Plastic Fantastic Bike Racks

You'd be excused for not having a clue what you're looking at right now. Innovation sometimes goes wrong, but at least the thought was a good, noble one.

Bicycle racks outside Hedehusene Station, west of Copenhagen. I know about them and have seen them from the train to Roskilde countless times. There aren't many places that still have these bicycle racks anymore so when I rode to Roskilde for christmas (previous post) I stopped to take some photos. A rather overcomplicated attempt to provide covered parking for bicycles to protect them from the rain. I've never actually seen them in use, so I was suprised to see that four or five bicycles were parked underneath the plastic fantastic contraptions.

A good idea that never fit in with the Danish desire for ease-of-use and convenience.

If anyone knows when these racks were developed, please let us know in the comments.

Driving Kills - Health Warnings

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For all of Copenhagen's badassness as a bicycle city, there remains one thing that the City still completely sucks at. Bicycle parking at train stations. At Copenhagen Central Station there are only about 1000 bike parking spots. Danish State Railways can't even tell us how many spots they have. They're not sure. Even in Basel they have 800+. In Antwerp they have this . Don't even get me started on the Dutch. 12,500 bike parking spots are on the way in some place called Utrecht . Amsterdam has a multi-story bike parking facility, floating bicycle barges round the back and are planning 7000 more spots underwater . Even at the nation's busiest train station, Nørreport, the recent and fancy redesign failed miserably in providing parking that is adequate for the demand . Architects once again failing to respond to actual urban needs. It is time to remedy that. Here is my design for 7550 bike parking spots behind Copenhagen Central Station. Steve C. Montebello i...

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