Bike Thieves

[Miranda]

We just had an incident at our house, and later learned elsewhere in the neighborhood, of bike thieves.

I had just got home from a couple short rides testing my new night gear. The road bike spin I brought in shortly past sunset. Wasn't feeling confident enough yet. That bike gets parked in the formal dining room (she matches the Victorian drapes nicely).

Next, I thought, well I'm half geared up, I'll just ride my mtb around the subdivisions and closer rual roads. It reminded me of being a kid again. Very fun. Until this ...

I had just gotten home and parked that bike in the garage. We have one vehicle parked outside on the drive to specifically use a stall for an industrial bike rack to store the rest. It's a struggle to get the thick tires in and out of the slots. Then, I hear a loud "clang bang" sound. I think, oh no... my bike fell over, but how (thick in the new rack)???

I go out to the garage (fully lit up, front door open, house lit up etc.) to see the 6 bike rack flipped over with the bikes in it upside down. I hear voices saying "... NO! you should have (fades off)..." and swift running feet down the dark sub road. Another childhood memory returns... BIKE THIEVES!!!

The cops would not file an acutal report since nothing was missing (thanks to thick mtb tires and a heavy rack). They just put the sub on extra patrol.

If you have ever had someone uninvitied violate your home, it's an uneasy feeling. Now I wonder if we should leave the garage door up at all. First I just thought it was a prank to mess with the rack etc. Then, after another report was made, I know it was thieves.

Just makes me sick. What is wrong with people???

Rant concluded. Thx for letting me vent.

Miranda

[snapdragen]

Glad they didn't get your bike!

///I gotta go shut my garage....

[NbyNW]

I don't know what is wrong with people, but maybe you could bolt down your rack or chain it to something (I've heard of entire racks gone missing from city streets), and also individually lock each bike to it, just as you would outside a store.

I'm working on installing something in my garage that I can lock my bike to, since I lost one last winter out of my garage.

[ilima]

Last night on the local (Honolulu) news I saw a story about a family that had bikes stolen out of their (open) garage in the middle of the afternoon. They had stuff stolen before & had set up cameras at the neighbors. So, now they have very fuzzy pictures of the bike thieves.

Maybe said thieves need to read the news more often, as it's now okay to shoot and kill alleged thieves leaving your neighbors house:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/30/....ap/index.html

[Chicken Little]

My bikes on on the wall in the garage, with a spider web of locks on them them would take a thief an hour to figure out, and a padlock on the garage door rails.
Everything walks that isn't bolted down in Albuquerque.

[Miranda]

Last night on the local (Honolulu) news I saw a story about a family that had bikes stolen out of their (open) garage in the middle of the afternoon. They had stuff stolen before & had set up cameras at the neighbors. So, now they have very fuzzy pictures of the bike thieves.

Maybe said thieves need to read the news more often, as it's now okay to shoot and kill alleged thieves leaving your neighbors house:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/30/....ap/index.html

Thx for that link. I just asked my neighbor to watch over the house for the holiday travel. Bikes will be with us. My neighbor E-ed back and said they had some things stolen out of their garage in the winter. Our subs pretty quite normally. Maybe it makes for a better place to steal.

[Miranda]

Thx ladies for those thoughts. Lock purchase for the rack is on the list for today. DH mtb it pretty nice, but mine is by far the most $. One that was pulled out of the rack of course. The rack's heavy... if locked down, I don't think it would be worth it to proceed further for a thief.

My poor lab has been very ill. She's having back issues and can barely walk. She's a gentle breed, but that big dog bark sounds intimidating. If she had been well, I don't think the theives would have gotten that close to the house, much less inside the garage. People are crazy.

[Lifesgreat]

I lock my bikes to the rack in the garage. About the only material item of importance to me is my beloved Fatty Lumpkin. I would be really mad if he got stolen. I also lock my MTB, but it isn't as beloved-sorry MTBikers.

[beccaB]

We keep the good bikes downstairs. In the basement. It is a royal pain carrying them upstairs. That makes us do more miles because it's not worth it to drag the bikes up for a wimpy ride! My biggest reason is that I don't like spiders, and the only option is to store them in the barn with the spiders. If one got one on me when I'm riding I would crash!
We have some crappy bikes in the barn, and I would still be mad if someone got them. But they'd have to fight with the spiders, snakes, rodents and wasps, and my dog barking.

[Grog]

Really sorry about this scary event...

Last night my sweet partner was telling me about how his sister's and dad's bikes were stolen from their suburban open garage, which they had left open for 30 seconds while they were indoors, over 15 years ago...

It seems that some people specialize in that type of thefts. Probably bikes are only one thing they steal, others being expensive tools...

[Running Mommy]

Also if you park your car in the driveway- take in your garage door opener.
There were a few thefts here in our hood where they broke into the car, got the opener out, and then had their way with the contents of the garage. Also make sure you lock your door that leads from the garage into the house.

Sad we have to do it, but better to be safe than sorry!

[Tri Girl]

Boo on bike thieves!
I'm glad they didn't get away with your bikes, or anything else.
We never leave our cars out of the garage, or leave the garage door open unattended for any reason (our garage is detached from the house, so I have a little false security that they'd have to break through a couple doors to get stuff). We've had a rash of recent thefts in the neighborhood across the street from us, so I'm not taking any chances as of late.
Why can't thieves just do like the rest of us and get a job? It's got to be less work than planning a break-in, kicking in doors, moving heavy stuff, and trying to re-sell it. Not to mention the whole possibility of getting caught and arrested. Stupid thieves! Grrrrr....

[dachshund]

Good one about locking it inside the garage, I hadn't thought of that.

I've heard about people following cyclists home to find out where the bike lives, then going back another time to get it.

[Veronica]

People are scum. It's easier to work for an hour stealing stuff and then sell it on Craigslist. I think, and this my personal bias, that thieves can't hold real jobs because they have addiction issues. All they want to do is get some quick money so they can get their next fix.

After our burglary last year we put in an alarm system and several high quality video cameras around our house. Last summer we actually caught on video some guys trying to turn off our power to break in again. Then they saw the camera and left. It was actually kind of funny.

V.

[Tuckervill]

We had our house up for sale by owner. I'm out in the yard doing stuff, and a car pulls up with four guys in it. They asked me about the house. I let them look around, but only one got out of the car. He went in the garage, which was open and asked about an old car we had in it. They left, with no interest in the house, really. The next day, we noticed that the Skil saw was gone from its place in the garage.

I can't believe I let that guy look around my garage and pick what he wants. I think he got it before I even saw him in the yard. That's why we don't live in Memphis anymore.

Karen