BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

You may already know this, but you can ship your bike from the Pittsburgh Amtrak station for a small fee. You have to box it, remove the handlebars and pedals. I wouldn't leave my bike parked downtown at a rack for a week.

Seems like a great use case for an ultra-beater. Where are you based out of?

Rich, I've done a similar thing, but locked up under the convention center.

jonawebb wrote:You may already know this, but you can ship your bike from the Pittsburgh Amtrak station for a small fee. You have to box it, remove the handlebars and pedals. I wouldn’t leave my bike parked downtown at a rack for a week.

I was tempted to do that, but I'm not sure it's worth the hassle of dealing with tools and a big box both directions for the convenience of being able to ride a little while visiting my grandma. Actually, the question of what to do with the box at the other end and the extra expense of having to pay for another one for the return trip has been keeping me from taking other bike-train vacations that would otherwise be really great.

byogman wrote:Seems like a great use case for an ultra-beater. Where are you based out of?

I'm coming from Squirrel Hill, so it's not a very long ride but it does require decent brakes for the big downhill. Now that you mention it there are some abandoned bikes in my house that nobody would cry over if they disappeared. I should see if one can be made functional. And then leave it somewhere relatively safe and hope it's still there to convey me home. Thanks for the suggestions!

I'm in squirrel hill, sent a PM. Cheers

The bike box idea is an option if you're taking the Capitol Limited to Washington or Chicago, but not if you're taking the Pennsylvanian to NYC or Philadelphia. The latter doesn't offer checked baggage service. FWIW, I've been on the Pennsylvanian several times, and it's usually been 30 minutes early when it gets to Pittsburgh. They add slack to the schedule just before major stops.

I think this can be done, but would offer the following: 1. The better the bike, the riskier the proposition 2. Leave nothing on the bike (computer, bags, tool roll, lights, etc.) or at least as little as possible. 3. Double lock your bike. Even consider two U locks. The extra weight during the ride in/out will pay off in peace of mind while you are with grandma. 4. I'd suggest a parking place that already HAS a number of "resident" bikes. Somewhere near Point Park College (Third Avenue garage?) or the Ninth and Penn Garage are probably my recommendations. I just think you want to not be the a) only bike in a rack, b) the best bike in the rack (if you can help it) or c) the easiest pickings in the rack. I think I would do it for a week. Not too much longer than that. And, perhaps you could let someone downtown know the details of where, your return date, etc., and we could keep an eye on it.

FWIW, to OP. I won't park at the Third Avenue garage at all, much less for an extended period of time. I had a saddle bag and a zip tied pannier stolen off my rig that was parked there for an hour and a half there, relatively recently.

Thanks for that update, JZ. I though things were getting better there.....

If you had a space phone you could try out the fancy new ride sharing services offered by lyft and uber.

I haven't had any problems getting a yellow cab late at night in downtown or Squirrel Hill, the few times I've called one, though perhaps it's different just after the bars close. But they seem to be a constant presence in the East End and downtown. It's possible the risk that Amtrak will be over an hour late AND you'll have trouble getting a cab would be less than the risk of your bike getting stolen if left for a week.

Benzo wrote:If you had a space phone you could try out the fancy new ride sharing services offered by lyft and uber.

I have no space phone, but I'm not sure catching a ride downtown at 4AM would be much easier or convenient than a cab or a bus even if I did. At any rate, I prefer my fate to be in my own hands when I have to make a train / bus / plane so that I don't have extra stress about being late and missing it. Upon return, I'm usually very impatient to get home and really hate standing around downtown waiting for a ride, and then sitting through the ride, after hours of sitting still on the journey. The bikeshare system will be perfect for this kind of trip. I'm really looking forward to it.

If you're definitely riding and parking your bike, then Swalfoort's advice seems right on the money. Definitely be sure to use a u-lock and secure those wheels.

I've thought for a while that there should be some kind of tarp bike cover + U-lock system for this kind of situation. Your bike is a lot safer it it's not so visible. The U-lock would hold the tarp closed around the bike. Make the tarp gray so it doesn't stand out. Would also protect against the weather, of course.

There is the bike parka... kind of different though. http://unionofpedallers.cc/collections/bike-parka/products/urban Your u-lock can also anchor the 'parka'.

i have also locked my bike under the convention center for about a week over the summer. it was during the furry convention, so maybe there were always lots of eyes on it, but i wasn't really around to monitor. rode downtown, parked under the convention center, walked a block to the greyhound station, disappeared for a week, and had no problems when i returned. so, there's another data point, for what it's worth. i u-locked the rear wheel through the triangle and, as was suggested, left nothing on the bike. i didn't secure the quick-release front wheel; i imagine most front wheel thefts we see around here are less people trying to sell them and more mere mischief, so a slightly out-of-the-way place might be less prone to such a thing, but it is surely still advisable to secure the front wheel as well.

Many thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I'm glad I asked for advice instead of just locking up my beloved ride and hoping for the best. I feel pretty good about borrowing an old bike from the basement that nobody uses and locking it with 2 u-locks under the convention center. I doubt anyone would bother messing with it, but it wouldn't be a crisis if something happened and I couldn't ride it home, and I won't spend my trip worrying about it. It's a pink diamondback (in better shape than I expected with a mere half-hour of love) in case anyone rides through there and is curious. I'll be gone Saturday through Saturday. Warm, sunny Florida here I come!

Another viable alternative, and probably a pretty good one, is to lock the bike at the U.S. Steel Tower's outside bike rack, behind the 1/2 wall at Sixth and Grant. There is a lot of foot traffic there, and according to building's security staff, a camera (monitored by security guards) is focused on it 24 hours a day.