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Old August 25th 18, 03:46 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Joerg[_2_]
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Posts: 6,016
Default Bus bike rack too short, how to strap in a bike quickly?

On 2018-08-25 07:19, Ned Mantei wrote:
On 24-08-18 16:35, Joerg wrote:
Couldn't believe it. Those great agency folks obviously didn't test
the bike racks for our local buses before signing the contract. Long
story short my 29er bike didn't fit in and neither did my friend's.
Luckily the driver was patient and helpful. We had to load the bikes
reversed so the hook goes over the rear wheel. Not easy because of my
panniers but worked, somehow. The front wheels now rode up on the
other side of the rack slot. We both had bungee cords with which we
strapped them down as hard as we could. Oh, and the slot width barely
fit my 2.25" wide MTB tires barely squeezed in and I had to push down
hard. The rack looks like this:

https://ixquick-proxy.com/do/spg/sho...8df2678ec2064b


When we arrived another rider put his 26" MTB on there on even that
barely fit in (rear wheel rode up half an inch).

Does anyone know a better "strap down" method that is faster than
wrapping a bungee around rim and rack numerous times?


I have occasionally had a problem with my MTB in a Swiss train.
Depending on the train, there will typically be a space for bikes at the
end of the wagon. There you can hang the front wheel of your bike by a
hook, and the back wheel will be in a vertically mounted U-shaped,
fitting to keep it from swaying too much.
See https://www.radreise-wiki.de/Datei:S...lbstverlad.JPG
However, especially in older rail cars sometimes the hooks are too near
the ceiling and the wall, so that 2.25" tires won't fit. The train
operators (mainly the federal rail system) know about this problem, but
solving it involves more than just replacing the hooks.


Why? I am sure that one of my riding buddies who is a machinist could
devise a solution and build a prototype in one afternoon.


Newer trains sometimes will have a wagon with a different sort of bike
parking:
https://blog.veloplus.ch/2015/03/24/...velotransport/

That works well, and it's easier to park your bike.


Seems they learned. I am trying now as well, have contacted someone
higher up at the transit agency and he already responded. He wants to
study our loading efforts on a camera recording to see the problem in
more detail. I didn't know they also had a running camera for that. If
he can't I'll ride my bike up there for a meeting at the bus depot. It's
a nice singletrack. Some of it gnarly, one of riding friends turfed it
on Thursday and now his shoulder hurts badly.

--
Regards, Joerg

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