cudak888 

After reading this thread at C&V, wherein a cyclist had his frame cut in two by an opera house (when cutting just the lock would have sufficed), and his claim virtually dismissed on during arbitration, I realized that it was high time for a Busted Carbon-style blog exposing businesses with anti-cyclist practices:

https://cyclistsforequality.blogspot.com/

Feel free to submit your stories, pictures, names, and storefront addresses to the email address available on the site. If possible, include the following:

-Your name (first, last or either w/initial)
-The date of the incident
-A picture of the situation, the damage, or the place of buisness
-City and state
-A brief description of what happened
-The name(s) of the organization
-The local branch you dealt with
-The name(s) of the persons you contacted
-What the company has done since the problem arose to take care of the issue.

-Kurt

Pobble.808

When I tried clicking on the OP's link to the C&V thread, I got a message saying "you do not have permission to access this page."
What's the deal?

cudak888 

Seems as if the OP didn't want to cause a stir. Too bad; he might be saving someone else a sawzalled top tube.

-Kurt

GamblerGORD53

This applies to almost every new condo. The bicycle hate and treat like the dirt on your shoes mentallity, especially in the new China. They seem to think that bicycles and povery are intertwined.

bhop

What's C&V? Classic and vintage?

2wheelcommute

Good idea. I'm happy to say that I haven't really had any particularly terrible experiences with anti-bike businesses myself, though.

Pobble.808

yes

cudak888 

Enough mention of condo discrimination might result in a good argument to force them into allowing cyclists under the umbrella of the "green" campaign, you know.

-Kurt

billdsd

Costco used to let me take my bike in to shop. They don't anymore, and can't give a decent reason. They sell bicycles in the store, so it can't be about people walking a bike through the store. One idiot tried to claim it was because they were worried that people would ride their bikes in the store. That's a much more likely scenario with someone looking to buy a bike than a bike commuter. I've never seen a Costco with a bike rack. Idiots.

CritEastwood

-Your name (first, last or either w/initial) Jerome D
-The date of the incident The day Schwinn went under
-A picture of the situation, the damage, or the place of buisness everywhere
-City and state everywhere
-A brief description of what happened they stopped producing bicycles and started producing bicycle shaped objects
-The name(s) of the organization Schwinn
-The local branch you dealt with Wal-Mart, etc.
-The name(s) of the persons you contacted God
-What the company has done since the problem arose to take care of the issue they have gotten worse

Bekologist

Schwinn going tits up from bad business decisions was the day the music died? it wasn't Walmart that did Schwinn in. 'they' stopped producing bicycles and 'they' started producing bicycle shaped objects? Quite the revisionist history of Schwinn's demise.

A blog to expose discriminatory businesses that discriminate against old bikes?

crhilton

My understanding is that Schwinn was purchased by Pacific and then their quality went to ****. Pacific used the brand name up by selling crap bikes in Wal-mart with the name Schwinn on them.

Maybe I have the order backwards. Maybe Schwinn went into wal-mart and then sold to pacific?

Bekologist

By the early eighties schwinn was exhibiting large problems with management, supply chain and manufacturing, began to sabotage its dealer arrangements, failed to deliver bikes on time, alienated Giant who was handling a significant portion of schwinns overseas production, and was sold first to Scott USA, not Pacific Cycles, who acquired the brand name later in its decrepitude.

There was even a fiasco in budapest.

the details of Schwinns' demise is lost on those that blame 'them' for selling bicycle shaped objects, not bicycles anymore. the evil bicycle industry.

Perhaps Schwinn was, in and of itself, an anti-bicycling business as they tried to meet the demands of the bike business in the 1970's and 1980's?

Captain Blight

Schwinn's big demise was when they so badly misread the MTB boom.

As far as bicycle-unfriendly businesses, I'd have to nominate The New Block E in downtown Minneapolis. Every time I lock up outside, I get a warning sticker, even though the facility is partly city-owned and the city statutes clearly state that signposts are acceptable to lock to. They do provide a rack in the parking garage, but it's underground and hella steep to climb out of.

CritEastwood

I'm in the industry.

way to bite that hook

when does the namedropping commence?

Bekologist

why would not knowing about bikes qualify a person to go fishing?

Such hate. Does this show up when you stop in at your LBS there crit?

Can we use this thread to expose the LBS's that discriminate against hosebag customers?

Bekologist

Oh, absolutely a large part of Schwinn's demise. I also read Schwinn shot themselves in the foot when they got rid of the Airdyne division, despite it being the only part of the operation that ran in the black consistently, with profits in the 10s of millions of dollars against the bikes' near zero profitability.

well, so goes a badly run company like Schwinn.

Giant still makes mountain bikes though.

CritEastwood

I'm in the industry!

Bekologist

Which industry are you in there, crit, the corrections industry?

your hate of people that work with bicycles for a living is toxic. Its eating you up inside, man. They didn't let you volunteer to change flats at the co-op?

The message that schwinn was in some way done in by walmart was not meant to be taken seriously, was it there crit.

Maybe crit is trying to tell us the bicycle industry discriminates against bicycles with their mass production, their standards, bicycle companies offering parts or bikes in whole, parts manufacturers offering prebuilt wheels, shifters, derailleurs and brake mechanisms for widespread use in a popular and everyday activity.

Fixiefarthing on wooden hoops with housedrawn spokes is the only true bicycling, man!

ZmanKC

I won't say that Best Buy is anti-bicycle, but they don't provide bike racks or any other decent way to secure a bicycle. They also wouldn't let me bring my bike into the vestibule, let alone the store.

I'll just say they aren't "bicycle friendly".

GamblerGORD53

Their twisted reasoning probably goes like, "If there is nothing to lock your bike to, then there is nothing to get your bike stolen from." Scumbag mentality at it's finest.

genec

How about pro-bike... my local Home Depot has a nice bike rack, right up front and clear and open on all sides, on it's own island in the parking lot. It's not like a lot of customers are going to buy a sheet of plywood and carry it home on a bike, but still small items do fit on a bike and HD carries everything from nuts and bolts to cans of paint.

What is interesting is that just a few years ago this same HD used to hide the bike rack behind a bunch of displays on the front sidewalk... I made a few comments over time, and perhaps others did too... and now there is a that nice bike rack right out front and with easy access.

CritEastwood

My local Ace Hardware lets me park my bike inside.

Maybe it's beacause I'm in the industry!

crhilton

I can't remember, do they have cart holders? Cart holders are one of my favorite places to lock up. Out of the way, hidden between cars, and ulock compatible. They're never bolted down, but they're not going anywhere.

kludgefudge

I don't think we need to start handing out hero cookies to big box retailers just for providing some reasonable bike parking.


On the rant end of things I just started attending college, and there is a HUGE ammount of bike parking available. It is distributed all over campus, so you can generally lock up near the building you want to go to.

The problem is the main covered bike parking: The spaces between the bars are not wide enough apart to fit the rear end of a 130mm spaced road bike through! I can't believe so much money was spent on such poorly designed bicycle parking. (3 or 4 50ft. long bays)