How to Park Bikes

To handle high volumes of bicycles (rates of more than one bike a minute), operators need to pay attention to both safety and strategy for organization. High volume valets involve a lot of walking and full-body repetitive movements that have the potential to cause or exacerbate injuries. Furthermore, with a lot of bikes coming in and out, it is important to stay on top of bike organization to keep things moving efficiently.

Moving and controlling bikes

Bikes come in all shapes and sizes, and some are trickier than others. While kiddie bikes might be suitable for picking up and carrying, adult bikes (especially with panniers) and e-bikes should be parked with caution.

Valet operators should maneuver bikes with one hand on the handlebars and one hand on the seat when possible. This gives you the most control over the center of mass of the bike, particularly when a bike has a lot of weight to the rear.  Under some circumstances, using two hands on the handlebars might be appropriate.

Lifting bikes onto especially crowded racks can be a risk for back strain. Ideally, a valet operator should be able to stand next to the bike while lifting it up from the seat, while maintaining control of the top tube. If a bike is too heavy to be parked in this way, it should probably be parked with oversize bikes (see below). If it is too late to move the bike to oversize, park it adjacent to the rack where the tag should be or lean it up against a rack or nearby non-bike object (fencing is useful here).

Brakes and Kickstands

When possible, bikes parked without a rack or kickstand should have their brakes on, especially when operating a valet on a slope. While some e-bikes have a parking brake activated by a button on the handlebars (operators will come to recognize these in time or can ask the owner) often the easiest way to enable the brake is an elastic band holding the brake on against the handlebar.

Kickstands can be a much tricker situation. Most e-bikes have a rear-mounted one-leg kickstand, but many now come with center mounted two-leg kickstands, especially cargo bikes. These kickstands sometimes require a button to lock or unlock them.

On grass, especially in sandy or moist soils, you will need to use 15cm (6") squares or 60cm x 20 cm (24" x 8") plywood rectangles to prevent kickstands from sinking into the ground and causing a collapse.