Leave your bikes INSIDE...
Thread started by
adrian at 08.5.08 - 1:01 pm
or make space inside your place for them...don't leave them outside overnight!
it makes me ill to see everyone getting their bikes stolen...
there's big demand for bikes these days...and I hate to say it, but where there's demand, there's crime...
PLEASE take care of your stuff...and yes, even on rides...
Yes, locking them up all the time sucks...but getting them stolen sucks way more...
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I'M SO TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT BIKES GETTING STOLEN, IF YOU PUT A LOCK ON IT, WOULD IT BE GONE NOW?
IT'S A REAL QUESTION TO ASK YOUR SELF, OR YOU COULD JUST GO GET YOUR MONEY AND THROW IT IN THE STREETS.
eddieboyinla08.5.08 - 1:11 pm
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eddie: any lock can be broken, many in 5 seconds or less, and most in under 5 minutes. if not the lock, whatever you locked too. do you think a signpost or fence or bike rack will last long against an angle grinder?
LA has gotten off way too easy compared to NY or SF
stevestevesteve08.5.08 - 1:35 pm
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The major takeaway point should be that if you don't lock up your bike and the bike next to yours IS locked up, yours will be gone, even if the bike next to yours has the shittiest lock you can buy.
Just make sure you have some sort of lock on your bike. Then the thieves will go for the bike that isn't locked up.
Yes we all know that any lock can be broken, but just like a car alarm it is only really useful to deter thieves. Nothing can stop them completely.
The weakest link will be the first to go!
jonnyboy08.5.08 - 1:43 pm
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And to stay on the topic of the thread, I agree that making room for your bike in your place is a damn good idea.
Can't tell you how many people have talked to me in the elevator as I'm holding my bike vertically "Good idea bringing your bike up, mine was just stolen last week".
So worth it.
Make a little bike garage :)
jonnyboy08.5.08 - 1:45 pm
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hell yeah ... i live in a little ass ktown apartment, and have to lug my bike up some flights of stairs, but there's no way in hell i'd lock that shit up outside.
bring it inside!
illafilla08.5.08 - 1:56 pm
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No kidding. In my experience, anything that's outside--even if it's locked up--will eventually be stolen. Unfortunately it took three stolen bikes for me to figure that out. The first was a nice mtn bike, the second two were shitty mtn bikes but still stolen, locks cut. It really shocked me someone would bother clipping my locks for those two shitty mtn bikes. People will take anything. Now I keep seven bikes in my home office.
0gravity08.5.08 - 2:44 pm
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Agreed...keep it inside..i have to carry my bike up staris every day too...and at work i take it inside the office...i DO NOT lock it in the parking area below...ek
MOM-RIDA-Raquel08.5.08 - 2:50 pm
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All my bikes are inside my small ass apartment, tucked on the side of the refrigerator.
Some people have gotten upset when I tell them that leaving their bikes outside is just inviting thieves. Yet when their bike gets stolen, they tell me I was right and they should have listened. I don't want to be right, I just don't want bikes to be stolen. Chains, cable locks and Kryptonite locks are all vulnerable. Given enough time and persistence, all locks can be defeated.
Also when you go somewhere with your bike, Trader Joes, Ralphs, Library, etc. Lock it up right near the front. Usually bike racks are tucked way the fuck around the back in a desolate area, that's an invitation to thieves.
skd08.5.08 - 3:05 pm
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does anyone remember the video of the guy from NY talking about bike security around NY???
BUY A $30 U-lock,
Buy a cheaper curly lock
Use them ALL the time,
chances are you won't be posting here that your bike was stolen,
even popping into a store for a 'few minutes' someone can grab your bike and run
OR
as others have said KEEP THEM INSIDE YOUR ABODE!!
Limeyfly08.5.08 - 3:36 pm
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@Roadblock
yeah kitchen aka bike parking...same at my pad too...don't know how i got 4 bikes in there
MOM-RIDA-Raquel08.5.08 - 3:46 pm
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And when you must lock up your bike, make sure you take every removable item off the bike. Under saddle tool bags, lights, pump, seat and seat post if you have a lever on the seat post bolt.
Take off the front wheel if you have quick releases and chain/U lock that to the rear wheel/frame.
I U locked my bike at Go, Rilla Gallery in Santa Ana Friday night. This was a cycling spicific event so I thought it was cool to leave my junk on the bike there, surrounded by lots of other bikes and riders.
Lo and behold, some low life removed my brand new headlight, bracket and all. I would venture to say this is even more important at cycling events, where the theives take the cool components for their own bikes.
If it can be taken without much trouble, it will be!
Creative Thing08.5.08 - 4:00 pm
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1. Put your name and tel number on a piece of paper inside the tube.
Maybe even add "Midnight Ridazz". The thief wont look there but we will.
2. Register your bike at the local bike shop or Police Department. If they find it, you'll get it back.
marino08.5.08 - 4:20 pm
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A Santa Monica detective I know told me there are hundreds if not thousands of bikes recovered that end up getting sold, the money going to the PD because they have no way to return the bikes to the original owners!!! We all need to register, but how many of us do??
Limeyfly08.5.08 - 5:51 pm
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2 REGISTERED, 1 NOT REGISTERED. 1 REGISTERED WAS STOLEN, HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING YET.
eddieboyinla08.5.08 - 6:04 pm
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These are all really good reasons to have a folder. It's great to see that people are FINALLY getting it!
User108.5.08 - 7:27 pm
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Yes security is relative, relative to where your bike is! If it's a folder, it's in your shopping cart when you shop. It's in your cubical when you're working. It's in the bus when you travel by bus. And it's in your room at night when you sleep. And finally, it's in your hands cause the thief did not want the hassle of unloading some freakish looking bike. He wants something he knows he can off FAST.
User108.5.08 - 9:05 pm
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Oh yeah, I forgot one other advantage. A folder you can keep locked up in trunk if drive a car. Instead of on some bicycle rack. Granted I can take my full size bike apart and put it in the trunk, but it's not nearly as fast or hassle free.
User108.5.08 - 10:47 pm
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Thanks to a suggestion User1 made on these forums some time ago, I also lock my bike (wheel to frame) when I load it on the bus rack. You can't lock your bike to the rack, but locking the wheel & frame is a good tactic, especially since a rida recently got his bike swiped from a bus rack when he wasn't looking.
They won't steal it, or get very far, all locked up.
Creative Thing08.5.08 - 11:05 pm
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^^^ are you serious? shit. i've been worrying about that... 'tis why i sit in the front with all the decomposing peeps. hmmm... i might have to start doing that also as it has come across my mind that someone could just as easily run up and snatch it.
Jazzy Phat Nastee08.5.08 - 11:10 pm
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I've been ind of paranoid about getting my bike stolen off the bus... I guess your story confirms my fears. D:
imachynna08.5.08 - 11:11 pm
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AFTER SOME SERIOUS RECONSIDERATION,
I CAN SAY THIS HONESTY:
eddieboyinla08.6.08 - 12:06 am
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DO NOT LOCK YOUR BIKE UP ANYWHERE, LEAVE IT IN A PLACE, SO THAT IT CAN STOLEN, WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING BUSTED.
eddieboyinla08.6.08 - 12:09 am
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Also, if you have an older tubular lock on your kryptonite u-lock (the kind that can be opened with a pen per the youtube videos), you can send it back with a check for $18 and they'll send you the new kind.
Just got mine in the mail today.
JB08.6.08 - 12:16 am
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I've caught a few people trying to steal bikes. I always go all muslim on them and cut off their hands. I have a sweet dried hand necklace, I should bring it on the next ride.
mullingitover08.6.08 - 4:12 am
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i'm not a burgular, i live here.
aksendz08.6.08 - 5:57 am
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SO A MESSENGER SUGGESTS VICE-GRIPS?
WOW, SEEMS THAT IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN, HOWEVER I NEVER LEAVE MY BIKES ANYWHERE LIKE A STREET CORNER, I ALWAYS LOCK IT AT THE FRONT DOOR, RALPHS, ETC....
WHICH IS VERY RARELY THAT I EVEN HAVE TO LOCK IT, AND I ACTUALLY DO LOCK IT TO THE BIKE-RACK ON THE BUS, THEY HAVE NEVER TOLD ME NOT TO, SO I DO, THEN I CAN SIT IN THE BACK WITH THE RIFT-RAFT, WHICH CAN BE FUN TOO!!!! (RIDING THE BUS, IN THE BACK)
eddieboyinla08.6.08 - 8:50 am
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i am alwyas worried that someone will jack my bike off the bus...i usu. just stand next to the driver and watch my bike til i get where i am going...plus i alway think it is going to fall off the rack...those things just dont look safe to me
MOM-RIDA-Raquel08.6.08 - 9:06 am
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Yeah, the first time I racked my carbon fiber sweet ride, I was jumpy the whole ride whenever the bus hit a bump!
Actually, the swing up arm does a good job of holding the bike.
I like Eddie's approach. Sometimes its better to ask for forgivness than permission. Lock it to the rack unless the driver stops you.
Creative Thing08.6.08 - 10:10 am
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two of my friends bikes got stolen last week
here in long beach on 2nd street. they were
locked up together with two locks. the sun was
still out and tons of people probably witnessed it
without realizing what was going on. not cool =/
me_gan08.6.08 - 3:05 pm
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I always prefer to lock and hide my bike whenever I'm by myself.
However, most of the places I go are fairly, free of the criminal element, so the hide-part is sort of optional.
bentstrider08.6.08 - 5:34 pm
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It's almost worth putting a basket on you bike containing one of those lil yapping dogs, they may want your bike,but would they be able to stand a loud half blind shitsue .
Little Evil Eddy08.6.08 - 7:10 pm
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