What is up with those new bike racks in Uptown?!?

Don't get me wrong I love the representation of Uptown in any cycling way but the design is horrible. It basically denies you of locking your bike properly!! The whole reason for a bike rack is to lock your bike and now they decided they would do a logo right in between the rack, denying the proper U-Lock wheel and frame locking. Anybody know who to contact to make sure it doesn't happen again or that they do not make every other rack in Uptown the same. I forgot to take a pic but will post one later today.

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Permalink Reply by John Wilson 6.0 on May 14, 2013 at 8:07am

"Be unquestionably grateful." No. The chambers of commerce need to know they're wasting money on poorly designed bike racks.

Tony said:

All these racks were donated by chambers of commerce for the benefit of cyclists. Cut them some slack. They're doing it for you. 

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on May 14, 2013 at 8:10am

I agree.  They are beautiful and its awesome that the chambers are putting money towards bicycle infrastructure.  BUT they should be consulting the right engineering/design company.....

Just bring them up or down or some change the layout.  

City did the same thing with some racks a few years back, and had to spend money to reconfigure. May have been Jeff Park Blue Line, but can't remember.



Tony Adams 6.6 mi said:

That makes me _less_ likely to cut them slack. If you intend to help someone you really should get to know them enough to make sure that your help is going to be helpful and not just give you some PR and give make you feel like you've "contributed".

Tony said:

All these racks were donated by chambers of commerce for the benefit of cyclists. Cut them some slack. They're doing it for you. 

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on May 14, 2013 at 8:10am

Well, the guy on the right locked wrong. The bike is supposed to be parallel to the rack. Also, who the hell secures their front wheel and frame but not the back wheel?!

Madopal (7.6 mi) said:

BTW, here's a pick of two bikes locked to the Wicker Park ones.  Notice how the bike on the right winds up having to stick out in the sidewalk, and the one on the left has just the right lock size to fit through that little hole in the logo.  Also, the logo is exactly the same height as what appears to be a 700 wheel.  You'd think they would have tried that before welding it in.Have a bigger downtube or smaller lock, welp, too bad.  Mini-u?  You're out of luck.  Go find another rack or leave your wheel exposed.

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on May 14, 2013 at 8:13am

Adam,  I lock my front wheel and frame and not my back wheel all the time :))

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Well, the guy on the right locked wrong. The bike is supposed to be parallel to the rack. Also, who the hell secures their front wheel and frame but not the back wheel?!

Madopal (7.6 mi) said:

BTW, here's a pick of two bikes locked to the Wicker Park ones.  Notice how the bike on the right winds up having to stick out in the sidewalk, and the one on the left has just the right lock size to fit through that little hole in the logo.  Also, the logo is exactly the same height as what appears to be a 700 wheel.  You'd think they would have tried that before welding it in.Have a bigger downtube or smaller lock, welp, too bad.  Mini-u?  You're out of luck.  Go find another rack or leave your wheel exposed.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on May 14, 2013 at 8:17am

Why is that? I'd be more concerned about someone stealing my rear wheel than the front one.

Julie Hochstadter said:

Adam,  I lock my front wheel and frame and not my back wheel all the time :))

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Well, the guy on the right locked wrong. The bike is supposed to be parallel to the rack. Also, who the hell secures their front wheel and frame but not the back wheel?!

Madopal (7.6 mi) said:

BTW, here's a pick of two bikes locked to the Wicker Park ones.  Notice how the bike on the right winds up having to stick out in the sidewalk, and the one on the left has just the right lock size to fit through that little hole in the logo.  Also, the logo is exactly the same height as what appears to be a 700 wheel.  You'd think they would have tried that before welding it in.Have a bigger downtube or smaller lock, welp, too bad.  Mini-u?  You're out of luck.  Go find another rack or leave your wheel exposed.

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on May 14, 2013 at 8:19am

I used to do this also thinking that the rear wheel is a lot more trouble to remove therefore it is less likely to be removed so why bother locking it. But the rear wheel is also a LOT more expensive to replace. We should all be in the habit of securing both wheels and the frame.

In a pinch, at least with this design, one could lift the front of one's bike a few inches so that the lock clears the logo/art in the rack.

Julie Hochstadter said:

Adam,  I lock my front wheel and frame and not my back wheel all the time :))

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Well, the guy on the right locked wrong. The bike is supposed to be parallel to the rack. Also, who the hell secures their front wheel and frame but not the back wheel?!

Madopal (7.6 mi) said:

BTW, here's a pick of two bikes locked to the Wicker Park ones.  Notice how the bike on the right winds up having to stick out in the sidewalk, and the one on the left has just the right lock size to fit through that little hole in the logo.  Also, the logo is exactly the same height as what appears to be a 700 wheel.  You'd think they would have tried that before welding it in.Have a bigger downtube or smaller lock, welp, too bad.  Mini-u?  You're out of luck.  Go find another rack or leave your wheel exposed.

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on May 14, 2013 at 8:22am

Like what Tony said, harder to lock.  One of these days I"ll start to lock both, but if you ask the question "who the hell secures only the front wheel", I answered.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Why is that? I'd be more concerned about someone stealing my rear wheel than the front one.

Julie Hochstadter said:

Adam,  I lock my front wheel and frame and not my back wheel all the time :))

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Well, the guy on the right locked wrong. The bike is supposed to be parallel to the rack. Also, who the hell secures their front wheel and frame but not the back wheel?!

    

Permalink Reply by Josh L. on May 14, 2013 at 8:31am

I would estimate that 90% of the bikes I see around town with one wheel locked are on the front.   I am guessing that bikers' perception is that the back wheel has less resale value because it's got a cassette and requires certain shifters, etc.  


Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Why is that? I'd be more concerned about someone stealing my rear wheel than the front one.

Julie Hochstadter said:

Adam,  I lock my front wheel and frame and not my back wheel all the time :))

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Well, the guy on the right locked wrong. The bike is supposed to be parallel to the rack. Also, who the hell secures their front wheel and frame but not the back wheel?!

Madopal (7.6 mi) said:

BTW, here's a pick of two bikes locked to the Wicker Park ones.  Notice how the bike on the right winds up having to stick out in the sidewalk, and the one on the left has just the right lock size to fit through that little hole in the logo.  Also, the logo is exactly the same height as what appears to be a 700 wheel.  You'd think they would have tried that before welding it in.Have a bigger downtube or smaller lock, welp, too bad.  Mini-u?  You're out of luck.  Go find another rack or leave your wheel exposed.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on May 14, 2013 at 8:38am

That doesn't make sense. There's more stuff on the wheel, therefore it's worth more money. And it's really not that much harder to get the wheel off. Just move the chain out of the way.

jolondon30 said:

I would estimate that 90% of the bikes I see around town with one wheel locked are on the front.   I am guessing that bikers' perception is that the back wheel has less resale value because it's got a cassette and requires certain shifters, etc.  

Permalink Reply by David P. on May 14, 2013 at 8:42am

I do, too. My dynohub-equipped front wheels are substantially more expensive to replace than the rear wheel on either bike so equipped, especially given that on the derailleured bike I already have a spare hub and spokes for another wheel build if I had to replace it. I secure the rears with a cable. In once case the wheels are 650b, unlikely to do most thieves much good. I find it impossible to lock my bike in this way to a staple rack and have it be parallel to the rack.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Well, the guy on the right locked wrong. The bike is supposed to be parallel to the rack. Also, who the hell secures their front wheel and frame but not the back wheel?!

Permalink Reply by Madopal (16.5 mi) on May 14, 2013 at 8:48am

In this configuration a) with another bike there, you're much less likely to lock both wheels, and yes, perception or no, most people lock the front, and b) look at where the lock comes through the sign.  Turn the bike sideways perpendicular to the rack, and I'm not sure you can lock that bike.

The photo looks to me like a "see, you can lock your bike to these" shot, because I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one to bring up the impractical nature of the logo weld.  And even then, they had to contort the bikes & lock situation quite a bit to lock two bikes to this rack.

Good question, h'.  I wonder why they'd remove a city rack.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Well, the guy on the right locked wrong. The bike is supposed to be parallel to the rack. Also, who the hell secures their front wheel and frame but not the back wheel?!

Permalink Reply by Josh L. on May 14, 2013 at 9:03am

I'll defer to folks here with more knowledge about this but my sense is that the "stuff" (not the wheel) is hard to get off and there is a smaller market for a rear wheel.  Anyone needing a rear wheel who is not capable of their own repairs will need to go to a bike shop to get a rear wheel that fits the cassette and the cassette has to fit the front switching mechanism (or whatever it is called :).  Given this the market is just smaller for rear wheels whereas a front wheel is more or less interchangeable (no cassette and other stuff to worry about).  That's the best i can figure out.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

That doesn't make sense. There's more stuff on the wheel, therefore it's worth more money. And it's really not that much harder to get the wheel off. Just move the chain out of the way.

jolondon30 said:

I would estimate that 90% of the bikes I see around town with one wheel locked are on the front.   I am guessing that bikers' perception is that the back wheel has less resale value because it's got a cassette and requires certain shifters, etc.  

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