Parking When Commuting

If I were able to commute to work, I wouldn't be at all afraid to leave my bike chained outside the building, there are ample places I could do that, although no bike racks per se. Safe, definitely, I could also just bring it into my office and stick it in the corner. Either way would work. What really prevents me is I don't have a place to take a shower and change, and it is about 15 miles from home - and I have a white collar job, so it wouldn't go over well with my boss or clients if I smelled like a dead hog on the side of a Texas highway in July.

MotownBikeBoy said:

so it wouldn't go over well with my boss or clients if I smelled like a dead hog on the side of a Texas highway in July.

Joke for you: :P

In communist Russia a guy is passed out drunk just on the bordeline between the city and the village border.
A policeman approaches him and doesn't know if he should take him to the village police station or the city's.
So he calls at the station and asks. The officer advises him to smell him:
"If he smells like vodka, take him to the village, if he smells like wine, take him to the city."
So the policeman smells him and calls back at the station:
"He smells like expensive French cognac!!!"
and the officer replies "Leave him alone, he is resting!!!" 😄 😄 😄 😄 😄 😄

Nice one Volnix! 😄

As for the smell, that is a concern indeed in the summer, 15 miles is a long ride, so I am guessing a lot of sweat is involved. At least in the winter you can do it no BikeBoy?

Gelsemium said:

As for the smell, that is a concern indeed in the summer, 15 miles is a long ride, so I am guessing a lot of sweat is involved. At least in the winter you can do it no BikeBoy?

Winter is even worst... Thermal underwear smell really bad! I haven't tried the merino wool ones yet, but the polyester or whatever they are ones smell terrible even after just one ride sometimes.

It is also not safe in our area to leave bikes anywhere because there are also risks of it or its parts being stolen by mischievous people around. I usually park by bike in secure areas like malls, nearby schools or other institutions that have security and a specific are for bike. I chain my bike to a provided post in the area and just hope the parts won’t get stolen. Sometimes I also pay for parking for security. Even though it is another expense, I usually just pay because I don’t want my bike to be jeopardized.

Gelsemium said:

One issue we all have when commuting with our bikes concerns safety. I've got to my bike once at the end of the day and I had no seat for example... From that day on all the parts of my bike are secure when I leave it on the streets. How is it where you live, is it safe to leave the bike on the street or not really?

Haha, I live in Denmark, and commuting with a bike here certainly isn't safe, most people who regularly commute with one has had theirs stolen during their lifetime, it's absolutely atrocious, people steal a bike just to ride it for a kilometer or two

Are you serious? But don't you have them locked? How can they take them so easily?

@Volnix, I recall going to school with my bike in the summer and arriving there totally sweat, so for me summer is far worse. We do have a moderate summer here though.

I wouldn't leave anything in my area where I can't see it. There's a nonprofit here who keeps a database of bicycle serial numbers to help local law enforcement hunt them down.

Well, that nonprofit can give that list to the authorities, but I am not seeing police officer chasing bikes, I think they have better things to do... When I leave mine I don't feel too confident, but so far so good.

My university has many bike parking lots. A lot of students use bikes and my university is pretty big so it's not a surprise. I'd honestly hate to leave my bike where I can't see it and be sure that it's safe.

Well, I work at a university and let me tell you that a lot of bikes are stolen here,even well locked ones, so the solution was actually allowing students and teachers parking them at the garage.

Though I would have to ride too far (20+ miles up and down hills) the idea of using my bike as decoration in the office is certainly a consideration-though only for an owner/project manager with a sizeable office.

Is it safe where I am? No, generally. I try to make it the most difficult bike of all the bikes around it to steal. However, it really depends on the time of day & the area of town you decide to lock up. It's rare (however extremely possible) things will get stolen in a well populated area.

Yep, exactly like I do, I have two locks, one of them really long and I put them around all the parts from my bike. Usually I try to avoid night parking for the obvious reasons, but if it's just for one hour or so I tend to get lucky.

In my are it's not very safe to leave the bike overnight or in the evening. But I dont think its safe anywhere, if you leave your bike just make sure its in a public are where there's people all the time. Chances are that if there are people around thiefs won't steal your bike parts that easily

No way I would leave my bike overnight, but sometimes in the evening it's a necessity. I confess I am not 100% safe when I leave it, but yeah, I don't leave it too hidden, but in a place where many people can see it.

BrockJohn said:

Haha, I live in Denmark, and commuting with a bike here certainly isn't safe, most people who regularly commute with one has had theirs stolen during their lifetime, it's absolutely atrocious, people steal a bike just to ride it for a kilometer or two

I'm living in Sweden at the moment, and cycling here is also a very popular way for people to commute. Bike theft is equally popular, although people really don't make it very difficult for bike thieves either. Nobody chains their bike to anything, most people either have a thin cable lock or a small lock on their back wheel. Do you see the same thing in Denmark, where you get all the bikes just kind of piled up [censored] nilly outside of buildings?

I have not had any problems in the 4 years I have been commuting by bike. I have a coil cable with a combination lock. It's getting pretty old and hard to read the numbers, so I will probably preplace it soon. I have heard about seats being stolen in big cities, but not ever heard of it happening here, though that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. When I started riding I was told locking my bike was very important. I know people who don't lock their bikes have had bikes stolen, but it seems like having a lock is a sufficient deterrent here.

Yes, my seat was stolen to me years ago. I parked right outside the subway and when I got there I had the bike, but no seat. From that day on I always lock my seat too.