Bikers love to take their bikes everywhere to get in a few pedals every day. But what if you are Ubering to your destination? Can Uber take bikes? Let us find out!
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If you are a biker, you must have felt the need for a car service to take bikes along your way. Uber heard the cry for the customers and came up with the Pedal Update. Let us know more about its features and find out how to access it.
About Uber As A Company
Uber is a car service provider founded in 2009. It receives a 25% commission on each booking, and the rest goes to the car owner and the driver.
Since its launch, the company has undergone several updates and modifications to provide a better experience to its customers. Important updates include the installation of bike racks and the self-drive feature to their app.
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Famous Car Services Provided By Uber
UberX
UberX is the most popular feature that customers avail. UberX allows one to four passengers to ride in a Sedan.
Uber modified many of their service cars to have bike racks.
The price of Uber X is reasonable for the comfort and privacy it offers, but the total fare varies with weather and demand.
Uber Pool
Uber pool is an affordable option, and you can use it as a regular mode of transport.
The Uber software tracks all the people who are going in the same direction and allot a car for those going a similar path.
As many people share the cab, exclusive features such as bike racks are unavailable to Uber pool customers.
Uber Comfort
Uber comfort is a premium version of UberX. In uber comfort, you get extra seats in XL cars and better rate drivers, etc.
An obvious drawback is its high rate. But it offers all the exclusive features to provide a good and comfortable rite to you.
Uber Black
Uber launched Uber black in the former days of the company.
Today, Uber Black provides high-end cars with professional drivers for special occasions such as prom, date night, or an important meeting.
Uber’s “Pedal” Update For Bike Riders?
In October 2014, Uber launched “Uber Pedal” for bikers in Seattle. The company equipped a few UberX vehicles with bike racks to serve the regular bikers.
You can activate the mode by going to the promotions tabs and using the “PEDAL.” After that, the app will show you the vehicle for Uber X with bike racks installed.
But to get access to Uber Pedal, you need to be in an area where the car can safely pull over. An overly trafficked road is inappropriate as there will be no time or space for the driver to stop and fasten your bike securely to the car.
Uber made the update with the partnership of Wisconsin-based saris. For the Promotion, you need to pay a minimal amount of five dollars.
On the bike racks installed on the Uber X, they could hold only two bikes. Lack of enough space for more than two bikes is a significant drawback. For example, a regular Sedan car in Uber X allows a maximum of four passengers. But if there is a group of four bikers, they have to take two users as all their bikes would not fit into one car.
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Different Types Of Bike Racks
A standard car cannot carry bikes around. Cars need bike racks installed to carry bikes around efficiently.
There are different types of bike racks for cars available in the market—some of the styles are:
Trunk-Mount Racks
As the name suggests, this type of bike rack allows you to hold a bike on the trunk. You can secure the bike with its arms and cradles.
Trunk racks are cost-effective and readily available. These racks are best for recreational purposes as they are lightweight and portable, thus easy to carry.
One of the main disadvantages is that it interferes with trunk access while driving. Moreover, it has relatively low capacity and cannot efficiently carry more than two bikes.
Hitch-Mount Racks
These racks are more sturdy and meant for regular cyclists. Hitch mount racks can be of two types.
Platform racks are more secure than hanging cradle-style shelves. But cradle racks are cheaper and lighter than platform-style hitch racks.
Hitch mount racks have features to lock the bikes, thus ensuring security. When you are buying hitch mount racks, you will find both expensive ones and cheap ones. Cheap ones are not good and often obstruct the easy movement of the car.
Roof Mount Racks
Roof mountain racks eliminate the problem of the frame interfering while driving. Roof racks allow you to tuck your bike securely at the roof of the car.
One of the most apparent problems is lifting the bike and securing it correctly. If you have a lightweight bike, there should not be any problem. But if you have a heavy one like electric bikes, roof racks are not even an option.
Spare Tire Mount Racks
In this type, you can affix the bikes to the spare tire. It is one of the most inexpensive solutions. The installation process is cheap, easy, and permanent. The only drawback is its low capacity. It could hardly carry two bikes.
Answers to Some More Questions About Bikes and Uber
How do I select my bike on Uber?
First, you need to install Uber on your phone and activate the Pedal mode on your phone. Then you need to book an Uber X ride where the Uber X has the rack installed.
Once you activate the Pedal mode, the app will automatically show you equipped UberX vehicles.
Can LYFT take bikes?
LYFT offers bikes as their service vehicles that are available for a few miles at an affordable rate. But LYFT does not offer any specially equipped vehicles to carry bikes.
They do not offer anything special like Uber Pedal. So if you want to bring your bike with you in LYFT vehicles, you would have to dismantle it by unscrewing some parts to make it small enough to fit into the car’s trunk.
Uber Installs Bike Racks On Uber Cars To Take Bikes
To provide help to their biker customers, in October of 2014, Uber launched a significant promotion of the Uber Pedal mode.
The Promotion enabled many bikers to ride uber, and relax after a long ride or can take a bike to a biking destination. So, to answer the title question: yes, Uber can take bikes and in fact have specially installed bike racks on their cars to get this done for you.