The Chainlink

bike parking hall of fame/hall of shame (was bike parking at stores, libraries and other major destinations)

I previously started this topic with a slightly different focus.  I'd like to keep the info we've already gathered and encourage you all to add more.  The goal is to collect data for a project I'm pursuing with a few folks to improve bike parking in the city.

Please post comments about Chicago businesses whose bike parking is either good (to say thanks) or needs improvement.  Include identifying information - name of business, address, and what is good or not so good about their bike parking

Photos are useful if you can get 'em.  If you have multiple businesses you'd like to mention, feel free.  They can be big chains (Jewel, Dominick's, Walgreens, Home Depot, etc.), franchises (hardware or fast food stores, for examples), or independent businesses.

If you talk to a store manager about the issue, tell us if you got any positive results.

Thanks for all your info!  It would be great if we can get better bike parking at the majority of stores and restaurants in bike-accessible locations in the next few years.  Your info can help make that possible.

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I've had an ongoing discussion with a few people about the lack of good bike parking at most grocery stores, drug stores, etc. 

County Fair (a family-owned independent) at 108th & Western has city racks out front.  Riding there to shop is a piece of cake.

Jewel and Dominick's stores typically have no racks at all or one rack installed so close to a wall that it can only be used by a few bikes, or one rack in a location where it's always surrounded by shopping carts - not bike friendly.  Walgreens stores near me have wheel bender racks similar to this

The nearest CVS has a city rack out front near the door, which is well used, but the one on their own property is so far from the flow of traffic and installed so close to the wall that it's never used. 


There's a new public library on 95th St. that opened less than a year ago.  It has a 10-bike rack near the front door.  Guess what?  It's installed so close to the wall nothing with wheels larger than 20" can be secured to it with a U-lock.  It usually has no more than 2 bikes locked to it, then people start locking to the nearby benches and fence. 


Meanwhile, another perfectly good 10-bike rack goes unused, because it's tucked away in the corner of the parking lot, out of sight from where most cyclists approach the library.


Which grocery store, pharmacy and library are your usual stops?  Do they have good bike parking?  Tell us about what's good or bad about the bike parking at these places or other frequent destinations.  Curious minds want to know.

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That's the Dominicks inside the shopping center roughly around Clybourn/Fullerton/Wrightwood.

By the way, does anyone know if CDOT or ATA has any kind of information on bike racks for private businesses? Is there some number we can give businesses to call, or some kind of brochure we can hand out?

In my experience, it's one thing to ask a store to spend a little money on a bike rack. It's a completely different thing to expect them to go research the types of racks available, recommended size and type, expected maintenance and installation costs, the reliability of bike rack companies, etc. Racks are cheap, time for an employee to research this stuff can add up very quickly.

Steven Vance said:

David, at what Clybourn Dominick's did you find those two wave racks?
It would be great to have a downloadable PDF brochure that we could give to store managers so that they have useful info at hand. CDOT folks - What do you say?

David said:
That's the Dominicks inside the shopping center roughly around Clybourn/Fullerton/Wrightwood.

By the way, does anyone know if CDOT or ATA has any kind of information on bike racks for private businesses? Is there some number we can give businesses to call, or some kind of brochure we can hand out?

In my experience, it's one thing to ask a store to spend a little money on a bike rack. It's a completely different thing to expect them to go research the types of racks available, recommended size and type, expected maintenance and installation costs, the reliability of bike rack companies, etc. Racks are cheap, time for an employee to research this stuff can add up very quickly.

Steven Vance said:

David, at what Clybourn Dominick's did you find those two wave racks?
Last night I stopped at Performance on Halsted for a few things. For years, they had one rack that was only suitable for end locking or over-the-top placement. Haven't been there in a while and discovered they now have 3 racks, none of them easy to use for secure locking.

There were 2 of these goofy racks I wasn't sure how to use (vertical bike placement?) and one wheelbender. It was obvious that I wasn't the only one who couldn't figure these out and didn't want to use the wheelbender. Will Performance ever get good bike parking?

performance has had those terrible racks for years. No one can use them properly. I've seen many nice bikes unlocked outside that store simply because there aren't many good ways to lock. One would think a bike shop would try and install usefull racks for its customers.



Anne Alt said:
Last night I stopped at Performance on Halsted for a few things. For years, they had one rack that was only suitable for end locking or over-the-top placement. Haven't been there in a while and discovered they now have 3 racks, none of them easy to use for secure locking.

There were 2 of these goofy racks I wasn't sure how to use (vertical bike placement?) and one wheelbender. It was obvious that I wasn't the only one who couldn't figure these out and didn't want to use the wheelbender. Will Performance ever get
I haven't visited Performance much in the last few years. These particular racks are no more than 2 or 3 years old. Yes, it's ironic that a bike shop would fail to provide useable bike parking (especially in a strip mall with available space for decent racks).

Liz said:
performance has had those terrible racks for years. No one can use them properly. I've seen many nice bikes unlocked outside that store simply because there aren't many good ways to lock. One would think a bike shop would try and install usefull racks for its customers.



Anne Alt said:
Last night I stopped at Performance on Halsted for a few things. For years, they had one rack that was only suitable for end locking or over-the-top placement. Haven't been there in a while and discovered they now have 3 racks, none of them easy to use for secure locking.

There were 2 of these goofy racks I wasn't sure how to use (vertical bike placement?) and one wheelbender. It was obvious that I wasn't the only one who couldn't figure these out and didn't want to use the wheelbender. Will Performance ever get
Around my house here in Little Village, we actually have very decent bike parking with 2-3 city racks on each block along 26th street. This is good since cycling around here isn't as widespread as in other parts of the city.A couple of my frequent stops, the Chase Bank on 26th, and the library on Pulaski have good wave type racks:

Im confused. What would be the proper way to lock to one of those racks? They look like they just welded metal hangers upside down to a piece of tubing all willy nilly.


Liz said:
performance has had those terrible racks for years. No one can use them properly. I've seen many nice bikes unlocked outside that store simply because there aren't many good ways to lock. One would think a bike shop would try and install usefull racks for its customers.



Anne Alt said:
Last night I stopped at Performance on Halsted for a few things. For years, they had one rack that was only suitable for end locking or over-the-top placement. Haven't been there in a while and discovered they now have 3 racks, none of them easy to use for secure locking.

There were 2 of these goofy racks I wasn't sure how to use (vertical bike placement?) and one wheelbender. It was obvious that I wasn't the only one who couldn't figure these out and didn't want to use the wheelbender. Will Performance ever get
That's exactly what I was wondering when I was standing in front of those racks.

Davo said:
Im confused. What would be the proper way to lock to one of those racks? They look like they just welded metal hangers upside down to a piece of tubing all willy nilly.


Liz said:
performance has had those terrible racks for years. No one can use them properly. I've seen many nice bikes unlocked outside that store simply because there aren't many good ways to lock. One would think a bike shop would try and install usefull racks for its customers.



Anne Alt said:
Last night I stopped at Performance on Halsted for a few things. For years, they had one rack that was only suitable for end locking or over-the-top placement. Haven't been there in a while and discovered they now have 3 racks, none of them easy to use for secure locking.

There were 2 of these goofy racks I wasn't sure how to use (vertical bike placement?) and one wheelbender. It was obvious that I wasn't the only one who couldn't figure these out and didn't want to use the wheelbender. Will Performance ever get
I was actually there this afternoon and locked to one of those 'coat hanger' racks. I have a long Kryptonite U-lock; I went through my front wheel, the 'coat hanger' and around my down tube.

Anne Alt said:
That's exactly what I was wondering when I was standing in front of those racks.

Davo said:
Im confused. What would be the proper way to lock to one of those racks? They look like they just welded metal hangers upside down to a piece of tubing all willy nilly.


Liz said:
performance has had those terrible racks for years. No one can use them properly. I've seen many nice bikes unlocked outside that store simply because there aren't many good ways to lock. One would think a bike shop would try and install usefull racks for its customers.



Anne Alt said:
Last night I stopped at Performance on Halsted for a few things. For years, they had one rack that was only suitable for end locking or over-the-top placement. Haven't been there in a while and discovered they now have 3 racks, none of them easy to use for secure locking.

There were 2 of these goofy racks I wasn't sure how to use (vertical bike placement?) and one wheelbender. It was obvious that I wasn't the only one who couldn't figure these out and didn't want to use the wheelbender. Will Performance ever get
So Your front wheel goes up and into the "coat hanger"? I'd like to see a picture of this because I am still somewhat baffled by this style of rack.



Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:
I was actually there this afternoon and locked to one of those 'coat hanger' racks. I have a long Kryptonite U-lock; I went through my front wheel, the 'coat hanger' and around my down tube
Thanks for tracking down this link. The brochure includes lots of useful info, but has a few flaws. I've got a few suggestions.

If we are to use this, it would be a good idea to highlight the block of text on page 3 that says that wheelbender-type racks are NOT appropriate. The pictures on that page include 2 types of rack that are NOT recommended, and that text is separate from the related pictures, so highlighting those items could make a big difference. Drawing a NO symbol over the bad racks could be even better.

A store manager who didn't know anything about bike parking and who didn't read carefully might assume that those racks are okay because there's nothing separating them from the good racks on the page. Not the best brochure design, IMO - at least not that page.

John said:
I was able to track down this PDF of Bicycle Parking Guidelines from the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals:
http://www.apbp.org/resource/resmgr/publications/bicycle_parking_gu...


Anne Alt said:
It would be great to have a downloadable PDF brochure that we could give to store managers so that they have useful info at hand. CDOT folks - What do you say?

I have a moderately long Kryptonite lock, and it was not long enough to go through front wheel, "coat hanger" AND downtube. :( That lock works in most places, too.

Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:
I was actually there this afternoon and locked to one of those 'coat hanger' racks. I have a long Kryptonite U-lock; I went through my front wheel, the 'coat hanger' and around my down tube.

Anne Alt said:
That's exactly what I was wondering when I was standing in front of those racks.

Davo said:
Im confused. What would be the proper way to lock to one of those racks? They look like they just welded metal hangers upside down to a piece of tubing all willy nilly.


Liz said:
performance has had those terrible racks for years. No one can use them properly. I've seen many nice bikes unlocked outside that store simply because there aren't many good ways to lock. One would think a bike shop would try and install usefull racks for its customers.



Anne Alt said:
Last night I stopped at Performance on Halsted for a few things. For years, they had one rack that was only suitable for end locking or over-the-top placement. Haven't been there in a while and discovered they now have 3 racks, none of them easy to use for secure locking.

There were 2 of these goofy racks I wasn't sure how to use (vertical bike placement?) and one wheelbender. It was obvious that I wasn't the only one who couldn't figure these out and didn't want to use the wheelbender. Will Performance ever get

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