Bear Tooth - and other businesses - Get Bike Racks We Can Use

We  went to Bear Tooth this evening and saw a very thought provoking movie by Werner Herzog - Cave of Forgotten Dreams - on cave paintings in France.  Too much for me to process quickly - but think: 40,000 year old paintings.

Bear Tooth had new bike racks - at least since we biked there last.  BUT - they're awful. 

WHY?  There's a little place to slip in your tire.  If you have a short lock, you can only lock that one tire to the rack.









But even if you have a longer type lock, you can't get both tires locked, and I couldn't stretch mine to get the front tire and the frame without disconnecting where I've got my lock attached to the bike on the seat.

Here's J, holding the two ends of my lock, but unable to make them meet.  Since we had two locks and two bikes, I just attached my lock to her bike.  And, in hindsight, I could have parked it with the back wheel in the rack.

But there are so many much better racks on the market.  Sturdy racks, with strong metal and placed so it's easy to reach the key parts you want to lock.

I'm sure when the person ordered this rack, he (or she) was thinking how much do each of these cost per bike and picked this one cause it's a lot of bikes for a low cost.

But that's short term thinking.  Every bike is one less parking space. (Well, maybe not, we would have only used one car between us, but you get the idea.)

I know this isn't easy, but here's a site with ideas for employers who want to encourage employees to bike to work.  It has a long list of companies that supply bike racks.

Here's just one company - creative pipe - with lots of products.  

I bet there are even metal workers in Anchorage who could custom design some bike racks so they wouldn't have to be shipped up here. 

Businesses:

1. When you order bike racks, get someone who rides a bike to help out.
2. Look at the employer commuting guide at SFBike (or other online sources) for ideas about bike racks.   
3. Check with some local pipe and/or metal shops to see what they can do for you.  
4. Find a local bike organization and ask them to help out.  In Anchorage we have Bicycle Commuters of Anchorage who I'm sure would help.

This blue rack at Providence Hospital is MUCH better for example.