At yesterday’s press event to “celebrate” Portland’s new bike boxes, Jeff Castro gave his new BikeRacker product its first real test.
(Photos © J. Maus)
Castro is looking to tap into Portland’s fertile market for bike parking. It’s a well-known fact that even though PDOT is trying hard to keep up, there is a significant lack of bike parking in this town — and that’s where BikeRacker will (hopefully) come in. Castro sees a niche in coming to the aid of business owners and event planners that don’t have enough existing capacity for their bike riding customers.
Castro got a perfect chance to debut one of his racks at an event yesterday. Not only could he guarantee a big bike crowd, but the people that showed up — like Metro Councilor and BTA co-founder Rex Burkholder, City bicycle coordinator Roger Geller, bike planning expert Mia Birk, etc… — just so happened to be steeped in knowledge of such things.
Castro was thrilled at their feedback and said, “Overall, there was lots of great support for the rack.” Castro told me the crowd especially appreciated the modular nature and simple design that led most users to “get” how to use it without confusion.
One major lesson learned by Castro is that if he wants to put his temporary rack on the roadway (taking up a motor vehicle space), he has to work with PDOT to get the proper permits.
Next steps for Castro will be to attend more events to get additional feedback. He’s also got a lot of work to do. “I’ve got to build, build build,” he commented, and then added, “Based on that event, I think I’ve got a viable thing here.”