Bike Rack from (the Temple of) Heaven

I realize how far behind I have gotten in my bike rack posting. J. Dach reminds me every day. This will be rectified, starting today!

While Jonny will be disappointed to not three-peat, K. Edwards deserves a shout-out for the magnificent specimen of bike rack she found in Beijing, at the Temple of Heaven.

Pretty impressive, although I'm not entirely sure what purpose it serves - isn't the actual fencing enough? Or is it keeping people away from touching it? Props to China for getting matchy-matchy and painting it white, though. 

OK. More posts to come on a regular basis, I promise. Just keep sending me the photos and I will keep writing ridiculous descriptions about your favorite man-made moveable barricade. 

THREE bicycles out of four bicycles. 

BRATW: Mandela Edition

This post comes to you AGAIN from J. Dach, but for good reason. This is a tribute to the late, great man whose funeral is today. An inspirational man who truly made the world a better place.

No rating necessary. 

(And yes, Mr. Dach - you even wrote the headline of this post.)

A short update in haiku form

Bike rack blocks my path
It would be annoying but
I can submit it.

(Courtesy BRATW MVP contributor J. Dach.) 

(Four bicycles out of four. Obviously.)

Partisan bike rack in Tamarac, Florida

You'd think it'd pretend to be bipartisan for business' sake

This quick blurb comes from M. Hupp, who points out that while bike rack remains universal for political parties across every spectrum, every so often one decides to display its preference for one candidate or another. Here's an example of a piece that picked up a Romney sticker....

However, I'm sure that piece of bike rack was super sad not to be included in the election day parties of the Republican Party, who decided to opt for some crazy clear barricade (that seems kind of dangerous, if you ask me):

Behold the creepy force field around the stage

Note that it just looks like everyone is well behaved and keeping away from 10 feet (standard buffer distance)...but a very, very clear plexiglas version of bike rack is used here. Crazy! And kind of weird if you ask me. I don't like it. Thanks to N. Kaine for pointing this out!

For partisan bike rack and...uhhhmmm, the absence of bike rack, ZERO bicycles out of four.
(But a zillion points in my heart to Nat and Megan.)

Handmade custom bike rack in Burma

Today's bike rack selection comes from a very special gal, Samantha (Ms. Finke if you're nasty)... she provided a veritable buffet of bike rack from Burma on a recent trip, where the variety is just astonishing. Don't believe me? Just take a look and tell me you're not blown away from the types of bike rack here.

The variety to the left is from the Swhedagon Palace in Rangoon. Very fancy - as bike rack in a palace would be - and intricate.

Slightly fancy. Just a little... 

Next up, some silver bike rack. While this similar to what we'd call the normal bike rack, the lines are horizontal and gussied up with a little bit of decoration. Ever so slightly fancy!

I am definitely saving some of the best for last though.  Feast your eyes upon these beauties (and I'm not just talking about S. Temaat or N. Kaine, either) - handmade. Teak. Custom. Bike rack.

Okay, I hear what you are saying. "But this isn't bike rack. This is barricade. You can't chain your bike to this!! That's breaking a rule!!" Fine, whatever. But it's in the spirit of bike rack, and serving the same purpose. And it's beautiful. So top bitching and check it out!

Ms. Temaat, giving this stuff a hearty thumbs up. I mean, who wouldn't want this at home to partition some stuff off? It'd make a very lovely headboard.

And to finish this post up, Mr. Kaine, giving us his best GQ pose. Nice work, everyone. Who knew the Burmese would really step up their bike rack game??

For showing who is who in the world of bike rack - THREE bicycles out of four, one of each of my dear friends featured in this post. 

Mini and maxi bike rack - and the return of the blog

Ladies and gentlemen. I've been very remiss lately, and I apologize. But this blog is here to stay, and dammit, I WILL update it. Hopefully more often than every seven months.

My passion for bike rack has not waned, nor has yours - I get photos of bike rack every week, so there's lots of good material here.

So, let's kick this off with a mega issue of bike rack small and tall. Now, this is not a new topic. You can see tiny bike rack here and here, and large bike rack here - but it keeps popping up wherever bike rack might be needed. Which is EVERYWHERE. (This blog would be completely moot if that weren't true...clearly.)

From my dear M. Hardin comes this entry from a Walgreens in Davenport, Iowa. It's small, it's clearly just for actual bikes, but it fits the profile - you can move it, you can use it for barricade for, um, less statuesque people, etc. So maybe bike rack for people my height?

Mr. Rose sends us this example from New Orleans. While not exactly tiny in height, it's got some....length issues. I guess it's not the size, it's how you use it? (Rim shot)

Not to be outdone, the J.W. Slider caught this tiny painted version in the U.K. (Londontown to be exact) guarding...well, I'm not sure exactly what it's guarding but it's doing one hell of a job.

Off topic - why is that plastic chair chained to a dolly?



The last entry features the ladies showing off the tall, tall bikerack. My BFF M. Goodman submitted this entry of some formidable height, guest-starring one D. Rosenzweig and C. Waitekus at UPenn. Looking good, ladies. Looking. Good. But what is that for? That is some serious barricading off. I mean, Crystal is one tall lady - god knows how shrunken I would have looked next to it. (Very, is the answer.)

Thanks to everyone for playing. Clearly one bicycle for every photo posted here. FOUR bicycles out of four.



Also, thanks to everyone for reading and continuously sending me photos. Don't stop doing that. Ever.

Thanksgiving Day parade bike rack. So topical.

I've been hanging on to this goodie of a post for quite some time now, as it's very seasonal and pretty much appropriate exactly one day a year. But friends, that day is TODAY and I'm so excited to present...Macy's (tm) Thanksgiving Day Parade Bike Rack!!!

This treat is from M. Goodman, who actually sent this to me last year but I felt like it deserved prime-time placement for the holidays. As she is one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, not only am I thankful for these photos but for her as well, as she keeps me sane when I am trying to navigate a 12-passenger van and pick up a pizza in rural Iowa.

Anyway, the bike rack featured here is from New York, where the huge parade inflatables are stored, overnight and protected from harm using your standard-issue bike rack. Pretty awesome, if you ask me.

Of course, the bike rack is somewhat secondary to the inflatables themselves. While in the photo above, we have some cute, very PG Christmas ornaments - classic stuff. I only mention the MPAA rating as the next photo, to the right, features Mr. Kermit the Frog in a weird, compromising position. I'm sure he's, uh, totally upright for the parade, but for storage...yikes.

 


So while I'm here - thank YOU to everyone who has sent in photos (and continues to do so) the last two-plus years. Could not do it without everyone. And that's as mushy as I get.

Ahhhh, bike rack. So versatile. For basic bike rack doing what it does best, THREE bicycles, but minus one for the weird storage of Kermit. What would Miss Piggy say?!

Fancy New Orleans Bike Rack

It's been awhile, bike rack lovers.

The bad news: prime advance traveling season is currently over.

The good news: prime advance traveling season is currently over, so I can catch up on the tons of bike rack posts everyone has sent me recently.

If you've sent me a photo, I'm working on the posts as we speak. So keep sending me those photos. And there are some amazing bike rack photos to talk about! Bike rack porn. Bow-chicka-wow-wow.

Ahem. This is a family blog!

Back to the business at hand. The lovely and very talented A. May-Sealey has sent me a photo that I think really captures the grace and flavor of New Orleans that you just won't get anywhere else.

Again, more fancy bike rack. They just keep getting fancier and fancier! What will they think of next? Will they come in solid gold? (Oh wait, that has already happened.)

I love that this is weathered but still very lovely. Which is exactly what New Orleans is - a little weathered, a bit beat down but still able to stand tall, proud and unlike anything you've ever seen before! Poetry in bike rack.

And for that - THREE bicycles out of four. The only way this thing gets better if there's a po' boy attached to it. (Mmm.)

Urban bike rack in Montreal

This is a post I've been meaning to put up for some time now, but I think I was saving it for a special occasion - well, that time is now. Thanks to A. Watson for a very artsy submission, straight from Canada, eh? (Couldn't resist.)

She found this masterpiece in Montreal (as it so eloquently says on the bike rack itself), which combines my two of my all-time favorite things - fun, colorful graffiti and, you guessed it, bike rack.

Because this is Canadian, I think there might be something lost in translation. Is this is a squirrel that's chirping? Is it a cartoon bubble expressing his preference of moves in Tic-Tac-Toe? Either way, it brings some color and joie de vivre to otherwise homely gray steel.

Which brings us to the next question - is this bike rack guarding the tiny little bush from further harm? (I mean, you have to squint a bit to see it, but the green shrub is back there.) Does it need two pieces? Is there a rogue army of gardeners prowling Montreal in search of unnecessary pruning?

Anyway. For bringing us such stellar compositions of urban life in a sort-of foreign land: FOUR bicycles out of four.

Joyful advance people and bike rack. (Or snow fence.)

Today's post doesn't so much feature bike rack as the main attraction, but serves as an accent for advance people enjoying the moment.

To the left is my very dear, darling Z. Javaid, who is celebrating not only a very large, very perfectly framed flag (god help us, but that's a whole other blog just waiting to happen) but a successful trip in Las Vegas. Framing her perfectly timed jump is some all-American bike rack.

Next up is A. Evans and J. Quinn, and while no bike rack is in this photo, they are frolicking through Cleveland, Ohio, happy as clams (if clams could skip, hold hands, and wear clothing). Pretty awesome. I am including it here not only because I find this shot to be full of happiness and life, but also because the hint of snow fence (a distant cousin of bike rack) really adds a shot of color.

For happy shiny Advance people holding haaaands....FOUR bicycles out of four.

Getting fancier in Chicago

Today's quick bike rack nugget is from N. Cohen, with a side of guest star H. Johnson (well, her foot anyway). She spotted this fancy bike rack in north Chicago, down by the river.

Bike rack, hanging out, by its onesies. Why? What for? Why is it so pretty? Who knows? Who cares!

Bike rack: Getting fancier every day.

For fancy bike rack with, as Nora points out, Democratic-themed Toms on, THREE bicycles out of four. Next time, we want to see Houston in there!

Loads of bike rack in Charlotte

And I do mean, LOADS. North Carolina, you are so lucky.

My dear and lovely R. Fitzgerald spotted this gem for me at the post-Democratic National Convention this past month. So. Much. Bike rack! I feel like this is probably the party game most applicable to me. (Instead of jelly beans in a jar, "Guess how many pieces of bike rack are on this flatbed; the closest guess is the winner!")

To be fair, J. Dach (who has to be in the top 5 contributors to this site by far) knew that miles of bike rack were needed to pull off a successful event. In fact, he even sent me an article about how much bike rack was necessary. Whoa.

And, while this bike rack also belongs in my previous article about super-tall bike rack, this iteration was also spotted in Charlotte flanked by D. Gifford, who just barely stands taller than the gray steel.

For a towering load of bike rack that literally stands taller than the rest (other than the Giff) - THREE bicycles out of four.

Bike rack, Seattle style

In honor of my love of the Pacific Northwest and R. Lee's birthday, today I am featuring the lovely scenic bike rack he spotted in Seattle recently.

I have to say, this is an interesting development. Never have I seen bike rack joined up with a bench to create all-purpose barricade. It's as if it's just a continuation of the bench. Or is it a continuation of the bike rack? Who knows. Who cares?

I'm guessing this bike rack was meant to keep people OUT of the fountain, which is kind of a dumb premise to begin with. And fairly unsuccessful as there is a KID in the pool (hence the red arrow, he's a little hard to see here).

Ralph mentions there's a sign on the bike rack - which states, clearly - "do not drive on the fountain." Um, okay, we'll try not to do that?

And, of course, the "b-side" of the fountain. Thanks man! Way to deliver.

For giving us oddly placed and totally useless bike rack - unless, you know, it really DID prevent people from driving over the fountain (again, ?!?!) - THREE bicycles out of four. 

Tall bike rack spotted...well, just about everywhere

I haven't done a themed bike rack post in a while, and finally it got to critical mass - apparently tall bike rack is out there, and my dear eagle-eyed readers have been noticing. Well, here's a round-up of some crazy large bike rack!

First up is another J. Dach special, spotted at Soldier's Field in Chicago - super duper tall bike rack! It practically resembles a door, and serves as such for this stairway. Good luck getting through that when it's locked into place.



The next is from P. Bauer, who spotted this iteration in Chicago as well (what's up, tall bike rack Chicago) - here at Wrigley Field right outside Pat's ridiculously baller apartment. (Side note - who has a SEGWAY in their apartment? Pat and Jack, that's who.)




OK. As as a delicious finale, here's one featuring the very lovely D. Barnes in her BRATW debut, as photographed by the equally lovely J. Quinn. And no, folks, this piece is from Milwaukee, which is also in the Midwest...is it because the folks from the heartland tend to be taller and thus, the bike rack matches as such? Are the bikes bigger? Or are the obstacles just larger? So many questions. So little time. All I know for sure is that D has some killer pants on. Oh yes grrrrrl.

Tall bike rack. Coming to a town near you, if that town happens to be in the Midwest.

Because I like my bike rack to be tall, grey and handsome (don't read into this too much, folks) - THREE bicycles out of four.

Baller bike rack in Oakland

Of course the shiniest, most pimped out bike rack would come not only from Oakland, California (I would do a North Bay hand-pump represent-thing here if I weren't, you know, SOCAL 4 LYFE) but also from R. Montoya, who is kind of a big deal as well.

I've never even seen gold bike rack before. Either this was a subtle shout-out to the Olympics this year and America dominating the medal count (USA USA USA etc) (I think) or someone got upset with C3PO and recycled him into something more useful.

And, in a stellar example of using bike rack to really, really block off a crowd, the Giff sent in another Oakland pic. Pretty awesome. I don't really envy the person who has to dismantle all of that (there has to be at least a few hundred zip-ties holding this puppy together) but I admire their handiwork. Hats off to you, bike rack constructor, you.

For crazy bike rack configurations and allowing me to finally, FINALLY insert a Star Wars reference in this blog, FOUR bicycles out of four. "Hella" nice work, NorCal dudes.

Hot and sweaty bike rack in Virginia Beach

This fancy piece of bike rack on the beach was sent to me from my dear V. Sanders a few weeks ago. I don't think I've ever seen such fancy scroll work on bike rack before, and it's even in a different color! Very lovely.

Even more confusing is why there's fencing that's behind the bike rack, or if the bike rack is protecting the fencing and then the railing behind THAT, but hey, whatever it takes to keep the masses from the beach. Kind of overkill, no?

Anyway, thanks for the fancy rack, Valentine, and as always, keep the photos coming people!

For totally unnecessary gilded and scrolled bike rack - THREE bicycles out of four.

Feelin' fancy free in New Caanan

Continuing with the fancy bike rack theme, this one comes to us via the lovely A. Muglia. She points out that in New Canaan, Connecticut, that bike rack is not only freshly painted but is also somewhat decorative. And a little dainty. Kind of like Alice herself!

I love that this type gracefully swoops up at the corners, as if to bestow a bike-racked smile upon the viewer. Such a gentle way to block off parking.

Anyway, thanks for this delightful installment. I don't think we've had so much hoity-toity bike rack but apparently it's out there.

For fancy smiling bike rack - THREE bicycles out of four.