The bike parking at the Bardo location in Navy Yard. (Photo via Twitter)

Some members of D.C.’s biking community are none too pleased with a local beer garden after an online suggestion turned into an all-out spat.

Jim Daniel, a member of the D.C. bicycling community, says that he sent Bardo Brewing a tweet about getting “real” bike racks as a “helpful suggestion.” While the new Navy Yard location of Bardo has about 50 parking spots for bikes, the metal rings available do not accommodate some of the more secure brands of bike locks.

Bardo has had a long history of hosting events for the local bike community, and the BicycleSPACE shop often ends its organized rides with beers there.

“I was really excited about the new space and bringing bicycle rides that I lead there,” says Daniel. But he says the hooks provided for bike parking are not sufficient because they can only comfortably accommodate cables, as opposed to u-locks or chains, and they aren’t visible from inside the beer garden. Riders aren’t allowed to bring bikes inside.

Bardo’s official response from its account: “Really not interested in your OPINION of racks.”

The conversation didn’t get more civil from there. When Daniel tried to take the conversation into direct messages, he wrote a longer explanation of his concerns with the bike parking area.

“We provide 50 places to lock your bike. Apparently our efforts are not up to your expectations. Makes me wonder why we even try,” Bardo responded, then suggested that Daniel try local brewery Bluejacket “from here on out.” (Bluejacket got in on the action by pointing out its current bike spaces and pledging to contact the District Department of Transportation to get more.)

Shortly after that, Bardo blocked Daniel and a number of other cyclists who complained about the parking set-up or the tenor of the interaction, which made it to the D.C. subreddit. (Bardo isn’t shy about using the block button—the account has also blocked local blog Barred in DC from its Twitter feed.)

“There were many responses that would have been appropriate even if you disagreed, but instead that person [who ran the Twitter account] was shockingly rude and dismissive,” wrote one cyclist on Bardo’s Facebook page. “my tweet even began with ‘i love you guys to death’ and my twitter account was *blocked*. anyway – there are obviously bigger issues in the world, but the whole thing was just childish on your part. i won’t be back, and i’ll be encouraging friends to stay away as well.”

Bardo wrote back, “It says a LOT about the people who choose to get offended by our efforts to provide FIFTY places to lock your bike up.”

Bardo declined to comment on the record for this story.

While some cyclists are pushing BicycleSPACE to choose a different location for festivities at the end of organized rides, co-owner Phil Koopman says they “haven’t made any determinations one way or another.”

As far as the bike parking set-up at Bardo goes, Koopman notes that “just having an eye hole on a stump is going to be difficult to use certain locks on,” but he says that the area is inside of a gate, and generally the person checking IDs for entrance is watching it. “I don’t know I would feel particularly unsafe leaving my bike there,” he says.

Koopman says that Bardo owner Bill Stewart has been “an excellent partner” over the years, though “he can definitely hold his opinions firmly.”

In 2016, Stewart filed a lawsuit against the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board after it blocked Bardo from opening near Nationals Park, part of a larger battle between them, the local ANC, ABRA, the mayor’s office, and more. Ultimately, the beer garden opened the doors to its new location in February.

As for Daniel, whose tweet started the whole brouhaha, he won’t be going back to Bardo any time soon. “Honestly, we all love Bardo and would love to still go to Bardo but feel like we’re not welcome,” Daniel says. “It was very clear in his message to me and to others that Bardo is not for us.”