Tour de Fat, Pitchfork highlight the pressing need for more bike parking at fests

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Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on July 19, 2011 at 12:36pm

Speaking of the ‘Burger King Bike Coral’…  The services provided through Chase Bank’s sponsorship of the Active Transportation Alliance’s Bike Valet are still available!  In 2011, we are happy to work with organizers of Lollapalooza, the Taste of Chicago, Blues Fest and several other events to provide patrons with free bike parking in our secure pen of new triathlon-style racks. 

 

And if Burger King, or anyone else for that matter, is interested in gaining the appreciation of thousands of Chicagoland bicyclists next summer by sponsoring our Valet, please let me know at katie@activetrans.org!

 

Thanks,

Katie Leisner, Active Trans

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Andrew on July 19, 2011 at 12:40pm

"but the organizers provided plenty of the galvanized steel fences that are becoming the standard for bike parking at Chicago fests. These are not ideal, since you have to throw your front wheel over the top and figure out a way to secure the wheel and the frame to the fence with a U-lock. If I was riding a fancy bike I probably wouldn’t want to lock this way for fear of chipping the finish. Still, parking did not seem to be a problem at the Tour de Fat."

 

I don't own a terribly fancy bike, but my bike is outfitted with full fenders that can be a bit finicky in terms of not rubbing against the tire.  Racks like these force me to secure my bike in a manner that pretty much guarantees I'm going to bend my front fender setup and have to spend some time re-adjusting it to get back to "normal."  After making a late appearance at Union Park on Friday night and finding the Reader corral stocked with such racks (and ultra-full), we just decided to lock up elsewhere the rest of the weekend and hope that there would be bikes considerably less-secured than ours that might be more attractive to thieves.

 

I seem to remember the bike village being elsewhere in past years and a little more user-friendly, though I think those racks have always been used.

 

I'm dwelling on some negatives, but too many bikes and not enough parking really is a pretty great problem to have, and I hope I can look forward to seeing some creative solutions in the future.

 

Just out of curiosity, does anybody know what the most efficient way to (securely) park a large # (1000+) of bikes actually is?

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Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on July 19, 2011 at 12:56pm

Dero makes the Event Rack (how aptly named!).

I've not used one, but it seems to be more efficient and also more accommodating to those of us who have fenders.

I parked my bike on a railing underneath stairs to the Ashland Green/Pink line station. It was also closer to the volunteer entrance. 

I noticed the "do not park here" signs John photographed and featured on Grid Chicago.

Andrew N said:

Just out of curiosity, does anybody know what the most efficient way to (securely) park a large # (1000+) of bikes actually is?

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on July 19, 2011 at 1:04pm

So far only one theft report from Pitchfork:

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/191438

Probably the tip of the iceberg as there are a handful of Pitchfork-related theft reports every year.

I'm sure he'd have been happy to talk to you for your story, John.

I didn't go anywhere near Pitchfork this year-- was the bike area full to capacity, or was the problem that people didn't know about it? Was the entire lot full of racks, or only part of it? I can't tell from the description or from these pictures.

Steven, are you the Steven my niece met?

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 19, 2011 at 1:06pm

That must be the solution you see in almost every town during Ragbrai: 1" steel cable tied between two pieces of farm equipment. A hundred yard roll allows you to park 200 bikes or so.

Andrew N said:

Just out of curiosity, does anybody know what the most efficient way to (securely) park a large # (1000+) of bikes actually is?

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Permalink Reply by Andrew on July 19, 2011 at 1:21pm

It was at or near capacity every time I saw it during the weekend save early Sunday afternoon (when we opted to not to use it in the case of fender well-being).  I think this year there was a much better job of publicizing it than in years past.  There was probably space for a few more racks, but not many.  Those that were there were arranged about as tightly as possible.

 

I really think that in years past when they had the bike parking in the grass just outside the festival fences there was more square feets devoted to it, but not sure if that actually translated to more capacity.

 

h333 said:

 

I didn't go anywhere near Pitchfork this year-- was the bike area full to capacity, or was the problem that people didn't know about it? Was the entire lot full of racks, or only part of it? I can't tell from the description or from these pictures.

 

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Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on July 19, 2011 at 2:02pm

I think the lot was near capacity. It was pretty easy to find, although the directional signs were removed. The Biker Village was identified on the Pitchfork map and website.

I think in years past many people locked their bikes by hanging them on the festival's boundary fences. I saw little or none of that this year. 

I did meet your niece, Howard, at the Active Transportation Alliance tent in the non-profit area. I suggested she take a class for adults on how to bike. I volunteered so I could see Cut Copy perform. 

h333 said:

I didn't go anywhere near Pitchfork this year-- was the bike area full to capacity, or was the problem that people didn't know about it? Was the entire lot full of racks, or only part of it? I can't tell from the description or from these pictures.

Steven, are you the Steven my niece met?

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on July 19, 2011 at 2:30pm

 Having a massive chrome bike the fencing option workes well for me.  The only real fear I have with this is over-crowding leading to damage of accessories/components.  Modern bikes are fragile and it doesn't take much to bend/break something if a half-drunk co-biker flops on/steps on/bashes into your bike with his own bike or body.  Forks bend easily (even with a wheel in) wheels can get tacoed if stepped on, fenders and other accessories can easily be broken/bent/misalighned and many other things messed up by accident.

 

I'm sure these things happen to a number of people's bikes at every event like this. Add in a little bit of alcohol and over-crowding of the bike parking areas and I'm sure it only gets worse.

 

I count myself lucky that as a handy person and moderately accomplished bike mechanic, who basically built his own bike nearly from the ground up, I could rebuild it fairly easily/cheaply.  I also don't have a lot of expensive and fragile components either.  Not everyone is so fortunate.   one more reason to have a beater bike around just for these occasions!

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on July 19, 2011 at 2:40pm

Thanks.

There was only the lot, not the racks on the north side of Warren?

What percentage of the lot would folks estimate was filled by the racks? 1/2? 2/3? 3/4?

 

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Permalink Reply by ad on July 19, 2011 at 3:54pm

I was there on Sunday.  Not sure how well I can estimate a total percentage of how full the lot was, but I would say it was full enough that adding any more racks in the area seems like it would have made moving around easily with a bike near impossible (so maybe around at least 2/3 to probably closer to 3/4 if you really need a firm guess).  I arrived with one other person at around 2:30.  We found open spots to lock our bikes, but the racks were definitely almost completely full by then.  Besides the same type of issues others had with the type of rack used and fenders, I thought it was set up well and functioned much better than I expected.   

h333 said:

Thanks.

There was only the lot, not the racks on the north side of Warren?

What percentage of the lot would folks estimate was filled by the racks? 1/2? 2/3? 3/4?

 

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on July 19, 2011 at 4:11pm

Thanks, AD.

I helped with bike parking the last 2 (3?) years.  It sounds like capacity was reduced by at least a third over previous years in that the area opposite the lot was not set up.  By your description the number of racks in the fenced lot was similar to last year; in past years there were also snafus whereby the vendors were grabbing the racks inappropriately to use for barriers and other things, leaving significantly less than allotted for bike parking.

In any event, capacity for bike parking was inadequate last year, and if The Reader was in charge of it this year they deserve a little unhappy mail at the very least for reducing capacity significantly over the previous year.

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Permalink Reply by ad on July 19, 2011 at 4:34pm

I've ridden my bike to pitchfork over the course of the past 5 years.  To be honest, in past years I just locked to the fences along Ashland and avoided the bike corral area altogether.  The friend I was with on Sunday had already been there on the other days and suggested we use the bike corral. 

 

It's a shame if they really did cut capacity this year, but I was able to still find a spot in the end.  I also found the area very easy to use all in all.  My main worry (and why I had avoided it in the past) was a fear that the area would be a nightmare to get out of when the show ended.  Didn't really find that to be the case at all.  I definitely preferred this set-up to the more traditional "valet" system I've seen at some other fests--though I imagine a valet system is more secure in the end.      

h333 said:

Thanks, AD.

I helped with bike parking the last 2 (3?) years.  It sounds like capacity was reduced by at least a third over previous years in that the area opposite the lot was not set up.  By your description the number of racks in the fenced lot was similar to last year; in past years there were also snafus whereby the vendors were grabbing the racks inappropriately to use for barriers and other things, leaving significantly less than allotted for bike parking.

In any event, capacity for bike parking was inadequate last year, and if The Reader was in charge of it this year they deserve a little unhappy mail at the very least for reducing capacity significantly over the previous year.

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