Explore the secret world of Stabilis racki. These amazing creatures are found throughout large cities, industriously seizing their niche. And for all of their beauty, they rarely get the admiration they deserve. Join Sir Edward Welch, III, a racki authority, specializing in the hunting habits of C. racki, a carnivorous sub group, as he takes us on a wondrous safari through the urban landscape, in an effort to educate people about this often overlooked species.
You see them everywhere.
Stabilis racki, common name—“bike rack”. These creatures are deeply entrenched in a symbiotic relationship with people on bikes (and a few dog owners too): the racks provide a place to lock up, and we create a habitat for them.
Bike racks come in a variety of designs, some so beautiful that people don’t use them, thinking that the racks are sculptures. Even David Byrne, Talking Heads lead singer and bike enthusiast, designed racks that blur the ideas of rack and sculpture, especially when you consider that one of the sponsors of the Byrne bike rack installation was Pace, a New York art gallery.
I like the idea that companies have taken on the challenge to add both splendor and purpose to objects that populate our urban sidewalks. One of the things that people often notice about Portland is the presence of a great number of racks. Try counting all of the racks you pass on your next trip downtown. Greg Raisman, over at the Portland Bureau of Transportation, told me that there are 4,624 installed racks in Portland. Cool. I might make it a goal to use them all.
Until then, here are a few non-standard (not "staple") racks to whet your appetite:
Want to continue your exploration of this misunderstood creature? Head over to Filmed by Bike, a “bike themed” festival of movie shorts. My buddy and I filmed a movie on bike racks entitled, Wild Creatures of North America.
Filmed by Bike will run April 17-23, 2009 at the Clinton Street Theater, Portland, Oregon. I will post a link to the video after the festival on my Twitter (BikeNounVerb) as well as here in the comments, so check back.
In the meantime, you can curb your appetite with my top three bike rack related sites:
- Cruise over to my bike rack photo group on Flickr. Yes, I am totally geeked out by bike racks.
- Read up on the Sheldon Brown locking method at Lock Your Bike.
- Spend a day exploring Bicycles At Rest, a beautifully written and organized site by John Luton, a man out of Victoria, B.C., who discusses all aspects of the lowly bike rack from Theory and Principles, to Design, and certainly Installation.
- (Bonus) City of Portland, Office of Transportation--get a rack installed outside your business.
By the way, for you scientific minded folks, here is the biological classification for “bike rack”.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Urbanata
Class: Attachia
Order: Metallia
Family: Bikovora
Genus: Stabilis
Species: racki
Next time you need to secure your bike, don't rack your brain. Use one of the many staple racks in Portland.