Bike Racks: Community Food Co-op (N. Forest St. store)

The last post I wrote about bike parking at grocery stores had almost as many recommendations for improvements as it had points of praise. Happily not every store in town puts bike parking in second place. The Community Food Co-op store on N. Forest St. apparently ranks bikes as equal to cars, which makes me happy to shop there.
They don't just have a couple racks, like many stores. They have multiple locations for racks. There's the Hanging Racks Shelter in the Parking Lot:

Hang Your Bike. Or lean it. Your choice.

Then there's the Big Purple Rack on the Sidewalk:

Arty!

And there's also the Place Where The Good Racks Sometimes Are:

Mentioned Previously

I'll review them after the break.

The Wheel is Rebuilt

Four visits split between two bike shops. Over three days.

(Tip for businesses: if you're going to advertise your hours in multiple places, and you have a one-time variance to those hours, make sure you note the change in ALL of those multiple places *cough cough kulshan*. Putting a note on Facebook is not the same as putting a note on your website. And your phone message counts, too. People do still call you. Thank you.)


$91.89 in parts and tools.

Some of the tools were the wrong ones.

Hours and hours and hours of time.

But with the experience of building one front wheel under her belt, G. was able to parlay that into putting all new spokes on my stupid rear wheel.

Did you know that rear wheels use spokes of two different lengths? Mine are different by 2mm.

And it was only out of commission from Monday night 'til Saturday morning. If I had taken it to a shop, it would still be in line, waiting its turn. Seems a lot of people are needing their bikes worked on all at the same time....

Sorry, there's no photo documentation. We didn't think about it. Plus the finished product looks no different than the original. So there's nothing to see here.

I'm just very glad to have my bike back in working order. It now has stronger spokes so hopefully the hub-ends of them won't be popping off all the time like the cheapo originals.

Thank you, G!

'Bikenomics' articles

Grist is hosting an on-going series of articles about the economics of cycling: Bikenomics. They cover both personal and societal issues. The author is Portland cyclist/writer Elly Blue, who also writes for BikePortland and Momentum Magazine, among other things.

http://www.grist.org/article/series/bikenomics

I'm finding them interesting and occasionally inspiring. Perhaps you might as well.

This is what I'd like to see on Northwest Ave.: a 'cycle track'

Bikeportland notes that the City of Portland recently completed a 0.6 mile-long separated bike lane, their first example of a physically separate, bike-only, on-street cycle track. It's the kind of thing Copenhagen is known for.

(Photo © J. Maus)

Key features:

• Made of concrete to contrast with the asphalt street
• Raised above the street like a sidewalk
• Parking area between the street and the track as a buffer
• Cycle track is for bikes only; pedestrians get their own sidewalk

The Bikeportland article also notes the importance of the pavement markings for clarity on how to use the thing.

With the project to add bike lanes and other enhancements to Northwest/Elm/Dupont being designed this summer, I hope Bellingham's engineers can incorporate these great ideas into their final plans.

(Via Seattle Bike Blog)

Denise Guren Memorial Bike Shelter

There is a wonderful new bike parking option at Whatcom Community College. This past Monday the Denise Guren Memorial Bike Shelter was formally dedicated with very nice little ceremony. It was installed over the winter.

Denise was a co-worker of mine who lost a battle with cancer at far too young an age. She was an avid cyclist in addition to being an active member of the local community. In her honor, donations were accepted to create something on campus that would benefit bike commuters, which ended up being a new bike parking shelter.

It's located on the north side of campus, between Kulshan and Cascade. 

The Facilities folks asked campus bike commuters for advice on the project, and I am very happy with the end result. It uses hoop-type racks, in an easily-accessed location, with good sight-lines, and offers reasonable protection from the elements.

It consists of 8 hoop-type racks. This is definitely the best bike parking option on the north side of campus.

Thank you to everyone who donated money in memory of Denise, and to all the Facilities folks for doing such a nice job with the design and construction of the shelter.

US Bicycle Route System: Economic Impact

BikingBis has a post today about the U.S. Bicycle Route System (see previous post) and how much money touring cyclists drop on local towns. He links to some studies that say it's pretty significant.

I still say folks in Bellingham, particularly Fairhaven, should be jumping all over this since we will be blessed with a plethora of routes (if not cyclists) when our State's system is complete. All it needs is money, and wouldn't you know there's some fundraising happening...
http://www.razoo.com/story/Usbrswashington

4th Broken Spoke

This is getting ridiculous. Tonight I suffered another broken spoke on my rear wheel. That's 4 in about 18 months on the same wheel.
G's going to rebuild it with better spokes.
Until that's done it's back on the bus for me.