A crowdsourced repair stand takes up the slack in a town with no bike shops

The town of Milwaukie borders Portland just to the south, and it’s a lovely place to live. Besides its river views, great parks and gorgeous Craftsman houses, Milwaukie’s enjoying newfound popularity thanks to the recent arrival of the new Orange Line -- a light rail project that whisks residents to downtown Portland car-free in under 30 minutes. What it doesn’t have is a bike shop.

For a community so perfectly suited to low-car living, this is kind of a problem. According to local group Bike Milwaukie, the number of families using bikes to get around has shot up in recent years, but they have to head north for repairs and tune-ups. So Bike Milwaukie had an idea: they might not be able to start up a new bike shop, but wouldn’t a publicly accessible bike repair station be the next best thing?

Through a successful Kickstarter project, Bike Milwaukie and 33 (mostly local) donors banded together to raise $2800 for a high-quality bike repair stand, built by Minneapolis-based Bike Fixtation. The stand, purchased through Huntco, features Allen keys, screwdrivers, tire levers, pedal, headset and cone wrenches, and a heavy duty pump: everything you need to conduct basic maintenance and quick fixes. Better yet, the organizers at Bike Milwaukie worked with the local government to get the stand installed in a high profile location right in front of City Hall.

Even though we didn’t build this particular piece of infrastructure, it’s nice to be reminded how the right amenity in the right place can do more than just fill a need — it can help focus an entire community.

Laying the groundwork for walkable neighborhoods.

Image: Doug Geisler CC 2.0 Lic

Is your neighborhood walkable? Is it walkable enough?

According to some recent articles, walkability is now the single most desirable trait for house hunters in US cities, and it only seems to be getting more desirable.

This shouldn’t be all that surprising. After all, Millennials are now the largest generation in the country, they’re heading into their settling-down years, and they’re famously less interested in driving than previous generations. On top of that, you have millions of aging Boomers looking to downsize, often in places where they won’t have to spend as much time in their cars. This doesn’t have to mean a city–lots of suburbs are getting more pedestrian-friendly–but it does mean distances short enough to make walking a viable alternative to driving.

But it also means infrastructure: sidewalks, shade trees, street-oriented storefronts, and--you guessed it–site furnishings. Installing benches, tables, bollards and bike parking doesn’t automatically make a block a walker’s paradise, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a walkable neighborhood without them. Besides giving you a place to rest your bones after a long stroll, street furniture also sends a powerful message: that people are supposed to be here, that walking is a viable form of transport.

This may be why so many of our site furnishings projects over the last few years have been part of placemaking initiatives. As cities around the country double down on their established neighborhoods, they often look to site furnishings as a way to kick-off the reinvestment process, in a pragmatic and highly visible way. Huntco has been fortunate to be a part of several of them, often with great results:

Backless Willamette benches at the Northwest Atlanta library in Georgia.

Sol racks, zebra crosswalks and and 6" bollards invite cyclists and protect pedestrians at New Seasons market at 33rd and Broadway, Portland, Oregon.

Cascade locks artist-designed bike racks.

A really nice writeup in the local paper about these: Bike Friendly in Cascade Locks

Santiem benches at Daimler on Swan Island, Portland, Oregon.

What can you do with a customized rack?

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In progress, At the shop

We’ve been making customized bike racks and site-specific furnishings for years, but I’m pretty sure this is the first time we’ve fabricated cats.  

The Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon (FCCO) in Portland is a great volunteer-based, veterinarian-founded organization that takes in thousands of stray cats every year from around the region for spaying or neutering, all at no charge. They’d originally wanted a couple of standard Sol bike racks for their their new building, but realized during planning that it was also an opportunity to get their message out to the neighborhood in a friendly, playful way. So this is what they had us build instead: 

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Install in progress at the new FCCO building

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The racks (which work just like a typical Sol rack) are instantly recognizable as cat faces, but with a unique detail: the flat-topped ear on one side is what’s called an “ear tip”, and it’s a standard indication that a stray has already been spayed or neutered. So in a way, the racks help spread the word about spaying and neutering without saying a word. 

Because we do all of our fabrication here in the US, Huntco is able take on all kinds of custom orders, often on short notice and based on simple, straightforward descriptions from the client or architect.

Besides being a lot of fun for us — who wouldn’t want to fabricate an enormous cat face out of powder-coated steel? — they also add unmistakable character to the streetscape, and help organizations announce themselves in a way that’s a lot more approachable and distinctive than another sign or billboard.

This project was in Portland, but people are looking for secure, functional bike parking in cities all over the US. Here’s hoping more of it has a face that makes you smile.

See more examples of custom bike rack and site furnishings here.

Learning to (Bike) Share: Exploring Multi-User Cycling

Adding a bike share system is an excellent way for any major metro to cut down on traffic, add easy travel options for tourists and city dwellers alike, and boost local economy. 

Cities nationwide are implementing public and private programs, each with a different way of payment and different share policies. The question for bike share planners: Is there a simple method for people to share bikes?

Huntco Site Furnishings and Go By Bike Make it Easy
 

The Portland program, set up at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) campus, is the latest site to try out the bike share model that was originally developed at Intel® and has been further explored by the Open Bike Initiative.  

Go By Bike stand image courtesy: gobybikepdx.com

Even though a high tech company designed the system–there is not a lot of tech involved–making the system simple and easy to use. The Go By Bike share at OHSU uses distinctive blue bikes, blue metal bike racks by Huntco, and a combination U-lock for secure bike lockup. 

Go By Bike U-Lock image courtesy: bikeportland.org

OHSU employees and students, who register with an OHSU email, can choose a bike from the rack and text a number to receive the bike’s specific U-lock combination. Users can access the system within a day of signup.

The open-source lock-based system lowers the barrier of capital startup costs, which for Docking systems can be out of reach for smaller budgets. Docking stations are around $50,000 each, require a power source, and the bikes must be locked to a slot in the dock. Kiel Johnson, the owner of Go By Bike, estimates that this 2-node, 13-bike system costs under $9,000 to set up. He also notes "Setting up the technical part of the system costs $900, the only other part are custom racks and bikes + maintenance…great for businesses and campuses."

Locks vs. Docks

Using locks facilitates a more conventional bike usage style. Cyclists can ride and run errands as they wish, without having to worry about finding a specific docking station while using the borrowed bike to avoid overtime fees. 

Docking stations can be necessary where urban bike parking is sparse or inconsistent. These docking stations are a way to claim public space, and ensure a safe location out of high traffic areas. This is less of an issue when an area has plenty of space in the form of protected racks and lockup areas. 

Image courtesy: Adam Fagen/cc/flickr

It is yet to be seen if docks or locks are the better long-term answer. The appropriateness of each structure will vary from city to city and will depend on the existing views regarding bikes, infrastructure, and political disposition. 

Portland-wide Bike Share

Starting in the summer of 2016, Portland, Oregon will experiment with a hybrid of dock and lock methods. The large-scale 75-station/750-cycle system, run by Motivate (of CitiBike fame) will feature credit card payment machines at bike drop-off/pick-up locations. The custom bikes come with smart locks and can be parked at any rack for the duration of the cycle trip. Bikes will need to be returned to a Motivate station when the cyclist is finished with their excursion.  

DIY Bike Share? 

Smaller, DIY operators that are interested in providing low-maintenance/-infrastructure bike shares have the potential to crop up all over Portland. Neighborhood associations, facility managers, small businesses, campus associations, city councils, and hospitality ventures have a vested interest in promoting bike share systems. 

 

The Ace Hotel, a Portland fixture, has started its own bike share program and offers house bikes to borrow for free, or hotel patrons can rent custom made cycles (by Jordan Hufnagel) for a reasonable price. Needless to say, having your brand roll around the city can’t be bad for business.

Photo Courtesy: ACE Hotel

Envisioning the Future

Whether bike shares come from large corporate ventures, or DIY small business; regardless of which method, docks or locks, are used; it is clear that with the rapid growth in Portland proper and the nation’s other cities, there is a need for accessible and affordable transportation.

Bikes-giving! Portland donation center round-up

Photo by Richard Masoner CC: License

Got an old bike languishing in the garage? Here's a quick round-up of spots in PDX to donate your old wheels/parts.

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Community Cycling Center

We operate a full-service bike shop, and we love helping riders build their skills and confidence. Our programs and projects benefit underserved communities allowing kids to ride to school, adults to ride to work, and many people to ride for health and recreation.

BikeFarm

Bike Farm is an all volunteer-run collective dedicated to every aspect of bicycle education, from safe commuting to repair. Our mission is to provide a space where people can learn about the bicycle and build community around promoting sustainable transportation. We strive to demystify the bicycle in order to impact the city in a healthy and positive way.

Bikes 4 Humanity

Bikes For Humanity PDX (B4HPDX) is a local, public charity project providing affordable refurbished bicycles to riders of all economic backgrounds.

Are you making it easy on bike thieves?

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Have you had a bike stolen this year? It wouldn't be surprising. In 2014, over one million dollars worth of bikes were stolen from owners in Portland.

Our fair city has been featured in the national news for bike theft, and even international visitors have had their bikes stolen (and luckily found again) on their way through town. 

Local business owner, J. Allard of the Project 529, wondered if we have some Mission-Impossible level bike thieves here in Portland. Is it special ops bike thieves or misguided folks tying their bikes to racks with rope and hoping nobody comes along with a pair of scissors that is causing the problem? 

J and his team conducted a census of 2,500-bike riders this summer to get to the heart of the issue. The team explored how Portlanders were locking up their bikes and it is an eye-opening read. 

“60% of bikes secured only the frame or a wheel, but not both. Thieves routinely will grab an unsecured front wheel from one bike and seek out a second bike securing only the front wheel and assemble a fully ridable and sellable bike in minutes in dense parking areas with little suspicion from passerby.
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— J. Allard, Project 529

And really…did someone actually lock their bike up with a piece of rope? Find out here in J's article "Dear Portland, Please Stop Making Things So Easy for Bike Thieves."

Best practices, bike locking procedures

Always lock your frame and wheel to the bike rack. It's best to have both wheels locked to the rack, but that's not always feasible. We recommend at least the front wheel (preferably both back and front) along with the frame.

Here's a link to great set of resources from the City of Portland with some best practices and links to creative ways to keep your bike secure. 

Vandal-Proofing: Safety Bolts

We make our bike rack installations as difficult as possible for thieves to remove or tamper with, without taking extreme measures. 

All Huntco flange bike racks are available with a minimum of two breakaway nuts (as shown here, one per side). The Burnside, Sellwood, and Fremont racks all come with four bolts. Security is our priority!