A few years ago when I was visiting Helsinki, Finland, I learned that they had a bike share program. All over the city there were bike stands, and for 2 Euros, you could use the bike for a day, then return the bike to another stand. This idea seemed laughable for some cities--read New York, but according to an article in the Herald Tribune , bike-sharing is a growing mania in European cities. This would be great for visitors and people who don't have room in their apartments for bikes.

The article states,
"In increasingly green-conscious Europe, there are said to be only two kinds of mayors: those who have a bicycle-sharing program and those who want one.
Over the past several years, the programs have sprung up and taken off in dozens of cities, on a scale no one had thought possible and in places where bicycling had never been popular.

The sharing plans include not just Paris's Vélib', with its 20,000 bicycles, but also wildly popular programs with thousands of bicycles in major cities like Barcelona and Lyon. Programs operate in Pamplona, Spain; Rennes, France; and Düsseldorf. Even Rome, whose narrow, cobbled streets and chaotic traffic would seem unsuited to pedaling, recently started a small trial program, Roma-n-Bici, which it plans to expand soon."

For businesses trying to go green, a bike rack for employees not only makes practical sense, but they can add a nice aesthetic element as well.

This antique French bike rack outside an antiques store in Sonoma is not for sale. Apparently the employees use it every day. I could not even get a hypothetical price, if it would possibly be for sale, what might it cost. I was told that would be impossible to answer. Apparently, it is priceless.

This one is simple, but nice. It's made out of a sheet of plywood and the folks Farmlab park their bikes there.

One of my favorite bike racks is this spiral one outside the de Young Museum in San Francisco.