Racking up Points

The good news is a lot of places have started adding bicycle racks to accommodate people who arrive by bike. The bad news is, these racks don’t actually accommodate people who arrive by bike.

Putting a rack in some dark corner does not make a place bike friendly.

Racking up Points

I’d no more want to leave my bike there as a parent would want to leave their child here:

Racking up Points

Even when the bike rack is placed in plain daylight out front, it doesn’t necessarily mean we can actually lock up to it.

Racking up Points

Also, the bike rack you bought may have been designed to fit your budget but not actually designed to fit real bikes.

Racking up Points

These bike-friendly gestures are basically empty gestures. None of us will bother to lock up to these racks since we want to keep our bikes (and all it’s pieces) intact. It’s our ride home after all.

Instead, we will lock up to something, anything, more secure.

Racking up Points

So, when buying and installing a bike rack please consult someone who rides a bike.

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49 comments

  • Ryan Grimm July 29, 2013  

    Smite them! Hit them on hip and jowl!
    Show them what we need….

    Thanks, always good!

  • Carl July 29, 2013  

    It is AMAZING how no one seems to think about what will happen when you try to actually put a bike in the rack. It’s apparently always an afterthought. Nearby, a nice wave rack was installed in a useful location — except that if you lock your bike up to it, you have to choose to either block the sidewalk or stick a wheel out into the street, both of which are just asking for damage. For a long time, my official workplace bike rack was some screwed-together recycled plastic lumber held to an iron grate with rusty chain thinner than my bike cable.

  • CPTJohnC July 29, 2013  

    Good strip. I have this problem at work, where the rack is a) too close to the back wall; b) adjacent to a parking space, and the cars are forever parking well over the line and invading the bike parking and c) we share this wonderful space with motorcycle parkers, who pull in so far that access to the rack is all but impossible. The pros, however, are that it is protected from the elements, and relatively secure (underground garage with attendant during business hours.

    I long for the good old days when I parked my bike in my office!

  • Arun Ks July 29, 2013  

    Hi!
    I am from bangalore India. Bike parking is one of the main concerns always. Though people have not come to the point of installed bike racks for parking around here.I still hear the voice of a bike lover for parking space. your work is awesome,I love it.

  • Jen July 29, 2013  

    I think my local grocery store takes the cake: http://m.flickr.com/photos/10667334@N02/5985517863/ . Note that it’s literally installed as close to the wall as possible (the brackets are up against it). Fortunately, they’ve since converted a parking space to a very nice bike corral.

    • 2whls3spds August 7, 2013  

      I have seen several of those, primarily at Walmarts in Ohio or Indiana, Must be corporate policy…

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