Bits in the garage

I made a couple of minor changes in the garage to make things more convenient.

I added a bike maintenance stand to the exiting bike rack. The clamp was the one I used in my old shed, up to a couple of years ago. 

It fitted in the key clamp tubing and I added an interlocking joint so that it holds in two positions. One for use and one out of the way. The idea came about last weekend because I had a quick task to do that was more convenient on a stand, but setting up the portable stand took almost as long as doing the job.

This arrangement makes quick jobs that little bit easier.

The other bit of tidying up I did was to add a vertical rack for long lengths of steel bar.

I would have preferred a horizontal rack, but that would be harder to fit in.

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Continuation of my bide rack for a Discovery 4

Following on from my first attempt, I have completed a solution that holds two bikes securely on the back of a Land Rover Discovery 4.

This version has the bikes with their tyres facing the back of the car.

A single strap is sufficient to hold the bikes securely on the rack although I will use a couple of others to stop them bouncing about.

This version has a few features:

• The lights and the number plate are not obscured
• Easy to fit
• It comes apart easily so it fits in the back of the car

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Bike rack for a Discovery

I can fit three bikes and three people inside our Discovery 4. I would like to have the option to fit 4 people and 4 bikes. That would need two of the bikes on the outside.

I was not happy with any of the bike racks I could find for a Discovery. The tow ball mounted type were probably the best but I'd like something that is more secured to the car. I also don't have a tow ball on this car.

I decided I could make something that hung from a roof rack.

I used the fittings from a budget strap on rack.

The end result is very secure, which is one of the goals but the bikes overhang the sides more than I would like. Especially my bike because it is so large.

It's not easy to come up with a simple solution to re-position them because the geometry of my bike is so different to that of Shelley's.

I've offered up the bikes a few ways and decided that straight out the back is the simplest. They'll stick out a little bit further than I originally intended but this arrangement will not obscure the lights in any way.

I work on this another weekend, see my newer post.

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