Riding to a drive up window
 

I find that my recumbent is much better for going through a drive through. Since you can sit down and you are at about the same height as most drivers (excepting SUVs). It works nicely. DF bikes are a pain in the drive through

Kudos to Sarah and her Xtracycle. :thumb:

Now, if the idiots around here would allow bikes in drive-thrus. :notamused:

The comments are more entertaining then the story. Geez, teh morons......

The worst part about places that don't allow bikes through the drive-thru is they don't have bike parking either.

I have never been told I couldn't go through a drive-in on my bike. Is this restriction common? Why?

Just take it inside until they change their minds about it.

Let's see, her "custom made stretch" bike has a 'step through' style frame, generally not known as the most stable of frame designs, and she's putting her three kids on it ( feeding them fast food is another issue, looks to me as though she cares more about the ENVIRONMENT than her kids health). But I really like her qoute;"Bicyclists aren't dangerous," says Gilbert, who has accepted the chain's apology. "They're people who've chosen not to drive a car."
Righto. And "A wet bird never fliys at night".

Don

The mcDonalds drive throughs don't seem to get 'tipped' when I bike rolls up - I give up and ride to the window - they say they can't serve me - I have to come in - Yet they have NO bike racks ... so they don't get my business. - I'm am probably better off...

The biggest reason is, you guessed it, liability. If a bike, or pedestrian, gets hit in the drive-thru you can bet the lawyers will have a field day with it. For that reason most chains refuse service to peds and bikes, at least in this area.

Funny how the comments say she was too lazy to take her kids inside. If she's lazy for riding a bike to the restaurant, what does that make the car drivers?

Couple of thoughts:

The way the story is written, it portrays her are having a sense of entitlement. MAybe she has a 'chip on her shoulder' and feels others around her should give her special treatment just because she rides a bicycle with her three children.

Regardless of insurance concerns, I'd probably deny her drive thru privileges due to the possibility of injury. I would think any auto driver would not be expecting a bicycle as part the drive-thru traffic and could easily pull around to the window and not see the smaller profile bicycle (also no brake lights to catch the eyes of an auto driver).

Why not just ask for convienient bicycle parking at the store? Maybe with a canopy to protect from rain. If she's riding a bicycle with three kids on it, why the hurry to go through the drive-thru?

The burger chain is supposed to be 'environmentally & socially conscious', but they have a drive-thru to accomodate gas-guzzling cars? Kind of ironic, isn't it?

Bikes can, (and do), legally share the roads with motor vehicles with speed limits up to 65 mph.
And I'm supposed to believe they cannot share a drive-through where the cars are doing about 5 mph.:twitchy::twitchy::twitchy:

Just what I was thinking. I don't see the point.

I'd prefer the restaurants add a bike rack area, preferably covered (although I have to admit, if I'm out riding in the rain, I'm NOT stopping for fast food, I'm going home as quickly as possible!). Drive throughs may be fine for normal bikes, and even for a lot of recumbent bikes, but they'd be a disaster for something like my tadpole trike. I'm sitting a little over a foot off the ground (14" according to Sun's website); with the way the seat's reclined, even the top of my head's probably right around three feet off the ground (and I'm 6'4"!). There's no way I'm going through a drive through, even if the restaurant would allow it! Besides that, too many drivers just aren't paying enough attention - I've been hit from behind three times on sunny days while stopped behind other traffic at red lights, in a crew cab 4x4 pickup truck. In all three cases, the first thing the other drivers said was "I didn't see you!" If they can't see a truck that's bright red, six and a half feet tall, almost 8 feet wide and over 20 feet long, what chance would I have on my trike? I'll gladly concede the drive through to the cars, if I have a safe place to park my trike while I'm inside.
- Bob

You would be amazed at how many cars "bump" into each other at drivr-thrus. If you think that drivers don't pay attention to what's going on around them on the road...they really get distracted in a drive-thru line! That's the time to change DVD's for the kids, check make-up, look for a CD in the glove box,look for change, you name it, anything but drive. I for one, would never ride through a drive-thru, getting "bumped" by a car is not worth a cheeseburger in my opinion. :innocent:

I am not sure why but in my area there is a sign on the window that says it is policy to not serve walk up or bicycle customers at the drive through window.

The property that restaurants are on typically isn't a public road, but private property that's maintained by a private property owner. The owner (or leasee, in the case of most restaurants) could do whatever they wanted, which could include refusing to serve customers on bicycles or on foot at their drive-thru window. I don't find it unusual when I walk into a retail establishment and see a sign stating that the business can refuse service to anyone they want to.

If I was the owner of that PNW burger chain I'd install nice convienient bike racks to accomodate bicyclists, but never let riders use the drive-thru - its just seems too dangerous.

I really do believe that the "I didn't see you" statement for drivers is in the same league of statements as "The check's in the mail", "I gave at the office", and "I won't **** in your mouth".

I also believe that any driver that uses that statement as a defense should recieve a ticket for distracted driving automatically just because I'm tired of hearing it.

The real problem is people for too long have gotten away with bad driving habits because our law enforcement won't enforce the current laws, aside from speeding because it entails a bit of work that which they are supposed to be doing in the fist place... Protect and serve.

That said, if bicyclists in fact have the same privileges as motorized traffic then this shouldn't be an issue at a drive-thru or anywhere else for that matter, because everyone should be looking out for each other. The main issue is people are so caught up in their own little world they rarely see anything other than what is right in front of their noses and oft times not even then because they are distracted with texting, cell phones, makeup, kids, dvds, cds, husbands, wives, drinking, eating, reading books and newspapers...the list is enormous.

If people would just slowdown and figure out how to be courteous to one another again we could be a little safer once more. But honestly, I just don't see that happening anytime soon. The whole of the US is so consumed with profit and themselves there is no room for anything else, let alone one of us on 2 wheels.

I'd love to see bike racks at restaurants, but that means someone needs to pay for that and in this economy where profit is measured by the bean counters, there will be no frivolous expenditures on something only maybe 1/2 of 1% of their clientele would use. Everything is formula based and it is all numbers and the numbers show we do not matter and therefore should be excluded.

Of course we all could just boycott those stores or better yet create a new chain that caters to the environmentally conscious.

Me...I prefer to try to educate those around me in order to effect change. When fuel goes back up to $4.00+ change will happen again. For now I'll patronize the businesses that make accommodations for those like us.

Maybe she didn't want to leave the bike locked up because bikes in that area tend to disappear rather quickly, even if locked.

Hmmmm, if cars bump into each other a lot in drive throughs, then why do those restaurants have drive throughs? It's not a sense of entitlement, it's being treated just like everyone else. Do restaurants still have two drinking fountains with signs?

I don't understand what people like in going to/going in to/drive by a McDonalds. I have eaten my share of burgers, but it always tasted like gum, grease, and not even remotely nice. It was just for the quick bite. I don't understand this woman - and I don't understand the drivers - Everyone should be banned from these restaurants ;-)

Nice.

The chain isn't your usual burger joint and Portland isn't your average city...

Around here BK and McD's don't allow bicycles (you have to test these things) while DQ and Tim's do.

I view MD's as a last-ditch emergency place to eat when you are on a long road trip,
in the middle of the night, and there is nothing else open.
I can't remember the last time I was in one.

for all those who hate burgers and denigrate those who eat them.........just change the drive through line to the window at the bank and get back to the discussion. should they let cyclists go through the drive through line or not?

I've pulled up on a tandem and gotten served, but I had the element of surprise in my favor.