Fancy Bicycle Racks

There is some bad suburban planning in this country. I took my car into the dealership for some work in Midlothian VA and planned to walk to lunch. There was 3 shopping centers and about a half dozen restaurants within 3/4 mile of the dealership. Zero sidewalks. There was no reasonably safe way to walk or bike to any of them. The only way to get from one place to the next was by car. Kind of a shame.

twojs.bike said:

There is some bad suburban planning in this country. I took my car into the dealership for some work in Midlothian VA and planned to walk to lunch. There was 3 shopping centers and about a half dozen restaurants within 3/4 mile of the dealership. Zero sidewalks. There was no reasonably safe way to walk or bike to any of them. The only way to get from one place to the next was by car. Kind of a shame.

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I had specialized in ADA compliance here on Long Island. It always seemed odd to place ADA ramps on busy roadway corners, with no sidewalks or signs of pedestrian traffic whatsoever. One contractor put it best in his New Yawk vanakula, "Dis is four dem die hards dat make it dis far without da sidewauk. It's like an island oasis inna sea of traffic."
Better yet was when a new sidewalk was completed somewhere in Nassau County, in a busy residential neighborhood. And boy, everyone was happy we got rid of the old deteriorated one that was built back in the 40's. National Grid came through and placed their new telephone poles right square in the center of the new sidewalk! All of them, right down the line! Amazing. Answering machine blew up on that one.

Ulu said:

At our local hospital:
View attachment 268999

Somebody put a little effort into this rack. It’s not just some utilitarian collection of welded pipes.
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And, as you can see, it was a beautiful cool day but there was not a single bicycle in the rack.

While our whole hospital complex is bicycle friendly itself, it is isolated by freeways and highways, and not easy to reach from bicycle-close destinations.

In consequence, it took a lot of money to build several of these racks and pour the pavement beneath them, plus provide bicycle paths, that nobody will use.

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For some time I wanted to start a thread of bike racks (useful ones too) I've got pics of a couple of interesting ones. I just wanted to start the thread after the Summer BO since there is so much going on. Also, a bike rack could be boring but at a cool location......

The old school racks where you put a wheel in a slot are a thing of the past. Countless wheels were trashed by drunken frat boys jumping on them to turn the wheels into potato chips. These modern racks makes wrecking wheels quite a bit harder.

Initially I disliked the new styles until I learned to wrap my cable locks around an extra time to pad the bike paint from hitting the rack.

One of my local hospitals has an employee's bike rack in a locked cage in a parking ramp in front of a security camera yet bikes have been stolen there. Putting that rack in the first photo above so far away from the doors is just asking it to never get used. Covered parking is great for employees but in the long term the bikes get abandoned there.

The university hospital had some 300 bike parking spots in the ramp right next to the main building but I could rarely find an open spot as it was full up every day.

There are endless designs now. Every city/school/org can have their own style. Just something sturdy to lock to is all we need. Covered is better, close to the doors, not in the way of wheel chairs and walker, etc.

I used to shop at a store whose bike racks were just a simple ring bolted to the front of the building. A heavy ring about 3 inches in diameter through bolted at waist height. A big nut on the inside of the building. Great for those quick 5 or 10 minute trips inside.



Copy of a nearby bridge

For some time I wanted to start a thread of bike racks. I am sure there are some good ones, artistic ones, some that that are failing poorly, some that are impromptu that were never meant to be used as racks, and some that are just plain boring but are in an interesting location or have a cool story/location......

I'll start with this: the rack is conservative but the area has a very rich history and is about 100 miles southeast of the Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado.

In our city of Lublin, in eastern Poland, cycle tracks are the latest and greatest thing. When I first arrived here some 28 years ago there was barely any bicycles around, and no cycle routes. That has changed, and bicycles are back!

Where we live in the countryside, on a small dead end road that changes to a dirt one through the forest, we see quite a few bikes here. Some local kids, a lot of visitors passing through and occasionally an adult local on their old bike. In our local town there is no bicycle facilities that I know of, but a lot of the local kids ride new bikes while there are also some older people on their classic, good condition Romets.



Romet Jubilat 2, a bit dusty, outside the supermarket, with about five other modern bikes just off to the left.

Here is a relatively cheap bike rack. Stainless tube, bent, bottom flanges welded on for bolting to the concrete. Right in front of a medical clinic. I've seen the same bike there my last 3 visits so it must be an employee. There is a security guard station inside but not in direct view of the bike rack. There is a second identical rack 12 feet away. Looks like it could handle 4 bikes if parked in the other direction

I have seen a whole evolution of bike parking racks and their attachment to the ground. I had a bike stolen one time because the thief just unbolted the rack from the concrete pad and lifted it high enough to get the bike out. The bike had a U-lock and when we recovered the bike a day later that U- lock was still on it. My most satisfying locking posts are parking meters in downtown Sacramento. Just so gratifying to lock to a meter that is charging someone to park their car right next to my bike. Oddly for California we have businesses that have no bike racks or very inadequate racks. Ever since the unbolted bike rack incident I pay attention to what I lock to and some bike racks are not secure from being unbolted. In this day and age their is really no way to stop a thief from using a battery powered cut off say to saw through almost any lock. There are a couple of really expensive locks that make it so miserable for the cut off saw crowd that it may be easier to saw through the bike rack, or post you have locked to. Miserable situation for long term bike lock up for your job. Too much time for the thief to work.

Nice edits and thread name change. I'll keep posting racks I see.

Here is a pair that were laying on the ground for 9 months. I was surprised they weren't stolen for scrap metal. Or maybe they were. Hum were they black before? Planted at a bike path rest area that has a picnic shelter, tables water fountain, self service tool tower, Kybo and some car parking places including official looking handicap spot(s), located right on the edge of town.. When I was there the other night there were about 20 riders and bikes under the shelter. All those riders just leaned there bikes up against the picnic tables and shelter posts or used kickstands. Minimal labor in manufacturing them. Pretty popular style due to pricing (about $600).

rickpaulos said:

Here is a pair that were laying on the ground for 9 months... Pretty popular style due to pricing (about $600).

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I like that kind because they don't hurt the rim, and they are versatile; you can load a bike into them in different ways. I can get a shorter lock through both wheels and the frame without taking the bike apart. That's another question. If you are using a quick release seatpost clamp, do you lock up the seat too? Take it with you? Leave it unprotected?

while at UF, I ran a seat leash on my mtb and a nut/bolt on the seat post for my campus/cyclo-cross/urban bomber. One of the nicest criticisms (I took it as a compliment) was when Richie-Rich looked at my ride and said "what an ugly bike". I looked at him and said "thanks, and when thieves are looking at your pretty/Cannondale, they wont give a second thought to my ugly bike".
The look on his face was precious..........

By the way, full disclosure "I'm a big Cannondale fan" ..........

Bike thieves suck.

68z27 said:

For some time I wanted to start a thread of bike racks. I am sure there are some good ones, artistic ones, some that that are failing poorly, some that are impromptu that were never meant to be used as racks, and some that are just plain boring but are in an interesting location or have a cool story/location......

I'll start with this: the rack is conservative but the area has a very rich history and is about 100 miles southeast of the Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado.
View attachment 269159View attachment 269160

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I've seen one like this one in front of a Petsmart in Fort Myers, Fl

MattiThundrrr said:

I like that kind because they don't hurt the rim, and they are versatile; you can load a bike into them in different ways. I can get a shorter lock through both wheels and the frame without taking the bike apart. That's another question. If you are using a quick release seatpost clamp, do you lock up the seat too? Take it with you? Leave it unprotected?

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There are little bike lock cables. About 10 to 12 inches long. Very lightweight. Usually about 1/8" wire cable, plastic coated, poop on each end closed up with compression clamps. These are for locking your bike seat and seat post to the frame. Loop through itself around the stays on the the frame end, then use the seat clamp to secure it at the other end. No lock needed. A thief would need tools to remove the seat to undo the cable.

You can always swap those quick releases with regular bolts. There are anti-theft wheel skewers and seat post bolts. Some use torx bolts and others use a one-off socket with some odd shape. Good luck finding the tool when you need it.

A stolen seat victim will some times take a seat & post from another bike. Fat chance of it fitting with some 40 sizes of seat posts out there. So take another. This causes a chain reaction of thefts.

rickpaulos said:

You can always swap those quick releases with regular bolts. There are anti-theft wheel skewers and seat post bolts.

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I need QR at the post because I adjust the seat height when I go off road, and at least on the front rim, so I can take it off to stuff it in the trunk. They spend more time doing that stuff than they do locked up, so I go with a long cable lock. I have a couple of cable locks to choose from, supposedly needs 3 tools to cut through, mine have never been put to the test

I think in my town, if it's got a lock, they'll move on to the next. I sometimes lock it to a gas pipe line. Cut through that, monkey trucker!