Good: The Half Price Books "mothership" on Northwest Highway installed a bike rack. They did some landscaping (as part of the remodeling of their flagship store and World Headquarters), pushed out a curb, planted ground-cover, improved the handicap-access ramp, and poured a concrete pad for a ribbon-rack.
Bad: The pad is too short, allowing access from only one side (effectively cutting the rack's capacity in half), and forcing bikes using the rack to overhang into the wheelchair ramp (a code violation I am sorry to say).
Ugly: What your bike will look like exposed to the elements because the rack is not in a covered area, even though there is ample covered space next to the building to have placed the rack. A further ugly is me for pointing out the shortcomings of this nice gesture.
I give HPB a solid B+ for the rack, but an incomplete for placement. Kudos, nonetheless. Go buy something from them and share the praise (and nit-picks).
P.S. A better rack for them would have been a securely fastened "hand-rail" along the front wall under the covered walkway marked "bike parking". Bikes parked up against walls leave plenty of clearance for peds and wheelchairs.
13 comments:
You're right - that is a poorly executed bike rack.
Plus wave racks look uber ugly when there are bikes leaning haphazardly on them if they're used as designed.
Denver, Colorado specifically prohibits the use of these types of racks.
The ubiquitous "ribbbon rack" is a poor design. It claims (in the model shown) to provide parking for up to 12 bicycles. it does that offering no lateral support to a bicycle, offering only one point of contact.
The maximum capacity of that rack (as installed) is 5. The realistic capacity, based upon using the rack to properly and securely support a bicycle at two points, is one bicycle leaned parallel to the rack, and possibly two bikes is the second user walks through the ground-cover to get to the back side of the rack.
For landscape architects who insist on this design, I strongly recommend using nothing longer than the "M" configuration, which three to five bicycles, but only two used for best security. And because its best capacity is only two, I always recommend just using the Sheffield Rack (looks like a giant staple), or an inverted "U" rack.
But like most things bicycle, it's "looks" that matter over functionality.
Yokota Fritz said...
"Plus wave racks look uber ugly when there are bikes leaning haphazardly on them if they're used as designed.
Denver, Colorado specifically prohibits the use of these types of racks."
I made the above comment before seeing YF's. He is absolutely right, and provides a link to an excellent gallery of good and bad bike parking.
Many good things have come out of James McKay's program in Denver.
If we're grading on a curve, they get an "A minus." Go to almost any Walgreens to see an "F." It's like they go out of their way to avoid ANY feature that could be used to lock a bike to. Alternately, they could have those racks like Colleyville has that can be removed via loosening two nuts with a wrench.
It's not hard to get a good grade when it comes to bike racks nowadays.
What difference does it make? No one can ride there anyway, since there are no bike lanes on NW Hwy! ;-)
It seems like the main design failure with most bike racks is that they only allow the wheel to be locked rather than the frame or frame+wheel with a U-lock.
Have you seen the bike racks at the new Lakewood Whole Foods? They use this odd hanging triangle design, similar to this. How well does that work? I can't really imagine.
OpenID saj said...
"Have you seen the bike racks at the new Lakewood Whole Foods? They use this odd hanging triangle design, similar to this. How well does that work? I can't really imagine."
The one in the picture used to be called a DORA rack, and was made in Vancouver. I had two here at City Hall, but moved them to the Urban Market store and to the DART headquarters when I had new racks installed. That rack works great. It supports the bike well, and allows a U-lock to secures a wheel and the main frame.
I've seen the ones at Whole Foods (but haven't tried them) and didn't really like them, as they seemed to only secure the front wheel with a U-lock (requiring a cable lock). The WF racks suffer from the two cardinal sins of bike parking. Style over design (again, landscape architects are spec-ing them), and placed far from the entrance. The old Minyard's at that location had bike rack right at the front door.
I'd rather lock my bike to one of the olive-colored posts that hold up the awnings. First choice is probably the one in the second photo that isn't blocked by a Christmas tree.
Michael Graff said...
"I'd rather lock my bike to one of the olive-colored posts that hold up the awnings."
And that's where I have often seen customer bicycles locked up. Who knows... this may be just another example of well-meaning "bike-friendliness" just being "get those damned bicycles out of my way"-ness.
You guys do like to gripe.
Rod said...
"You guys do like to gripe."
Not at all, Rod. I hate to gripe. It's just that I hate half-assed, ill thought out bicycle accommodations more.
I suspect HPB is going for LEEDS certification on the remodel of the Mothership, and threw in the bike rack without much real thought just to check off that box on the certification application.
Think of it as a 6' wide, 10' deep parking spaces for cars, because that's the equivalent. A cyclist that wouldn't complain about this is simply a beggar happy for any scraps their master throws down from the table.
Besides, as I mentioned, it's probably a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act code.
Is that a better gripe?
You're right it's not good enough for you. Looks better that the tree I usually use. I'm just glad someone mad an effort to throw me a scrap that I didn't have to pay for.
Did you ever read the writings of Ghandi or Buddha?
Post a Comment