sincewednesday

So they just installed a new "low profile" rack at work... seems kind of useless? How can I lock anything besides a wheel to this? It looks similar to this:





It's bolted into the concrete. There's only 1-2 other commuters, so I could conceivably lie my bike across multiple spaces. But I think I should just ignore it and continue locking my bike to the railing.

rdubbz

man, I was hoping to see some young receptionist or something... :-(

Podolak

How about bringing a long long cable and lock to that rack and just leaving it locked to the rack. You wouldn't want to carry something that heavy with you but if you left it there it would do the trick and not add any weight.

Takabrash

Those racks are made by people who assume everyone uses a cable lock. The people who ordered it for your work probably don't even know what U-locks are!

Podolak

Hmm...you know, maybe there is a market for really really big U-locks.

MrRamonG

LMFAO

chevy42083

Maybe a dumb question, but can't you back your bike in, and lock the rear triangle in place? Still leaves your front tire out to be stolen... but that usually requires two locks anyways.

littlewaywelt

+ 1 That's how I lock to our ribbon rack.

SheepFugue

Not sure if this is because he can't imagine a female employee being anything other than a receptionist or because ogling of anyone higher-ranking isn't a good idea professionally...

rdubbz

um no. it's just that every woman director or vp I see is an old bag. Receps tend to be young. Lighten up, it was just a joke.

sincewednesday

Sorry, I posted the wrong picture. Updated now. I tried and there is no way my mini U-lock would work on it. Guess I need to buy a big U-lock or chain for the new rack.

The annoying part is that it turns out the new bike commuter in procurement is responsible for the rack.

annc

The trick with these bike racks is to place your bike "backwards" so that the front tire is closest to the tall part and put the bike between the slots (not in the slots) so you can lock the back tire through the triangle and onto the rack.

J.C. Koto

These racks are all over my town. Totally useless, and obviously designed by someone without a clue. Part of the reason I carry around a normal-size U-Lock, a padlock and a 4' cable (redundancy is redundant). Beware of fenders, too, since the "slots" don't really have enough clearance all the time.

We really need a sticky of useless bike rack designs as seen "in the wild"... This rack would be in my Top-5!

crhilton

There is, they're called chains.

JusticeZero

lean the bike beside the rack, and U-lock to the edge.

donnamb 

Some helpful tips.

testtube

Wouldn't this work (attached pic)?

Just lift up the front tire and drop bike in rack... Maybe the s-bend along the, err, hypotenuse may be there for fork clearance...

fluidworks

This is exactly what I do, seeing how these are the only racks they have at my college. There's usually just enough room to attach a u-lock through the rack and around the bottom tube.

ryuuchiba

Use a U-lock on a tire and then use a cable ***** around the rest of the bike to secure the frame and other tire. No need to complain about it.