New Bike Rack Design Finalists Announced!

The ten finalists were announced today in the Department of Transportation’s search for new street bike rack designs. The city currently has nearly 4,700 boring old U-shaped "CityRacks" around town, but with a 75% ridership since 2000, that number’s not cutting it. The finalists will each receive an honorarium of $5,000 to produce two full-scale prototypes of their design. Whoever wins first place gets $5,000, and in exchange the city gets to keep the intellectual property rights to the design and start installing it. See New York's brave new world of bike racks here.

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By John Del Signore in News on July 22, 2008 4:18 PM

Comments [rss]

grenavitar

I'm a little worried about some of these racks since they have so many tests they need to pass. The ability to mount sturdily into the ground test. The ability not to pry the rack like the Toronto racks. Ability to hold enough bikes... Ignacio Ciocchini looked pretty nice... until I realized that you would be trying to fit 4 bikes onto it. Tim Kirkby's is insane since you can apparently just lift the chain from other the top. I'm a big fan of the Miller Ruggiero one since it looks safest to me. Baronivaleriani Architetti just wouldn't allow me to attach my frame and my wheel easily, especially not with other bikes so close. Beetlelab is pretty elegant but I imagine it'd be too easy to just kick the whole thing over. And I know Fadarch used "custom developed software" but I still have no idea what their design is. All in all this was style over substance and the racks I've seen in my small college town (http://www.library.drexel.edu/... are just as nice as most of these.

CHL

I'm disappointed by this competition and its organization. What is the outcome of the Google in-building competition?

Secondly I don't think the judges have a good understanding of bicycle parking design - The racks where you can only lock your front wheel are the worst type in terms of security.

How are these racks iconic to NY? Half of these are copies of existing bicycle racks. IMHO, the most practical and iconic rack is the Y rack by Lang and Dobbs.

What about the thousands of other designs submitted? I hope the organizers will at least upload the rest as the ones selected are not very inspiring.

JMH

It's more important to encourage office buildings to provide secure bike storage than it is to come up with new designs for street racks.

hellogreg

Yes, this city needs to change it's attitude toward cycling. I swear some drivers go out of their way to threaten your safety.

Unfortunately, it seems like most of these designs puts form before function. Bottom line, is they have to work.

Kirkby's designs looks like it could be a contender.

dgm

Three consecutive years I've applied to have a rack installed outside my building and I haven't even received a phone call. They should just sell their racks and let me put one in myself.

virgil

I'm not a designer by any means, but it seems to me that one of the most important factors should be something that allows maximum number of bikes possible in the area allotted.

With that in mind, I'm surprised there aren't any designs that utilize some sort of vertical stacking or tiered concept.

chuzzlewit

they're all in the "default" on the curb location, like many here note. that's not so clever. they should be installed in existing motorized vehicle street parking spaces.

Spirit of 76

Many of the designs take up too much space. The renderings show them taking up long stretches of curb. That just will not fly with motorists or pedestrians. They had the same problem with security barriers for sidewalks. Sidewalk installations must not be too much of an obstruction.

west side Michael

Need a warning barrier for our blind citizens

who are stick tap tap users otherwise it's

a nasty obstruction.

rosweed

I'd like to see the MTA install bike racks on the front of the buses like they do in San Francisco.

fivealive

i'm not sure that all of the designers actually ride a bike in the city -- you need enough space to lock the front wheel + frame with a relatively short length of chain, so the low small ring racks are out. as for double locking, not too many people bother to lock the front and back. the other problem with bike racks is that they get overcrowded easily because the fronts of bikes are bulky (handlebars get in each others' way). why not stagger a few loops of metal?

PBRK

Still no one breaking the 4 bike limit on a single rack.

I like the first one, but all in all I'm not wowed by any of these.

interlard

I STRONGLY agree with #1.

Also, I thought the city was anti-bike. Why are they wasting their hater money on this stuff only to let the cars & trucks keep killing people?

pk4l

I'm still not impress enough to own a bike in the city!

moonbeam

One important feature: it has to be obvious that it's a bicycle rack. If riders don't realize it's intended to be used as a rack, or can't figure out how it's supposed to work, it won't be used.