I don't have a particularly skinny bike but they're never very busy so maybe I've always just subconsciously chosen an easy-to-get-to end spot without noticing anything amiss with the ones in the middle.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Bike Racks Removed at Asda Chesser
(63 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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Alternatively, my bike is quite fat as will have pannier on either side.
Posted 10 years ago # -
My wife has visited the new Sainsbury's at Longstone and reports there's loads of cycle parking here. Handy for the WoL, near the visitor centre.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Clever car park there under the store but kind of ground level as they have used the slope. I was hoping for a wee footbridge/ cycle bridge over the water.
My wife has not been in a supermarket for the weekly shopping for at least four years and she is talking of paying it a visit???
Posted 10 years ago # -
MrSRD checked it out and apparently parked miles away only to get to the entrance and see cycle parking conveniently located right next to it!
Posted 10 years ago # -
"""
as part of the new Sainsbury’s development on Inglis Green Road, the Council received a developer contribution of £20,000 to undertake a bridge survey and feasibility design for a new foot/cycle bridge from the supermarket car park to the north side of the Water of Leith, adjacent to New Mart Road
"""and
"""
developer contributions are likely to be obtained from the sites at the Fruitmarket and old Asda sites – it was mentioned that these sites may be combined and a supermarket, housing and nursing home built
"""Posted 10 years ago # -
I was in the other day, they've got more bike racks at that sainsbury's than all the other supermarkets in Edinburgh put together. Gets my vote.
Plus should I ever get an electric car I'll have somewhere to charge it, they've got two electric car charging parking spaces.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@eddie-h
If they built another supermarket on the old Asda site that would make 4 supermarkets in the longstone hutchisons X road area where the use to be one. And no DIY stores where there used to be two
Posted 10 years ago # -
I live just off the WoL path there, just after the graveyard. I don't know why but Dunnyette and I took a walk over to this new Sainsburys the day after it opened, it looked amazing.
Of course, inside it is just another Sainsburys. Disappointed big time, though I can't work out why! The best part about it for me is the extra light you get from the car park shining across the river, lighting up the path a bit more than before.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@dunny, the wee bridge I was after would be handy for you.
In the old days you could cycle through the graveyard and I also seem to recollect you could get under the side of the bridge / ramp over to the industrial estate off the A 71/ Gorgie road
Posted 10 years ago # -
they've got two electric car charging parking spaces
I wonder if Sainsburys will use them to store excess trolleys in, just like many supermarkets do with bike racks!
Posted 10 years ago # -
@gembo - both of those would be very handy for me, a mate of mine recently told me you used to be able to get through the graveyard too.
There is however a few stepping stones across the river that take you into the Booker carpark, just after the ramp. I sat and watched a couple of guys the other day cross it, only one foot went in the drink! We will just have to settle for that.
Posted 10 years ago # -
re the place at chesser. I work for a large retail company, with large green lorries, in the chesser area................ speak again to managers,and get community groups to put pressure on them , nicely ! They love all that part of the community stuff ! (obvious really, they are such a nice company, just check out some of the films made about them in the states !) Play them clever and you can get NEARLY anything you want out of them ! I know Ive done it for other community groups ! If you want more info, pm me.Just remember were not supposed to talk about our company too much ! so ittle need to be private!
Posted 10 years ago # -
http://www.broughtonspurtle.org.uk/sites/broughtonspurtle.org.uk/files/Spurtle%20222.pdf
Latest Spurtle, bottom of first page;Following the Broughton Rd Tesco’s recent upgrade, regular cyclist customers are baffled as to why the awful and inadequate cycle parking has not been upgraded along with everything else, writes Tim Smith.
The triangular bike racks give poor support, are too few and too close together. The three ridiculous end-on
racks are virtually unusable (Issue 206), as was pointed out to Tesco management immediately they were installed – though to no effect.Meanwhile, the unnecessary shelter (bikes are waterproof, you know) has been renewed, although with scarcely a true
TESCO NOT THINKING STRAIGHT vertical to be seen.Racks similar to the crummy ones favoured by Waitrose. Wonder who it is selling duff racks to Edinburgh supermarkets?
Posted 10 years ago # -
Talking of Waitrose, it's surely quite a few months since Waitrose promised imminent new racks for its Morningside branch. They haven't appeared, there are still just the same old inadequate little triangles.
It must also be several months since Waitrose promised the imminent arrival of splendid new bike racks beside its Comely Bank branch, and on the strength of this covered up all the existing bike racks. All these months later the new racks still haven't appeared, so there are no racks there at all and haven't been for months. For lack of a better alternative, shoppers here tend to lock their bikes to the pedestrian handrails on the ramps up to the door - hardly a good idea for infirm people who depend on the handrails I'd have thought, or for wheel chair or buggy users who won't want the width of the already narrow ramps reduced by parked bikes.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I haven't experienced these "inadequate triangles" yet (what would an "adequate triangle look/feel like?): are they like the "triangle" racks at Sinsberries Meadowbank?
Posted 10 years ago # -
An "adequate" triangle would look like a Sheffield Stand. I.e. not a triangle!
Posted 10 years ago # -
@ crowriver - these are particularly useless for bikes with panniers, childseats etc.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@SRD, point taken, but I think if using bikes to carry heavy loads then a central kickstand is better than leaning against a bike rack, whatever the design.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"Meanwhile, the unnecessary shelter (bikes are waterproof, you know) has been renewed"
Have to say, I'd rather my bike was covered. Waterproof it may be, and I might be about to cycle out into that rain, but while locking/unlocking/loading the bike, it's much much nicer to do under cover if it's tipping down and/or blowing a gale.
"@SRD, point taken, but I think if using bikes to carry heavy loads then a central kickstand is better than leaning against a bike rack, whatever the design."
Having seen a number of kickstanded bikes topple over in the past I'm not 100% convinced of this. A loaded bike will ahve the weight heavy, and the kickstand is at a low point on the bike, whereas a good Sheffield stand gives a nice height of top bar to lean against (and by preference also has a lower horizontal bar for additional locking, and to take account of bikes that aren't the standard shape).
Thing is, not everyone is going to have a kickstand, in fact the grand majority probably don't, and rather than try to convince people that they should all get a kickstand to go to the shops, it's far far easier to put some decent stands in that mean everyone, no matter how their bike is equipped, can go to the shops.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@cc: I got this reply a few days ago from Waitrose Customer Sales and Support (after I had chased them for a reply).
----
I chased your query with the Comely Bank Branch today. They confirmed that the bike racks had been moved in order for us to install the new Garden and Plant point of sale.The branch intend to replace the bike racks near the front of the store but they need to do this in conjunction with the council. At this point in time we do not have a date for when they will be installed however next time your are in the branch our partners will be happy to answer any questions that you may have regarding this issue.
Thank you again for patience and we look forward to seeing you in the Comely Bank branch in the near future.
----So basically no information. And no explanation of why it needs to be done "in conjunction with the Council". Seems rather unlikely to me. Next time I go by there I'll speak to them.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@WC, it all depends what one sees the function of bike stands being. The "triangles" work fine to secure most designs of bike frame with a lock. So in that sense "adequate". One can argue Sheffield stands are better, give more locking options, are nicer to lean one's bike against while loading panniers/child seats, etc. Yes, but it doesn't make the "triangle" stands "inadequate" for the primary purpose: locking one's bike so no-one "consumes" it for free while one is being a good consumer in the supermarché.
I'd rather have "triangles" than "wheelbenders". Sheffield stands would be nice and should be encouraged, but "triangles" will do for most trips.
Posted 10 years ago # -
but "triangles" will do for most trips
Even an unloaded bike will flop over on them. I also dislike any rack where the indidivual stands are held together by a pair of paralell bars bolted across the ground, as they invariably set at precisely the wrong distance and in the wrong position relative to the stands to allow you to position the wheels ont he ground and lock the bike easily.You wouldn't design a triangular parking space, so why do companies insist on trying to tinker with what just needs to be a basic, rectilinear hoop of steel!?
The hierarchy of Bike Racks (feel free to improve it)
"Edinburgh" stand
▼
Sheffield stand
▼
Bikehoop
▼
Triangular stand
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Other artistic interpretations of a stand (the ones at Dobbies))
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Those wierd double-deck, slidy things at Waverley Station
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Lamp post
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Scottish Parliament arty loop things
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Wheelbender / wheel slotPosted 10 years ago # -
Said nothing about triangles (though as you say, I'd still prefer Sheffield stands), but rather the comparison between Sheffields and kickstands in response to, "I think if using bikes to carry heavy loads then a central kickstand is better than leaning against a bike rack, whatever the design" which made no differentiation between stand designs, and was very specifically about when a bike is heavily loaded and not about being 'adequate for most trips'.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"very specifically about when a bike is heavily loaded "
as would be expected at a grocery store!
Posted 10 years ago # -
The "triangles" work fine to secure most designs of bike frame with a lock.
They don't work fine with mine.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Both my bikes (with and without kickstands) are capable of falling over when attached to any of the Sainsbury Meadowbank/Tesco Cannonmills/Waitrose Morningside triangleracks, occasionally taking out a bottle cage on their way down. The other week I had to help someone extract their bike from the Sainsbury rack after it fell over and wedged itself tightly.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Waitrose Comely Bank say the racks were removed by the Council, and that they will be replaced 'soon' with better ones (Sheffields, I hope, rather than the old wheelbenders). Why the Council would remove them and not install replacements, when at pretty much the same time they were installing new racks just along the road in Stockbridge, is an unfathomable mystery of course.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Oh good grief.
Perhaps I did not make myself clear. Leaning a bike against a Sheffield/Edinburgh stand when the bike is heavily loaded can still be highly unstable, as the front forks tend to pivot and the bike can swing away from the stand. If your bike is very heavily loaded and you have no kickstand, it is preferable to lean against a wall where the handlebars can act to stabilise the whole shebang.
As to the central kickstand, by that I meant a bipedal one, I should have been clearer. Like this:
Then, if you balance your load well enough, you don't need to lean your bike against anything. Though if you have panniers/basket at the front, it's a good idea to steady the bars with one hand, or at least install a steering stabiliser like this:
Personally, I've had no problems with the "triangle" stand design. Used with various bikes including the Ute, Raleigh tourer, wee foldy bike, Globe hybrid. YMMV.
Posted 10 years ago # -
MMDV.
The other point about the stands at Waitrose, Morningside is that there could really be more of them.
Posted 10 years ago #
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