Foo - Another one bites the dust.

One of my favorite cafe/restaurants (Panera Bread) just prohibited bikes from being brought indoors. My favorite Starbucks shop did the same about three weeks back.

I'm not super upset, but I'm pretty disappointed.

did they at least install a decent torture Rack?

Do they have any reason for this, or is it the usual tired old excuses that bike tires track in dirt or block the way?

Mine goes into the bars with me, was parking it in a liquor store for the last few years as I visited there or did some shopping elsewhere - until a slightly inebriated older gentleman did a backward slide and sent my bike almost into a wine rack. So ... no more liquor store. :( Thing that sucks about it is there is NO place to lock my bike up - I have a couple short trees and a short sign. And there is a pipe connected to a light that I do use - but it's in the middle of the parking lot and it would be very easy for someone to hit my bike.

This only annoys me during long rides when I don't bring a lock...but usually I don't stop anywhere anyway, so no problem.

Back in ye olde NL, bringing in bikes is absolutely, positively prohibited seeing as how everyone has a bike ;)

The only solution is to move away from all the thieves. We're pretty safe here - though I wouldn't leave anything unlocked where traffic is heavy - even here.

Do they have any reason for this, or is it the usual tired old excuses that bike tires track in dirt or block the way?
Did you ever stop to think that someone has to mop that up? or that a bike doesn't buy coffee or a pastry, so like a bum has no business being in business establishment. I'm all for bike advocacy, but expecting to bring your bike inside might be a bit much. Hell, why don't you just park your car next to your table next time you're out to eat.

One of my favorite cafe/restaurants (Panera Bread) just prohibited bikes from being brought indoors. My favorite Starbucks shop did the same about three weeks back.

I'm not super upset, but I'm pretty disappointed.

Find a nice mom & pop shop type place and ix-nay on the chain places, IMO.

The only solution is to move away from all the thieves. We're pretty safe here - though I wouldn't leave anything unlocked where traffic is heavy - even here.

Hmmph! No wonder you don't live here anymore.;)

Wearing my liability/risk management hat, I could easily see a situation in which a patron falls over a bicycle or a bicycle falls over onto someone. The business owner could be liable for allowing a potentially dangerous condition to exist without doing something about it. If your bicycle falls over and injures a child, you are not the deep pocket. The business owner and their insurance company is.

So from the risk/benefit analysis, it could be hard to make a case to allow bicycles into a retail environment other than an actual bicycle shop.

Did you ever stop to think that someone has to mop that up? or that a bike doesn't buy coffee or a pastry, so like a bum has no business being in business establishment. I'm all for bike advocacy, but expecting to bring your bike inside might be a bit much. Hell, why don't you just park your car next to your table next time you're out to eat.

Bikes don't leave any more tracks than shoes. Bikes themselves don't buy pastries but their owners do.

Comparing cars and bikes is comparing apples and oranges. A car takes time to steal, and the local police will actively hunt down and prosecute with felony grand theft charges car thieves. Cars are also registered and identifiable on the roads.

A bike can be gone into a waiting vehicle in seconds, and with the economic crunch as it is, it is lucky that a victim even gets a case number and a police report, much less a crook caught and prosecuted. Bike racks in a lot of places mainly provide token security. This is why bike owners have to be more careful.

Its understandable that a place with limited space doesn't like dealing with bikes, but it would bring more customers and good will if they were more accommodating. The ideal solution would be a set of pay bike lockers, but not many places have the space for those.

The Panera Bread closest to me has those vestibule double set of doors which would make getting a bike in/out almost impossible. But, the strip mall has a ton of bike racks. There's plenty of places that don't allow bikes inside around here, but most of them provide racks.

As for bikes not leaving more dirt than shoes; bollocks. Come on an errand ride with me on a nice soggy Seattle day. I've got a pair of 2.2" tires and 60mm full fenders that hold enough water and road grit that you could track my path through a store like the kid in Family Circus. Meanwhile, people wipe their shoes on the carpet and don't track anything much past the next 5 or 10 feet of tile.

We have a Starbucks now.
One is not allowed to bike in the parking lot much less chain it to a rail while you get a cup of joe.

I just assumed bikes weren't allowed indoors anywhere. If you did that here you'd cause a pretty huge ruckus.

my boss lets me bring my bike inside at work, which is great, obviously.

the other day A maintenance guy I've never seen before gets in the elevator with me. It was raining that morning so I was soaked, and because in a pinch I'd used non-bike lube for my chain (don't ask) it was running and just going up two floors I left a nice black puddle in the white elevator floor.


I wouldn't blame that guy for being pissed at me. Or for not believing me when I'd tell him that the only time that ever happened.

I think the way most stores and businesses are set up now, it's understandable that they'd not want bikes inside. If there was more adequate bike parking everywhere this wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue. Just how to implement this is not easy to say but the more riders there are out there the easier it will be to justify its need.

Would you expect to bring your Segway into a retail establishment?

After thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense for them to disallow bikes from entering their space. At best, it's a disruption to people and slows down service; at worst, it's a fire hazard and against fire codes.

I'm not upset about it. If the manager kicked me out in the middle of my meal, I would have never came again. (Most of the staff saw me coming in it and it sat for a while, even as I placed my order.) Fortunately, she was kind and just told me to finish up as soon as I could.

I know one way to solve the problem, but it would take a city pitching in. I've always wanted to see city owned bike lockers with holes where people can see (http://www.cyclesafe.com/CycleLockers.tab.aspx#ViewThru) the contents inside (to keep people from using them for drug caches which most metro areas would be worried about), then for the lock on the door, use some type of card system combined with a user's bike lock. The card would please the skittish city officials who want to know who is using their lockers.

This way, one can stash their valuable gear and not have it stolen, but not have to bring bikes into already crowded establishments.

It may be just the local stores and not a corporate policy. The starbucks my wife works at always has a bike there and she ask about it and its a waiter who works in the resruraunt next door, his place of work won't allow him to bring the bike in so the starbucks does.
A quick e-mail to corporate about how you were going to buy something from them but were not allowed in usually works, the local stores hate getting those complaint e-mails.