March 13, 20242 yr I seem to recall someone posting about a new job and cycling to work in Milton Keynes with a similar daily charge for cycle lock up but it also had nice clean shower facilities.. google tells me the MK train station also has individual bike lockups available to rent for £68 p.a +key deposit. or 19p a day!!
March 13, 20242 yr I read somewhere there is a just park type app we go where you can rent out private garage or house room to park bikes. I've used that for drive or parking while on days out
March 13, 20242 yr Author Is the rest of Telford as crap? Glad I stayed on the train last week, despite the horrible view and smell. Despite price increases, I'm pretty sure that train had fleas. Train shouldn't have been privatised either BTW. It's difficult to replace a 200 mile train journey with a pedelec ride. The train doesn't represent Telford. It wouldn't have been bought, nor kept in Telford. It only stopped there for a couple of minutes during a long journey. That's a bit like seeing flees in your car when you drive through Wales. The fleas came from the dog or cat unless mice got in when you parked at home. Likewise, the smell in your car would be due to the sandwiches that you forgot to eat last year or the fact that you were in too much of a hurry to get a shower. Telford is not my type of town. It has no character. It's generally kept clean and safe. There's quite a bit of history nearby and lots of nice cycle rides. The town park is pretty good too with lots of cycle routes through it. Housing is also pretty cheap. A 4 bedroom detached house with garage and driveway would be about £200k to £350k. Two years ago I bought two quite nice three bedroom terraced houses in a reasonable location £215 for the pair.
March 13, 20242 yr Very disparaging remarks to make about a place having not got off or visited the area. From the view given the platform and buildings look nice /clean and a nice covered roof.
March 13, 20242 yr Very disparaging remarks to make about a place having not got off or visited the area. From the view given the platform and buildings look nice /clean and a nice covered roof. Fortunately [mention=3847]saneagle[/mention] has a good sense of humour. I've also driven through it once. Never again.
March 13, 20242 yr Author Fortunately [mention=3847]saneagle[/mention] has a good sense of humour. I've also driven through it once. Never again. I think you'd like Telford much better than your area. There's a lot more space, less traffic and noise and better cycling. There are more interesting hills too. You have Ironbridge Gorge to go down and up or the Wrekin if you prefer to go up and down. Either of those can give you an easy 40 mph without pedalling.
March 13, 20242 yr Likewise, the smell in your car would be due to the sandwiches that you forgot to eat last year or the fact that you were in too much of a hurry to get a shower. My body is self cleaning, like my bike. I read somewhere there is a just park type app we go where you can rent out private garage or house room to park bikes. I've used that for drive or parking while on days out That's a great idea, but I'm wondering how many of these folks renting out their homes and garages for bike storage would be happy accommodating ebikes? Fire risk and all that. It'd be rather wonderful if there was a map with app of inexpensive secure bike lockers containing power outlets, conveniently situated within about 20 miles of each other all over the isles.
March 13, 20242 yr Onstreet secure bike lockers for six bikes in Bath. These look flimsy, but at least they can be placed near destinations of interest to cyclists: https://www.bathecho.co.uk/news/community/more-bike-storage-hangars-available-rent-103492/ It would be better to have keyless internet allocated and activated entry, and separate secure compartments for each bike within each shelter, instead of one key giving access to six bikes. On the other hand, those systems can get hacked. How many of these could be lifted onto a bike thief cartel's flatbed? I think you'd like Telford much better than your area. There's a lot more space, less traffic and noise and better cycling. There are more interesting hills too. You have Ironbridge Gorge to go down and up or the Wrekin if you prefer to go up and down. Either of those can give you an easy 40 mph without pedalling. I live in two areas. The hills near Shifnal looked nice two years ago. Nicer than the dump that is Shifnal - I didn't have time to explore, had to run away carrying money. I hear there's good fishing in The Gorge, not that I fish. I was offered fish pie in Shifnal, said no thank you, because I've read too much about rampant river pollution. Edited March 13, 20242 yr by guerney
March 13, 20242 yr Author Onstreet secure bike lockers for six bikes in Bath. These look flimsy, but at least they can be placed near destinations of interest to cyclists: https://www.bathecho.co.uk/news/community/more-bike-storage-hangars-available-rent-103492/ It would be better to have keyless internet allocated and activated entry, and separate secure compartments for each bike within each shelter, instead of one key giving access to six bikes. On the other hand, those systems can get hacked. How many of these could be lifted onto a bike thief cartel's flatbed? Which one? I live in two areas. The hills near Shifnal looked nice two years ago. Nicer than the dump that is Shifnal - I didn't have time to explore, had to run away carrying money. I hear there's good fishing in The Gorge, not that I fish. I was offered fish pie in Shifnal, said no thank you, because I've read too much about rampant river pollution. I stayed in The Railway Inn in Shifnal when I first started working in Telford. Shifnal was famous for having the most pubs in the smallest area or something like that. It did have some nice places to eat. I'm not sure how it is now.
March 13, 20242 yr I'm not sure where the station in the photo is but it's certainly not Telford. Telford is a modern station not a 19th century one with an overall roof.
March 13, 20242 yr I'm not sure where the station in the photo is but it's certainly not Telford. Telford is a modern station not a 19th century one with an overall roof. Hmm... it appears you're right. In my defence, I was distracted pretending to work. If you don't recognise the station, I can't offend you by saying Stoke-on-Trent stinks. I'll give special attention to Telford's odour next week.
March 13, 20242 yr Bath and London bike parking. Nothing around me. https://rentals.falco.co.uk/ That scheme looks a lot cheaper than unused £1m structures in the middle of nowhere. Less of a halo project I suppose, or perhaps small mobile bike enclosures on roads don't fulfill grant application criteria or something? There's lots of small print in grant applications, I used to process some myself years ago, for green projects. Edited March 14, 20242 yr by guerney
March 14, 20242 yr Yes, here it is from Google maps, just as I thought: [ATTACH=full]56848[/ATTACH] Occasionally I have to leave one of my bikes at my local railway station. Unfortunately I think all railway stations are high risk for bike theft. At my local station there is a place to lock bikes outside the station and other places on each of the two platforms. I always lock mine on the platform in the style of bike lock area above. My simple security measures are to have the seat and wheels secured by bolts rather than quick release and to remove the non fixed lights and use a good u-lock with additional cable through the front wheel secured to the u-lock. I also remove the battery key on my rear hub bikes with behind the seat silver fish batteries. None of these measures would stop the bike being nicked by a determined thief but hopefully provide a deterrent to the casual T Leaf. So far these measures have worked, but I would be gutted if any of my bikes got nicked. I did get a shock when I rode my Haibike cross country to the next town to go out with friends and where I would usually be able to leave my bike in a key coded room not in a public area to find that room inaccessible for me to get the bike in. I locked it on the platform and removed the battery, display, lights etc. I could get in the room without my bike where I could leave my panniers and re charge my battery, and fortunately my bike was still there when I returned late in the evening. I would always choose to lock a bike on the platform rather than outside the station as it should be better lit and with more people/staff around and with hopefully a camera pointed at the bike area. Edited March 14, 20242 yr by georgehenry
March 15, 20242 yr "secure outdoor recharging stations" https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2024/03/13/new-york-city-is-testing-public-ebike-charging-stations-to-help-prevent-fires https://swiftmile.com/
March 15, 20242 yr Here it is on the map. None of it makes sense: [ATTACH=full]56847[/ATTACH] Sod this off the shelf stuff, like pre-made ebikes they're all crap. I haven't got a quote, but I reckon a steel box with a 5 point locking door, with holes for 6 D-locks on one side hooping through a steel box tube subframe within the box, large enough to contain both my folding bike and folding Homcom trailer after I've towed it with my bike to public securely anchored street furniture, will cost about £600. https://www.cheltenhambikes.co.uk/hire-services/storage-lockers A year's rental costs about £100 less than your own secure lockable bike box! (Probably, like I said I haven't got a quote) Thieves would need a vehicle to tear the box away from said street furniture and carry it off, and extract the bike from the box somewhere else, or spend ages first cutting through the box or box D-locks, then through the other 6 D-locks holding the bike and trailer to the subframed side of the box from the inside, one ot two of which are also secured to the anchored street furnitre - glad I can fold my bike and take it into supermarkets, and most customer business premises! For my bike and I, D-lock and box weight limit is about 74.5kg - trailer weight is 15.5kg, I can drag a 90kg trailer up steep hills. If I make the box a bit larger, I could fit an exhaust for the petrol generator charging my ebike battery while I'm away. How large could this box be before it gets charged for ground rent, requires planning permission and it's own postcode? Larger than the combined dimensions of my bike, trailer and petrol generator I bet. https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/the-1-1m-bike-shed-at-station-thats-almost-empty-every-day-284203/ how many years to break even ? How many steel boxes would £1.1m buy? Secure storage for about 1,833 bikes, instead of no security for just 280. They could be secured to existing bike racks, saving me having to tow my hypothetical box around. Money better spent IMHO. Users could secure the door using D-locks. Painted mild steel would do, welders are everywhere. Don't we still produce steel? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296292084839 Can be custom steel: https://metallicsuk.com/products/aluminium-tub-lockable-storage-box?variant=45176139448610 When my box isn't being used for secure storage, I could sell burgers and ice cream. Edited March 16, 20242 yr by guerney
March 15, 20242 yr Sorry if off topic but bike "places to lock" them really annoys me, where we are in Wales, NO shop has anything, Lidl, Asda you have to use the railings for the trollies, Morrisons is round the corner out of sight, Tesco NOTHING neither M and S
March 16, 20242 yr Sorry if off topic but bike "places to lock" them really annoys me, where we are in Wales, NO shop has anything, Lidl, Asda you have to use the railings for the trollies, Morrisons is round the corner out of sight, Tesco NOTHING neither M and S The newer larger branches do - as I said, I fold my bike and take in inside. Security guards don't object, provided my folded bike stays within the shopping trolley. During lockdowns, I was considering ordering via click and collect and picking my orders up using the trailer, is that an option for you? I doubt they stand outside with your order at your allotted pick up time... you'll probably have to secure your bike and trailer to something for a short period of time, to notify them of your prescence, perhaps by going into the store, triggering bringing out your order? I don't know how the "collect" part of the click and collect process operates in supermakets, another forumite might. With Screwfix I think you have to go into the store, but I don't know. I keep meaning to wheel my bike in on a trolley and asking, because it's unclear on their website. I see [mention=14915]egroover[/mention] recently linked a big percentage discount on trailers like mine in the "bargains" thread, which is very annoying because I paid full price a couple of years ago... but they're cheap anyway, which makes it less annoying, more of an irklet. https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/bargains.46309/page-5#post-707608 Edited March 16, 20242 yr by guerney
March 16, 20242 yr These enclosures should come with insurance when you rent a space to lock a bike. That would give people confidence and increase usage.
March 17, 20242 yr I seem to recall someone posting about a new job and cycling to work in Milton Keynes with a similar daily charge for cycle lock up but it also had nice clean shower facilities.. google tells me the MK train station also has individual bike lockups available to rent for £68 p.a +key deposit. or 19p a day!! Yep, start the job Monday. Lockers and showers only 100yards from the office. £288 per year, less than £1 per day, but I only need 2-3days a week.
April 10, 20242 yr https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingseptember2023 "47% of people in England aged 5 and over owned or had access to a bicycle in 2020." https://provizsports.com/blogs/news/uk-cycling-statistics?country=GB
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