Worst bike racks — from the useless to utterly unusable places to park your bicycle

One of my local bike stores (Tisos/Alpine bikes) have completely removed the bike racks so there's nowhere to lock your bike to which is somewhat questionable for a bike shop.  However the B&Q nearby has an excellent section for locking bikes with well spaced out racks you can lock the frame to with a shelter overhead and in a visible area the staff are frequently nearby.  Given there can't be many cyclists going to B&Q I do wonder why it has such a great bike parking facility but I'm certainly glad it's there.

Was chuckling my way through these thinking to myself, "I've got a few photos I could add here" then burst out laughing, there's one of my photos from twitter (ajft).  Here's another offering, from our local monster shopping mall https://flic.kr/p/6nJiNA or smaller local shops https://flic.kr/p/2k6iMr2

Cambridge's Cycle Point run by Greater Anglia Railways probably takes the top spot. Nearly 3,000 bike spaces and 100 cameras should make it secure. However this wasn't taking into account the farce that is CCTV operators having no idea what GDPR is, nor the police, nor the rail company. This allows thieves to roam and nick bikes with impunity. At its worst peak, about 30 bikes a week stolen....

Here in Fort William we have a lovely bike rack.  Never used because it is tucked away next to the Public Toilets in a car park off the main street with no CCTV.

Needless to say the local cycling fraternity use the very functional and sturdy street lamps, road furniture and the sides of the excellent seating to lock their bikes too.

To make it worse when they put in the local e-bike hire scheme they ripped out very usable racks and replaced them with the docking stations for the hire bikes.  No thought of replacing the "analogue" bike racks.

This is a good place to notify people that Merseyrail has excellent trains and very helpful staff for transporting bikes cheaply from Chester/ Ellesmere Port to Southport. This doesn't cost much more than just one stop under the Mersey. FYI the best way to ascend to a higher level when encumbered by a trailer is up the escalator, if you can persuade the very reasonable attendant that you're not going to fall. The lifts are more of a faff. I haven't yet braved an escalator descent, though. I suppose the main advantage is that you can just turn up, although it's sensible to avoid rush hours

These, in new-build flats, take bike parking to a whole new level - (sorry).  The builders refused to change them.....

Don't forget the worst bike racks in Scotland.

Installed at a cost of God Knows how many hundreds of thousands of pounds by the Scottish Executive, and utterly useless.

Appropriately named after a horse's fart.

And they claim to be a cycle-friendly site.

In the past I've simpy taken my bike round the shop with me, and never had a problem.

That doesn't fix it, however.

Sounds like a need for a special critical mass inside the shop.

It isn't just the racks themselves that are potentially the problem. 

A company I used to work for frequently held staff meetings at one particular hotel, a few miles from my house and, naturally, I used to ride to them. First time, I looked for somewhere to park the bike, and there didn't appear to be anywhere so the receptionist (seemingly acknowledging its absence) allowed me to take it into  the conference room here we were gathering. 

Cue ... a quiet word from the hotel manager to our MD that it couldn't be allowed to stay inside, and had to be parked in the dedicated parking spaces outside. 

Duly chastised, the manager led me around to the back of the hotel where there was a very nice, well built, easy to access set of Sheffield stands, completely out of sight of reception or any security staff, no windows nearby, no CCTV  and surrounded by trees. Perfect for angle grinding through a couple of bike locks with complete impunity. 

Given they had clearly not been used recently (not surprisingly) and the receptionist didn't even appear to be aware of their existence, I had to wonder what the point was. Other than to be able to say they had dedicated cycle parking. 

I've not been able to find the bike racks at my local Sainsbury's. There is a signpost for cycling parking directing me further down the shop front. I've gone the full length of the shop and can't find them. Plenty of metal barriers for trolleys, but nothing for bikes.

I could lock my bike to the trolley barriers, but then trolleys would clip the handlebars. Instead, I continue home and walk back.

I really cannot understand how bike rack designs can be so shitty. To be honest though, I am sure none of its designers must have ever locked a bicycle.

If I find a shitty rack and not intend to jump into a store for like 3mins, I will prefer to walk a little more and find more sturdy fixtures to lock.

The Lidl pic reminded me of a trip to my local Aldi a while back.

When I asked an assistant why the bike racks were obstructed with gardening items, she replied, "We haven't got anywhere else to put them".

I asked why they didn't put them in car parking spaces insread and she replied, "We're not allowed to".

My solution was to use the racks anyway.

Motion, by Karl Meyer is part of the Adelaide City Bike Art Trail. The artist has taken an almost, but not quite, completely useless bike rack and by the simple act of inserting some extra, red powder coated tubular steel he has rendered it completely useless.
Some people have mistaken this artwork for anti-homeless architecture.

https://www.experienceadelaide.com.au/public-art/art-in-adelaide/motion/

My local Waitrose did the plant thing. People complained, so they moved the rack - next to a trolley park (annoying to see bikes getting wet when there's a nice undercover space 2 feet away; but that's another issue!). Periodically, the rack got filled with trolleys. On one occasion, I locked my bike to a whole string of them, as that was obviously what they were there for . . .

Pfft.
The worst cycle parking I have come across is at my local Tesco in South Shields. I have checked with store management on several occasions and they have confirmed it's cycle parking.
It is literally some dog rings to put your lock through. It is undercover though

My local Sainsbury's, so awkward to use I've given up and lock my bike to the shopping trolley bays instead.

Ha! The turkey twizzler! I have one of those outside my apartment here in NL. Absolute crap. Almost impossible to run a lock to the rack, and as soon as the wind blows your bike is on the floor. 

Here's my worst one locally, not counting all the nonexistent ones. This is at a bar/restaurant in one of the most walkable/bikeable areas of town, with great trail access.

It's not fastened down, all the brown parts are made of wood (likely soft pine) and the metal appears to be thin electrical conduit. The wood sides are too thick to get a U lock around, and if I put a wheel between the bars I can only lock the wheel to it.

Unless I've remembered to bring a cable when coming here, I pull the rack away from the wall, put my bike parallel to it behind it, and lock the frame to one of the bars. Luckily this is not a high bike theft area.

It's not difficult to have the ultimate bike parking - simple Sheffield stands with a tapping bar:

The tapping bar provides protection against the stand having one of its mounts unscrewed or cut through - thieves would need to cut through the stand twice to easily remove a bike.

This one is wrong on so many levels

These awful racks are exactly why my bike will only ever stay in two places. Either inside in my office at work or inside in the wife's flat.