Zipcar bike racks

zipcar-with-yakimaI got a surprise yesterday: a Zipcar with a bike rack. I had no idea that was even a thing, but I’ve sure wished for it in the past.

I’ve have been carless (that’s without a car, not careless) for quite some time. Which also means I have not to be paying San Francisco parking tickets for quite some time. But there have been times when I wanted to get somewhere away from home – with my bike – that required a drive. That makes a Zipcar with a bike rack just about perfect. I couldn’t find any official announcement from Zipcar regarding the availability of cars with bike racks in San Francisco, but they apparently were available in New York and Portland several years ago.

They have numerous models of cars that have enough trunk or hatch space to fit a bike with both wheels removed. But that is inconvenient – and potentially hazardous to rear derailleur hangers. Zipcar bike racks may just be the perfect offering for us urban dwelling cyclist types.

zipcars-with-bike-racksZipcar has made it easy to find them too – they are clickable items from the drop down menu you use to filter your car selection when making a reservation. From what I could tell, there are currently 3 of them scattered around San Francisco – 2 Imprezas and 1 Crosstrek.

In addition to being a great solution for your next epic MTB experience in the foothills, it also opens up the range of Zipcar pickup locations. My general approach was to pick from whatever cars were within reasonable walking distance from my house. Now, I can also opt to find any car with a reasonable riding distance and carry my bike along with me. The bike rack offering just solidifies my position that I never want to own a car again while living in the city. When you add up car payments, insurance, maintenance and gas, car sharing services like Zipcar are way cheaper than owning. This is especially true for folks like me that utilize the bike for daily transportation, and only want access to a car a couple of weekends a month at most.

Although, I do miss sporting around in the VeloReviews team van…

Ye ol' VeloReviews Team Van. Also with a bike rack...
Ye ol’ VeloReviews Team Van. Also with a bike rack…