This bike shelters related post is a guide to help you in choosing what is right for you.
Who are bike shelters for?
Whether you’re in a school, university, office, accommodation or in construction, for parking bikes securely a bike shelter will function the same in all of these locations.
How many bikes are you looking to park?
This is always a good place to start when choosing the right bike shelter. Shelters start by parking a minimum of 6 bikes and go up in multiples of 2. So if you have an exact figure in your mind of how many bikes I am certain we can make the shelter to accommodate the bikes you need.
The Location to consider when choosing the right bike shelter
This is a very important aspect to consider. From a usability point of you, the shelter should be in a place where users will feel safe parking their bike. Preferably near lighting (we do offer solar lighting in our shelters) or close to other people with CCTV ideally. To save on groundworks, it would be ideal to be able to place the shelter on a flat concrete or tarmac surface.
How much space do you have?
For example, the 10 bike BDS Bike Shelters (as seen here) need a floor space of 4m x 2m. Working to this average, in the space you have you can quickly see if you’ll fit your target number of bikes in. Or even easier, you can simply take a photo, write down your space measurements and send them into [email protected] and we can tell you what will fit. We also can carry out site surveys if the site is more complicated.
What’s your budget?
We cater to all requirements. Our shelter prices start around £500.00 ex VAT so we can cater for all budgets. We also consistently watch our prices to ensure you pay the lowest prices possible.
What does it look like?
There are a number of choices for design. If a practical and cheap design is what you’re looking for, the BDS range is our best seller and will fulfil what you need, as seen here. But if you’re looking for a bike shelter, we have a full range of different shapes and sizes. Some have clear polycarbonate roofs, corrugated steel or wood cladding, see the full cycle shelter range here.
What options should I choose?
It really depends on how secure you would like your shelter to be. The options are extra for security. If you need gates and side panels so the shelter is fully enclosed, you have a higher chance of the shelter being secure. We also offer different lock types, like padlocks, lock and keys or digital swipe card systems.
The Installation
Firstly, what surface is the bike shelter being installed onto? A good hard surface is ideal, such as concrete or solid tarmac. We do offer a ground works service so a concrete base can be installed onto grass (like in the above photo). Can you install it yourself? Yes you might be able to if you have someone that is good at working on flat pack furniture! It will require 2 people to install it and a good drill. Alternatively, we can offer you a quotation to install the shelter for you. We install all over the United Kingdom.
Managing and maintaining your Bike Shelters
They are very hard wearing shelters, so an annual clean will keep your shelter looking fresh. If you have gates and locks, it’s worth keeping an eye on who has access to your bike shed. You should look to change your padlock code every few months if the cycle parkers change frequently.
Letting everyone know about their new bike shed
Here’s the fun part! You can proudly announce the installation of the brand new bike shelters!
Further reading
Here is a 20 bike enclosure we recently installed. It is effectively 2 bike shelters facing each other. Sustrans wrote an article advising on how they help schools choose the right shelter here.
If you have any questions about this article or would like some advice on your bike shelter requirements, please get in touch on 0800 612 6113 or [email protected]