Commuting - Parking

Does anyone have trouble finding places to park your bikes at the grocery store/mall/conveinience store(not very conveinient when I have to strap the thing to a light poll 200 yards away)?What do you do to find suitable places to lock up your bikes? Here in Mankato I have to get very creative in order to shop in or use these stores, because there is nothing resembling a bike rack in sight.

Many shops in the central core have bike racks, and the city has installed quite a few bike racks on sidewalks. However, the best parking is provided by parkmeters, which are well anchored into concrete.

Besides, parkmeters aren't removed for Winter.

Regards,

I don't think I've used a bike rack since some time in the 80's. They seem to have virtually disappeared anymore. I've always found something else: street signs, lampposts or some other fixed object.

Atlanta, the Cartopia of the Southeast.

Face it. If you drive, you are God around here. If you walk or bike, you are in the "underground."

You have to be bold. Lock your bike to the leg of a supermarket security guard, if you have to.

(Of course, God doesn't get gridlocked...)

When all else fails, there are always the light poles in the parking lots. Sometimes you need some cable with the lock, though. A u-lock won't fit around some of the fatter poles.

yes, if you get creative you can almost always find something...

one the other hand, most bike racks out there suck! they're usually of the old design that holds the bike upright but provides no easy way to lock them. also many don't accept wide tires like from mountain bikes...

In Texas there were few bike racks, in Massachusetts a few more, in Portland quite a lot and many of good desing, and in Germany there are often bike racks although usually of the "difficult-to-lock" variety.

my fitness studio here in munich did a remodelling of their parking lot and installed outdoor covered bike parking (cool) but their bike rack is a concrete structure with slots for the front tire -- no way to lock the bike so i have to lock it to a post or nearby tree! (oh well, i cancelled my membership for a cheaper one anyway)

it seems that most people who order/buy/install bike racks have no idea what people really need: secure plcae to park and lock their bikes...

My town installed some inverted U racks, the best kind, but had no idea how to install them. They butted them up against walls, or placed them 4" from lamposts, or placed them too close together. A whole bunch were placed by the pedestrian entrance to the mall, where people have to walk through the racks. Some were placed on hills on the max gradient so bikes roll down when rested.

A nicely spaced bunch were placed alongside a 1/4 mile length of cast iron railing on the seafront.

Some of the racks have extra thick decorative posts, too thick for a shackle to fit, or are some fancy artistic shape which is too high to rest a bike against.

The people placing these racks have qualifications in planning. Dont they study bike facilities at college, even just for one lesson in their 3 year course ?

Imagine if the designers of car parking forgot to leave room between the cars for doors to open.

I don't hesitate to roll my bike in a park it inside. I don't ask, I just do it. No one has ever questioned me.

Dave

Originally posted by MichaelW
Imagine if the designers of car parking forgot to leave room between the cars for doors to open.

I see you've been to my campus, then. I don't have a problem, because I drive a very small car, but two compact cars can't park side-by side in the parking spaces and still have room to allow both passenger and driver to exit.

CSUS has bike lockers, which are my personal preference. You reserve a locker for a semester, and you get a large, secure box to lock your bike in. It's opaque (so a thief won't know what kind of bike he's trying to steal, unless he watched you put it in there), quite sturdy, and keeps your bike out of the rain in poor weather.

Originally posted by pinerider
When all else fails, there are always the light poles in the parking lots. Sometimes you need some cable with the lock, though. A u-lock won't fit around some of the fatter poles.
The problem with this is as soon as you get inside the store, a GIANT SUV pulls up next to the pole and crushes the bike. :mad: :irritated :fight:

The so-called bike rack in front of the supermarket near my house has this kind of rack.
http://www.ameribike.com/catalog/racks/traditional/images-ba_series/bax.gif
It doesn't look too secure (anchored to the concrete with a couple of bolts) and for some unknown reason everyone thinks it's a shopping cart return area. :mad:

I have seen some people lock their bikes to the cart return rack, but it doesnt seem like a good idea to me, unless you have a very inexpensive bike. I have noticed that shoppers arent the most careful people in the world when it comes to returning the carts. They more or less push them in the general direction of the rack from about twenty yards away and hope for the best. :crash: :crash: :crash:

The chamber of commerce in this town has 705 member businesses. I know of only 2 that have bike racks on their property.

Originally posted by RonH
The so-called bike rack in front of the supermarket near my house has this kind of rack.
http://www.ameribike.com/catalog/racks/traditional/images-ba_series/bax.gif
It doesn't look too secure (anchored to the concrete with a couple of bolts) and for some unknown reason everyone thinks it's a shopping cart return area. :mad:
That is the only kind of rack my area supermarkets use. Practically useless, but try explaining that to a non-cycling store manager.

I usually take my bike in with me and use my rack trunk as a shopping cart. I got the idea from someone here at BF. My bike doesn't take up any more room than a shopping cart and it's cleaner than I am. Nobody has said anything yet. So far I've done this at a large grocery store (Lund's), the corner convenience store, the neighborhood liquor store, and the neighborhood meat market.