Kryptonite Bike Racks

When we started our brand relaunch planning back just about a year ago we had a plan...and then we modified that plan...and then modified again. Sometimes a plan doesn't come together for whatever reason. So, not everything we originally planned for happened. Ah well...that's life.

One thing that was always on the plan was to provide some great cycling cities with permanent bike racks. We wanted to give cyclists in these cities and towns more places to secure their bikes when they were off exploring the city - or just doing daily errands.

It was a long process, longer than any of us expected, but in the end 4 cycling cities and towns will have bike racks installed - or already do. Portland, Oregon was the first city to see the bike racks. The first group was installed at the Pacific Northwest College of Art and seem to be full just about all the time.

Thanks to Rachael Allen for the photos of the Portland racks!

The school actually took away some car parking spots to put in a bigger bike rack area. How cool is that?! Now, to be fair and tell both sides, some people in Portland aren't happy that the racks have a company name on them, but most people seem to think more bike racks are a good thing and will use them. As you can see by the photos, dozens of people don't mind the little logo on the bottom of the racks. They just care about having a safe place to lock while in school or around the area. Photos like this just make us smile!

All full in Portland!

Then it was off to Blue Island, Illinois, which is just outside of Chicago. They are a city that is trying to get back to more of its roots of being a walking and cycling city. The racks were just installed there a couple of weeks ago and Roby went out to meet with some people in town, including Mayor Peloquin, to christen the racks.

Julie Sklom a resident of Blue Island and member of MainStreet,

their Open Space Committee, rides over to meet Roby)

Mayor Peloquin and his office were gracious hosts to Roby when he was in town and were happy to have these racks provided (read the mayor's thoughts here). All of the cities and towns we've partnered with have been so great to work with during this project. But the local advocacy groups have been fantastic, too. Chicagoland Bicycle Federation really helped out with getting racks placed in their area and have been very supportive of this initiative. They even came out to the christening in Blue Island (thanks guys!).

(l-r)--Keith Holt (Chicagoland Bicycle Federation), Roby, Julie Sklom,

Mayor Donald Peloquin, Nicholas Crite (Land Planning Manager)

There will be more racks installed soon in one other Portland location as well as in Austin, Texas and Palos Heights, Illinois. In all, over 75 racks will be around the country for cyclists to use when they are out and about.

As soon as the rest of the racks are in place, we'll let you know...and get some more pictures up.