[BighugeMonkeysuit]

I’ll be spending this evening spitting feathers. Anyone had one of these before?

Me and my girlfriend have bikes parked outside our flat on the landing in a bit of dead space to the left of our door. It’s an L shaped corridor and we’re in the corner and it’s an outside area sheltered by the floor above. We got a letter from the Tenancy Enforcement Assistant in Greenwich today commanding me to ‘ arrange to have them removed’ as this is owned by the council and a communal area. Flower pots aren’t allowed either apparently!

I have no space to keep the bikes in flat and there is no secure, sheltered bicycle parking anywhere on the estate so moving them isn’t really an option. I can either sell it, or chain it to a fence in the car park which is as good as giving it to someone on the street. I’m on the cycle scheme which is meant to encourage people to get cycling and then I’m slapped with a removal order and no decent alternatives. Good one government.

Anyone got any suggestions on how or whether I can argue this? I imagine that getting a bike shed around here will take a few years of petitioning!

Topic

[southseabythesea]

Wall mount the bike.
Wall mount the bike.

[Redvee]

chrisl wrote:This time I’m

chrisl wrote:

This time I’m getting a Clug

Where’s the one for FatBike tyres?

[chrisl]

You can get quite cunning
You can get quite cunning storing bikes, I found a good dead spot behind my door, which could be used if the bike is held vertically (i.e. on it’s back wheel) – it balances well in that position too, so hardly needs any force to hold it up. Built a frame to hold it out of the remains of a wardrobe someone was throwing out. This time I’m getting a Clug http://www.getclug.com/ which does the job really neatly (when it turns up…they’re a new ex-kickstarter company and I think they’re having a bit of fun with mass production)

[chokofingrz]

Move the bike but make sure
Move the bike but make sure you leave a rusty old lock attached to the fence – just to give them the finger.

[crazy-legs]

Quote:I have no space to keep

I have no space to keep the bikes in flat and there is no secure, sheltered bicycle parking anywhere on the estate so moving them isn’t really an option.

There’s *always* space! 😉
When I was at uni I was in study-bedrooms – first year in uni halls of res, following years in uni-owned houses, they were never very big rooms. I managed to keep both a road bike and an MTB in there. One room had the road bike under the desk (wheels off, they went under the bed) and the MTB standing on its rear wheel at the end of the bed with the front wheel toe-strapped to the vertical water pipe running down the wall to hold it all in place. All I had to do was shift it when they inspected the room – no big deal since they always told you a week in advance when that would be!

Bit of a faff and it meant always cleaning the bike after a ride but better than any alternative.

[mrmo]

but an old van and park it
but an old van and park it outside, it doesn’t have to be a runner. just make sure the alarms are good!

[Anonymous]

A friend in Leeds wound up in
A friend in Leeds wound up in an identical situation i.e. small flat, no secure cycle storage. As she had a Juliet balcony I told her to hang the cycle from it.

Sure enough the council objected to that as well [on aesthetic grounds]. After much too-ing and fro-ing the council installed secure cycle lockers outside the building.

You just have to think outside the box and be stubborn.

[BighugeMonkeysuit]

When I first got the bike a
When I first got the bike a year ago ( suppose I’ve had a good run) I was thinking of a pulley. I’m on the first floor and have a tiny balcony with a fire ladder on it. A couple of padlocks and it should be secure enough.. And I can wrap the chains around the frame and tie it to the railings! Bet the council would love that.

Mike The Bike, I liked that anecdote anyway! Weird situation but glad it went to good use.

And the answer is NEVER a Brompton. :&

[brooksby]

My office building had a
My office building had a strict “no bikes in communal areas” rule. One of the office tenants left a bike in the main lobby and nobody knew who it belonged to so it got confiscated, and a note left on the lobby noticeboard saying that it had been impounded, so please come forward and claim it (there was no charge to get it back, they just had to put their head above the parapet and claim ownership). Nobody ever did. Three or four years later, it got donated to a local not-for-profit bike repair place, to go to a new home.

Not sure of the relevance of that anecdote, actually…

[mike the bike]

You say you’ve no room to
You say you’ve no room to store bikes indoors Mr Big, but if you are imaginative you will find a way to keep them safe without falling over them.
What about a couple of those cheap pulley gizmos for hoisting them up to the ceiling? Or vertical storage racks, some of which are beautiful to behold?

[simon.thornton]

Not sure what the question
Not sure what the question was, but the answer’s Brompton …..

[rch30]

Fire crews not only might
Fire crews not only might have to crawl, they more than likely will be dragging a hose of sufficient length to reach all parts of the affected flat as well. The last thing they would want is for the loops of their hose getting caught around your bike. Fire regulations are there for a reason.

[Anonymous]

My bikes live indoors anyway.
My bikes live indoors anyway. Security, innit.

[bikebot]

It’s normal, fire regulations
It’s normal, fire regulations and building insurance. Enforcement is generally zero tolerance, as it’s for the benefit of fire crews who ultimately might need to crawl through those spaces wearing respirators and no visibility.

Are there any self storage places nearby, or could you approach anyone with a garage to see if they’d sublet you some space?

[BighugeMonkeysuit]

Yup. Having dug around I
Yup. Having dug around I don’t have a leg to stand on. I’ll just have to put it down to ‘one of those things’.

All I can do is request secure parking but as it’s an old ex-council complex then I very much doubt they’re going to do anything.

[Author]

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