The Chainlink

question about using the bike carriers on cta bus

  My daily commute for now includes using the CTA to carry my bike across the city. On the buses there ccan be one of two kinds of bike racks. One we will said is red and the other is yellow. The red ones are probably the intially used one before they start to use the better yellow ones. I have come across on a few occasion, where the red ones( the inner rack)  don't hold the bike well, as the screws fell out or something like that, so you have to use the outer one, thus no more bikes can be loaded till I get off.  I don't think the cta mechanics make it a habit of spot checking  them for problems. My question is, is there a way we can report to the CTA that a certain number bus has a broken bike rack? so I guess the bus number and route used is needed, and they should be able to track down the bus garage  location. thanks in advance.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on June 10, 2014 at 4:12pm

I have 45mm wide SKS Longboard fenders, the yellow arms fit right on top of it.

Permalink Reply by Jerry Lee on June 10, 2014 at 7:57pm

 I take the 92 foster bus and 303 Pace connected by the blue line to go to work. coming home I use the 77 Belmont. Most of the drivers are friendly and they say they keep an eye on the bike. Once the bike is on the rack and strapped in by either the red arm, yellow arm or the black cane, the bike will stay put. It's when the parts are loose or not properly attached, will the bike fall over. Now the streets are awful as far as potholes go, sometime these driver go like hell, and hitting a pothole, you look to see if the bike is still there. So far, no loss yet.

 

  do any of you(s) lock your bike, I dont mean to the rack, I thought of putting a padlock on the rotor, because it doesnt take much for someone remove your bike and ride away, especially when you are on a bus thats pack. Of course the padlock will probably destroy your disc brakes and wheel, hopefully you are able to retrieve your bike. Oh well, When it gets hot as hell and no rain I will be riding all the way to frankln Park and back to Andersonville daily. later, Jerry

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on June 10, 2014 at 9:05pm

I had one in the last two weeks that had a squeeze latch that was barely accessible because the sign was bent from contact parking in the garages. The driver was off smoking and didn't pay any attention to me trying to bend the sign enough to get at the latch....

Anne Alt said:

I've rarely had trouble with the springs being stiff enough on the yellow racks. The problem I've encountered most often (and not on that many occasions) has been that the squeeze-latch to lower the rack to horizontal position to be able to load bikes was broken, so that the rack could not be put into loading position.  I've never had a bike come loose or fall off.

h' 1.0 said:

I'm definitely not in agreement with the comment above about reliability.  The yellow retainer racks have been failing pretty much since they were installed.  You have to try each one before using to make sure the spring still has some pull.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on June 10, 2014 at 9:11pm

Expressly forbidden to lock your bike to the rack.

Not smart to expect a driver to be responsible for "watching" your bike in any way. You have to stay up front or you are just asking for it IMO.

Jerry, I disagree that a bike will stay on as long as the rack is in proper working condition.

There is lots of potential for user error still, one example being anyone who is not able to get the yellow retainer far enough under their fender to get it where it needs to be.  You are just asking for trouble here.

Another being anyone who doesn't bother taking heavy accessories off--- if the rack is not completely level you're just asking for enough sway to discharge the bike. And finally, as commented earlier, the racks work on the expectation that the weight of the bike will hold the rear wheel in the rack.  A very lightweight bike can easily bounce out of the rack on a bumpy ride.

Jerry Lee said:

 I take the 92 foster bus and 303 Pace connected by the blue line to go to work. coming home I use the 77 Belmont. Most of the drivers are friendly and they say they keep an eye on the bike. Once the bike is on the rack and strapped in by either the red arm, yellow arm or the black cane, the bike will stay put. It's when the parts are loose or not properly attached, will the bike fall over. Now the streets are awful as far as potholes go, sometime these driver go like hell, and hitting a pothole, you look to see if the bike is still there. So far, no loss yet.

 

  do any of you(s) lock your bike, I dont mean to the rack, I thought of putting a padlock on the rotor, because it doesnt take much for someone remove your bike and ride away, especially when you are on a bus thats pack. Of course the padlock will probably destroy your disc brakes and wheel, hopefully you are able to retrieve your bike. Oh well, When it gets hot as hell and no rain I will be riding all the way to frankln Park and back to Andersonville daily. later, Jerry

Permalink Reply by Josh L. on June 11, 2014 at 8:03am

Is this really true that people grab the bikes off the racks? I do recall reading about it once but it seems out there as far as theft goes.  

Jerry Lee said:

 I take the 92 foster bus and 303 Pace connected by the blue line to go to work. coming home I use the 77 Belmont. Most of the drivers are friendly and they say they keep an eye on the bike. Once the bike is on the rack and strapped in by either the red arm, yellow arm or the black cane, the bike will stay put. It's when the parts are loose or not properly attached, will the bike fall over. Now the streets are awful as far as potholes go, sometime these driver go like hell, and hitting a pothole, you look to see if the bike is still there. So far, no loss yet.

 

  do any of you(s) lock your bike, I dont mean to the rack, I thought of putting a padlock on the rotor, because it doesnt take much for someone remove your bike and ride away, especially when you are on a bus thats pack. Of course the padlock will probably destroy your disc brakes and wheel, hopefully you are able to retrieve your bike. Oh well, When it gets hot as hell and no rain I will be riding all the way to frankln Park and back to Andersonville daily. later, Jerry

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 11, 2014 at 10:46am

From what I've heard and observed, the number of incidents seems quite small.  I just sit (or stand) near the front of the bus and keep an eye on my bike.

jolondon30 said:

Is this really true that people grab the bikes off the racks? I do recall reading about it once but it seems out there as far as theft goes.  

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on June 11, 2014 at 1:31pm

As Anne said, it's extremely rare.  I have never personally witnessed it, and over the 10+ years I've been paying attention, I have heard of this happenening less than 3 times, and each account was several times removed.  Much more common to end up with a bike on the rack that doesn't seem to belong to anyone on the bus...
 
jolondon30 said:

Is this really true that people grab the bikes off the racks? I do recall reading about it once but it seems out there as far as theft goes.  

Jerry Lee said:

 I take the 92 foster bus and 303 Pace connected by the blue line to go to work. coming home I use the 77 Belmont. Most of the drivers are friendly and they say they keep an eye on the bike. Once the bike is on the rack and strapped in by either the red arm, yellow arm or the black cane, the bike will stay put. It's when the parts are loose or not properly attached, will the bike fall over. Now the streets are awful as far as potholes go, sometime these driver go like hell, and hitting a pothole, you look to see if the bike is still there. So far, no loss yet.

 

  do any of you(s) lock your bike, I dont mean to the rack, I thought of putting a padlock on the rotor, because it doesnt take much for someone remove your bike and ride away, especially when you are on a bus thats pack. Of course the padlock will probably destroy your disc brakes and wheel, hopefully you are able to retrieve your bike. Oh well, When it gets hot as hell and no rain I will be riding all the way to frankln Park and back to Andersonville daily. later, Jerry

Permalink Reply by Jerry Lee on June 11, 2014 at 5:11pm

As everyone said, that crime of taking a bike off the rack is very small, it is conforting to know. I can't stand near the front(I'm too fat, take up too much room), can't sit in the front( I respect the handicap), but in 2 months I will be elgible to set up front I believe. for now, I'll sit in back and do my suduko and crossword puzzle for the next 45 minutes.

as h' 1.0 said  "Much more common to end up with a bike on the rack that doesn't seem to belong to anyone on the bus..." that might be me in the near future. I am starting not remember things.

                                                                 Jerry

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 12, 2014 at 10:26am

Yep, I've seen that happen a few times.

h' 1.0 said:

...Much more common to end up with a bike on the rack that doesn't seem to belong to anyone on the bus...

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