Bicycle rack
A variety of styles of bicycle rack are in use in Queensland, some useful and others not. In general, to be useful, racks must:
- have the ability to support the bicycle at at least two points (because bicycles supported at only one point have a tendency to fall over),
- support the bicycle with its frame rather than its wheels (to avoid risking bending wheels), and
- have the ability to lock both the frame and one wheel with a U lock (because quick release wheels make it important to be able to secure both)
Below are some of the commonly found styles of rack.
Contents |
Toast racks
The classic wheel-bender, toast racks allow only a single point of support, make it difficult to secure the frame, and leave bicycles vulnerable to toppling over in a domino effect. These racks have historically been very common but should no longer be installed and are gradually fading away to nothing more than bitter memories.
Snake racks
These racks attempt to fix some of the problems with toast racks by allowing bicycles to be secured in the middle of the frame, but still suffer from allowing only a single point of support when used in the intended way. It's not uncommon for cyclists to deal with this by securing their bikes parallel to the rack (similar to an arch rack, below), obtaining a good park but drastically reducing the intended capacity of the rack. These racks have been used more recently than toast racks, but similarly should no longer be installed.
Coathanger racks
A substantial improvement on the toast rack design, coathanger racks allow bicycles to be fixed closer to the centre of the frame (similar to snake racks, above) but provide more depth, offering a broad area of support for the frame. A commonly used model is Cora Bike Rack's Expo series [1], and they are sometimes referred to as Cora racks.
Parking rails
Also known as Sheffield racks, arch shaped racks are generally very simple and support at most two bicycles each, but can come in all sorts of variations. The theme is a bent (semicircular or square) bar embedded in the ground at each end, with the middle rising to about waist height. They can hold one bike on each side. Like the individual coathangers in a Cora rack they provide a wide area to support the bike and attach locks. Their simplicity means that they can be easily tailored to be aesthetically pleasing and consequently are not always obvious to the untrained eye.
See also
- Cambridge Cycling Campaign's list of rack styles that were evaluated there, mostly variations of the arch rack [2]
- Danish parking manual (small PDF, large PDF)
- Wikipedia's page
