Does your work provide a safe place to keep bikes?

new work place does not. the neighbor is not too good.

Have you had any issues with garage bike parking?

old work place had great parking in the garage near the attendant. no thefts on level 1

What alternatives have you found if no safe place is provided?

anymore, would bring into office.

There are city-provided bike ring things outside on the pavement, which have been reported as not-so-safe in the press (posted here too, I believe) - even though my bike is a cheapo thing, it's my only ride and I'd rather not risk leaving it outside all day - especially with the bike theft rate in this city. When I have no choice, I will use those rings.. better than nothing I figure.

I used to lock up under the back stairwell, but now I bring it upstairs into the office, and keep it in between my desk and an unused desk - the office manager warned me that it may have to go back outside if that space is needed, or if our department moves office, but for now I like the arrangement - especially during the colder months, it at least allowed the moisture/snow/ice to dry and not rust up so badly with all the road salt - plus it gives my legs that final push when I double-step the bike up the steps :) My co-workers are not the type to mess with my ride, I think they respect the personal property boundary there, and with me spending most of my time behind my desk anyway, I'm no more than a few feet away and in direct view behind my screens. Doing this also saves me the hassle of having to lock/unlock too, not a huge deal but convenience is handy.

We have plenty of spaces in our bike racks and they are in a covered part of the parking garage where there is no pedestrian traffic. People leave their lights, jackets, panniers, helmets, etc, attached to their bikes when they lock it up (no one even locks the front wheels up). That being said the guys who have the nice bikes take them up to their offices/cubicles or lock them to stairwell railings on the stair landings. If I am lazy I will bring my bike up into the cubicle with me rather than drag my lock out.

If you have a free wall in your office or cube area you could try hanging wall-mounted bike rack. This is what I did when I worked in a shared office.

We have access to the storage closets around here so I could stick my bike in there as well.

I found that I could fit a whole bike under my desk (it was a 50cm frame) if I took off both wheels and the seat post.

When I did have to lock it up outside I locked it up in front of my window so I could keep an eye on it. Took the front wheel in with me. Also wrapped the top tube with pipe insulation and hockey tape (or you could buy a fancy top tube protector) to avoid dings.

When I was at the local Schwinn office before they moved away, they had bikes up on the cubicle walls on display. Must have mounted wheel holders on the tops of the cube walls and/or had wire hooks attached to the ceilings. Can't remember the details but it looked real cool.

No bikes allowed in our building, and I couldn't get mine to fit in my shared office anyway. We have a shaded bike parking area that is supposedly monitored by campus police. They've reported catching two would-be bike theives in the act, so I guess it works. I haven't had any problems in a year of parking out there.

The funny thing is all the Magna, Next, comfort, and mountain bikes are locked up in the "official" bike parking area. We also have one motorized scooter and a recumbent bike that are locked up out there. The dorky commuters follow the rules. All the cool kids who ride the fixies and SS have to be rule-breakers and lock their bikes to the rails in the breezeway under the building.

Being the office manager, I can park my bike wherever I want. :D Seriously though, we have the clinic on one floor of an office building, and cubicle space for the clinical staff in the floor above. Right now, I keep my bike upstairs, as there's lots of little corners and nooks that work. I could keep my bike downstairs where I spend most of my day, but we let our clients bring theirs upstairs, as bike theft is a huge issue here. No one wants their bikes stolen, but our clients really can't afford to lose theirs, so I reserve the clinic space for them. I've got a lot of freedom within the agency structure to run the office the way I wish to, and so I can make it a bike friendly place, at least for parking. :)

We are in the midst of converting our client charts to electronic records. Once that happens, I am going to have lots of space to work with. I have plans for a "bike parking area" for staff and clients on the clinic floor. Our landlord seems to have no problem with bikes in the lobby and elevators. It's a 12 floor office builidng, and I see quite a few bikes coming and going throughout the day.

My branch office is in a fire station that is "volunteer" and not manned. I leave mine in a coat rack nook that is never used (except by me when I hang my scuba gear up there after a dive) with the permission of my boss. I too fear that carbon fiber, wherever I put it, would be damaged somehow so I am reluctant to buy one let alone take it to work and leave it somewhere.

I keep it right next to me in the office - I don't even have to lock it up! But my favorite place to keep my bike... right under my butt at about 20 mph on the flats.

i have a footlong steel hanger attached to the wall about a foot above my head along the wall of my work station; i hook the saddle over the hanger, and get to work!

There's six racks outside the Patent and Trade office, each holds about a dozen bikes. Sometimes the closest ones are full, and you really have to hunt for a spot. It's very encouraging to see so many bikes out there.... but then I remember the size of the dual ten-story parking garages on either side of the building. Takes the edge off the encouragement a little.

I'm lucky enough to have a private office in the hospital where I work, so I keep it there. It's away from the patient care areas and nobody has ever said anything. With all of the wheelchairs going in & out (and the Security guys bringing their bikes into the building) I doubt anyone ever will. "Plan B" is a bike rack out front next to the patient drop-off where the valet parking guys work.

Leaning against a bookshelf in my office.

My employer installed a bike rack in the company's loading dock. It's not really installed in exactly the right place (can't line up the rear wheel with the rack), but since it's about 20 feet in front of a guard station, I'll take it.

Both of my jobs (although I am technically employed by a single entity, the University) are on campus, along with my classes. For classes and my biology lab job, I just lock up on the racks outside of most buildings. My main commuter bike is pretty nice and fairly valuable, but not in a mountain bike or road bike "bling" kind of way. The powdercoat is pretty tough, so nicks and scratches aren't much of a concern. The U-lock is enough to keep me from worrying about theft. The other two bikes are less valuable and have enough nicks and scratches already that more will only add character.

For my job at the local bike co-op, I just bring my bicycle into the building and bring it inside or lean it by the door in the hall (we have a single room in the student union). Actually, I'll bring my bicycle inside and just leave it there even if I have other business in the building. I might as well! It's good to be an employee.

Under my desk!

http://brezhnev.net/bikeforums/desk.jpg

(The only photo I have and kind of hard to see, but the top tube is right and slightly down from the keyboard)

I have to take the freight elevator, but that doesn't bother me.

I'm retired now but We bike commuters were allowed to bring our bikes inside our secure office building where we could either lean them against the wall across from the vending machines or we could bring the bike to our cubicle where I either leaned it against my case files or against the wall opposite my cubicle.

Years ago, in Portland, I parked my bike in the basement of the building where I worked at 5th & Stark, locked it to a large water pipe that came up out of the floor & ran up through the ceiling. A co-worker there had his new Cannondale stolen when he locked it to the wooden slats of a cage where foodstuffs for Hubers Grill were stored. Thief cut the slats with a saw & carried off his bike.

A year after I started working at my current place of employ I suggested they put in a bike rack outside of the building where my office was located. I sent photos of my suggested location and types of racks I thought would work. I received what I thought was a brush off- a kind of "we're looking into it and we'll get back to you note".

6 months later they opened a new bike room! reserved parking for my bike, a heated clean room, video monitor on the bikes, keyless entry to the room- swipe an ID card and the door swings open automatically. It's fantastic. :D

I bring it into the office with me. There's a small storage room our department has here in the hospital and i just put my bike in there with the old microscopes, glass slides, and paperwork. :) I don't come in through the front of the hospital though but rather a side door that requires a keycard and is on the 2nd floor so nobody has to see that i'm not using the bike racks out front. :lol: I've seen afew other people wheeling around bikes.

I put mine in the men's bathroom down the hall.:eek:

I had it in the hall, but it was it barely fit in between the doors to the basement and the ladie's bathroom. Someone make a comment and I looked for a better spot. The only bike rack is on the other side of the building, so I decided the mens bathroom would be good. It's big in there. I put a suplus coat rack in there, too, so I've kind of turned it into my changing, wash up, and bike adjustment room, too.:p

The downside is that I sometimes have to wash the floor under my bike when it's quite rainy or snowy.

There's only 6 or 7 of us that use that bath, so it's perfect.

I regularly visit my bike.;)

I can keep my bike in my office so I don't have to worry about it getting stolen. It is a good office mate, quiet and fun have around:D

We have bike lockers inside a secure parking lot. The kind they use for train/bus stations. They're a tight fit for my Safari,but I'm not going to complain.

I did bring my bike into the shop once when it was snowing to fix a flat. I could do it every day if I wanted,but it's too much of a pain getting it through multiple doors.

How about leaving a cheap tarp, and a few bungees at work?

When I ride one-way trips I leave it locked up inside my car. When I round-trip there is usually a bike rack in the garage or near the build entrances. In those cases, I ride my beater/junker. Of course I'd hate to loose a beater/junker and I always put too much time, money, and maintenance into them.

I'm really lucky. I found an unused closet next to the elevators. I've used it for years. If they took that away, I'd make friends with building management to see if there was some place in the basement to stash it. There is no good outside bike parking.

i live and work in a rural area;
lean my bike up against a metal fence that protects some HVAC equipment from damage
and secure that bike to the fence with a bungie cord.

There is bike parking in a secure courtyard at my job. There are armed guards and you need a pass to enter. Needless to say I feel my bike is safe.