It's easy to do it right.

City & County codes require installation of specific numbers of covered and uncovered bicycle parking spaces, depending on the type of construction project. For the actual number of spaces required for your project, please consult a planner or the ordinance. The relevant ordinances are Bend 10.10.24 (8-9) and Deschutes County 18.116.031.

In Bend, you can reduce the required amount of costly motor vehicle parking by 5 percent when you provide twice as much bicycle parking as required and another 5 percent when you provide showers and lockers for employees.

Racks must be installed correctly to provide the required number of spaces. Beware that some rack manufacturers may claim that a given rack provides a certain number of spaces, when, in fact, it may not do so by our ordinances.

Covered Parking

Most developments must provide a portion of required bike parking under cover. This requirement is primarily to serve employees and residents who must park their bikes for long periods. Such cyclists need to protect the working components of their bikes from prolonged rain and sun exposure. A bike exposed all day is equivalent to a car parked in the rain and sun with no hood and roof to protect the engine and interior.

The preferred way to provide covered bike parking is by designing building overhangs to cover racks. If the architect is consulted early in the process, generally little or no additional expense is needed. A retrofitted roof extension is another reasonable alternative.

In either case, the overhang must be generous to protect bikes from blowing rain and snow. Most Central Oregon storms blow from the southwest, so covered locations are best situated on the north and east sides of buildings to minimize the necessary overhang.

A third choice is a detached, covered bike parking structure. It must be located and built carefully to protect bicycles from blowing rain. It is often cheaper to install enclosed bike lockers than it is to build a separate structure. Mt. Bachelor found this to be the case at their park & ride lot where their bike lockers can be seen.

Finally, covered parking can be provided inside a building, such as in a storage room, in a stairwell, or in a foyer if it isn't in the way of pedestrians.