It is a truism the world over that there never is enough bike parking (motorists might argue that there is never enough car parking either, but that’s another discussion…). Whether you’re in Amsterdam or Auckland, Copenhagen or Christchurch any available bike parking in a city seems to be instantly filled up, especially around any popular destination. So it probably wasn’t that surprising when the new Riverside Market opened that the supply of bike parking around the area was immediately insufficient.
Thankfully, City Council quickly recognised this problem and have addressed it somewhat with the appearance this week of some new portable bike parking stands. These are part of central city cycling improvement projects mentioned previously. I visited the area on Friday and tried them out…
![](https://cyclingchristchurch.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/BikeParkingBlock-1024x640.jpg)
Riverside Market isn’t the only place to get some bike parking love; similar bike parking “pallets” are also being placed at popular areas by the Pegasus Arms along the Promenade and near the Botanic Gardens. As you can see by the shape of these structures, they conveniently fit into a carpark space, meaning that further ones could be easily tested out at various locations to see where the greatest demand is.
(P.S: if the Riverside bike parking is still chocka, it’s handy to know that there are also a heap of extra bike parks under the Lichfield carpark building only 100m away…)
What do you think of the new portable bike parking?
These are by far the best bike stands I have seen (Not just in NZ). Plenty of options to secure frame and wheels to the stands, no wheel-bending/disk-brake issues, and enough room for a cargo bike or trailer. The outside yellow barriers seem like a bit of wasted space (why are those not regular stands as well?) but a far superior design to the ones found in the Lichfield park, bus stop, or the semi-circles around town (or those sad wheel stands found around town in front of businesses).
Because these pods can potentially go in on-street carpark spaces, I guess the barriers are there to prevent cars running over bikes parked close to the ends? At the Riverside location, not much of an issue, but in some other places you’ll want the protection from people reversing into parallel parks and such like.
some bike shops have laughably bad bike racks, torpedo 7 chch springs to mind a hideous low wheel stand that is wonky and next to useless I told the manager it was an embarrassment but it didnt sink in.
Have used them a couple of times, the good design which provides lots of locking options is much appreciated. Time to replace those non-functional hideous shiny semi circles that popped up everywhere during the rebuild.