Originally Posted by
madhouse
If you were designing a building (and responsible for the budget) what style of bike rack would you spec out. Before I get a lot of comments on various enclosed structures... I'm lucky to be getting a place to park and a rack; there is no way in #e!! I'm going to get an enclosure.
For bike racks in front of a retail establishment, my preference is the inverted U, for all the reasons that have been stated here, however for a place of employment, I would push for bike lockers - despite your assertion that you are lucky to get a place to park and a rack. My reasons:
1) The cost of bike lockers, per employee is still lower than the cost of a paved parking lot.
2) A bike which is regularly used for commuting is liable to have lots of things on it - lights, computer, etc. Even if theft is not an issue, I have had my lights messed with, probably by curious people. The fact that the bike is going to sit in that location every day, for 8+ hours a day makes the security a much bigger issue than the kind of bike rack that would be common for transient use.
3) You are in a part of the country that occasionally has weather (before I moved to CA, I dealt with weather). It is difficult to use a bike as year-round transportation if it must be stored in a place where it is exposed to the elements daily.
Ask for the bike lockers!