For the most part, we keep it positive on Greenpointers, but some things should be called out – like the way this bike (with a gigantic baby seat) was parked. I know that giving birth and then living with the thing for 18 years is deserving of A LOT of sympathy, but that doesn’t give you an “it’s okay to be an a-hole” pass. This “wave style rack” could fit 4 -maybe 6 bikes on it.
With the new CitiRacks being installed allover, like this one on Manhattan Ave, there is more bike parking, but those new racks can hold at least 4 bikes per rack, again if you don’t park like an a-hole.
Parking on the edges with either the front or back end of your bike hanging off and not covering the entire middle of the circle, makes it so that more than two bikes on either side can be easily locked to the new racks.
More biking etiquette guides:
Basic Bike Lock Etiquette and Safety (Gothamist)
Bicycle Park (NYC DOT)
Locking Your Bike (Bike New York)
parking 4 bikes on one of those circles would be nice, but the shape and thickness makes it tough to properly lock to when you have a smaller frame without centering it more. been curious why they stopped using the giant U racks, they seem the most efficient.
Agreed! Trying to lock anything other than your frame is literally impossible unless you have a giant 30 lb kryptonite chain lock, which frankly I refuse to purchase on sheer principle. Why should I have to add a cumbersome 30 lbs to my bike just to fit it on one of these ridiculous circle frames? And I have a standard NYC yellow kryptonite U-lock, so I’ve already sacrificed some comfort hauling one of those things around. I try to get at least my back tire and frame on one of these circles and seriously, it only fits in one place after wrestling with it for 8 minutes. And then apparently I look like an ahole by doing that since it takes up the whole side in order to get it in that position. Personally, as long as my bike is secured, I don’t care what I look like because the real aholes are the ones that go around stealing bikes or tires because the opportunity presents itself. I really think they need to go back to the ushaped ones, these circle ones are all design and no function.
i have a tiny u lock too but i don’t lock my tires. my BF locks like everything and he has one of those crazy chains. if you need to use the entire one side – that is okay, but this person took up like 6 spots with one bike! i don’t like the wave stand unless i get the end because my handlebars are kinda wide and i always have to jam it in between all the other bikes…
thieves are not aholes they should be…( i won’t finish that sentence)
Can anyone reading this comment on those baby seats? I can’t help but cringe when I see kids in them. I would never be able to use one. Is there any research on how many kids get hurt in them every year? Anyone else notice a surge in people using them without helmets?
when i was a kid my dad definitely rode me in one of those – without a helmet… but i also cringe when i see parents riding their kids on their bikes in NYC… they also have those new gigantic three wheelers with the big ice cream bucket in the front. have you seen those? you can fit like three kids in! i give it to anyone who doesn’t ride a car, but the way people do drive i do worry about baby seats on bikes, too.
While undoubtedly some people park their bicycles without thinking of others, the photographs illustrating this “advice column,” make for bogus examples. The principle of the “wave” bike rack is that many bicycles can be parked in it, “head first” facing one another in the alternating gaps of the wave. This requires that the rack be installed perpendicular to the sidewalk, unless the intent of the installer is that some of the bikers park their bicycles projecting half way into the street. In other words, the rack in this photo is the culprit, not the biker with child. The “circle” rack is a poor design which can scarcely be imagined to accomodate more than a bicycle on either side. So, point taken, but where’s the beef?
Very true. But there was another wave rack a few feet away also parallel and about 4 bikes were parked on it. It was also far enough from the street that the front end of the bike would not stick onto the street although like you illustrated the other half would have been rendered unusabale. So its not as if this biker had no choice.
One other peeve, since we’re doing a PSA — cyclists, please refrain from locking your bike to private property, namely, awning bars in front of buildings. Street signs are all fair game though. Unwritten etiquette but something n00bs fail to understand.
Am glad there are a lot of those new city racks, but I must say they are really not a success. Not really nice to look at, more importantly absolutely not designed to host 4 bikes, this is a dream! If you try to do so, most probably your bike will not stand, end up half the floor and someone will fuck your will up…
So, at the end of the day, I think racks have more progress to make than people!
I just took a photo of a new rack with 4 bikes perfectly locked to it! I will send. It’s not a unicorn – it’s real!