Author Topic: Making your own bike shed  (Read 3453 times)

Making your own bike shed
« on: 31 March, 2024, 01:12:27 pm »
Starting for a skill level of "can use a screwdriver".

I want a bike shed for front of house to store my catrike, as I am unlikely to ride it if I have to carry it through the house.

As it's a recumbent it doesn't need to be a high shed but it needs to be longer.  Most sheds on the market are unnecessarily tall (tiger pent is 1.7m!) on the short side (2.1 m would do, but a Lille extra length would mean I wouldn't need to reset the boom every ride) and ideally it would open at one end, not at the side.
With quoted prices ranging from £200 (for a metal frame, no attachment to the ground) to £800 (Asgard 29er.shed) and nothing a perfect fit, how hard would it be to make something myself?

I was thinking a wood structure mostly to keep out the elements, and then a ground anchor and lockon bike for security.   
simplicity, truth, equality, peace


Re: Making your own bike shed
« Reply #2 on: 31 March, 2024, 07:40:08 pm »
Yeah,we know them, part of the tern massive.
As it would be the side.of a bin tidy and not bvt I am not worried (and it would not be the first, second or third bike shed on our street)
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

Re: Making your own bike shed
« Reply #3 on: 26 April, 2024, 07:58:09 pm »
During COVID I built a bin store on my driveway.  It's big enough for two bikes or three bins.  During COVID timber was scarce and having to use what was available affected the design,  but it wasn't too hard.  I should have incorporated an easy way of adapting it to stand on uneven ground, seems my drive isn't as level as I thought!  Whatever it cost then, it'll be more now.
Sheldon Brown never said leave it to the professionals.

Re: Making your own bike shed
« Reply #4 on: 16 June, 2024, 04:17:53 pm »
Looking online, there's a company in Bristol that will make bespoke bike sheds with grass robes for about 1.5 k.  Wood Witham ground anchor. 
I thinks that suggests that wood + ground anchor is prob safe enough (I did consider metal plating under the wood.
Will have to give it thought, as I have no history of woodworking skilz.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

fruitcake

  • some kind of fruitcake
Re: Making your own bike shed
« Reply #5 on: 16 June, 2024, 09:37:38 pm »
It's easy enough to reinforce a wooden shed with steel straps (which can be screwed to the shed walls from the inside). That should slow down a thief with a saw.

Your original plan to lock to a ground anchor seems to be in line with the advice from Chris Juden when he was working for CTC. In Chris's scheme, the ground anchor could be any large piece(s) of metal, in a hole, with a heavy chain attached to them. You'd pour concrete around the anchor so that only the chain emerges. You'd build your shed on top of that. You'd make a hole in the wooden floor of the shed just large enough for the chain to pass through. You'd lock your bike to the chain. That way the wooden shed doesn't need to provide 'security', it just provides shelter. 

Re: Making your own bike shed
« Reply #6 on: 20 June, 2024, 11:31:18 am »
It's easy enough to reinforce a wooden shed with steel straps (which can be screwed to the shed walls from the inside). That should slow down a thief with a saw.

Your original plan to lock to a ground anchor seems to be in line with the advice from Chris Juden when he was working for CTC. In Chris's scheme, the ground anchor could be any large piece(s) of metal, in a hole, with a heavy chain attached to them. You'd pour concrete around the anchor so that only the chain emerges. You'd build your shed on top of that. You'd make a hole in the wooden floor of the shed just large enough for the chain to pass through. You'd lock your bike to the chain. That way the wooden shed doesn't need to provide 'security', it just provides shelter.

In a similar vein, I used fine wire netting (chicken wire) to line a wooden shed for my motorbike a few years ago, which effectively discouraged at least one attack.
Life is too important to be taken seriously.

Re: Making your own bike shed
« Reply #7 on: 23 July, 2024, 01:13:41 pm »
I'm thinking of building it at two heights, so it will fit the seat but then be lower at the front.  This should make it look less like a bike store.
Not sure what the pieces of wood are called.that I want to buy, so not even sure sizes and names and how I can price it up
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

fruitcake

  • some kind of fruitcake
Re: Making your own bike shed
« Reply #8 on: 24 July, 2024, 08:58:41 am »
... so it will fit the seat but then be lower at the front..
Would a sloping roof take care of that?