Bike rack advocacy

[ebikemom]

Since I got my Pedego and have been riding it for most of my errands and work commitments, I found that bike racks are a pretty big issue. Some stores have old-fashioned racks with close placed rails that fit road bikes. I can lock to the end of a rack like that, but sometimes the ends are taken. The supermarkets in my town have this type of old-fashioned rack. So, I lock my bike to one of the shopping cart corrals. Some stores have no racks at all, but if I’m in a developed town center area there may be a public racks on the sidewalk. Or, if it’s a big box store, maybe I can find a sign to lock my bike to. I particularly like locking my bike to no parking signs. My church has no bike racks, and I was asked to stop locking my bike to the church sign that is near the front doors. Actually, I locked to the church sign to raise awareness of the need for bike racks. And, guess what? My church is installing some bike racks! They’re going to put in the U-shaped individual type so they can put them in different places and add more as needed. I saw grounds committee folks measuring and planning last Sunday!

I think with ebikes growing in popularity, bike racks are a matter of importance for customers and users of lots of public and private facilities. Add bike racks and customers and visitors will come!

I’ll close with a photo of a nice bike rack from a shopping center about 9 miles from my house.

Oops! I can’t get the photo uploaded from my cell phone. I’ll add it when I am home to my laptop.

 

[6zfshdb]

Damage caused by bike racks is an issue. Ebikes, with their larger size and external wiring are particularly susceptible. I avoid those old style racks with vertical bars. Unthinking people tend to jam bikes into them when there really isn't enough space. I lost a derailleur in just such an occurrence.

The "U" racks you speak of are a much better choice. They allow considerably more space between bikes.

It really is a shame that in today's society we find it necessary to lock up our bikes. Especially at church!

 

[christob]

I always aim for the end of a multi-bike rack -- particularly when I have a pannier mounted.
There's one of those "undulating" tube racks (1 long fat tube of metal, bent into say, 4 adjacent "U" and inverted-U shapes.) The entire time I've been biking this year, there's been the same bike, U-locked to this rack -- with the bike mounted across all 4 U's along the back of the rack. So nobody can pass their tire/wheel through any of the other U's. (The bike fills the void between the rack, and the adjacent brick wall -- so I can't even pull it out and try to twist/turn it around to a "perpendicular" position...) The bike is I'm pretty sure, abandoned, but I'm not sure who to contact to see about having it forcibly removed...?

 

[Mr. Coffee]

The Dutch, as usual, are literally living in a different century compared to us savages out on the edges of civilization:

 

[AlanDB]

I ended up bending my front wheel in one of those vertical bar racks. The e-bikes are so heavy on the back end, and somehow my bike got knocked over while it was locked in the rack, causing the front wheel to turn and get wedged between the bars. I was able to make the 10 mile ride back to my truck, but it wasn't a pleasant ride with the wobbling wheel. My LBS was able to install a new rim, so my bike was only out of service a couple of days and is like new again, but it is a lesson learned. I won't use that type of rack again. I can't put the back wheel between the bars on most racks because the rack mount battery is in the way.

The other type of rack I am seeing quite often is just a long horizonal rail about 42" above the ground. Riders just lift up the back of their bike and hang their seat on the rail. That type of system works great for lightweight road bikes, but is worthless for a heavy e-bike.

 

[ebikemom]

I always aim for the end of a multi-bike rack -- particularly when I have a pannier mounted.
There's one of those "undulating" tube racks (1 long fat tube of metal, bent into say, 4 adjacent "U" and inverted-U shapes.) The entire time I've been biking this year, there's been the same bike, U-locked to this rack -- with the bike mounted across all 4 U's along the back of the rack. So nobody can pass their tire/wheel through any of the other U's. (The bike fills the void between the rack, and the adjacent brick wall -- so I can't even pull it out and try to twist/turn it around to a "perpendicular" position...) The bike is I'm pretty sure, abandoned, but I'm not sure who to contact to see about having it forcibly removed...?

I suggest reporting it to the local police, if it is in a public area.

 

[Nova Haibike]

The other type of rack I am seeing quite often is just a long horizonal rail about 42" above the ground. Riders just lift up the back of their bike and hang their seat on the rail. That type of system works great for lightweight road bikes, but is worthless for a heavy e-bike.

I'm surprised you see them quite often. Those kind of racks...called transition racks... are not really meant for locking a bike. They were originally developed for parking triathlon bikes in the transition area. They are meant to be portable and temporary; to hold bikes without kickstands, not as parking racks.

 

[ebikemom]

The Dutch "bike box" reminds me of Japanese parking garages for cars. WONDERFUL! I'm going to send this to our city council members!!! We need one of these by our new light rail station!!!!

 

[AlanDB]

I'm surprised you see them quite often. Those kind of racks...called transition racks... are not really meant for locking a bike. They were originally developed for parking triathlon bikes in the transition area. They are meant to be portable and temporary; to hold bikes without kickstands, not as parking racks.

"Quite often" was a poor choice of words. I have seen a couple of these at hangouts where riders tend to congregate. One in particular at a local bar/restaurant is quite long and permanent (not portable). I haven't paid much attention to it since it is not usable for me, but thought it looked "odd" from a distance with all the back tires sticking up above the bar on both sides. I am not sure if people lock their bikes to the bar or not.

My wife and I stopped at a different place last weekend that had about every type of rack you can imagine, and dozens of bikes parked there. I didn't see a single bike that was locked to a rack, so theft must not be much of an issue there. Our 2 bikes were the only e-bikes though. I locked them to one of the inverted U style racks. I guess e-bikes are still kind of unusual because while we were eating our pizza, we saw several folks stop at our bikes to take a close look at them. One guy seemed particularly fascinated by my lock mechanism which is an AXA Defender frame attached ring lock (cafe style lock) with a plug-in cable.

 

[Nova Haibike]

The Dutch "bike box" reminds me of Japanese parking garages for cars. WONDERFUL!

The Japanese have parking garages for bicycles as well:

 

[ebikemom]

Wow! I haven't lived in Japan for sooooooooo long, I haven't seen these things. So awesome!!! So inspiring!!!!

 

[Mr. Coffee]

There are also much simpler boxes that you often see at train stations in the Netherlands which are basically big lockers which you can store your bike for a few euros. So you don't have to be all high-tech about it.