The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

I tried out the Tulsa Townie's (the free pink bikes sponsored by St. Francis) this past weekend as I was walking along the river.  For some reason it wouldn't let me rent one though even though my credit card was valid and I saw someone else who had the same problem.  Yet I still saw a bunch of people riding them on the trail so it worked for some.  Anyone have experience with these bikes or have experienced problems?  I think it's an awesome program, hopefully they can expand it in the future.

I was at Riverparks at 41st yesterday and saw a lot of people trying to rent them from that station and it not working. It may have just been that one rack that you couldn't rent from.

The same thing happened at 19th as well, that is actually where a girl asked me if I could get it to work after she was unsuccessful.  Like I said I saw lots of pink bikes out so it was working for some.

Finding a properly sized undamaged bike is difficult, at least in my experience, although last time I had occasion to check them out was this spring.

I was there taking photos on Saturday as a couple tried to remove bikes unsuccessfully.  They said they'd used them previously without problems.  I know the Townie program had software problems at one time.  Maybe it's a glitch.

I found this Urban Tulsa article, apparently there have been many instances of people not being able to access the bikes.  And this article is from last summer!  I do like the program but maybe they should just charge a fee if they can't pay for the proper upkeep of the bikes and the locking system.  It would also be better for the bikes if they were covered instead of out in the elements.  I would pay to rent an actual nice road bike for a half day, is there someplace that does that along the river? 

http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A24307 (http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A24307)

Try Tom's Bicycles 481-1818

+1

Tom is great, as are his employees.