No Parking

Last night I cycled to the Lowry centre to be part of an audience with Andrew Motion, the previous poet laureate.  Last time I went to the Lowry the bike parking facilities seemed a little scarce, to say the least.  A venue which between three theatres must seat over a thousand seemed to be catered for by just four bike parking devices.  This kind of thing:

What I hate about these is that although, after a fashion, they hold your bike upright, just look how far away the frame is from the piece of street furniture.  Given that the most secure type of bike lock is the U lock which is of limited length there is no way you can use it to secure the bike to the non moveable object.  Last time I visited the Lowry I put the bike sideways on to the V shaped device (it wasn't part of a long stretch of them like the picture) and tethered it with the U lock that way.  I go a bit security crazy, and have two cable type locks I use to lock both wheels onto the frame too.  They are quick release wheels and it would be most inconvenient to return to the bike and find them gone.

But much to my joy and delight in the middle of a mini roundabout, the Lowry have these brand new devices -

Don't look much, do they, and of course the Lowry ones were shinier and much more curvy and aesthetic.  So much better to use.  Bike nestles up against the frame and you can attach any lock, anywhere.  This, however is not the bees knees of bike parking as I found this morning ...

Just look at these bad boys we've had installed at work.  I suspect our model is a step up from these, with cover in a cylinder and  bike racks to the left and right.  Actually  left my bike locked in this today instead of smuggling it into the dingy motorbike store.


Parking just gets better and better.