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Bike hangars
MEET THE NEW HANGAR ON THE BLOCK Residents and councils are discovering the benefits of FalcoPod - a spacious, family-friendly cycle hangar, reports Falco’s Jeremy Green
last year a new hangar called the FalcoPod was unveiled. Falco has become known for large-scale cycle hubs such as Cambridge Cyclepoint or the hubs near tube and rail stations in the London borough of Waltham Forest, says the firm’s managing director Jeremy Green. “But, actually, we’ve always had bike hangars such as the ‘midi-bike box,’” he points out. “Everyone makes Sheffield stands but there hasn’t been any choice in the UK for bike hangars, and we were being badgered by the market to come up with an alternative. So when our design team developed the FalcoPod, initially for the European market, we decided the time was right to offer it as a more flexible alternative in the UK as well.”
The FalcoPod bike hangar can accommodate a wide variety of cycles
Bike hangars have been around for many years, with the original Dutch ‘Fietshangar’ first appearing more than 30 years ago. More recently, demand for onstreet hangars has been growing across the UK, and
Encouraging family inclusivity Bike hangars in the UK were designed to accommodate only standard bikes, Green says. “For us, family inclusivity was a key issue, so we needed a solution where child seats (front or back) as well as baskets could be accommodated without having to be removed/re-fitted for each journey (whilst holding a baby!). As a result, the FalcoPod has 55% more space
while still fitting in the standard bike hangar footprint, and this additional room is predominantly where child seats and baskets are fitted.”
FalcoSmart App-based locking As well as having a robust structure, the FalcoPod using the latest high security swing arm lock – which has been awarded Sold Secure Gold certification, says Green. “Taking this a step further, we have developed ‘FalcoSmart’ – an ‘app-based’ locking mechanism, which removes the need for residents to carry keys and delivers a further level of security. For the local authority, they are able to monitor bike hangar use to support transport planning. The benefit of the FalcoSmart App is that we can overlay a booking system so that for cargo bike hire, for example, the booking system controls the locking system.” Additionally it means we only charge residents £40 per user instead of £72.
Non-standard bikes Falco has taken steps to reflect the rising popularity in the UK of ‘non-standard’ cycles. “Coupled with disabled cyclists, there’s a significant community of cyclists who are currently marginalised in terms of public storage opportunities,” says Green. “Adaptive, cargo, recumbent, tandem, tricycle, oversized, upright… all these have one thing in common - none of them follow any standard bicycle silhouette. “The design focus here was twofold; again, the additional space not only aims for a ‘one size fits all’ capacity that accommodates many non-standard
