Safe place to lock bike by union station

I have to visit my parents this evening where is the safest place to lock a bike up around Union Station?

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Permalink Reply by jen on December 3, 2009 at 6:32am
There really is no safe place at union station. There is no indoor bike parking. If you leave it locked somewhere in the station It will be removed and end up in lost and found. Honestly I would suggest you leave your bike at home or work. If that is not an option the bike rack on the south side of adams between the river and canal usually has a lot of bikes parked there.
Permalink Reply by Eric R on December 3, 2009 at 6:47am
My girlfriend and I locked up our bikes by Union Station on Jackson between Clinton and Canal (closer to Canal) for three days - during the summer - but we had three u-locks and a cable lock locking them up. Given that it is winter, someone messing with it is even less likely. (Just my 2 cents.) Just have at least two locks, one of them a u-lock.
Permalink Reply by Adam on December 3, 2009 at 7:06am
I was thinking it would be safe by the UofI chicago building Wacker/adams.... I saw a metal fence down by that park next to the river... but I'm not sure if it would be removed if i locked it up there.
Permalink Reply by Amber K on December 3, 2009 at 7:47am
I was taking a trip on the Megabus this past summer, and for some reason, I thought that there were some bike racks in Union Station. To my surprise there wasn't. A Union security cop told me not to lock it up anywhere outside that someone would more than likely slash the tires. Lucky me, he was nice enough to let me store my bike in the police storage inside the station over the weekend. Now, I just hop on the blue line if I'm going out of Union.
Permalink Reply by Duppie on December 3, 2009 at 7:52am
I parked my bike for 2 years in front of 550 W Adams, just West of Union Station. Never once did someone touch my bike. My bikes aren't necessarily cheap either ($500+ estimated replacement value each) Just make sure you lock both wheels and walk away confidently.

Of course I ALWAYS lock up with two U-locks when i park for the day. One OnGuard Brute weighing about 6 Lb and an OnGuard Mini. Anything less I would consider insufficient
Permalink Reply by heather s on December 3, 2009 at 9:13am
Probably a bad idea to lock to the fence--and unnecessary, because there are a decent number of bike racks in that area.

Adam said:
I was thinking it would be safe by the UofI chicago building Wacker/adams.... I saw a metal fence down by that park next to the river... but I'm not sure if it would be removed if i locked it up there.
Permalink Reply by Wild Bill on December 3, 2009 at 9:26am
If you don't ride during rush hour I would recommend taking the bike with you.
Permalink Reply by ishnock aka the blue baron on December 3, 2009 at 12:11pm
Honestly,I would lock my bike on Michigan ave., and then walk up to Union Station-that's if you can't take your bike with you...

There are a lot of bike racks on Michigan ave,and a lot of them stay full
with bikes all day and all night long due to so many college students and teacherrs existing in the area(SAIC and Columbia College).Your bike wouldn't get tampered with if you were to
park it in that area.
Permalink Reply by jen on December 3, 2009 at 5:34pm
Michigan ave is no safer than any other street just because bikes racks are full. I lived for a bit at jackson and michigan and sometimes my bike was parked at the rack in front of my building and yes a few times things did disappear. I fender here and fancy dice stem cap there. I have also watched security video of my bike being stolen mid day at the corner of jackson and clark from a full bike rack.

ishnock aka the blue baron said:
Honestly,I would lock my bike on Michigan ave., and then walk up to Union Station-that's if you can't take your bike with you...
There are a lot of bike racks on Michigan ave,and a lot of them stay full with bikes all day and all night long due to so many college students and teacherrs existing in the area(SAIC and Columbia College).Your bike wouldn't get tampered with if you were to
park it in that area.
Permalink Reply by ishnock aka the blue baron on December 4, 2009 at 4:34am
I have never had an issue with my bike being locked up on Michigan ave near the Cultural Center....I use a kyrptonite lock locking the frame and the wheels together....and I use a basic u lock for the back wheel....

I take my knogs with me.....


i've never had a bad experience, but regardless of where a person locks his or her bike, if a shitty security system is being used then it is going to get lifted,

I don't like leaving my bike in quiet or dead areas,and I will take my chances with areas and streets with a vast amount of bike racks, as oppose to locking my bike up in dead and lonely areas......

In all actuality, no bike is 100 percent theft proof no matter where it is locked.However,
with a bike being locked up in a busy section, the greater chances you have with someone witnessing your bike being stolen or tampered with,or possibly scaring the bike thief off......



H3N3 said:
I don't mean to offend, but this is absolutely horrible advice. There is very little protection from having lots of people around unless you have multiple U-locks as someone suggested; bikes get stolen from bustling places that would seem to have lots of eyes on them every day. Michigan Avenue is not particularly safe, and reports come in from the school buildings downtown all the time.
ishnock aka the blue baron said:
Honestly,I would lock my bike on Michigan ave., and then walk up to Union Station-that's if you can't take your bike with you...

There are a lot of bike racks on Michigan ave,and a lot of them stay full
with bikes all day and all night long due to so many college students and teacherrs existing in the area(SAIC and Columbia College).Your bike wouldn't get tampered with if you were to
park it in that area.
Permalink Reply by Jared on December 3, 2009 at 7:17pm
Not sure where your coming from or going to but have you considered using one of the outlying stations (Clybourn, Ravenswood, Western). Much more convenient as you don't have to buy the ticket at the station but can buy it once on the train. Not sure if these areas are any safer to leave a bike locked though.
Permalink Reply by Duppie on December 4, 2009 at 3:29am
I reread my own reply and can see how you concluded that I parked my bike bike there for a multi-day periods. So let me clarify, I never parked overnight, but I did park days and (occasionally) evenings there, without any issues. I thought OP was not asking for overnight parking options

H3N3 said:
My friends Sam and Sarah locked their bikes to a fence near Union Station to hop Megabus and their U-locks were promptly sawed (damaging one of the bikes) and placed in a health club storage room.
Miraculously they managed to track them down and get them back. I would not lock to anything but a city bike rack or sanctioned meter downtown. Personally I would not leave my bike downtown for a multi-day trip but Duppie seems to have done OK by his account.

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