Getting a Shelter 找個好歸宿

When all my belongings were shipped to my current UK apartment few months ago, I had no way but to put my two road bikes in the balcony.

還記得香港的家檔送抵英國那天，我無奈地把兩輛單車放在露台。

As I had already resumed my riding in UK for quite awhile, I placed the frequently used and cheaper road bike in the bicycle cage in the basement carpark. In order to let others know who she is, I put a beautiful necklace and name tag around her.

隨著在英國已從新上路，我把經常踩，較便宜的那輛放在大廈地庫的單車倉內。當然亦要為她戴上頸鍊及名牌，好讓其他人對她有些認識。

For the other beautiful lady, I had no other way but had her staying at the balcony. Despite I have covered her with a thick plastic cover, I felt a little bit upset when raindrops hit on her. And after several months of suffering, I decided to give her a good home.

Just like what I had done several years ago, I can build an in-house DIY bike rack. However, as we are still renting a temporary apartment, I dropped the idea as such a DIY bike rack may not be easily fitted to the new living place when we move in the near future.

My search online revealed a number of solutions. Unfortunately, most of them required drilling of wall for rack installation. To be honest, these types of solutions are not applicable to tenants like me. For the others, placement of the rack demanded a much larger space that is also not feasible with small apartment. While browsing in Amazon, there was a bike rack called Bike Nook that caught my attention. One of the greatest features is space saving through its vertical mounting design. With the promotional price slightly below £40, it definitely worth a try.

Delivery time if ordered through Amazon is about two to three days. However, the same product is also available in Argos. Not only the rack can be immediately picked up from selected Sainsbury’s store, I can also earn Nectar bonus points as well.

至於另一輛稍為美艶的則仍停留於露台上，縱使已為她穿上了一件厚厚的膠外衣，但每次聽到雨點打在她的身上時，內心總有點痛。經歷了數月的煎熬，終下定決心要好好安置她。

曾想過跟多年前一樣，自製單車架 放在室內，但因現時居所只是暫租，他日要搬家的話，做好的車架又未必能安放，最後還是放棄這念頭。

上網找了一輪，選擇可有幾個，但大多需要改動牆身，對我這類租客較難實行；而其他通常又佔地甚多，不太適合較細小的公寓。剛巧在 Amazon 看到一個叫 Bike Nook 的推介，特別之處是單車是垂直安放，令實際佔用空間減少很多，零售價亦不到 40 鎊，值得試試！

如在 Amazon 購買的話需兩、三天送貨，換過另一網購平台 Argos 卻可即時到 Sainsbury’s 提貨，更可以賺點 Nectar 積分。

With no other excuse, I immediately ordered one unit and rushed to Argos at the Sainsbury’s Hampton Hill store for collection.

To my surprise, the packing of the Bike Nook product is really great and unlike those poor packing usually came with other online shopping platforms. A bonus point for Bike Nook.

就這樣沒有其他藉口下，即時購買及駕車往 Hampton Hill 的 Sainsury’s 提取。

收到貨品時有點意外，包裝頗精美，不像平常在其他平台購買的簡陋，先來加分。

The English instruction manual was also excellent, much better than most Chinglish instruction manuals that I usually came across. Installation was straight forward and only took a few minutes. Overall, the materials and the construction of the rack was great and Bike Nook is definitely a high Cost / Performance product.

英文組裝說明亦寫得很好，完勝很多 Chinglish 說明書，短短數分鐘便組裝完成。這個 Bike Nook 無論用料或製作亦遠超預期，完全是高 CP 值產品！

The first step of the bike storage required the placement of the rear wheel onto the horizontal ramp and against the vertical brace of Bike Nook.

As Bike Nook supports both Road Bikes and Mountain Bikes (MTB), the ramp seems to be much wider than most of the thin road bike tyres. I used two other velcro straps (Bike Nook only came with one for tying of the front wheel) to tighten the rear wheel. By inserting cardboard papers on the two side of the rear wheel, a more stable mounting was achieved.

安放單車時先要把後輪放在水平的 ramp 及貼近垂直的 brace 上。

由於 Bike Nook 亦支援較粗輪軚的 MTB，我的 Road Bike 幼軚放在 ramp 上便顯得不太穩定，我只好另行找來兩條 velcro straps（Bike Nook 只提供一條 velcro strap 來固定前輪）把後輪綁好，再加入了兩組厚咭紙來固定。

Next placed the seat post of the bike onto the V-slot of the rack. Attention should be made when adjusting the height of the V-slot so that the bike should be slightly inclined to the vertical brace. Personally I found it quite unstable and a slight push would cause the entire bike to fall down. As a temporary measure, I tied the seat post to the vertical brace with a piece of thick string.

接著就要把單車的座管擱在 V-slot 上，重點是 V-slot 高度應調校至整部單車微微傾向垂直支架（vertical brace）。個人感覺這樣安放的話，輕輕一撞便會把單車推倒，還是先用繩子把座管綁在 brace 吧！

Finally, secured the front wheel to the bike down tube using the supplied velcro strap. A piece of microfibre cloth was added to protect the carbon front wheel and the frame coating from any unnecessary damage.

最後便是把前輪用 velcro strap 固定在單車下管上。為避免刮到碳纖維前輪及下管面油，我先把這兩部份用 microfibre 布包裹好。

With some simple efforts, I managed to get my beloved road bike a sweet home and stayed away from the rain.

簡單的一個下午，終於把她安置好，不再被無情的天氣摧殘著，善哉 🙏