You can't beat a good rack - in my opinion !

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Feb 7, 2008
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Hi all

So following on from If you are short of space

I need to find space for two trikes in a shed that is very full.



So the idea is to mount a tube on the upper cross beam just underneath the large cream castor , about nipple height.

Then make up a frame that hinges on the tube , however it can be removed to allow access.



so the idea is to wheel the trike onto the frame set up as above



Then I will move the front part of the ramp up till it is level and the other trike will then roll underneath it ?



Hopefully it will be both wide enough and long enough for most of the trikes I might build.

Having said that when I put it into the shed I was surprised at how short it was compared to the length of the shed so I may rummage around the homestead and see if I have any longer timber , easy to change at this time ?
 
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Back when I were a lad we had a laundry rack above the bath:-


These days that design has morphed into:-


I'm just thinking that hanging the top one may make it easier to still get in and out of the shed for other reasons than wanting either trike.
 
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As you can see from picture 1 the roof is far to fragile to suspend the whole weight from it , hence pivoting it from the rear shelf that touches the floor and can be strengthened easily if need be..

I have one of the second [ well 2 actually ] hoists , they are truly dreadful with there being huge gaps between the pulleys and their frames , allowing the cord to slip in the gap at a moments inattention locking the whole think up.

Having said that I am thinking of using it to lift the other end off the floor and up till level by using an existing side wall post on the left and attaching another to the wall on the right , if I do I will take all the pulleys apart drill for 6mm bolt axles and use some felt to fill the gaps.

it might work ?
 
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There are 3 levels of inside storage:

  1. On the floor. The easiest and the most inefficient and it gets better from here on.
  2. In cupboards or up the wall, usually happens when the floor is full. But, you still have to be able to get to things.
  3. In the gap between the floor and the ceiling. A hard hat may be necessary once it becomes too high to trip over.
Beyond that, there is only outside.
 
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Ok after chewing the cud with SSW [ soft southern wuss ] and some serious thinking .....

I decided the rack was a non starter in it's current form ?

The elephant in the room is the door , it was made to narrow and in fact the standard Python clipped the door frame trying to get out around the door which due to it's thickness did not lie flat against the wall.

So what to do ?



Decided to saw off the front left non opening part of the door end and attach it to the door ;)

You can see in the picture the door ended to the right of the re-positioned hasp and just below that you can see where the hasp was originally.



It was going to be very difficult screwing the old door post to the left edge of the door due to the huge size of the timbers , then I had a brain wave and slapped 4 x 6" x 12mm bolts in and hey presto joined together.



So left one of 3 verticals is original door frame centre is old side post 3 of the 4 bolts can be seen holding those together , then a spacer and more thickness for the hasp to screw through and then new outer door edge.

Leaving me with a respectable door opening at last.



Now I am building my own version of the velomobile rack , as I have a cunning plan for it when finished...
 
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Ok done a bit more as I now have 2 trikes to store ?



So the frame showed above somewhere now has castors and a loading ramp , I also duplicated this frame so have another one to mount above it ?



Needs some sort of brake as it moves when loading and the ramp has a cross piece that fouls the front of the trike , so that needs shifting.



The velomobile versions has the top deck running across the top and pivoting down , that adds some structural problems however it was done I assume so you did not need long ramps to get the top vehicle off ?



More thinking needed for the top deck ...
 
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Sheer luxury to have a choice of mounts.
Pain in the backside having no space to store them easily.
Great Idea to have them both independently accessible for riding. I am assuming (of course) that the lower one will be removable while leaving the upper one in place.

I can imagine your butler or manservant asking when he lays your clothes out for the morning after drawing you a bath..."Which conveyance shall I prepare for you today Sir?"
 
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Sheer luxury to have a choice of mounts.
I seem to think you also have 2 mounts , that you don't have easy access to ?

Great Idea to have them both independently accessible for riding. I am assuming (of course) that the lower one will be removable while leaving the upper one in place.
The lower one will be the ' daily ' the upper deck will currently house the ' test mule '.

If I just pivot the upper deck at the back , when the front is lowered it will be sat on it's own ramps.
This would use much less ' material ' making the trolley lighter and easier to manouver however the lower trike would have to be removed every time I wanted to get the top trike down ?

I am hoping as an added bonus it will give me a waist height work table for trike matenance/repairs

I can imagine your butler or manservant asking when he lays your clothes out for the morning after drawing you a bath..."Which conveyance shall I prepare for you today Sir?"
A friend owned a 1916 Stanley Steamer and was told it was originally owned by a local Doctor , one of the maids duties included lightlng the boiler in the Stanley in plenty of time for him to leave for his practice , apparently she was easily recognised as she was the maid with no eye brows !
 
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So it is usable and almost finished , however it did not go to plan really....



So daily ride sat in bottom on frame with a loading ramp held up by bungee cords.



This is the mule sat on an upper floating tray , however the tray was supposed to be sat on the edge of the upper level sloping to the ground and the trike ran up it and secured by toe straps ..

Well that didn't work , the mule front wheel would not sit in it's cradle and the trike wanted to either jack knife or roll of the rack [ or both ]

So I loaded it on with the tray on the deck.

I pushed the trolley away and raised the back end of the tray till I could drop the tray wheels onto the upper deck , then it was simply a matter of going around the front and lifting it to chest height and rolling it on.



The bit of wood on the floor at the back stops the frame rolling away from me , probably would have been better to back it up to the wall first :whistle:

So next question does it fit in the bike shed ?



barely is the answer .

So long snagging list ?
bike shed door closes all the time - needs stop to hold open
wood runners on floor foul rear set of casters - move caster's further outboard.
lots of screws protruding - grind down before either me or a tyre gets punctured
upper frame tried to leave upper level - add some guidance rails/sidewalls

least daily rider can come out of rack without removing rack from bike shed , it is possible upper one can as well needs testing.

So I achieved the goal of getting 2 trikes in one bike shed and may also have built a trike maintenance rack as well ?

all for now Paul
 
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At least it works and serves the purpose it was meant for, so a good result. Cosmetics are a secondary matter.
A simple "hook & eye" to hold the door open?
 
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Joined
Feb 7, 2008
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4,572
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At least it works and serves the purpose it was meant for, so a good result. Cosmetics are a secondary matter.
You mean it wants lipstick and some blusher ? you southerners are really weird :rolleyes:

A simple "hook & eye" to hold the door open?
Yes such a simple thing will make it so much easier to use , unrestrained it swings till about half open/shut neither use nor ornament , I could of course just take a hinge off give it a bash with a hammer in the middle and refit ?
 
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