In August I already posted something about this, but I was merely touching on the subject, really.
It’s all true, there are more bikes than people in Amsterdam. The same goes for the whole country. When so many people use their bikes on a daily basis, there’s a great need for facilities. One of which is parking.
The eye catchers are the big ass bicycle parking garages near major transportation hubs, such as Central Station, hosting thousands and thousands of people’s two-wheeled confidents. Less appealing to visitors, perhaps, but equally important are the regular street racks. There are many of those, but never enough.
Over the years these racks have evolved, new types were introduced, but some have found their place in bike parking history over the last decades. They’ve proven their worth: efficient, practical, economical, sturdy, stable, etc.
Recently, Mikael over at Copenhagenize was pleased to see (paraphrasing) ‘a Danish design win in the NYC bicycle rack competition’. 
The ‘Hoop’ is a nice design, I have to say, but…(yes, there’s a but), they didn’t nail the setup of this rack when they anticipated multiplying their purpose. You know, more people on bikes, more parking, more bikes in a small space, so need for more racks. See the pic on the right. (PS, Maarten De Greeve from Bettlelab is either Dutch or Belgium, so I give the Danes half the props ;-p)
Anyway, on with the show. As I promised Andy from Carbon Trace, I pointed my camera more closely at bicycle racks in Amsterdam. You’ll have to forgive me, but I don’t know any of their names, but realize there’s a need for reference. I opted for the easiest one.
Type 1: no thrills, easy execution, space efficient.
Type 2: one of the most common racks across the country, after decades still in use, very space-efficient.
Type 3: the ‘luxury’ edition of Type 2.
Here’s the whole set, more pictures of the 3 types and a few others:
WHAT TO DO NOW?