Bike riders rack up complaints at grocery store

Mark Chase photos

According to Mark Chase, the racks do not support bikes in two places.

By Danielle Dreilinger, Globe correspondent

Market Basket, a store so popular it has its own fan site, has run into some criticism from Somerville patrons, specifically those toting their groceries on two wheels.

Transportation advocate Mark Chase has started a new Facebook group objecting to the market's bike racks.

"Do you get as mad as me every time you try to lock your bike up a the Market Basket in Somerville? ... We have to put up with wheel-benders that you can't properly lock a bike to," Chase wrote on the group's wall.

According to Chase, the standard for bike parking is to have two points of contact for each bike. If there's just one point of contact, bikes tend to fall over. (See his photos to prove it.)

Instead, people tend to lock their bikes to the parking lot fence, the restored historic cemetery fence, and side-street signposts.

Chase also has offered a cost breakdown of parking spots for bikes vs. cars.

Store manager Mike Dunleavy couldn't be more surprised by the criticism.

"Are you kidding me? I put like three extra bike racks out there" last year to accommodate about 40 bikes, he said. "I get a lot of compliments, actually."

Speaking on a portable phone, Dunleavy walked outside to check the racks, which are in front of the store on the side of the 12-items-or-fewer lanes. "Right now there's about 12 bikes there," he reported, all standing up just fine.

What about bikes parked elsewhere? Indeed some people had locked their bikes to the fence alongside Church Street, Dunleavy said. He thought some cyclists just preferred to park away from other bikes.

But, Dunleavy said, maybe the racks weren't up to par and said he would call the corporate office. "I'll definitely look into it."