I am in the process of designing/building a bunkhouse with accomodation for upto 24 people near Brechfa Forest. As the forestry commission are building 3 olympic standard mountain bike trails in the forest I want to ensure that the building design will work.

I want to incorporate in the design lockable storage for upto 24 bikes. Has anyone any recommendations on any types/sources of bike racks that can be built into a lockable shed?

Will a standard hosepipe spray attachment be powerful enough for washing down bikes? Or will a power washer be needed.

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Personally my interest is in riding not cycling so please don't assume I know anything about makes and sources. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Jillie.

Hi Jillie,

re the power wash thingy, it has been discussed on here in the past and i think the general consensus was avoid full on pressure washers, the car wash type can wash out all the grease from the bikes moving parts.

IMO for a one off after a long hard ride a power washer is a very welcome. I wouldn't use one on my bike as a regular thing but after riding all day at Afan or CyB I just want to clean it as quickly as possible and go have a shower.

As for locking the bikes up you could try these guys who make all sorts of racks and locking type things.

Standard hose pressure is more than enough. I think a lot of bikewashs at trailheads are electric so they can be "controlled" ie you can't leave it running and you have to pay to use it (not that paying is a bad thing).

I've used a fair few bike stores at hostels and they don't usually have any sort of rack - as long as there's somewhere rock solid to lock the bike to I'm reasonably happy.

the other aspect on a pressure washer is the need of more detailed risk asessments and electrical testing as "joe public" will be using water and electric together not to mention horse play with a turbo charged water pistol ;¬)

it would be worth building a spacific wash down area with a concrete center draining camber and incorperating something like a "grease trap" to avoid blocking the drains...

and as for a spray gun Rijacks' are virtually indistructable remove the brass nob and it cant be left on wasting water, along with the fact it comes with a none quick release fitting so you can fix it with a hose clip so have less chance of it been half inched by some light fingered guest

Rijak gun

The thing that makes or breaks any sort of accommodation for me is the shower - screw the bike! A hot powerful shower is heaven after a day on the bike.

A pub within walking distance is a plus also : )

When I ran a bike shed it looked a little like this inside -- the bikes were basically hanging nose to tail from hooks from a beam. It wouldn't take a lot to adapt, if people bought along D-locks, they could lock their bikes to the beam or maybe even some kind of fixing on the wall.

you could always install one of these