Retail store with a bike rack?

[madscientist01.livejournal.com]

Due to some poor planning on my part... I am going to meet someone tomorrow and possibly buy their bike, my first bike in years, with no way to transport it if it doesn't fit inside my car. The seller is already going out of their way to meet me in Boston, so I don't want to inconvenience them any further with a different location. It's not really a bike-able distance from home, and I'm going to pick it up in my car which doesn't have a bike rack. If I can't fit it in my car... does anyone know a store with a bike rack? The places I've looked so far (Target etc.) have racks for sale online, but not in the stores themselves. No time to wait for shipping!
P.S. The location is on the green line, and not near a bus route that has bus bike racks... so I can't use public transportation to get back.

Comments

[haptotrope.livejournal.com]

Meh, just bring some rope, and a couple of old blankets...wrap it up and toss the thing on the roof. (tie through the whole roof of the car.)

Or let it hang out the back, and tie down, and drive slowly.

Or and bring a wrench to pull the front/ rear tires off, and an alan key to loosen the stem, so it folds flat... that will help a lot.

Unless of course you think you will use a bike-rack otherwise.

[madscientist01.livejournal.com]

Thanks for mentioning this... my plan B was to fit it mostly into my car, then tie the trunk down, but I kinda forgot about it. This all centers around how much of the bike I can fit into my car, which I have no idea. But I was going to get the bike rack as a last resort in case the bike didn't fit at all and return it if I never used it.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I have found that my bike fits into a wide variety of cars, though sometimes I have to remove the front wheel first (which is easy and does not require tools).

[turil.livejournal.com]

Try REI.

Or a bike shop, of course. :-)

[ron_newman]

If this location is on the Green Line D branch in Newton, could you ride it to a Framingham Line commuter rail station, and take the train to Yawkey or South Station?

If this location is on any of the other branches, it's a reasonable bike ride from Davis Square.

[madscientist01.livejournal.com]

It's probably a "reasonable ride" for most but since I haven't been cycling for years, I wouldn't be super confident navigating really busy streets yet. I'd be coming from Brookline... so it is on the B line. But thank you for the advice!

[ron_newman]

You could get on the Esplanade bike path near Boston University, ride on that to Charles station, and take it on the Red Line back to Somerville (outside of rush hours).

[m00n.livejournal.com]

According to my research on Google Maps (and a fair bit of personal experience) you can get to Davis Square from almost anywhere on the B line in Brookline using entirely side streets except for the part where you have to cross the Charles River (during which you could presumably walk the bike) and the ride is only about 6.2 miles even at the furthest distance. This is about a 35 minute ride at ten miles per hour, which is a modest speed even for a totally novice rider. Also, I did almost exactly this ride several times with my girlfriend shortly after she had just learned to ride a bike for the first time so I'm confident that the distance is not too much for a novice bike rider to handle. The traffic is another story of course, but like I said, there are quite a lot of side roads you can take on that route...

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a novice rider, I completely disagree.

You don't even know anything about the bike, what kind of tires it has, whether it needs a tune-up before it can be ridden safely, how easy it would actually be to side 10mph on it, and what kind of shape the OP is in.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Seeing as the route itself is almost completely flat the entire way, it does seem reasonable to believe that anyone who could walk continuously for 40 minutes (and I do believe this would include most city dwellers) should be able to do a 6 mile ride at a modest pace fairly easily. The OP didn't make any mention of the condition of the bicycle but I doesn't sound like they're expecting it to be unsafe to ride. I think that would be a bit like assuming that someone who was going to pick up a used car was expecting to need a tow truck to get it home. Certainly there are some who buy used cars in such condition, but I would never assume that.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Well, I guess you're right. Obviously you have a much better idea of what the OP (or I) would be capable of than we do. I bow to your expertise.

[pensivewombat.livejournal.com]

As someone who recently re-learned how to ride a bike (i'm the bike novice girlfriend mentioned in m00n's post below) i would say there are several things to take into consideration here:

Comfort level: If you're getting on a bike for the first time in eons, *do not* attempt to do this, even on paths. The first week that i was re-learning, i felt uncomfortable, even on paths. The good news is: the learning curve is steep! But definitely don't hurl yourself into it, safety be damned.

Fitness level: If you know how to ride a bike, and it's simply a matter of concern over exertion levels, i really wouldn't be concerned at all. Leisurely biking on the Esplanade path (as mentioned above) is really not a tough task for this distance (and i mean that in a non-condescending way - i recognize that different people have different fitness levels, etc, but i say this anyway) Bonus: it's pretty!

End result: just take the Esplanade path to Charles MGH as mentioned above if you feel comfortable on the bike :)

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

You can easily take off the front wheel, usually. You can take off the back wheel as well, but that's not as easy.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

I second this. If you have a 4-door car, you might be able to fit it into the back seat with a wheel removed.

[teele-sq.livejournal.com]

Why don't you just borrow my bike rack for your car?

[madscientist01.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the offer! Alas, the person dropped out at the last minute today and told me they are selling the bike to someone else, even though we had an appointment to meet up today to do the transaction. :(