just a comment(stolen bikes)

Since I had my bike stolen ,I'm on various lost bike sites ,and they send me info on bikes that have been stolen ,or ones that may match my description....Anyway ,this morning I got Email of the bikes that were stolen yesterday ,and one was a brand new 2007 TREK 4500 ,and the guy was at work on the Riverfront (those of you from Portland ),and watched as they took it. How awful, Maybe I was nieve before ,but there are some real bad people in this world. That POOR guy. He had just bought his new bike. I didn't realize how many bikes are stolen in a day ,and how gutsy the people are who steal them.
On a good note...The Bike Gallery tweaked my husbands bike for me ,so I can ride while I'm waiting for my new Trek 2.1 WSD to arrive (4 weeks). WOOOOOOOOOO WHOOOOOOOO I will never let it be un attended If I can figure out how to but pictures in post Ill send pictures when I get it. ;; ).
Suzie

Woo-HOOOO!!!!! She's riding again, didn't even skip a beat! PLUS, she's getting a NEW BIKE soon!!! Yay!!! :p

Bravo on the upcoming new bike! :)

After your experience, I was so paranoid about my bike being on my car at the shop yesterday that I took it into the waiting room with me.

One tip I learned from driving my F250 Crew Cab Diesel pickup for 100,000 miles, if you have something on the back of your car (or in the bed of a really big truck) back into whereever you park. Back close enough to a wall or car behind you so the tail gate can't be opened or a bike can't be easily removed from a rear rack.

Another car can leave so that's why you should try and back it all the way up against a wall, post, etc. Won't make the bike impossible to steal but makes it a less easy target.

oh yeh - post pics.... you must be so excited!

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One tip I learned from driving my F250 Crew Cab Diesel pickup for 100,000 miles, if you have something on the back of your car (or in the bed of a really big truck) back into whereever you park. Back close enough to a wall or car behind you so the tail gate can't be opened or a bike can't be easily removed from a rear rack.

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Doesn't anyone else lock their bike to the rack? I have a rack that folds down and I run a cable through the bikes and attach the cable plus lock to the rack in a convenient hole. I also lock the rack to the hitch with a hitch pin lock. I know there are racks that hang off the back with straps and can't be locked onto the vehicle...but you could at least lock the bike to the rack and slow up the theives that way.

Karen

I have the rack that comes down ,and I ran a kryptonite cable through the bike and they just snipped it in half,and took the bike.

Yeah, my comment assumed that a person would only leave a bike on a car rack while locked. Locks don't take much to foil, but the physical difficulty of getting the proper leverage, and room to actually remove the bike would be an additional deterent.

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Originally Posted by suzieqtwa

I have the rack that comes down ,and I ran a kryptonite cable through the bike and they just snipped it in half,and took the bike.

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WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE WHO WALK AROUND WITH CUTTERS!!!!! And what truly amazes me is that nobody ever catches them in the act? I don't buy it. They just don't want to "get involved." I saw a show on tv about a guy stealing bikes. They showed him stealing them and there were all these people just walking by, looking at him but not saying a thing. So sad.........

I keep my bicycle not only in my house, but in my room--my locked door is harder to get through than the front door, and my student housing is such a crack shack I'm thinking and thief crazy enough to think there might be anything valuable in here would give up shortly after they fell through the hole at the top of the stairs.

If the bike's in my van, I cover it with a blanket.

If for some reason I take it to campus, it enters every classroom with me, and you'd better bet I drag that thing into the bathroom, too!

Sucks that you have to be so paranoid... I've had a bike stolen before and it's just terrible. I was a kid and it was my only way to get to school.

The bike I actually commute with is probably worth about $10. I don't even lock it half the time, half-hoping someone WILL take it off my hands--but then I remember I paid a good $20 for the fenders and try to hold onto it.

[QUOTE=run it, ride it;140876]
If for some reason I take it to campus, it enters every classroom with me, and you'd better bet I drag that thing into the bathroom, too!
QUOTE]

i thought i was the only one at school dragging their bike into the bathroom as a girl leaving gives me a sneer...:D

In the spring of 2005 I came home from work and found my mountain bike out in my back yard, sans the two Kryptonite locks :eek: I kept on it in our apartment building's storage area. I was furious. :mad: Turns out my then cheesy-butt landlord had allowed his even cheesier-butt handyman/slacker buddy to "borrow" it and he used bolt cutters to cut the locks. He "replaced" my lock with an enormous, rusted chain & padlock, which was wrapped around the seat stem (I guess he didn't take into account that I could flip the lever under the seat, remove it and the offending chain). I don't live in one of the better neighborhoods and nobody in their right mind would leave a bike out in the open like that. I'm lucky & grateful that it wasn't stolen. Despite the fact that I had had knee surgery just days earlier, I ended up having to haul the bike up to my second floor apartment while trying to balance on crutches.

Why, yes, I am still peaved about that. :mad:

Whatever happened to the days when you didn't even need to lock your doors at home???? I now have such distrust in people, that when I use a public facility (yes, bathroom) during my rides, I take my bike in with me if it's not being occupied by others. :o

This weekend I was riding, (my husbands bike I had adjusted for me) ,and I stopped at a Porta potty I saw in a industrial area. I was so nervous about leaving it alone ,even though there was no one around ,I opened the door slightly and had one hand on the handle bar as I was using the bathroom. Sad HUH!!!! I kept thinking about the girl who wrote she stopped at a friends to fill a water bottle for just a couple of minutes,and came back and her bike was gone. I should be getting my new road bike in a week or so ,and it will never leave my site. My husband asked me what kind of lock I would be getting this time. :rolleyes: Heck ,I don't think it will ever be left alone to even need a lock.
Suzie

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Originally Posted by suzieqtwa

This weekend I was riding, (my husbands bike I had adjusted for me) ,and I stopped at a Porta potty I saw in a industrial area. I was so nervous about leaving it alone ,even though there was no one around ,I opened the door slightly and had one hand on the handle bar as I was using the bathroom. Sad HUH!!!! I kept thinking about the girl who wrote she stopped at a friends to fill a water bottle for just a couple of minutes,and came back and her bike was gone. I should be getting my new road bike in a week or so ,and it will never leave my site. My husband asked me what kind of lock I would be getting this time. :rolleyes: Heck ,I don't think it will ever be left alone to even need a lock.
Suzie

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When in that situation (or, when I wanted to pop into a store in the middle of nowhere), I've actually removed the front wheel, and carried the wheel in with me, and/or used my helmet strap to "lock" up the bike's rear wheel. Yeah, it's not super safe, but it just might delay someone long enough so they're aren't about to ride off with it.

Suzie, I've heard that the Kryptonite U-bolt type locks (not cables) are the safest. I saw them on all the bikes parked in the street in NYC- bike theft capital of the world I imagine. All those city bikes either had those U-bolts or they had HUGE heavy chains with HUGE padlocks on them....or both!
Don't forget to lock your bike TO something. It's not so much some teen RIDING off on it as it is a guy throwing your bike into their van (lock and all) and driving off.

One of the students in my lab always carried his wheel with him. People just figure that somebody has stolen your bike once and you don't want it to happen again.

I went to the library today, noticed that they have bike racks out front, and am wanting to start riding my bike there if I ever get panniers.

The problem is, I'm nervous about locking it out front and going in. The bike racks are off to the side and there are no windows on the front of the library -- just brick wall.

I now understand why people start accumulating bikes. Beater bikes for times like this, I guess. But my bike is pretty much an urban hybrid that's great for just this kind of errand, so wouldn't that be a crock to not be able to use it this way? Sigh.

Pooks - the library is one of my favorite places to ride so please try it. Get a good lock or two and/or take the front wheel inside with you. If there's foot traffic going by the bike rack (other library patrons) that should help deter theft, too.

I have panniers and a back rack on my "errand" bike. I don't usually use the pannier for books -- just a bungie cord or two and strap my books to my rack.