Bike Ottawa’s Take on Racks

A few years back, Bike Ottawa convened a bike parking working group. They established recommended standards for bike parking and shared widely with the city, with community members, and on the micro-blogging site formerly known as Twitter. But it never made it’s way on to our website – until now!

There is very little good information for municipalities, businesses and landowners to draw from when choosing a GOOD bike rack. Not all designs are created equal!

Here are the rack styles Bike Ottawa recommends (and discourages) and why:

A GOOD bike rack keeps a bicycle standing upright without stress on its wheels which might damage the bike if it falls over.

Notice that these two schoolyard-style racks need this bike’s kickstand extended to help keep it safe from falling over and damaging its front wheel.

A white step through bicycle parked at a school yard style bicycle rack, the bicycle wheel is the only part able to make connection with the bicycle rack.

A GOOD bike rack makes contact at two points on the bike, with one point being the frame. This allows the bike to rest without falling over. Nice to have when carrying important cargo!

Many of the racks that don’t meet standards have this challenge, as do signposts.

Many bikes parked and leaning at awkward angles at a schoolyard rack. Bikes on signposts with only one way to lock are in the background.

A GOOD bike rack accommodates non-typical bicycles and attachments like baskets and child seats.

The ubiquitous coat hanger racks we see in Ottawa prevent many urban bikes from being adequately secured by the frame, leaving people to lock up to the outside of the rack.

Picture of several bicycles at city hall, several standard bicycles are at the bicycle rack, however one cargo bike is locked to the outside of the rack, due to the rack not being able to accommodate the size of the bicycle.

A standard road style bicycle locked to the outside of a coat hanger bicycle rack, as locking to the middle ring is not possible due to the style of bicycle rack.

A GOOD bike rack allows the FRAME to be easily locked with a U-lock*. Only locking a wheel is not good….

*We know there are many designs of bike locks out there (a whole other topic), but these locks tend to have the best reputation as being secure.

Picture of a wheel well rack with a wheel still locked by a U-Lock, while the rest of the bicycle has clearly been stolen while parked at this rack.

What are some great racks that we have spotted around Ottawa that meet standards?

Picture of a bicycle locked to a staple rack outside of Pimisi station in Ottawa

Picture of two front loading cargo bicycles parked and locked at staple style locks.

A bike rack is better than no rack in most cases. But if we have a choice of the type of racks we want to see in Ottawa, then let’s choose the models that allow most bike types to be locked up securely.

The City also has resources about bike parking – including how to request one from the city, how to report a damaged rack, and support for businesses to purchase bike racks here.

Thanks to the Bike Parking Working Group for this excellent work!