Peter Flax

I have had and loved dogs my whole life but honestly have not ever hung out with a Dalmatian. But this fellow’s family is moving into a new apartment today and he has been a very sweet houseguest. Would repeat.

If I wanted to read shitty tweets written by shitty people, I would be on Twitter. The whole reason I'm here is to not read those shitty tweets.

Very good points; thanks for adding that.

It's sadly very similar to the discourse around AI. People with massive power really struggle (or refuse) to see regular folks as having as much worth as themselves. The oligarchy sees regular folks more as disposable resources that have a certain value for various enterprises or priorities.

It's really disheartening to think about how little powerful leaders throughout history care about the individual lives that are lost and families that suffer and all the repercussive harm caused by totally unnecessary warfare.

This isn't rocket science. Put racks in busy places. Near the front door. Space them out, far from a wall. Make sure they're well lit. Make locking easy. The goal is for riders to come back and have their bikes still there. If it's a business, the goal is to have riders come often to buy shit.

The folk who decide where to place racks seem clueless about what users need. In places where theft is a problem, the best practice is to lock the frame and both wheels. Riders need space to do that. Tucking a rack near a wall makes that hard, especially if the rack is meant to hold multiple bikes.

Yet businesses and public places often hide racks in the darkest, weirdest corners—a hidden corner of a parking structure; a dark alcove on the side of a building; an alley no one uses. Their unspoken goal is to check a box (to have bike parking) but stick the facility in an unused sliver of space.

Perfect placement IMO

Bike racks should be placed where bike thieves don't want them to be. In a spot that's well lit at night; a spot that gets good foot traffic. Near the entrance to a business, school or library for instance. The rack below is a nice example of a good spot. No one will whip out an angle grinder there.

It seems dumb to say it aloud but let's start here: The main reason bike racks exist is so riders can go somewhere and not have their bike stolen. The secondary reason: Racks should make it convenient for riders to park their bike somewhere. Yet racks often are placed with neither priority in mind.

Haha I am still thinking about bike racks. Wanted to share a few quick thoughts about placement.

I have done the same for the past 15 years.

I have a regular sized u-lock and I still have that problem on some racks. I have a steel frame (not beefy) and regular wheels and sometimes I can't look the bike and both wheels with the lock because of the shape or thickness of the rack tubing.

5 Bike - Tilted Wave Rack - Heavy-Duty - Galvanized

www.theparkcatalog.com/5-bike-tilte...

Those look pretty good. While beefy seems like a positive, I sometimes find the poles are so thick that I can't lock a frame and two wheels with a conventional U-lock.

I ride to shopping centers all the time and hate how so many racks are hidden in the darkest corners, in a spot with no foot traffic, very close to a wall.

I think basic inverted U racks and circle racks are basically ok. Agree that the circle racks are pretty good for cargo bikes etc. I think the inverted U shape is more practical for most uses but that's just an opinion.

The baseline IMO.

Just being honest. I wish it wasn't true. But this is the baseline for me. If a bike rack isn't an improvement on locking my bike to a street sign, I will lock my bike to a street sign 99 out of 100 times. Have a great day everyone!

A U-shaped rack with a horizontal crossbar is one of my favorites.

Lest y'all think I am only complaining, I'll end by offering two examples of bike parking that don't suck. I like this design, and it's not hard to find such racks that are finished with a bumper material so bike frames don't get scratched. (Regular U-shape is common and not horrible either.)

Think of your bike like a charitable donation.

Can you name another category of manufactured items where such a high percentage of the offerings insult the intelligence of the people who would use it?

What could go wrong?

Four out of five bike thieves endorse this design, particularly if installed in a poorly lit area with very little foot traffic.

This one is called "Stout"—perhaps a reference to the beers the designer had chugged before drawing this up in CAD.

There is really no end to the imaginative ways to design and sell bike racks that will encourage riders to lock their bike on a street sign. T

Nothing says I trust my fellow man more than these.

Of course there's the "wheel well only" racks. You often seem them in public places with a lonely front wheel locked to them for some reason.

Thanks for nothing

People who don't ride often don't believe me when I say there are popular rack designs where you literally can't figure out how one might lock a bike to them.

Don't worry, you can always buy another set of wheels.

If you manage a library budget and find that the conventional wave rack doesn't annoy riders enough you can really engage your constituents with the "tilted wave" design.

The T-post. Ugly and yet useless.

There is the so-called "T-Post" design. Typically the loop portion of these racks are cleverly designed to be a few inches higher than a 700c wheel, so riders must remove both wheels and have the frame and derailleur touching pavement like a big jumble.

A mystery wrapped in an enigma but galvanized.

A lot of upscale shopping centers in LA like to install racks like this. I like to imagine a designer—who perhaps hasn't ridden since fourth grade and might be enjoying Psilocybin mushrooms while using CAD—creating something that a bike rider has no idea how to use.

The sharp edges are great if you want to scratch the paint on your bike.

This is a growing category—it's vaguely modernist and it doesn't take up much space. If you have a road bike and a U-lock you can spend 12 minutes doing sudoko trying to find a way to lock your frame and both wheels—the depth of the metal can make it impossible sometimes.

The more contact points that don't align with the actual size and shape of a bicycle the better!

Then there is the category of artsy bike racks. These are great if you want to spend a lot of extra budget to install something that makes a visual statement without actually helping the people who would use it.

Stylishly useless

Another modern classic—the wave. The middle portion of these racks are like an IQ test that no one can solve. As this photo shows, they are often installed close to a wall to further limit their usefulness. The bigger they get the dumber they get.