LarrySellerz

Anyone else sketched out by the standard bike racks that you park your front wheel in? I like leaning my bike against things instead. What if it hurts my wheel?


looking at my pic again, looks like the old Dutch steel bike and the Ebike owners had the same idea and parked the rear wheel in there instead. I’m less sketched out by the rear wheel but still don’t like doing it

datlas 

No concerns if you are “resting” your bike like that. Locking it securely is another issue entirely.

cyccommute 

Always put your rear wheel into any rack like that. The fork can turn on the front and end up tacoing the front wheel when it falls over. It seems odd that it would since the wheel can resist all kinds of sideways force but I’ve seen it many times. The bike falls in just the right way to kick the wheel into that sinusoidal form that is a tacoed wheel.

Joe Bikerider

I put my rear wheel into the rack because it’s the most expensive part of the bike. An 8 speed internal gear hub is pretty expensive.

skidder

Notwithstanding cycocommute's post, I'd think with the forces a bicycle wheel stands up to while its rolling down the road going 15 - 20 mph with a +150 lbs rider on the bicycle are a heck of a lot more than when its in a bicycle rack. Just lock it up properly so there's a high probability it'll be there when you get back.

Troul 

i prefer having them cupped from underneath.

SpedFast

Spoked wheels in general are great for carrying loads, not so great with side loads which is what is put on a spoked wheel when you stand it in those racks. I made a garden cart many years ago with 2 26" bike wheels. It handled 300 pounds of compost over rough terrain with ease, It didn't handle the side stress put on it when traversing a slope.

indyfabz

Several years ago I was on a ferry from Brooklyn to Manhattan. A couple of tourists got on and out their front wheels in a rack like that. One of the bikes fell over and broke a plaster chair art piece another passenger was transporting. She had to hold back the tears. Felt so bad for her. Judging from her outfit, she had obviously made it herself.

I got up and turned the bike around to show the couple the proper method.

indyfabz

So don’t do it. Problem solved.

Tune in tomorrow for “Anyone Park Their Bike on Goat Heads?”

wolfchild

I never use those type of racks, Stupid design makes it too easy to steal a bike. All you need to do is remove the wheel and take the bike, too easy.

rsbob 

Do washed-up artists always find themselves sketched out?

cyccommute 

If you want to take a really deep dive into this topic, you can check out this PhD dissertation on bicycle wheel dynamics. But be warned that you may need the Trieste bathyscaphe because it is really, really, really deep. The tl;dr version is that the wheel is in equilibrium and there are certain modes where the wheel can be sprung out of equilibrium fairly easily with the right lateral load. When we corner, we don’t really put the right bending on the rim to cause this springing into the classic taco shape. This graphic from p 90 of the dissertation shows a small localized bending of the rim could spring the wheel into that sinusoidal shape by, essentially, reducing the spoke tension of that section sufficiently for it to take that shape even with the low force provided by a simple fall of the bicycle with the wheel trapped in a bike rack.