Thursday, September 17, 2009

Bike parking

I'll preface this by saying that I'm incredibly lucky when it comes to bike parking.
My boss is a cyclocross racer in his free time,  and we have enough space in my office that Robert can hang out in an open space between flat files.   This probably has a lot to do with why nearly 25% of our office ( OK, that's just 3 people)  bike nearly every day.
I also have a great bike shed under my front stairs.  It locks,  it's almost tall enough for me to stand up in, and it's right at the front door.

When out and about however, parking is a bit tough because the giant basket makes it difficult to use a lot of "typical" racks unless there's an end spot.
A couple of interesting spots I found lately:

Covered parking!  I got caught in the rain last week downtown,  and I was trying to decide whether to just keep going, or stop and run my errand.  I tried a new cut- through, and lo and behold- tucked into an alley, covered bike parking!!  And so elegant with those brackets/ seismic buttresses above!




When I take a zipcar,  I often end up at the Charles Hotel garage in Harvard Sq.  The parking there is really pretty lousy,  although there's a lot of it.  The racks are up 3 steps from the plaza (!)  and the antique " front wheel only" type.  They're not even fastened to the ground!  I lock up there anyway, because there are always 5 or 6 bikes locked to each rack at any given time,  and I don't think anyone would get very far with the 12' long rack and 5 bikes.  I did realize an unexpected advantage of them today though.  The flat top is perfect for setting down a cup of coffee!


When out and about I always feel safer locking my bike next to a bike so poorly secured as this one.
No thief is going to bother going after my Ulock and O lock when they could practically cut through the cable on this bike with a pair of scissors.

1 comment:

  1. I have the same problem parking my Pashley. With her fenders, basket and large frame, she does not fit well into standard bike racks. I usually lock her to poles, fences or parking meters. Another problem I have, is that because my bike is so unusual, she attracts attention. When I watch from a window, I can see people constantly touching and examining her as they walk by - not to steal, just out of curiosity. But it makes me so nervous!

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