My DIY Bike Rack – UK Edition 自家製單車架 – 英國版

Ever since my son’s bike was stolen from our underground parking lot two years ago, I’ve brought my own road bike back home. Along with the mountain bike I recently bought for my son, finding a place to store my three bikes at home has become quite a challenge. To be honest, don’t assume that living in the UK means ample housing space. Even if you are living in a house, there can be also some kind of “land constraints”, not to mention I live in an apartment!

Speaking of my Giant TCR Advanced SL, considering the condition of the roads in the UK, I’m somewhat reluctant to take her out. For the past few years, I’ve to hide her away in the store room. As for the other two bikes, they’ve been sitting next to my bookshelf. Apart from taking up space, I have to move them whenever I need to access something, which is quite inconvenient.

自從前年兒子放在停車場的單車被盗後，我日常使用的公路單車已搬回家内，連同最近為兒子再買的攀山車，在家中找個地方存放我的三部單車已成為一個頗大的困擾 。千萬不要以為英國住屋面積大，即使住 house，亦不見得沒有”土地問題”，更何况我住 apartment！

話說我那部 Giant TCR Advanced SL，以英國的路面狀況，我真的有點不捨得帶她出去走，過去幾年只能無奈地把她藏在 store room；至於其他兩部單車就只好瑟縮於書架傍邊，除了佔據地方外，要找點東西亦要搬開她們，諸多不便。

Recently, I decided to build a bike rack to hold these two bikes, just like the bike rack I made years ago in Hong Kong.

With some online research, I found the following design from doityourselfplanner.com. Although the process is a bit more involved, it doesn’t take up much space, which is perfect for my small home.

However, given that reality often falls short of ideals and by judging from my past records, I would just start with one rack instead !

All the design and diagrams discussed here, plus all the relevant Intellectual Rights belong to doityourselfplanner.com and my own adaption is for my own personal use only.

最近打算做個單車架放置這兩部單車，情況有如多年前在香港做那個單車架。

在網上做了一輪資料搜集，最後從 doityourselfplanner.com 找到以下這個設計。工序雖然多一點，但所佔空間不多，頗適合我狹小的家，但基於理想與現實往往都會有很大的落差及我的往跡，暫時還是先來做一個吧！

此文提及的所有設計和圖則及相關的智識產權均屬於 doityourselfplanner.com，而我的版本僅供我個人使用

After preparing a simple draft and calculated the required materials, I ordered the building materials from B&Q and Amazon. It just took two working days for the delivery.

簡單的畫個草圖，計算好所需材料，便到 B&Q 網店及 Amazon 下單，兩個工作天内送貨。

The first step was to cut the timber based on the required dimensions. Since there were quite a few pieces to cut, using a jigsaw would have been faster. However, it turned out that the Pendulum Saw I purchased two years ago was only suitable for sawing thin wooden strips. When faced with timber as thick as the frames of the bike rack, the saw blade immediately deformed. In the end, I had to resort to my trusty handsaw, which I’ve been using for many years, but it was time-consuming and frustrating.

第一步當然是根據計算好的呎吋，準備切割木材，因為數量亦不少，使用電鋸應該較快㨗，但無奈早兩年購入的 Pendulum Saw 只適合鋸幼木條，遇上單車架主體這樣粗的木，鋸片立即變形，最後還是用回跟隨我多年的手鋸，費時失事。

By considering there was still a lot of cutting work required, I eventually purchased another more professional handsaw, which happened to be one of the best-selling products at B&Q. It was far more efficient than my old handsaw.

Remember the golden rule: ,”The right tools are truly indispensable for DIY enthusiasts” !

考慮到仍有很多切割工作，最後再購入另一把較專業的手鋸，而這手鋸是 B&Q 熱賣產品之一，亦比我那舊手鋸更有効率。

還是那句 : 合適的工具對 DIYer 真是不可缺少！

The installation was quite straight forward, requiring only a power drill and a power screwdriver. The entire process only took about an hour.

往後的安裝工序則比較簡單，只需用上電鑽及電批即可．約一小時便可完成。

In order to reinforce the bike rack and simplify some of the setup procedures, I made some minor modifications compared to the original design.

為了加固單車架及簡化部分工序，相比原本的設計，我亦作了一些小改動。

To accommodate the new bike rack, I made some minor adjustments to my workspace, making it easier to access the bikes in the future.

This upright bike rack costed about 50 pounds, which was not too expensive, and the results were quite satisfactory.

為配合新單車架，我亦把我的工作間稍作改動，方便日後的單車提取。

這個單車架組合用上約 50 鎊，不算太貴，而効果亦不錯。

After several days of testing and observation, I realised that setting up another upright bike rack for my road bike would require quite a bit of space, and loading/unloading the bike would also be more tedious. I ended up dropping the idea and opt for a smaller add-on, allowing the road bike to lay flat next to the rack for easier access.

經過多日的測試及觀察，我發覺如要為我的 road bike 再做第二個垂直單車架，所需空間頗多，提取單車亦比較麻煩，最後決定只做個小小配置，讓 road bike 平放於傍邊，使用上更方便。