Seven double-ringed post-and-ring racks have been installed at the south end of Elizabeth St., on the west side of the street, under the stairway to the elevated walkway around City Hall. If you get a chance, please try locking your bike to one of them, and let me know if the double ring causes any problems. Also, please take a look at the bolt, which is a bit long, and sticks out about ½ cm. Let me know if you think that is a problem.
Unless there are serious concerns, this will probably be our temporary solution to the ring-breaking bicycle thefts, while we work on obtaining and installing re-designed rings. Please pass this on to anyone you know who might be passing by City Hall with their bike.
I look forward to receiving comments.
Thanks
David Tomlinson Pedestrian & Cycling Infrastructure Transportation Services Toronto City Hall, 22-E tel.: 416-392-8400 fax.: 416-392-4808
Hmm. If I can get my small u-lock around that, it seems like a good solution. I'm hoping they've actually tested it themselves to see if anything will pry them open... In the meantime, I've taken quite well to locking up to parking sign poles. They feel pretty secure.
I feel like my trust in the ring-posts has been violated, and I need some time to feel comfortable with them again.
I tried them today, after work. I was able to fit my small New York u-lock through the double ringed posts, my rear wheel and frame. So they seem like a great solution. But the paranoid side of me stills sees the small space between the two rings as space enough to leverage against them. But anyway, I think I'd trust them.
The seam between them makes a perfect leverage point. I'd wager they'll lever themselves apart and crack perfectly. I suspect a crowbar and some persuasion from a sledge would have them busted in seconds and if they didn't break with that, you could still use the crowbar as a lever. At least that's what I'd try. Thieves are industrious. The rings are proven to be flawed. That wouldn't slow me down for a second if I were a bike thief.
i've always heard it's more secure to lock the bike not to the ring itself but to the central post... just wanted to mention that since a couple of people have asked whether their locks will fit over the double ring.
I've been told that as well, but it doesn't make any sense that locking to the post itself rather than the rings is any safer... If the rings are broken off, your bike can be simply lifted from the post with u-lock attached.
I applaud the City for finding an elegant solution, and assume they tested the double ring out before putting them on the streets.
That said, I don't see how it actually improves the situation. My understanding is that the single ring is subject to material failure. Adding a second ring would add time to a thief's attempt, as there are now twice as many rings to break, but unless there is some kind of bond between the rings (doesn't look like it) or a different material has been used, each ring is still just as susceptible to material failure.
Luis: I've had a friend nearly lose his bike a few years ago when HALF the ring had been cracked off. If his bike had been locked to that half, then he would no longer have it. Also, I think having it attached to the central pole leaves the lock itself less suceptible to leverage. With all the attention being given to the post+ring problem, I think people are forgetting that this isn't the only way bikes are stolen in the city.
Things like this get me thinking like a thief. It's an interesting mental exercise.
After less than 30 seconds of surfing the web I've found an elegant way to remove the "security" locknuts that secure the rings. It would take less than a minute to remove the bolts and be able to walk away with a bike, rings and all. The more I research and plot the more flawed I think these post and rings are.
Hamilton's ugly old welded pipe is looking pretty good right now.
_I just found another, better(?) series of simple bike rings at the Kipling Subway Stn. Park n Ride. These are not the same as the 'Toronto brand' bike rings.
13 comments:
Seven double-ringed post-and-ring racks have been installed at the south end of Elizabeth St., on the west side of the street, under the stairway to the elevated walkway around City Hall. If you get a chance, please try locking
your bike to one of them, and let me know if the double ring causes any problems. Also, please take a look at the bolt, which is a bit long, and sticks out about ½ cm. Let me know if you think that is a problem.
Unless there are serious concerns, this will probably be our temporary solution to the ring-breaking bicycle thefts, while we work on obtaining and installing
re-designed rings. Please pass this on to anyone you know who might be passing by City Hall with their bike.
I look forward to receiving comments.
Thanks
David Tomlinson
Pedestrian & Cycling Infrastructure
Transportation Services
Toronto City Hall, 22-E
tel.: 416-392-8400
fax.: 416-392-4808
I'm glad to see such an elegant, simple solution to this problem. I'd hate to see those iconic bike racks disappear.
Does this mean we can abuse them to see if they break?
Hmm. If I can get my small u-lock around that, it seems like a good solution. I'm hoping they've actually tested it themselves to see if anything will pry them open... In the meantime, I've taken quite well to locking up to parking sign poles. They feel pretty secure.
I feel like my trust in the ring-posts has been violated, and I need some time to feel comfortable with them again.
I tried them today, after work. I was able to fit my small New York u-lock through the double ringed posts, my rear wheel and frame. So they seem like a great solution. But the paranoid side of me stills sees the small space between the two rings as space enough to leverage against them. But anyway, I think I'd trust them.
The seam between them makes a perfect leverage point. I'd wager they'll lever themselves apart and crack perfectly. I suspect a crowbar and some persuasion from a sledge would have them busted in seconds and if they didn't break with that, you could still use the crowbar as a lever. At least that's what I'd try. Thieves are industrious. The rings are proven to be flawed. That wouldn't slow me down for a second if I were a bike thief.
Ok, so you've made the easy to break rings twice as hard.
Longer lever, stronger material. You won't have to bend them very far either because the two rings will lever on each other.
Walking around with a 2x4 is hardly conspicuous. A steel bar won't be any worse.
i've always heard it's more secure to lock the bike not to the ring itself but to the central post... just wanted to mention that since a couple of people have asked whether their locks will fit over the double ring.
I've been told that as well, but it doesn't make any sense that locking to the post itself rather than the rings is any safer... If the rings are broken off, your bike can be simply lifted from the post with u-lock attached.
I've never understood that advice...
I applaud the City for finding an elegant solution, and assume they tested the double ring out before putting them on the streets.
That said, I don't see how it actually improves the situation. My understanding is that the single ring is subject to material failure. Adding a second ring would add time to a thief's attempt, as there are now twice as many rings to break, but unless there is some kind of bond between the rings (doesn't look like it) or a different material has been used, each ring is still just as susceptible to material failure.
Luis: I've had a friend nearly lose his bike a few years ago when HALF the ring had been cracked off. If his bike had been locked to that half, then he would no longer have it. Also, I think having it attached to the central pole leaves the lock itself less suceptible to leverage. With all the attention being given to the post+ring problem, I think people are forgetting that this isn't the only way bikes are stolen in the city.
-Wes
Things like this get me thinking like a thief. It's an interesting mental exercise.
After less than 30 seconds of surfing the web I've found an elegant way to remove the "security" locknuts that secure the rings. It would take less than a minute to remove the bolts and be able to walk away with a bike, rings and all. The more I research and plot the more flawed I think these post and rings are.
Hamilton's ugly old welded pipe is looking pretty good right now.
_I just found another, better(?) series of simple bike rings at the Kipling Subway Stn. Park n Ride. These are not the same as the 'Toronto brand' bike rings.
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