e-biking in Kansas City

Yesterday I had four errands to run, including a stop at one of my favorite stores: Soil Service on Troost Ave. I needed some insect soap for the garden.

I pulled up to the front and as expected, no bike rack. And no good alternative for securing my e-bike elsewhere. Now I am willing to stick my lock through the back wheel to make it impossible to ride off, but obviously, that doesn’t keep someone from throwing it in the back of a pickup and taking off. So I’m only willing to do that if I can generally keep my bike in view while I’m in the store, which I was able to do. Two minutes later, I was out of the store and on my way.

But if there had been a bike rack, I would have shopped longer. There were other things I needed, but I bought those at Lowe’s later in the day.

My strong preference is to buy from Soil Service and not Lowe’s, and a bike rack would have enabled that.

The availability of a bike rack already affects where I shop–hardware stores I patronize versus those I don’t. So I would urge merchants to lobby their landlord for the installation of racks. And I intend to start compiling a list of businesses that do and posting it here.