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Why My Bike and I hate Grid, Hoop and Wave style bike parking racks you see on campuses today?

Bike racks are defined as ornamental metal that you can lean your bikes against. They have a long and varied history but it isn’t until recently that they have evolved to the point where I’d actually recommend their usage. As well as sharing the most popular racks of the past we are also including articles from around the world talking about why they need to go away.

Here’s some of the racks of the past:

Grid/Comb style – These racks commonly know as “wheel benders” are sitting in schools, campuses, parks and just about anywhere that has not been able to upgrade to the newer style racks or docks. Below are some articles that have been written about thee racks.

 

Grid/Comb

 

Comb rack

 

Wave

 

Wave rack

 

 

Inverted-U rack

Inverted U-rack

Here’s the top 3 reasons why normal bike racks just don’t make the cut:

  1. Many types of racks, especially “grid” or “comb” style racks, can easily damage your wheel, bending it to the point of being unrideable.
  2. Most common racks including the popular wave racks, don’t allow for proper U-locks to be used, leaving your bike highly vulnerable to thieves.
  3. Most rack types allow attaching your bike parallel to the rack, not only allowing greedy bikers to take up the rack, but also risking damage to their bikes.

Well if bike racks are so bad what’s to be done? Bike Docks.

Here’s an example Bike Dock product -  a new way of doing bicycle storage - from Park-a-bike with a couple of important points (click the image for more details):

 

The-Varsity-Bike-Dock-by-Parkabike.jpg

 

  • Secures two bikes per rack
  • No risk of bending
  • Works with U-locks
  • Hardened locking loops

Meets APBP Guidelines: Racks fully adhere to the guidelines for bike parking as written by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals.

 

Bike Friendly Containment: The rack captures the bikes tires in a well or cradle in such a way so that there is no wheel bending, yet the bike is secured enough to not slide or slip from its upright position.

 

Simple & Intuitive: Simple and intuitive racks exhibit few options for a cyclist to lock their bike. They offer minimal parking methods (front and back only) and minimize the possibility of securing a bike in an incorrect way that will cause unorganized or non-secure bike parking.

 

Security: The rack should be equipped with a feature (such as an arm or wing) to allow the bicycle to be locked to the rack with an external lock and a closed part of the bicycle frame, as well as offer the ability to lock the wheel, frame, and rack in unison.

 

Density: How well the rack contains and organizes large numbers of bikes in different configurations and locations while still keeping parking organized to allow cyclists sufficient access to their bikes.

 

Cost Per Bike: The approximate dollar amount an individual rack will cost in respect to how many bikes it will hold.

 

Cost Per Bike+Shipping: The approximate dollar amount an individual rack will cost in respect to how many bikes it will hold plus the cost of freight. Because different racks weigh more or less, and ship to and from different locations, the cost of freight varies and therefore can make a total purchase price more or less expensive than just averaging the cost per bike.