Plantlock = Cycling + an urban garden

I enjoy cycling to work tremendously yet one of the challenges with bicycles is having a place to lock them up at home. 

• Should you block a corridor?
• How about locking them to railings? (blocking light for neighbours)
• What about a tree (obstructing footpaths)?
• Are people on the second / third floor really supposed to take bicycles up stairs everyday?

It seems wrong that I can park a car outside my house but I cannot use the public highway to lock a bicycle up.

Several months ago I spotted a PlantLock and decided that this was the solution to the issue.

What is a PlantLock?

Designed by the Front Yard company, an innovative London design team the Plantlock is a strong planter with a hardened solid steel bar to lock a bike to.  It looks great and weighs over 75kg when filled.  While I would not leave a top of the range road bike on the street overnight, I feel comfortable locking my simple commuting bike to it.

As a family of two cyclists with many cycling visitors we decided to experiment with a Plantlock on our street. Having consulted our  neighbours we placed two Plantlocks on our street with enough space for four - six cycles. 

Duncan, who runs Front Yard delivered the Plantlocks to our door with stickers and bolts to screw it into the road.

To make them more visible we planted a 1.5m orange tree on the side that cars reverse on (ensuring that a dirver can see it in a rear view mirror).  I also added a simple reflective strip on the traffic side of the one making it ultra-visible to oncoming traffic.

The reaction

One month in and the reaction from neigbours and passers by is great and universally positive.  People stop, stare and smile and we are regularly asked who put them there and where they can be got from.

The council have popped by and actually seemed supportive although it was not an official visit. So now we have a place to keep our bikes, a place for neighbours to keep theirs and an attractive addition to the street :-)

More Photos here