Make sure you space them far enough so the bikes won't overlap. Imagine car owners seeing their cars making contact with each other in the parking lot.

I rarely see bikes parked under the "waves", and have never seen a rack like the one above with every slot filled (13 bikes in the photo above). You'd be more likely to see bikes on the two ends, and on the top of each of the waves... capacity of about 7 bikes.

That is assuming one doesn't get perhaps 4 chained to the rack sideways, and that is a long rack. Or, in some cases, 2 chained to the side of the rack, and the rack close enough to a wall that it is inconvenient to get behind it.

The single hoop racks can generally take 2 bikes in either orientation, depending on where the racks are.

I don't know about your regular commuters, but also consider people towing bike trailers, and how they interact with the racks.

The madrax bike lockers are honestly pretty reasonably priced for a commercial security product. Single diagonally-split locker with two doors to fit two bikes, with floor, for 1500 bucks, or without floor for 1300.

https://www.bikefixation.com/

https://www.bikefixation.com/resourc...ical-documents

I recall Eugene downtown campus of community college had a stand them up hang from the front wheel bike rack.

it was made of chain-link steel fencing, and steel pipe .. and each bike had a separate door ..

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ kind of a layout, doors closing on both sides with your U lock/ heavy padlock .. took up very little space

under an overhang so out of the rain..

Positioning Single-Sided Grid Bike Rack
 

I use a U-lock and I leave one pannier (tools, spares, etc.) on the bike when I park at work.

The “Single-Sided Grid Bike Rack” style works for me if there is an end-spot and I can lock to the diagonal. However, my building recently flooded and when they rebuilt it, they positioned the “old school” racks backwards. I found I could still lock to the end, but it is clumsier.

For all of you architects and facilities managers that are researching this vital topic, I’d say don’t use “Single-Sided Grid Bike Rack” but if you have to, position it correctly.

I like the post and ring variety.
The ring easily accommodates different size and frame styles.
They are easy to mount and people seem to understand how they work.
Dero has some good examples.

I'll see if I can find them. I should be downtown sometime next week.

Here is the Walmart swinging rack I mentioned earlier. There are some under the porticoes that are more popular during the winter, but this was good for the photos.

Attachment 606422
Attachment 606423

The rubber tire grabbers seem to work well, and so far seem to hold the bikes very stable, and then the swing arm would stabilize them a bit too.

My one complaint is that the loop in the arm seems to be a bit of a pain for a U-Lock. If I was doing it, I'd probably make the loop parallel to the axis of the swing arm, although I suppose that might stick out a bit. Also make that loop round rather than square and slightly larger.

One could get a similar effect with the old style tire racks, but using either a similar swing arm for the lock, or add chains attached to the rack.

I personally prefer racks where I can apply Sheldon Brown's Kryptonite mini method: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html
Though, I tend to buy a bigger u lock and lock the frame and rear wheel together with that method. Then the only major unlocked item is the front wheel, which can be secured using cables, etc.

Steadyrack
 

I installed Steadyracks in 2 of our facilities where I work. They hold the bikes vertically on the wall and swivel left t right to reduce the amount of protrusion into the walkway. A good solution in my opinion if you wall space to work with.

if you are fortunate enough to live in a city with cycling as part of its transportation strategy, see if you can talk to those folks at city hall. They will have likely done research into best practices. If at all possible, stay away from vertical racks which require lifting which not everyone can do. It's a safety issue and not consistent with making cycling easy, plus they don't work well for city or electric bikes. Make it as easy as possible for people.

Some strange forum rule doesn't allow me to post weblinks before you have 10 postings, so no quicklink to the below guide:

(add triple w before this....).apbp.org/resource/resmgr/Bicycle_Parking/EssentialsofBikeParking_FINA.pdf

Another vote here for the wavy racks for multiples or the post-and-circle singles. The standard size U-lock was invented to encompass two tires and a parking meter post, the idea being you remove the front and put it next to the rear. The wavy racks are the same diameter post so the same idea works.

There are some seemingly-clever racks at my dentist's office that are supposed to hold the down tube with a shackle. But the down tube of almost any modern aluminum or carbon bike is too big to fit it.

There's something like those "Walmart" racks at our local CVS. They're not exactly the same, I don't remember the arm on the ones I'm thinking of. They are all now a very loose fit to the ground. I think someone tried to unscrew them and gave up when the bolt started to turn instead of the nut. In this photo, one of them is gone. The other rack you see is so close to the wall that a wheel doesn't sit down in it, and only half the positions are usable at all. Utter fail! Google street view link

Our Walmart, by comparison, has post-and-circle locks with some cables dangling off them, a nice touch so you wouldn't need a second lock or to remove the wheel, if you are bothering with that. Another Google street view link The same Walmart has bike boxes, but they are not occupied by bikes, ahem.

Grid-style racks are the worst.

Oh, I also hate the ones that my job has installed. The old style I remember from school days. The traditional basic grid. Luckily there aren't many people who cycle to work so I can almost always grab an end spot to lock up. Trying to lock in the middle is a pain.

Steadyrack
 

Hey mate ... not sure if you're still in the market ...but if you are I'd recommend installing some Steadyracks (steadyrack.com) because they're easy to install, simple to use and have a pivot feature that maximises space, especially when sharing the area with cars.

I am the only commuter at my work, and that's in the good weather. They were thinking of putting up a permanent bike rack, but I got them to buy a couple of Feedback Sports RAKK stands. Portable, quick to setup, I dont have to lock my bike up as we have a secure facility, and its covered. Sometimes I bring it inside the building in the hotter months.

I think the Post/ring and Inverted U are most useful. Not a fan of vertical racks as not everyone has the strength to lift ebikes or city-style bikes; they don't accommodate fat bikes well, and it's sometimes hard to lift into position without damaging rear fenders. Basically you want to make locking up as easy as possible for everyone.

Below is a video of the bike storage area for my building, and the adjacent buildings on my block that are owned by the same scummy real estate development company. Obviously it is all vertical racks, and indeed they force you to rest a lot of weight on the rear fender, and are generally annoying to use.

As I mentioned previously, I very rarely see other people on bikes, even during the summer months, other than delivery people. I have no idea what most of these bikes are used for, or when. With this number of bikes for just a few buildings on the same block, you would think our neighborhood would be crawling with bikes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhvsq4RBb5I