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not resolvedHello,
I live in a tenement and there are about 10-15 bikes that are regularly kept in the stair area. One of the people in my building is threatening to call the fire brigade to remove all of the bikes because she believes it's a fire hazard. I live right on Bruntsfield Place and there isn't really a place to lock my bike up each night and I live on the 3rd floor so carrying my bike up and down is not ideal. Can she do this? Will the fire brigade remove the bikes? Is there a way to compromise?
Hi, the fire brigade will do a risk assessment & if they consider it a fire hazard and or illegal will remove them. You might also find that it is against your tenancy agreement or there is likely to be a burden (condition) in your deeds stipulating this if you are a house-owner.
There's a new/good leaflet from spokes on keeping bikes in tenements that might have some options for you.
Are all the bikes in use? is it possible some have been abandoned and you could get just those moved?
Btw, the police say that tenement staircases are the worst possible place to leave your bike - they're much safer chained up underneath a lamp-post outside.
I'd say only 6/7 of the bikes there are used regularly.
I'll check out the leaflet. Where is Spokes?
Personally, I don't think that it is a fire hazard. There is still enough space to walk to the back door. But I suppose the fire brigade will be the judge to that - if it gets to that point.
Thanks for the advice!
here's the main website: http://www.spokes.org.uk/ and here's the link to the webpage where you cna download the leaflet "How to be a cycling flat-dweller'
cheers!
This might help . . .
Downloadable factsheet on this page http://www.thebikestation.org.uk/donating/ see the Abandoned bikes in stairs paragraph
amazing, thanks!
tyo be fair. I can see the issue
are the bikes all inboard of the rails?
could they be stored outside of the rail and out of the travel space?
being fine to pass in normal use and full of smoke is a different matter
Bikes on rails can also make it really hard to actually use the railings. If I'm carrying a baby downstairs, I can't always see pedals etc sticking through, even if the main area of the stair isn't blocked. Before we moved in, an elderly neighbour also tripped on a bike and fell on stairs, and broke her arm.
It looks like this: http://cl.ly/3G0R3C1Y1J3b1w3s2i2r
There is still enough space to walk to the back door
I have to disagree on that TBH
Good idea to ask the fire brigade to advise - they're sensible and aware of what really is a risk and what isn't. They'll be able to advise how many, and where, cycles may be left, and it won't necessarily match your neighbour's opinion!
I'd also agree that stairwells are vulnerable places for bikes - railings are often cast iron and easily shattered, so it's not uncommon for single bikes to go, or for the whole stair to be cleared out!
When in a tenement, I went for a bike hoist (like those used for drying clothes), as the tenement had high enough ceilings!
Robert
Lidl shall have some bike hoists in very soon as part of their cycle special. I wouldn't trust the plugs (always use better than supplied) but it should do the trick.
Best place for a bike is in your flat or something secure rather than cast iron. Mate of mine lost a nice MTB as he locked it to cast iron.
That's an impressive number of bikes!
It looks like there's actually quite a bit of space, I guess it is just try to make use of it effectively.
It feels like a row of hooks on the right for front wheels to hook onto (i.e. storing bikes vertically) would tidy things up a bit. Perhaps a white line painted on the floor to box in the bike area.
(would need something solid for locking bikes to as well...)
I guess trying to get agreement from all tenants, let alone split the cost of such a move could be frustrating in the extreme.
I was in a tenement recently that had a row of sheffield stands under the stairs, so these things can happen.
thanks for the advice! I think the easiest method is the 'abandoned bikes in stairs' choice from the bike station. I'll forward all this information to my neighbour and hopefully she will calm down.
shonan - I'm pretty sure the fire brigade will be concerned with the mass of bikes in the stair. I've done fire safety training that involved a simulated evacuation in a smoke filled room. It is truly terrifying, you become immediately disoriented and a massive stack of bikes is the last thing you would want to blunder into. I know dragging your bike up the stairs is a pain (I did it for five years), but keeping your bike in the flat is more secure and (in my opinion) more neighbourly.
A bike hoist is a good idea if you are short of space, a bit tricky to install if you aren't too handy at DIY though. There are other options - the SPOKES leaflet goes through them all.
Might be worth establishing with your neighbours who the bikes belong to and whether any are dead and can be removed. You could then try and encourage people to store the bikes in a safer manner. This might prevent the wrath of the fire brigade, improve safety and you get to meet your neighbours. I know this might not work if most flats are let to students, but nothing ventured and all that.
At my work we have a problem with folk abandoning bikes in the bike sheds. Suspected abandoned bikes are tagged with a yellow label, stating this is a suspected abandoned bike and will be removed for recycling after 21 days if the owner does not do so first.
Maybe a system like this would work, and help placate your neighbour? I would only tag ones that really look abandoned, eg. covered in dust/conwebs, flat tyres, etc. or have not moved for months...
I keep my bikes in my flat. 2nd floor, so I've one less stair than you to climb, but I don't begrudge the effort at all. I'm lucky in that the previous owner has built a bike storage hanger into the study, so I can have two in there and the third out in the hall.
Have 3 adult cyclists and a total of 4 bikes in a tenement so can totally sympathise. 1 one bike in house. 3 locked to bannisters in stair. Have alteady had one stolen despite being chained up. We definitly need better secure provision for storage in edinburgh.
Advice from The Bike Station on dealing with abandoned bikes here.
CEC did start a pilot project providing secure on street residential cycle parking in 2014. The pilot was a huge success with demand out stripping supply, but they haven't rolled out the project further. It would appear that CEC don't really like thing that succeed...
"CEC don't really like thing that succeed"
Probably more to do with lack of staff?
Indeed, it would be nice if it was rolled out further.
Even if the occasional resident parking space could be converted to Sheffield stands, that would be a huge bonus. Round my way, almost every lamppost and signage post has got a bike or two almost permanently attached. (No offence to the owners but these ones are not likely to be theft targets.) These owners are quite possibly trying to comply with the guidance around not keeping them in stairwells.
Advice from The Bike Station on dealing with abandoned bikes here.
I just get a blank page.
Working now!
Apparently the Bike Station website had a brief problem yesterday, but is working fine now.
Has anyone had any experience of a Vertical Stairway Bike rack like the picture of page 3 of this spokes leaflet?
My colleague has a large stairwell and is wanting to get some order to the bike storage situation.
Where would you source such a thing from?
A contraption like that would probably need to be bought at great expense from a street furniture fabricator like Glasdon, or you could go to a metal shop yourself with the picture and desired sizes. They'd probably be able to make one out of box section quite straightforwardly.
If I may suggest a budget minded alternative, one could combine some ebay arms with a motorbike anchor to wrap a cable lock around
Avoid any that have a single arm like this one as bicycles can put apply quite a lot of rotational force and they're just not robust enough for public areas.
Looking at the lowest picture on page 3, I might have a slight concern if putting a bike front-up if it has hydraulic disc brakes, since that would usually mean the front brake system would be inverted, which I am told is not so good for them.
I use a couple of the ceiling hangers as per left-most pic on page 2. Great if you have high ceilings. Very cheap. Slight faff factor of spending 2 minutes each way to raise/lower.
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