Parking for bicycles: rules, types, arrangement

Today's realities of modern cities are such that initially the streets were not designed for so much traffic. Bicycles come to the rescue of many - they do not take up much space, they allow you to ride even along narrow paths. Because of this, a bicycle is the fastest vehicle in a congested city, and its lightness and compactness is a godsend for thieves. This means that bicycles should be parked in specially designated places, and not anywhere.

A rack-type bicycle parking is a budgetary and fast solution for bicycle parking near a shopping center, cinema, university or store. It is designed to improve the look of cities, where bicycles are often attached to handrails and poles, road signs. Leaving the bike where you have to is also not the best solution for its owner. The costs of bicycle parking are often borne by both hypermarkets and city road services, and activists. Bicycle parking is a contribution to urban infrastructure for residents who, for one reason or another, do not need a personal car. From 3 to hundreds of bicycles can be fastened to such a structure.

The most inexpensive and popular places for bicycle parking are devices in the form of a compartment, horizontal bar or longitudinal structure.

Bicycle parking bays - one-piece assembly welded from transverse sections of steel pipe. Between the two nearest pipes, the bike is started by the rear or front wheel.To one of the pipes (or to both, if the length of the chain or cable allows) the wheel together with the frame is fastened with a lock. The width of each of the compartments is either constant or variable. The second option is preferable for bicycles that differ sharply in landing width.

For simple city bikes, as well as for highways, you will need narrower compartments, for mountain bikes and fat bikes - wider. The weight of the structure often exceeds 100 kg, it is difficult even for two thieves to displace it even by a few centimeters, and a thieves' detachment of 10 persons is required to steal. The likelihood of theft is not zero, which is why the owners of parking lots fix their structures on the site or put a wall or underfence structure. The width of the compartment is 20–35 cm, the height is up to 1 m. The distance between the compartments is from 30 to 80 cm.

Easy to make with your own hands - you will need steel water pipes with an inner diameter of an inch or more. In this case, the dimensions should correspond to the range of dimensions of modern bicycles.

Turn-shaped parking spaces are U-shaped or trapezoidal pipes, separated from each other, bent at an angle of 70-90 degrees at the same height. A construction with an aboveground part of a meter by meter (in length and height) is best suited. For convenient parking, the height of such a pipe reaches a meter - this allows you to conveniently park your bike, preventing it from collapsing and rolling away, which would ultimately prevent other cyclists from placing their bikes next to yours. It is better to avoid a U-shaped parking lot with a very low chimney: it is suitable only for children's bicycles, and it will not be difficult to steal a teenager or adult by unscrewing the wheel to which he is chained.

The distance between the "horizontal bars" should not be less than 80 cm - near the mall, "decoupling" the bike with loaded packages and bags will cause significant difficulties. No bike stands required. It is easier to make such a parking lot on your own, but no less laborious than a compartment one - each U-shaped pipe is inserted into a drilled vertical trench up to a meter deep and poured with concrete equal in strength and service life to that of its brand that is used for the foundation of a one-story house.

If you do not want to concrete each of the "seats", you can weld each of the pipes to a common "frame" base, the width of which is equal to the length of the U-shaped pipe.

Despite its advantages - for example, less visibility for thieves - such an installation has a significant disadvantage: the bike is pulled up to a considerable height and placed horizontally. One cyclist will not be able to lift it to a height of one meter. This design takes up a lot of space on the installation site. To create a parking lot for 50 spaces, at least 5 such structures will be required.

When the architecture of the historical part of the city is so unique that bored "consumer goods" can spoil its appearance, unique street structures come to the rescue, which are rarely used anywhere. In fact, the number of options is not limited by any framework, but a few basic ideas will spur further flight of imagination and imagination of designers.

• "Ferris wheel"... The Ferris wheel for bicycles is a conventional rotating parking lot. Each of the cyclists can turn it so that the currently free parking space becomes available for his bicycle. The simplest design is designed for several bicycles (for example, 6), however, designers can make a "parking wheel" for a hundred bicycles.The only problem is the total weight of the structure - the more bicycles, the more massive it is, and it will be very difficult for one person to turn it alone. Multi-parking - 10 or more bicycles - may require a chain-driven motor, like the kind that drives a real Ferris wheel for humans.

• Tuberous construction. The idea of ​​the "bump" is simple - it is a ledge in the road, in which a neat and even crack has been cut. It is easy to make with a cutter like the one used to cut asphalt or concrete evenly when digging narrow and deep trenches. The width of the slot is slightly larger than the width of the wheel - only 1.5 ... 4 inches. You start the bike with the wheel into this gap, and it holds it by the same wheel, preventing it from rolling and overturning. The wheel itself falls through almost to the transmission sprockets. The disadvantage is that the bike cannot be secured with anything; this would require a separate locking mechanism. And he, in turn, will complicate the process of performing such a parking, forcing its owner to use concrete, reinforcement and a corner profile.

• "The fruit". Bicycle rack in the form of a fruit or vegetable - a structure with mounting points, where bicycles are installed in a "radial" order, converging with the front (or rear) wheels in the center, near the axis of the structure. It does not rotate, its diameter reaches no more than 2 m. Curved pipes, forming a "skeleton" and vaguely resembling the meridians of the globe, are located at a distance of 25–40 cm from each other. Bikers put their bikes in these makeshift slots - the number of gaps is equal to the number of bikes in such a parking lot.

• "Comb"... The design, which resembles a hybrid of a compartment and a horizontal bar frame, allows even a fat bike to be properly secured to such a "prong". The difference between a “comb” and a sectional bicycle parking is the absence of one of the pipes connecting the structure (as a rule, from the top). The pipes are quite powerful, which will prevent a thief from sawing or cutting it off with any of the tools that make up his arsenal - be it a bolt or pipe cutter, a pry bar or a circular saw for metal. Painted in a characteristic "wooden" color.

• "Watchman". This is a parking space made in the form of a bicycle frame. The first company in our country to offer such a form was the Beeline cellular provider. To attract customers and new employees (for example, bike couriers), the company has installed such "bike lanes" near its (and retail) stores, painting them in their "striped" colors.

It is a full-fledged compartment, the front hinged door of which is as wide as a public toilet. But this bicycle space occupies twice the territory. With the help of such a compartment, you will hide your bike from unnecessary witnesses, any of whom may turn out to be a thief. Closed bicycle parking - a canopy, the key from the compartment under which the biker takes with him.

The design, including the home one, does not provide for the use as the main elements:

• plastic or composite pipes;
• rusting or galvanized steel without painting, including of poor quality (insufficient hardness and strength);
• forged or reinforcing rods;
• bent sheet iron;
• profile.

Wood is rarely used here. A metal structure made of stainless steel pipes will be ideal. - it will stand for decades, while remaining clean and sparkling, and will be the attention of everyone. As a bicycle parking, you can use fences for a car park, built in Soviet times from piles and anchor chains.

Bicycle parking should not be located without a canopy or building canopy - bicycles of permanent employees parked in a downpour or snow fall prematurely fail.

As additional measures to protect bicycles from theft, the following are involved:

• employees of a private security company serving the facility;
• video surveillance system installed in the same place or nearby;
• access control mode - if it is a protected area - using the electronic keys of the system operating there (with the ability to write data to the server, identify people by faces and fingerprints).

Bicycle parking requirements - extremely high security, prevention of offenses related to theft or damage to personal property. The disadvantage is that this solution can be paid.

For information on how to make a parking lot for a bike with your own hands, see the next video.