Bike Racks - Am I Missing The Point?
They’re somewhere to park and lock your bike, aren’t they?
You can buy them pretty much off the shelf from a bunch of companies that bang them out by the thousand to a range of standard designs.
And when things are produced in volumes like that, they tend to be pretty inexpensive. Trust me, I know about these things!
So why is it then that people keep trying to reinvent this particular wheel? At a meeting earlier this week, I mentioned that there were no bike racks at the building I was visiting. The immediate reaction was that there was a local steel fabricators who could probably make them . . . with some nice decorative touches on the top.
Prior to that, we had New York City’s bike rack design competition:
And today, I read on C.I.C.L.E. that Los Angeles has opened up a bike rack design contest. Their design brief is all about function and lifespan, but makes no mention of target production costs.
Now I don’t have a problem with public art, or making the utilitarian appear beautiful.
But . . .
When bike racks are works of art produced by customised casting rather than basic fabrication processes . . .
And when bike racks look more like art than a place you’re supposed to lock your bike to . . .
. . . then I think we have a problem. Or four problems to be precise:
- These design-led racks for the most part seem to be low-density. If you were to put them on the road, you’d be lucky to get more than two bikes in the space that’d be taken up by a car.
- This is public spending on a basic piece of street furniture. So keep it simple . . . and the cost down.
- The money saved by buying off-the shelf racks could be used to fund a marketing campaign / free bike ‘tune-ups’ / free bike training (’get on / ride / repeat’) / whatever, that might be more effective at getting people onto bikes
- People mistaking genuine sculptures for bike racks, and locking up to them. You can see the headline in the local paper now, can’t you?
Or have I yet again, completely missed the point?
Well, there are bike racks and there are bike racks. Sheffield stands are generally thought to be a good thing in the UK, but they’re not particularly dense (which matters when there are a lot of bikes), don’t support the bike well (which matters if you want where you live to look tidy) and are hopeless for loading panniers on both sides.
For me, the best rack yet is the Tulip. These are high density, support the bike really well so that it doesn’t fall over and offer a loop to additionally lock to. What’s more, they’re mass produced so cheap and they actually are quite pleasing on the eye. The “designer” type things you’ve posted photos of are all very well, but as you say, quite impractical due to their low density.
I forgot to point out that the density comes in part from the stands being on two levels.
But… even those are not high enough density sometimes, so you need double decker cycle parking as seen here. These have again been done in many different ways, and I’ve seen later designs omit the lever action which gives some mechnical advantage and makes it easy to use.
Built in pump design:
http://nicomachus.net/2007/01/bike-rack-with-built-in-air-pump/
Mark - now that’s an innovation.
One of our local bike shops has a track pump chained up outside, and I’ve often wondered about adding basic tools (suitably tethered) at similar locations. Then again, if these were at a bike rack in the UK, I could see a certain element in society using them to dismantle the locked bikes to steal components, or loosening bolts for comic effect with the owner tries to ride off. Not so good!
Around here the trick is to find ANYTHING solid to lock your bike too.
The closest grocery store to my house has almost nothing suitable to lock a bike to. I usually end up using the cart corral by the front door. I won’t use the ones in the parking lot because they get run into and over on a regular basis.
I like the loop type racks the best. But have no problem with something that has an artistic flair as long as it functional.
Aaron
I feel that pain, Aaron.
When there are no racks, and it’s a big shop (i.e. not a little high street shop), I take my bike in with me - usually to the chagrin / annoyance of the store’s management. At the local PC World, the sales manager had the security guard stand holding my bike for me . . . and at the B&Q featured a couple of days ago, I’ve had mixed results.
On the first occasion, no-one even seemed to notice that I was wheeling a bike around the store. But the next time I went back, The Management had obviously got involved - the security guard on the door wouldn’t let me in with the bike “for health and safety reasons”. This in a store selling building products, so it’s not unusual to have Joe Public trying to steer a wobble-wheeled trolley with half a ton of bricks, cement & timber on it . . . .
The security guard was just doing his job, but I’d love to see their risk assessments comparing bikes being wheeled with trolleys being pulled. :-/
The Xtracycle is an awkward shape for some bike racks, and the majority of local racks are of the ‘wheel eater’ variety, so I tend to lock it to railings through the back of the frame.
I’m just amused at the picture of that security guard holding your bike for you. Now that’s service…