I am thinking of riding my bike and using the Metro here in LA for part of my trip. You can bring your bike on the subway, and they have these rack thingies on the front of the bus: (warning pdf)
So I am looking at the above linked instructions, and noticing that the only thing that secures your bike is a little arm that comes down over the tire. :eek:
Needless to say, I am reluctant to put my $1500 carbon frame road bike on such a thing. Maybe if I could take an extra second to put a shock cord around the bottom of the wheel I would feel better. At the same time, I see bike riding all over town on the front of the bus, and have never seen one break loose and get smashed by the bus…
Anyone with experience with this type of rack? Am I worried for nothing?
Ha, I’m a little afraid to do it, too, and I only have a $300 bike (but I can’t really afford another!). Let me know if you should ever try it. It sounds like an awesome idea - take the bus to the nice park instead of trying to ride there, in all the traffic.
AC Transit out here in the Bay Area uses them. There are a number of folks on my line who bring their bikes and I’ve never seen or heard of any problem.
The wheel wells are rather deep (meaning that your tires are well supported) and that arm that goes down over the tire is spring-loaded, it holds the bike in place quite nicely from what I’ve seen.
The OCTA buses in Orange County, California have bicycle racks of the type described by Valgard, and I feel my bike is reasonably safe on them.
[slightly paranoid rambling follows, feel free to skip]
What I’m not comfortable with is having it vulnerable to theft from the rack. I’ve never seen it happen, but it’s possible that someone could quickly take a bicycle off the rack and ride away while passengers are boarding/disembarking (therebye clogging the exits) and the bike’s owner is stuck for even a few crucial seconds. Now I lock the front tire to the frame before putting the bike on board in order to discourage theft.
I share your paranoia. I also lock the bike, but my other fear is that the driver will take off before I’ve managed to get to the front of the bus and remove it.
Can’t you tell the driver you have to go get your bike? I know he may not listen, but at least you’ve said something.
I think I would also tie something very bright and obvious onto my bike, and maybe also put a sticker with my address & name on it somewhere more hidden. That way I could always prove it was my bike.
Well, yeah, but there are many common-sense rules I see consistently flauted. Here in L.A., I’ve been on many a half-empty bus that simply failed to stop for waiting passengers at some stops, but not all. I have no idea why. That suggests to me that drivers have something on their agenda that I’m not aware of. And once it’s gone, you can’t call it back.