Should people be able to lift their bikes?

[telstarbox]

I'm working on a constrained site which has some Sheffield cycle stands (good), but they've been installed closely parallel to a wall so you can only park on the outer side of the stand (not so good).

I pointed out that if they were a bit further off the wall you could double up on both sides - 400mm is usually specified by the manufacturers. However this could lead to a situation where the "inside" bike needs to be lifted over the "outside" one. Obviously for the outside ones this isn't a problem.

Is it reasonable to expect 50% of intending cyclists to lift their bikes - I can easily do it with my road bike but I know some e-bikes weigh a ton with the battery.

[Cudzoziemiec]

It doesn't seem reasonable in the case of e-bikes, cargo bikes, trikes, recumbents. Is there not room to install the stands perpendicular to the wall?

[arabella]

No.
From your description:
You aren't just lifting it into a railway carriage (for example, not as much as knee high even in worst cases), which I find hard enough at times (tbh times:when loaded), but in your scenario I'd be needing to lift it however high the outside bike is - some people are tall and ride sit up and beg bikes.
It's a bad idea. 
Better either do it properly or leave as they are.

[hbunnet]

Is it reasonable to expect 50% of intending cyclists to lift their bikes - I can easily do it with my road bike but I know some e-bikes weigh a ton with the battery.

No, I recently spent ages installing a set of roof racks on my car for bike carrying.
I then discovered I could only just lift my (heavy) Thorn Raven to that height, when fresh.
I'm in late 70s, the bike is heavy and it's a high lift.  Still No.

[Paul H]

No.  You wouldn't even be permitted to impose that in the workplace, anyone injuring themselves attempting it might have a reasonable claim.

[Polar Bear]

The thing is, what might they be lifting their own bicycle over?  In there is a trike, tandem, cargo bike or laden tourer on the outside they will not be just lifting over but lifting and reaching. 

Also, I know people who use a bicycle partly as a mobility aid who definitely could not lift their machine.

[Kim]

Lifting a bike requires the right combination of:

- Bike
- Luggage
- Available time
- Willingness to get covered in oil and road crud
- Strength (and, more situationally, grip)
- Height
- Susceptibility to injury from heavy lifting going wrong

It's been a few years since I hung my late, lamented Streetmachine in a dangly bike space, and I'm genuinely unsure whether I'd have the arm strength to be able to do it now.

I'll also note that I'd be more than a little pissed off if someone dropped their bike chainring-first on my inevitably discontinued least-worst saddle.

[teamerchant]

Ha, no chance.

[T42]

Depends how high.  Into the car, OK; turning it upside down to unship the motor, OK.  Onto a roof rack?  Away to hell.

[fruitcake]

Depending on the shape and size of the space, it might be worth considering installing the stands at an angle to the wall.

But I agree with comments above that lifting (and controlling) a bike is hard. Alas, many bikes are heavy. 

[Wowbagger]

My e-bike weighs about 30kg. This is significant when if comes to lifting it over fences and stiles when indulging in comedy off road.

[De Sisti]

You what? With no upper body strength?

[Lightning Phil]

400mm is less than the width of many handlebars and hardly a suitable distance from the wall.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

I could lift all my bikes in that situation (while cursing the designer) but I would not recommend expecting every one to be so lucky.  Not at all.

I won't ever get a roof rack for a bike, much prefer the tow bar job.

[Cudzoziemiec]

In this situation it's not just lifting a bike up, it's lifting it over another object, moving it away from you, then lowering it carefully into a constricted space. And it's not just a weight; a bike is harder to lift than a box due its size, shape and lack of suitable grabbing points. Lifting 30kg in the gym might be easy but you could still struggle with Wowbagger's e-bike.

[Kim]

The floppiness of front wheels/handlebars makes really doesn't help.  I expect those springamathings you get on cargo bikes might make lifting easier.

[mzjo]

I think it is not the lifting up that poses the problem; you can usually find handholds that are low enough to give enough height of lift to get (just about?) up to the height of another bike. But having got it there the big problem is how you get it back down with your hands in completely the wrong position to lower it on the other side of the obstacle. Same thing goes for retrieving your bike on the far side of another. How do you do it without dragging your pride and joy across the obstacle bike? I don't see it myself, although I still feel capable of lifting a pre-war tandem onto a roof rack (or I might be underestimating the effects of age; I'll be finding out shortly).
Lifting bikes up onto wallhooks to put another bike underneath in the garage is no real problem (given a modicum of care that I don't possess to avoid smearing the chain grease across your last clean jumper!). Putting them back on the floor using the same hand position is another story altogether!

[telstarbox]

Thanks everyone for good points - have suggested angling the stands instead so you can roll into either side.

[fd3]

It's been a few years since I hung my late, lamented Streetmachine in a

, when did that happen? Did it get a Viking burial?

[Kim]

It's been a few years since I hung my late, lamented Streetmachine in a

, when did that happen? Did it get a Viking burial?

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=126817.0 refers.

It's been stripped to its component parts, some of which are going to be used on its replacement.  I haven't decided what to do with the frame itself.

[Quint]

It doesn't seem reasonable in the case of e-bikes, cargo bikes, trikes, recumbents. Is there not room to install the stands perpendicular to the wall?

     That surely requires a basic amount of intelligence/common sense on the part of planners