Instead of the bike rack off to the side in the shadows where components or the entire bike can be stolen out of sight, create uncertainty in the minds of bike thieves:
Locate the bike rack in front of the computer room window were some big guy might be glancing out the window watching his bicycle.
Bret Cahill
Big guys in the computer room?
Notan
You don't think a diet of McDonald's and Cheetos would increase your bulk?
R
And the computer room is always located in the deepest, darkest corner of the building, not our front with windows. Come to think of it - it probably is right next to the bike rack.
Better: Put the bike rack in the vehicle garage where the same security cams that watch the SUVs rusting can do something useful for a change.
No way - did that, gave up almost immediately.
Do you have any idea of the slope and the coeffient of friction on your typical office parking garage ramp? It's about 25%, grooved, and concrete. Plus they tend to be sooty and rubbery from cars being flogged up them, and sometimes have a sharp hook to the right, effectively increasing the slope.
Of course, I'm talking about parking in the sub-basement, which is typical here in Toronto. An above ground parking garage might be different. The old Eatons Centre one had a nice CCW spiral going up, but they didn't allow bikes no way no how. Didn't much care for skateboarders coming down, either.
I was thinking in terms of the the OP's "big guy" also being thick.
Back when I was (was?) a geek, the only thing thick about us was the lenses in our glasses!
Notan
Certainly any office building could have an indoors bike rack.
We just need Martha Stewart or Donald Trump to say it is politically correct.
Bret Cahill
Who needs their OK? Just put the bikes in a secure area, out of sight. Like a room off the bottom of the emergency stairs.
The point is to give the bikes their own sort of "garage", and putting that space off the stairs means that people who arrive by bike also are encouraged to get even more exercise climbing the stairs....
Not me but everyone else seems to think bicycles are uglier than an 8 lier V8 SUV.
< Just put the bikes in a secure area, out of sight.That's just the problem. They get stolen when they are "out of sight."
Bret Cahill
Not here. Difficult to put a bike rack outside the third floor, y'see.
It's not that simple. You just need to sit in a programming meeting with a client (like the institution you're taking about) to realize the trickle-down effect of trying to make such design decisions.
I'm not saying there's a "better" solution to having the racks hidden away, but the idea that it's "simple" is false.
Not only that, but I've had experience on large college campuses where the bike racks are out in the open with parts and bikes being stolen or damaged in full light of day and with people all around. Short of posting a guard, you're not going to be 100% secure (and even with a guard I wouldn't expect security).
Actually, putting the bike rack there would be easy. Riding up to it would be another story. ;)
R
Back in the day when I worked in offices (admittedly funky ones) I brought my bike up the elevator and locked it to my desk. ADA compliant elevators easily hold bikes. EDS
2 jobs ago: 1 bike rack in the open, right in front of the MAC Store on the ground floor. 2nd bike rack in the garage. I always used the one in the open, and my bike was never touched. 1 job ago: bike parking area in a room off the parking garage. This room had a locked door, with the combination only given to people who parked their bikes there. My bike was never touched.
Current job: Bike rack in parking garage, in a fenced, locked cage. You need to register with Security to get the combination. My bike hasn't been touched.
Of course, I can't see why any self-respecting thief would touch this:
Jeff
Acturly, I've painted mine to resemble a Mondrian, with yellow and red reflective swatches. I think that's more effective at confusing people.
A couple of my friends have copied fairings in Kevlar. Now *that's* bulletproof!
Jeff
Justice O'Conner must wonder about the bicycles parked in the stacks at the UA law library.
Bret Cahill
I'll pick up some neon orange spray paint this afternoon.
As for the quick release you can remove everything from the skewer and but a small 5mm- 8 nuts & washers at Home Depot
I like to think I'm a non materialistic guy but disabling someone's bike in the desert could be life threatening.
Bret Cahill
Actually Trump could be a good ally. For all his bluster he's very good at what he does. If his buildings had nice bike rack solutions, we could point to them and say, "Look, Trump does it, and it hasn't hurt him any..."
Seriously, does anyone here live or work near a Trump property? What kind of bike parking solutions does he have?
The current climate of rising fuel prices, NYC transit strikes, etc., have definitely raised bike awareness. If people like Trump can use these issues for positive PR, they'll jump at. For example, look at Donald Bren's personal website:
The key to bike advocacy is to forge relationships with people like these, and work on them continually for years, or decades. This is what organizations like the Bikeleague should be doing. It is businessmen, not governments, who drive development and shape the environments we live and work in.
Matt O.
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