CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!

Bike rack etiquette

(42 posts)
  • Started 10 years ago by Baldcyclist
  • Latest reply from Nelly

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12

  1. Baldcyclist
    Member

    For years I locked my bike against the railing directly outside my office door. Every day, same space. Even when my bike wasn't there no once parked there, it was my space right?

    A new secure cycle park has opened up at my work so I now have a covered space near to my office, after years of waiting as the other ones were either full, or too far away.

    It's beginning to fill up now, but for weeks I had picked my rack and was locking my bike to it every day.

    Now my question is... Does locking your lock to the rack secure the space, does lock equate to towel?

    I had assumed it did, for 3 weeks I parked my bike on that rack, and the lock to it when I left.

    One day I turned up, and yep, my space had been taken by another regular bike, I recognised the saddle, and it usually parked further down the row. Despite my lock being locked to the rack!

    This bike has now been parked on that space for 2 weeks, and now they (haven't seen the cyclist) have started leaving their lock attached to the rack!

    It's kind of worked out OK in the and as the rack I now use on the other side is just a wee bit further away from the wall meaning that my front brake cable isn't being caught between the frame and the rack now, which is good.

    But every time I'm in before the other bike, I keep looking at their lock and thinking, should I?...

    That rack was mine right? ;)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  2. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Animals other than cyclists have agreed ways of marking their territory. Bears reach up to claw triangles of bark from pine trees to indicate their presence and size. Dominant domestic cats build small zigurats on which to display their waste. Dogs lift their legs to mark trees.

    So I suggest you rip a triangle of paint from the rack to indicate your presence and size.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  3. Mandopicker101
    Member

    I often leave a lock at whichever office I'm working out of (I split my time between Glasgow and Edinburgh) and some days there's a bike already on that rack, other days there isn't. I don't feel this is my rack more than any of the others. If someone positioned their bike or lock so that I couldn't get at my lock, I might feel differently.

    Personally I'll try to put my bike near others, outside an office window or under cover if its possible.I haven't had the 'But that's MY space pal' moment.

    Yet...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  4. twq
    Member

    I am very emotionally attached to my bike rack space. Last winter someone locked their bike in my spot and left it there til spring. I was raging.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  5. Greenroofer
    Member

    @Baldcyclist. Nah, from my perspective leaving a lock doesn't confer any right of ownership. It just saves you having to take a lock home.

    In our work bike park I usually park in about the same place every day, but I'm not fussed if someone has taken my usual rack and I ignore any locks left on the stands. Most other people seem to park in roughly the same place too. The only exceptions that I notice are the woman with the very nice Day One Alfine 11, who seems to park anywhere (but she comes in late, so maybe doesn't have the choice). There's only one reserved spot in our bike park, and that's for the chap with the Helios tandem and attached tagalong, and that's because it's on the only place he can fit his monstrous contraption. People usually respect that reservation...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  6. Greenroofer
    Member

    @twq at our work we went through an exercise of putting a notice on 'abandonned' bikes, and then getting them removed. Funnily enough, some of the 'abandonned' bikes were removed before the men with bolt cutters arrived...

    It seemed to work quite well, and was prompted by noticing that some bikes still had POP13 flyers on them in June 2014...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  7. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Locks on bike racks confer no rights. Same goes to the drying cages at work, though some selfish colleagues try and lock them shut using personal padlocks, even when they are empty, just to reserve the empty space for themselves. They've been known to cut them off.

    Our bike racks in the office are crummy slot-your-wheel-in sorts and leaving locks on them actually makes it very hard to get your bike on them as they foul a wheel. They're also a trip hazard in the dark basement given how low our racks are. I readily kick them out of the way.

    First come, first-served as far as I'm concerned (I say this as one of the regular "last ins", and in peak summer commuting times I usually end up in the furthest away racks). Abandoning a bike on a rack results in this privelege being forfeited.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  8. gembo
    Member

    We have approx 100 racks at work, they nearly all have one lock left and many have two or three. I ignore locks, or indeed lower them to the ground. No rights conferred by leaving lock as others have said, just saves you carrying it about.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  9. jdanielp
    Member

    I used to get quite annoyed by people leaving their lock behind as if to 'claim' a rack. Whilst I've always tried to lock my bike in the same place in the particular rack that I'm using at the time, on some occasions I probably went out of my way to lock to a 'claimed' rack mostly to make a point... Recently, however, I have discovered the weight benefits of not carrying my lock everywhere - now that I've joined the lock-depositing brigade I find that I'm annoyed when someone has locked to my 'claimed' spot.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  10. gembo
    Member

    I found my lock in my pannier once which was odd as my bike was locked down in the basement in the racks. Well it was still down there but it wasn't locked. Same thing happened to me once in assembly rooms and bike was still in george street. So that is all my chances used up.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  11. wingpig
    Member

    Locks confer no rights.
    If there's a lock on the rack I select it is either worked around or moved so that it drops to the floor if it's on the horizontal bit of the rack in a way which disrupts the ability of my bike to stay stably leant. As a concession to ease of retrieval I'll push it off towards the end whence it would be most easily retrieved.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  12. Roibeard
    Member

    There's a risk with leaving the lock behind - the enterprising thief can either have time to work on/weaken the lock, or disable them.

    I've heard of folk returning to find their lock glued up - the thieves then hoping that the owner will "take a risk" or resort to a weaker secondary lock.

    Of course, if you've got secure storage where the thief can't enter, why use a heavy lock?

    Robert

    Posted 10 years ago #

  13. LivM
    Member

    I've used the same hoop at work for about 7 years, and left a lock and a cable attached. Sometimes someone else would attach their bike to the same hoop, but rather than the hassle of untangling my lock and cable, I would just attach my bike to the other side of the hoop. They generally get the message.

    Since July I've had to stop cycling because I'm growing a person, so I have removed my lock etc. Every day as I pass the rack I see other bikes parked on it and think mournfully of "my" space and hope that I can claim it back in a year or so when I am back to work :)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  14. Baldcyclist
    Member

    General consensus seems to be that if I get there first in the morning then that rack is mine (for the day), and this is perfectly acceptable... ;)

    I think the thing that slightly annoyed me more than anything was that after 3 days, they started leaving their lock locked to the rack as if to 'claim' it for themselves in a "I have won" sort of fashion.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  15. HankChief
    Member

    @ Greenroofer - monstrous contraption - beauty is in the eye of the beholder... The other week I came out of the post office to find a young boy (c5yo) admiring it along with his mother. I asked if he wanted a shot and his eyes lit up (& mum nodded), so we went for a spin up and down the pavement. Made his (& my) day.

    @baldcyclist - I wouldn't read too much into their lock being left on the hoop. It's easier to leave it where they have taken it off from.

    Trick is to get in earlier than them and claim it back and they will move off to somewhere else.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  16. SRD
    Moderator

    Never even occurred to me that leaving my lock might be interpreted as 'claiming' a spot. Obviously it's convenient if that spot remains vacant until I arrive, but always thought that was fortuitous rather than entitlement.

    I did leave a note on a bike which was jammed in on top of mine the other day. I was in a prime spot (third in/second rack) but that's no excuse.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  17. Kenny
    Member

    Does locking your lock to the rack secure the space

    IMHO, it does not.

    General consensus seems to be that if I get there first in the morning then that rack is mine (for the day)

    Good luck with that. I certainly don't adhere to that rule. If my bike is in one space in the morning, and I am out at lunch and return some minutes later, I will lock it in whatever free space I want, and more often than not my original space is gone anyway.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  18. Tulyar
    Member

    The mess of locks lying around has lead to some London rail stations providing bicycle lock parking, where you park your lock overnight and collect it when you arrive to lock your bike to a rack

    Posted 10 years ago #

  19. gembo
    Member

    @tulyar -nice one, people can bagsy their bike lock space by locking their bike lock to it leaving the racks looking nice and clean. Does it actually work?

    Posted 10 years ago #

  20. kaputnik
    Moderator

    The rack I parked my bike in today had 6 different locks of various sizes and types locked to it. I gave a few a good kicking to get them out the way.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  21. PS
    Member

    Glad to hear that this lock leaving isn't the bike lock equivalent of the ridiculous love lock "craze".

    Posted 10 years ago #

  22. earthowned
    Member

    @Baldcyclist - if you don't mind me asking which secure bike store do you use? I have been asking our transport office for ages for access to a close store but they kept replying all places were full and told me to use the potterow one (even though that's a 5 minute walk away)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  23. Baldcyclist
    Member

    New one under DHT, it's still practically empty.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  24. paddyirish
    Member

    Same as almost everyone else-

    I leave my lock at the rack to save carrying it everywhere.
    I'm well aware that it doesn't give me "ownership", but it doesn't stop me being p!ssed off when someone uses else uses "my" rack.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  25. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    What's with the whole 'leaving the lock' thing? It doesn't slow you up that much and it makes stopping at Valvona and Crolla for an artichoke on the way home much easier.

    Are you all stripped down roadies on Strava missions? I'm a disorganised shambles.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  26. amir
    Member

    How light is your lock? Mine is really heavy -plus I do cycle far enough for it to matter. Plus I worry that, combined with a pothole, it could help to write off my rear wheel ;)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  27. paddyirish
    Member

    IWRATS - I just carry so much stuff on my back (mine and daughter's), that a heavy and bulky lock and cable just gets in the way.

    The only shops my 14 mile route home goes past are 2 massive shopping centres, neither of which offers me the slightest incentive to stop...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  28. Baldcyclist
    Member

    "Are you all stripped down roadies on Strava missions? I'm a disorganised shambles."

    No, but carrying another 2kg for 44 miles every day seems silly when they only thing I've ever used that lock for is locking the work bike up. :)

    I have a lighter cable lock at home for shop journeys.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  29. richardlmpearson
    Member

    I leave my lock on the rack too. Far too heavy to carry everywhere. I sometimes carry a cheepy to deter opportunists if I'm just nipping into a shop.

    I do leave it on a rack, but have no issue if I have to retrieve it to lock to another rack.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  30. wingpig
    Member

    I use the lesser of my two locks, which I carry everywhere, in the work car park. Should I wish to stop on the way home, as I frequently do, I use and therefore want both locks with me, in order to avoid having to walk home carrying all my stuff plus the shopping I was buying whilst the bike was stolen. Anyway, if I was into not carrying too much weight I'd not drag my SLR everywhere, clean the crap out of my pannier more frequently, buy coffee at work instead of taking it from home in a metal flask, buy food at lunchtime instead of trying to take as much as possible in in the morning, not repair my pannier with lumps of wood, not repair my mudguards with large quantities of nuts and bolts, not carry round a bag containing a multi-tool and a few extra larger tools (including cassette removal tool, mini-socket-wrench, adjustable wrench and a small bag of spare nuts and bolts) and not drag around the large and small chainrings when I probably use them less than 1% of the time.

    Posted 10 years ago #

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