be an easier enforcement activity. Why is this not done when it seems like bike theft is at an epidemic level?

Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand

#169

Post by abainbridge »

markmark wrote: post #127
cortesoft wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the risk of someone using a pipe cutter really that high? Seems like if someone is that dedicated they are getting your bike anyway.

I doubt it, bike thieves will just use a battery angle grinder with a cutting wheel on your bike lock, and everyone will absolutely ignore them doing it in the middle of the day.

We're talking about this type of pipe cutter, right?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/irwin-record-handicutter-15-45mm-...

They're much cheaper than an angle grinder, and fit in your pocket. I've used one to cut through the barrel of a d-lock with ease. I don't buy d-locks with cylindrical barrels any more. I learned this trick when thieves stole my friends bike this way :-(

Re: In praise of the humble Sheffield stand

#170

Post by ls15 »

collaborative wrote: post #165

Anecdotal. My new life of biking to work ended on day 1: bike stolen in less than 1 hour. And it was from a Sheffield stand too

How was the BIKE_VALUE / LOCK_SECURITY ratio, compared to the surrounding bikes? I always try to achieve the lowest score at the corner where I lock my bike and haven't had a bike stolen for a while.
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