Horizontal Bike Parking: Why Bike Rooms Need It

When it comes to bike parking, there’s no one size fits all. While some go full Lycra riding a race bike every day of the week, others rather enjoy a casual, easy ride on their Dutch bike. This very fact means the following: different riders ride different bikes and, therefore, want different bike racks. This also includes horizontal racks. 

As vertical, double-tier or dynamic racks are often a preferred solution in spaces because of their space-saving and capacity-increasing qualities, horizontal racks are often a left out of bike rooms. But they must not be forgotten. In fact, according to Australian Standards for Bicycle Parking (the AS2890.3, 2015), bike rooms require a minimum 20% of horizontal floor-mounted racks.

Here’s why they are a must-have in your bike room.

Simple horizontal parking provides for riders unable to lift a bicycle

Not everyone is able to lift a bike into a vertical, dynamic or double tier rack. Research has shown that women prefer horizontal parking over vertical racks due to the difficulty of lifting a bike into vertical positions. Also, some riders are simply not tall or strong enough, making it harder for them to park vertically. In such cases, a horizontal bike rack is often the best alternative.

Simple horizontal parking provides for non-standard bicycles 

Like we said, bike rooms know a lot of different users. Even though you don’t see many of them, our favourite two-wheelers sometimes come in the form of cargo bikes, recumbent bicycles or hand bikes which require bike racks of a certain type. Why? Imagine lifting your 100kg cargo bike into a vertical rack that’s spaced at 500mm. Right, that’s never going to work. In most cases, horizontal racks form the best parking solution for such bikes.

See below image of a cargo bike taking up 5 vertical parking positions

Cargo Bike Horizontal Parking

Enhance user experience

It’s simple: not providing horizontal bike racks leads to unsatisfied users. In case horizontal bike racks are unavailable, bikes tend to be parked in inconvenient locations like in an aisle or against a wall. This creates a messy bike room and is disturbing for other users. Providing horizontal bike racks enhances the user experience, ensuring every rider can easily park their bike.

So, what makes a good horizontal bike rack? 

There are many horizontal racks in the market, but there are only a few that belong to the “good ones”. There are certain things to keep in mind when sourcing a horizontal rack. The best horizontal racks:

  • Offer two points of locking, ensuring a stolen bike is an absolute no-go.
  • Sufficiently support the bike so they don’t fall, get damaged or damage other bikes.
  • Are designed with the right spacing in mind making it easy and safe to manoeuvre a bike in and out of it.
  • Have dynamic fixings, like our Wishbone, so racks can easily be removed allowing you to transform a space into i.e. an exercise space during seasons with lower usage.
  • Are floor-mounted and fixed in place.

We make a lot of different bike racks. We do this because we know that there will never be one rack that is perfect for every rider. But the closest we have come to the perfect mix of protection, user experience and space-saving is the Wishbone.

Need a hand?

Designing a room? Or looking into the best bike parking solutions for your building? We’re here to help! Get in touch and let us run you through how your space can be as efficient and user-friendly as possible.

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