Design Public Buildings Around Bicycle Racks

[Warm Worm]

"Bret Cahill"
> Instead of the bike rack off to the side in the shadows where
> components or the entire bike can be stolen out of sight, create
> uncertainty in the minds of bike thieves:
>
> Locate the bike rack in front of the computer room window were some big
> guy might be glancing out the window watching his bicycle.
>

What about a hardcore transvestite biker-group with long nails and a
*****-slappingly bad attitude?

As one-- in this case, a slim straight guy -- who bikes year-round in
Canada, I can say that it would be nice if we put the same kind of effort at
accomodating bikes as we do with those ridiculous living-rooms-on-wheels,
known as cars.

 

[Warm Worm]

"RicodJour"
>
> Dave Larrington
> Notan
>> >
>> > >> Locate the bike rack in front of the computer room window were some
>> > >> big
>> > >> guy might be glancing out the window watching his bicycle.
>> > >
>> > >Big guys in the computer room? <g>
>> >
>> > And the computer room is always located in the deepest, darkest corner
>> > of the building, not our front with windows. Come to think of it - it
>> > probably is right next to the bike rack.
>>
>> Not here. Difficult to put a bike rack outside the third floor, y'see.
>
> Actually, putting the bike rack there would be easy. Riding up to it
> would be another story.
>

Just take it up the elevator and into the office. Lean it against your desk.
Install a dumb-waiter for bikes.

 

[Warm Worm]

"Matt O'Toole"
> Bret Cahill
>
>> Certainly any office building could have an indoors bike rack.
>>
>> We just need Martha Stewart or Donald Trump to say it is politically
>> correct.
>
> Actually Trump could be a good ally. For all his bluster he's very good
> at what he does. If his buildings had nice bike rack solutions, we could
> point to them and say, "Look, Trump does it, and it hasn't hurt him
> any..."

I wonder if Trump bikes.

 

[Sorni]

Warm Worm wrote:
> "Matt O'Toole"
>> Bret Cahill
>>
>>> Certainly any office building could have an indoors bike rack.
>>>
>>> We just need Martha Stewart or Donald Trump to say it is politically
>>> correct.
>>
>> Actually Trump could be a good ally. For all his bluster he's very
>> good at what he does. If his buildings had nice bike rack
>> solutions, we could point to them and say, "Look, Trump does it, and
>> it hasn't hurt him any..."

> I wonder if Trump bikes.

Only with Superglue and Industrial Strength Aquanet.

 

[Warm Worm]

"eds"
>
> "3D Peruna"
>> Bret Cahill wrote:
> Back in the day when I worked in offices (admittedly funky ones) I brought
> my bike up the elevator and locked it to my desk. ADA compliant elevators
> easily hold bikes.
> EDS

You hit the nail on the head, EDS. I just posted something similar.
Sometimes some "design" solutions are but mere matters of a change in
mentality, which of course lead to changes in behavior and expectation.

I've seen pictures of design offices, for example, with designers' bikes in
the offices leaning against everything.
They're attractive machines and they add to the office decor and ambiance.

If you're fun enough, you could even add a bike track that circumnavigates
the office for those who want to get in a little excercise during their
breaks. Yes, you can even drink coffee while riding a bike.

In fact, here are two of my older alt.arch posts on the subject. (Good god I
was using my own name!

> > "gorotka" hi! i'm a polish student in a german university and i am now
> > making my thesis... the subject is the center for youth where one could
> > go spontaneously to relax, forget about the problems of the everyday
> > life. it's gonna be a net created in the city, consisted of different
> > builings (places) in the spots of the biggest concentration of youth. i
> > talked with a youth psychologist to know better the psyche of youth,
> > then i made an interview with the pupils of the secondary school. what
> > they said they needed to relax was: energy, silence, nature, music,
> > water, fire, motion (trainings), candles, flavours, sun, sleep,
> > happenings... i have to make the program for the buildings, that would
> > consist somehow these elements. it would be good if there were some
> > unconventional ideas. i'm trying hard to make it up but i guess i need a
> > kind of brainstorming to have fresh thoughts... maybe some of you would
> > suggest me, how to put such function in a building and how to make the
> > net of few buildings work? i'm in a big trouble...

> Hi Gorotka. Ready? Here goes... - have a weaving, hilly indoor
> bicycle/skateboard track. Young people and people like me like to bike
> indoors on something more than boring stationary bikes when it's bad
> weather outside. - have a pool with a very tall water slide and diving
> boards. Have a shallow-water track to bike. Yes that's right- bike in a
> pool. Have the pool have a sealed window where you can watch people under
> water, such as for when they dive from great heights and their bathing
> suits momentarily come off...

Rest of thread:

Big:
http://groups.google.ca/group/alt.a...lt.architecture&rnum=1&hl=en#649fb2699ae560b2

Tiny:
http://tinyurl.com/rcear

And...

> Incidentally, Pierre, I am curious to know what the maximum angle for a
> ramp that conforms to wheelchair access might be. You see, I was thinking
> of winding a glass-enclosed ramp, instead of stairs, around (part of?) the
> outside portion of the structure where the area it occupies could also
> function as a kind of "insulation-barrier". I like the idea because, even
> if there's little need for wheelchair access, it might also be bike,
> child's tricycle and furniture-moving friendly... Maybe I could even wrap
> it around the entire perimeter or even integrate its path into the
> balconies' for a multifunctional utilitarian/walking/running/biking track.

Rest of thread:

Big:
http://groups.google.ca/group/alt.a...lt.architecture&rnum=2&hl=en#02198de615ca50e0

Tiny:
http://tinyurl.com/n8zub

 

[RicodJour]

Warm Worm wrote:
>
> I wonder if Trump bikes.

It'd explain why he's always wearing that helmet.

R

 

[Warm Worm]

"JeffWills"
> Of course, I can't see why any self-respecting thief would touch this:
> http://home.pacifier.com/~jwills/jeff-big.jpg :-><
>

Well that explains it.

I think http://www.christini.com/bikes.php might do well to come up with a
front wheel drive aluminum-framed, full-suspensioned recumbent, if they
haven't already cancelled their bike line prospects. (they have a motorcycle
line)

Two things I dislike about recumbents are their frames and ridiculously-long
drive chains.
A front-wheel-drive recumbent, if done properly, would be excellent!

Ever seen a recumbent motorcycle, btw?
http://www.cybermotorcycle.com/gallery/monotrace/Monotrace France.htm
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/12/ecomobile_if_yo.php
http://motorcyclecity.com/bikewatch/Ecomobile/
"We all love the open air aspect of motorcycles, but when the temperature is
low and rain is falling, they're not the most comfortable vehicle one could
occupy. Taking your lady out to dinner and a movie takes on a whole new
meaning if it's a rainy 40 degrees outside! Now you can have your cake and
eat it too if you own an Ecomobile. The handling and fun of a two wheeled
machine with all the comforts of a fine European automobile. Who would have
thought you could ride along in a contoured bucket seat listening to digital
stereo music with heat and a windshield wiper, on a motorcycle! And yes, the
Ecomobile is classified as a motorcycle."

 

[Werehatrack]

On 8 May 2006 09:32:31 -0700, "JeffWills" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Of course, I can't see why any self-respecting thief would touch this:
>http://home.pacifier.com/~jwills/jeff-big.jpg :-><

I suspect that the novelty value alone ("Hey, look what some fool left
laying where I could snag it!") might be enough. I've heard of thefts
of things that were worth less, and required more work to lug off.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

 

[JeffWills]

Warm Worm wrote:
>
> What about a hardcore transvestite biker-group with long nails and a
> *****-slappingly bad attitude?
>

Don't go there...


Whoops- already went there:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dontbecreepy/sets/72057594128561444/
!

Jeff

 

[Adam Weiss]

Bret Cahill wrote:
> < Who needs their OK?
>
> Not me but everyone else seems to think bicycles are uglier than an 8
> lier V8 SUV.
>
> < Just put the bikes in a secure area, out of sight.
>
> That's just the problem. They get stolen when they are "out of sight."
>
>
> Bret Cahill
>

Secure area, I said.

Behind a locked door (or an exit door that can't be opened from the
outside without a key).

Employees can get in and lock up their bikes. Thieves can't just come
by and take the bikes.

Of course there's always the possibility that an employee in the
building is a bike thief....

 

[Warm Worm]

RicodJour wrote:
> Warm Worm wrote:
>> I wonder if Trump bikes.
>
> It'd explain why he's always wearing that helmet.
>
I was wondering what that was.

 

[JeffWills]

Warm Worm wrote:
>
> Two things I dislike about recumbents are their frames and ridiculously-long
> drive chains.
> A front-wheel-drive recumbent, if done properly, would be excellent!
>

I've seen lots of FWD recumbents, in both the fixed boom and swinging
boom varieties. Here's a swinging boom FWD built from a mountain bike:
http://www.cruzbike.com/
Here's a fixed boom FWD (and world's fastest HPV):
http://www.ohpv.org/albums/bm2004/varnas/pages/varnas14.htm


> Ever seen a recumbent motorcycle, btw?

I like the open-air version:
http://www.allamericanracers.com/alligator/alligator_home.html

Jeff

 

[Warm Worm]

"JeffWills"
>
> Warm Worm wrote:
>>
>> Two things I dislike about recumbents are their frames and
>> ridiculously-long
>> drive chains.
>> A front-wheel-drive recumbent, if done properly, would be excellent!
>>
>
> I've seen lots of FWD recumbents, in both the fixed boom and swinging
> boom varieties. Here's a swinging boom FWD built from a mountain bike:
> http://www.cruzbike.com/

That looks clever and funky. I tried to get a movie to see how the thing
rides, and if one's legs turn, too, and also how solid the pedaling area is,
since those should affect pedal efficiency.
It seems rare to have something where the production-model is still, in a
sense, the prototype. Perhaps there's some kind of engineering term for
this.

> Here's a fixed boom FWD (and world's fastest HPV):
> http://www.ohpv.org/albums/bm2004/varnas/pages/varnas14.htm

I may have read about that.
It would be cool if there could be a lighter, human or electric-powered
production-model equivalent of a Ecomobile/Monotrace... Maybe there is.

>> Ever seen a recumbent motorcycle, btw?
>
> I like the open-air version:
> http://www.allamericanracers.com/alligator/alligator_home.html

That looks awkward, and I'd be curious to know how it rides and handles, how
safe it is (with the engine in front) and/or if it made it into production.
From the blurb on that link it still looks like it's in the planning stage,
and from a brief Google, the death of someone working on the bike:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jimmythralltribute/farewell1.html

The Ecomobile/Monotrace is a proven design, and apparently surprisingly
safe, even in a crash.

 

[R'zenboom]

"Warm Worm" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:ZrT7g.3657$cl1.312@edtnps90...
> RicodJour wrote:
> > Warm Worm wrote:
> >> I wonder if Trump bikes.
> >
> > It'd explain why he's always wearing that helmet.
> >
> I was wondering what that was.

<ROFLMAO>

ooooh boy...there goes your Trump Towers IV contract!