Bike Racks: Rite Aid on Northwest

Rite Aid on Northwest Ave., across from the Birchwood shopping center, has a bike rack. Which is being generous.


I hate this kind of rack.
I hate how they placed it.
I hate how they treat it.

It's the "Bike rack? Yeah, I gotcher bike rack right here, buddy, and whaddaya gonna do about it? Now park it up and get inside" of bike racks. It's about doing the absolute minimum and nothing more. It's about asking, "What's the very least we can get away with? Yeah, how 'bout that one."

The City of Toronto calls this type of rack a ‘wheelbender’. It’s not a kind name. They mean it be pejorative. You’re supposed to stick one wheel in-between the narrowly-placed bars, magically have it hold your bike upright, and then run a cable or chain through the bars and your bike parts.

Insufficient Support Leads to Bent Wheels

I’m sure this works for some bikes and some locks. If you have a 10-speed with no fenders, one of your wheels will probably fit. Big knobby tires? No dice. Fenders? Ha! U-lock instead of a cable? Sure, if you don’t mind locking only one wheel to the rack.

The ‘bender’ comes in when your bike falls over. If you park head-in, the gripped wheel is in front of the pivot-point of your headset. If something should bump the rear of your bike, like, say another person tries to park their bike, your bike will probably fall over since the frame isn’t supported. That will torque the front wheel, and often cause it to warp. Have fun walking home!

And let’s talk about rack placement. Even noting that I hate this type of rack, when placed far enough away from obstructions, it can be used from both sides, which can increase parking capacity. They’ve placed it about 4 inches from a wall. There’s barely enough room to pull a bike into it, and of course hardly any bikes can fit on it from a single side. This particular one is designed to fit five bikes.

And they treat it like an obstacle. Note the plant racks pushed up against the right side, and almost up against the left side. It really looks like it’s in their way. Boy, this bike rack sure is an inconvenience!

In order to lock my bike to this kind of rack with my u-lock I have to nestle up to one side and lock to the support tube. I have a really long u-lock, but it’s not long enough to use when the bike is parked with a wheel in the wheelbender's grasp. Regardless how big this kind of rack is -- and there are really long versions of it, designed to grip up to twenty wheels -- there are only two support tubes that I can use with my lock. One on each end. Maximum capacity: two.

When I visited, there was only one spot I could park, because of the plant racks. 

Other notes:

• It’s not sheltered from weather.
• The area is well-lit and has good visibility.
• There’s one curb cut not too far away so it is possible to ride up onto the sidewalk without having to pop a wheelie.
• The rack is reasonably close to the doors.

Even though there are some positives about the general situation, this rack rates a strong BAD. I’m going to ask that they consider replacing the rack with one that’s more conducive to using a u-lock, and place it further from the wall. 

With all of the talk about adding bike lanes to Northwest Ave., businesses along the street should be thinking about how to attract some of the new riders that will soon be pedaling past. Improving their bike parking situation would go a long way toward communicating the message that customers are welcome when they arrive by bike.