just a comment(stolen bikes)

[li10up]

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.

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.........

[run it, ride it]

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.

[inatree]

[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...

[nancielle]

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 I kept on it in our apartment building's storage area. I was furious. 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.

[LAB]

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.

[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. Heck ,I don't think it will ever be left alone to even need a lock.
Suzie

[7rider]

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. Heck ,I don't think it will ever be left alone to even need a lock.
Suzie

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.