New York City wants to double bike commuting by 2015 and is working to make the city more bike friendly. That means it needs more bike parking.

Activists are pushing for city rules that would make commercial landlords allow their tenants to bring bikes inside. (Hard to believe that's still an issue, but even such venerable institutions as The New York Times have had problems accommodating bikers.)

In the meantime, though, the city Department of Transportation is working to add bike racks on the streets, with plans to install 1,000 new ones a year. And it wants to make them better.

A nifty design competition drew more than 200 entries from all over the world, and the city is now down to 10 finalists. Prototypes are being rolled out around the city this week, and citizens can comment on their favorites. The winners, determined by a jury of experts, will be announced Oct. 24 during National Design Week.

On Streetsblog, folks are weighing in and pointing out potential flaws in some of the designs (and one blogger has already posted an in-depth analysis of each). Personally, I kind of like the colorful Y-shaped one (and I wonder if people would be confused by the giant paper clip ).

What's your preference?