Started commuting to work a few weeks ago at a new job. Have been working here a couple months and just started utilizing their bike rack in the garage.
At the far right end is a bike that I think is abandoned but I’m waiting a little longer before I try calling security to cut the lock off. I park my bike at the far left end but more often than not the cars parked in the closest spot are encroaching over the line. I’m worried that one day, one of them might hit my bike while backing out or that my bike will somehow tip to touch the car while I’m working. My shifts are quite long and overnight.
Do you guys think I should:
a) just secure my bike to the thinner rails in the middle of the rack
b) try to lock my bike to the far right end where the other bike is (would obviously be less convenient but perhaps worth it to avoid being hit by a car)
c) just leave it as is?
The bike rack is pretty underutilized. At the most I’ve seen three bikes on it including mine but that might change as things get warmer.
This is an employee only parking garage in a relatively low crime area
by Stim_Fish
8 Comments
In between the rack and the wall. Front of the hike facing the wall that the front of the car is facing.
I hate those racks. They don’t work well at all. I use them horizontally as a pose to front or rear wheel into the slots.
I’d keep an eye on it and just see how many people end up using it. Not very many? Park it lengthwise in the middle if you won’t encroach on other peoples’ usage of the rack, that’s the most effective locking method for these racks anyway.
I used to work with a guy who kept a bike locked up outside our office 24/7, he’d go riding over his lunch break. So that may explain why the bike never seems to leave. That being said it could also just be abandoned like you said….
Failing all those things, I think what you’re already doing is probably the most secure and considerate way to lock up but I understand being nervous about cars getting close.
Is the parking always full? I might ask them to remove the last space (put a ginormous concrete block there or something) and move the stand away from the wall. Or better yet, replace it with Sheffield type stands or something else that is more useful.
Cyclists have fewer sick days! It is to their benefit to do everything they can to encourage people to ride their bikes.
Find a way to bring it inside if at all possible.
Otherwise get a cheap beater and ride that. Any real bike stored in a rack like that is effectively being given away.
I secure mine to the top bar of racks often. You might need to pull that rack a little farther from the wall, but I doubt it’s fixed in place. Turning your wheel 90 degrees might be enough for it to fit if you have to balance it over the bar. I would not lock up on the end so close to that parking spot. Someone is going to run over your bike and then blame you for their carelessness.
Oh, another thought. Just pull the rack all the way to the edge and lock your bike up behind it. Then your bike is farther from the cars and the entire bike rack is enforcing the border of the yellow paint.
Sabotage it and tell management they must install proper bike parking. Not another wheel-bender. Not a wave rack. Upside-down U racks, spaced far enough from each other and from the wall. If that parking space is too close then take it as a buffer.
If the rack is not bolted down, get someone to help you slide it to a more practical position. You’ll have to also move the other bike “in situ” if it’s abandoned or left behind.