bike locks around town - fyi

[DougHuntingdon]

City to put lock on bike theft
Officials consider ways of fixing 'vulnerable' bicycle stands
'Significant cost' to deter culprits wielding two-by-fours
Aug. 16, 2006. 06:17 AM
BETSY POWELL
CRIME REPORTER


The city is looking at modifying its 16,000 bicycle post-and-ring stands after officials conducted a series of tests and confirmed the popular lock-ups are "vulnerable" to thieves wielding two-by-fours.

City officials have been testing the stands to see how easily they could be broken after several reports of thieves "attacking them with two-by-fours" and riding off with the bikes.

"It's not a small problem, it's something we're taking very, very seriously," Daniel Egan, city manager of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, said yesterday. "It's not going to be a couple hundred dollars, it's going to be a significant cost to do this."

The tests were being done out of public view. "We're not out on the street with two-by-fours testing, we're testing them in our yard," said Egan.

He didn't want to go into details so as not to release information that could be exploited by copycat thieves.

But the city is now looking at various options on how "to strengthen or modify the ring to prevent it from being open" and has already come up with some options. "It's a question of what's the most cost-effective, what's the quickest thing we can implement."

Egan added cyclists using the existing post-and-ring stands can still take precautions to thwart thieves, such as using two locks, a cable or chain lock, along with a U-lock, to lock the wheel and frame together, so even if the ring is damaged the bike can't be stolen.

Sean Wheldrake of the city cycling unit demonstrated the procedure for proper locking on one of the many post-and-ring stands behind city hall.

But Egan stressed the much bigger problem is bike thefts being committed by people breaking locks. So far, the city has confirmed eight cases of the rings being damaged by thieves, who steal an estimated 7,000 bikes in Toronto each year. City officials are also looking at six other reported cases.

Members of the public are being urged to contact the city's cycling unit at 416-392-9253 or bikeplan@toronto.ca if they believe a bike theft resulted from a broken post-and-ring stand.

The now ubiquitous stands have been on Toronto streets for 20 years, served the city well, and been copied around the world, Egan noted.

David Dennis, one of the co-designers of the aluminum post-and-ring stands, said it's unfortunate that thieves have found that the castings "tend to be brittle and that's what somebody's figured out with a two-by-four."

He's still immensely proud of the design. "We've had a good run, the bike ring is unmodified in 20 years." And over time, it's the nature of technology and inventions that "they end up having flaws. I guess the best thing would be to make it out of a stronger material ... that's less susceptible to breakage." He noted that, "Costs go up when you change your material."

Dennis, an architect who works in urban and industrial design, says the city could alter the design and casting to help deter "the vermin who steal bikes."

It costs about $200 to manufacture and install one stand.

Councillor Adam Giambrone, vice-chairman of the works committee, said it's essential the city promote cycling since Toronto will grow by 1 million people in the next 30 years.

"The only way we're going to be able to deal with that population on the roads ... is by getting people walking, using TTC and cycling. So it's of great interest to ensure that cycling is perceived as being a safe way (to travel) and the bike that you paid a lot of money for is safe when you lock up across the city."

[Tim Liston]

Doug…..

Thanks for the information. I’ve seen the photos of Toronto’s parking meter circles and they look pretty darn sturdy. Pretty disheartening that they can be defeated with a two-by-four…..

I thought I’d take your post as an opportunity to catch us all up on some of the initial progress we’ve been making on getting short term bike parking (“racksâ€Â￾) deployed in Lakewood.

As some may know I have spoken publicly a couple of time about this issue specifically. Once at an LCPI presentation in early July, and once at the last City Council meeting later in July. At that particular Council meeting the opportunity to make Lakewood more “bike friendlyâ€Â￾ was referred to the Public Works committee for further consideration. A big step. Even Mayor George spoke up (thank you!)....

And in fact we had our first meeting last Monday. Members of City Council and the administration were there, as were members of BikeLakewood. One topic we discussed specifically was the parking meter circles. Sgt. Favre mentioned two reservations about the circles, (1) the potential for vandalism, and (2) that potentially the parked bikes may get in the way of motorists trying to feed the meter.

Both are valid concerns. But one more thing was mentioned during our meeting that we’re gonna try to run down. Apparently, Lakewood is about to begin the process of moving to “two-headedâ€Â￾ meters, two parking meters on every other post. Which means that every other post will no longer be needed. I didn’t think to mention it in the Monday meeting but the light bulb went off today. Can we take every other post (no longer needed) and convert them to short term bike parking, either by adding circles to the posts, or by replacing them entirely with “bollardsâ€Â￾ that are practically indestructible and won’t get in anybody’s way?

It’s an engineering issue mostly. Every other parking meter post will be available to park a bike onto. Do we leave the posts and attach rings somehow, or to we remove the entire post and install bollards to replace them. I don’t know yet. To review bollards go to google, click on images, and type in ‘bike bollardsâ€Â￾ and you’ll see what I mean. www.bikeparking.com has several options.

So we’re trying to run it down and we’re aware that vandalism is an issue. FWIW, if you’re a biker here in Lakewood (or anywhere), you should not be on a bike that’s worth a lot of money. As for me, most of my miles are on a nice bike. But when I am just getting around Lakewood, I switch to a bike that is not much of a target for thieves, especially if I can’t keep an eye on it at my destination.

I hope this helps. The City knows a lot more about some of the practical issues than BikeLakewood, and BikeLakewood knows a lot more about biking than the City people do. Between us I am very confident we’ll head in the right direction….

Ride On Doug!!!

Tim Liston

PS to any forum reader, if you PM me with your e-mail address I will keep you apprised of what we are up to.......

[dl meckes]

Rings are just a shape. Other shapes could be cast that would accept a chain but not a 2x4.

I'd say this gives Lakewood an opportunity to design next generation bicycle "stands" and have them cast locally.

We can sell them to other cities.

Why not?

Could we drill holes in the existing meter poles to accomodate chains/locks and put a bicycle topper on the meters that won't be used?

[Tim Liston]

Since it’s raining outside I’m trying to catch up on old e-mail, and I wanted to also take a minute to post some new information on the parking meter racks we’ve been kicking around now and then.

I’m not sure exactly how the Toronto post rings are constructed but it appears that a two-by-four is able to defeat the ring itself, which is cast. From discussions I have had, castings can be brittle. Maybe another Observer knows why.

So here’s another option. Again, my understanding is that Lakewood is removing every other parking meter, and the remaining ones get two heads. We ask the city to leave the headless posts up and we use this meter post conversion “bollardâ€Â￾ to convert some of them for bike parking. I don't know the timetable for this. If anybody does, please let me know.

The bollard fits over the headless parking meter post. The interior and exterior diameter of our meter posts is standard (2" ID, 2.375" OD) but the post would have to be shortened with a pipe cutter to 36". It slips right over the old post, you hammer it down to wedge it in. The manufacturer claims that it’s very difficult to remove once wedged in. Additionally it does also bolt onto the meter post. It’s 100% heavy gauge steel tubing. They can be powder coated or galvanized. Since the ring itself is made of square tubing, a sticker could be applied near the top of the ring for any purpose, perhaps with a number to call if a bike appears to be abandoned. Unit cost is $160-$180 depending on quantity, cheaper than the Toronto post rings. But shipping is extra I presume. Perhaps our shopkeepers can help pay the cost, maybe in exchange for “bike friendlyâ€Â￾ recognition.

As the article above points out, bike locks are far more likely to be defeated than any post ring. Bike parking should always be conspicuous, to deter theft. Meter racks would be pretty conspicuous.

[dl meckes]

Not bad looking.

[Suzanne Metelko]

Wow, parking meters as bike stands, what a great idea!!

[Tim Liston]

Here's another idea for bike parking in Lakewood.