Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - bike messengers steal bikes

so i want to start riding to work...i asked the security guard today of there are a lot of thefts from the rack att he side door to the building. he said that bikes were stolen every once and a while....usually by bike messengers.

ive heard that before...

...are the guys here just the nice messengers? do bike messengers actually steal bikes?

whats up?

in the same convo th eguard asked what kind bike i had, i responded "track"...he got all excited.."me too...i just bought a hybrid"....confused i asked him to elaborate..."please elaborate

turns out he had a trek hybrid bike....he was so excited about it...hey whatever makes you happy....but it gave me a chuckle

I would guess that the doorman just can't necessarily tell the difference between a lot of the dirtier bike messengers and the crumbbums and gutterpunks. But which building do you work in? i mean in my experience, i see a lot of messengers just locking the rear wheel to the frame and on some occasions outside of my building, I've seen them completely unlocked! I think thats asking for it but I'm not one to teach the lesson.

the question of the day, how the hell does he know that the thieves are messengers? dude sounds like a tool.

on that note, there are no bike messengers in kc, and bike theft isn't a huge problem around here, so maybe he's telling the truth.

It's the caffeine which makes people want to steal...

i don't know how it is in philly, but in nyc, the sexy/punk messenger on a track bike is the minority of the bike messengers.

plenty of those dudes rolling around on crusty old bargain basement mountain bikes look like they're more than capable of stealing anything that gets in their way.

not to generalize of course, but just pointing out the fact, despite what some people want to believe, that bike messengering is not "owned" by the track bike riding punks.

so i want to start riding to work...i asked the security guard today of there are a lot of thefts from the rack att he side door to the building. he said that bikes were stolen every once and a while....usually by bike messengers.

ive heard that before...

...are the guys here just the nice messengers? do bike messengers actually steal bikes?

whats up?

in the same convo th eguard asked what kind bike i had, i responded "track"...he got all excited.."me too...i just bought a hybrid"....confused i asked him to elaborate..."please elaborate

turns out he had a trek hybrid bike....he was so excited about it...hey whatever makes you happy....but it gave me a chuckle


YEP it your own that steals from ya! Sad to say it is but true.

S/F<
CEYA!

My friend caught someone trying to steal his front wheel in the front of the building where his courier company's depot is, at the rack directly in front of the security desk. Dude was just standing there. Those guys can be pretty dense. Most couriers know what it feels like to have a bike or part stolen, and have extreme disdain for bike thieves.

to some people who are into scavenging, it seems, there's a very vague line between theft and scavenging. of course, that usually applies to situations where there's a vague line between scavengable bike and garbage.

as far as philly goes...you mean that messenger on the pink bike with the pink bag...he's my hero

right now im actually in DC....downtown

Not to make myself unpopular here, but I've had a few messengers tell me that they will take parts or bikes from time to time to enhance their stables. Not the majority by any means, but there are a few...

I almost posted a story in another thread about one such run-in I had, but decided to avoid the drama....

Edit: Just to clarify, I'm talking about two guys I knew in Tucson who would jack **** on their off-hours. Not much of a messenger community there to regulate on people like that, so they got away with it.

I don't know how it is in other cities, but in Houston if there were something like that among us they paid a stiff price. In 8 1/2 years on the road there only one can I remember. Stole parts with his tools from non-courier bikes and accidentally from a few working bikes. Not much cycling in downtown Houston, the problem became apparant quick. Bikes would get stolen occasionally on the outskirts of downtown near some bad areas..but parts off bikes parked at nice buildings? So when it was figured out he was surprised to come out of a building one day to find his own ride quite literally wrapped around the pole he'd locked it to. Frame and wheels. Quite destroyed. He was even more surprised to find us still standing there with a set of grim expressions for him as well as a few harsh words. His final surprise (we never saw him again) was one of his crew advising him to hand over his radio and all freight per the dispatchers orders. Blackballed and No last check. Very embarrassed I expect he was.
I'd only been on the road a year and was not surprised but happy since I'd had that same misperception before I started.

In T.O. we know who the shops are that buy from the thieves and shun them altogether and the customers too if you happen to find such a thing out about a person. It's a much larger messenger community, not everyone knows one another and there must be a few bad apples but they wouldn't want it to be common knowledge. Imagine the perfectly natural reaction of anyone who has the tool they use to put bread on the table stolen from them, then imagine the disdain for bike thieves they'd have.
I don't think there's much in way of "frontier justice" for them in these very socialized and civilized parts but they couldn't possibly get hired at teh good companies that have the core community working the roads as we DO all know each other. There are enough bike theives here in T.O. that they don't need to work as messengers anyway, apparantly it's a thriving business. You bring it in at night around here. And you don't leave it out all day unless you can see it.

I sure as heck cant speak for all my colleagues, but, explain to me just how and what am I supposed to do with a second bike in the middle of my work shift? Cant just ditch the thing somewhere, nor can I ride two bikes or carry the second one around with me all day.I have carried a second bike on one shoulder and ridden and trust me, you dont want to do that for very far, 4 miles bout killed me on a couple parts of the trip.If youve ever heard of the code of blue that cops have,same way with messengers, we protect ourselves and each other, I might take a rival messengers customers without a hesitation, but you sure as hell dont mess with their ride, and if they need help, you give it to them no questions asked.Stealing their parts goes against everything most of us believe in.Other bikers arent likely to have anything we want neither, bikes for working arent rec rides.

Not to make myself unpopular here, but I've had a few messengers tell me that they will take parts or bikes from time to time to enhance their stables. Not the majority by any means, but there are a few...

I almost posted a story in another thread about one such run-in I had, but decided to avoid the drama....

I don't know what messengers you talk to , but I know that if any bike messenger I know comes across a bike thief, ITS ON!!!

Now, you might see a messenger pissing on a hipster's blinged out cinelli tho

before somebody kills me...there was supposed to be a tittle at the end of the thread title....im not accusing anybody

I don't know what messengers you talk to , but I know that if any bike messenger I know comes across a bike thief, ITS ON!!!

Now, you might see a messenger pissing on a hipster's blinged out cinelli tho

I'm not talking about anyone in SF, BTW, most of the messengers I've met in SF have been pretty cool. I've lived and worked other places...

Although pissing on someones ride, hipster or not, is pretty f'd up too...

So I'm looking around myspace tonight and I come across a group forum that is all about talking about how to steal bikes. It's called something like bicycle bandits. Believe it or not they actually are discussing this too.
http://groups.myspace.com/bicyclebandits

thats fscked.....

I know a buncha past and present messengers from PDX and the messenger scene is way too small for for anything to go unnoticed...... pretty close knit group asided from the to be expected squabbles and as far as them jackin other peeps stuff, doubt it....

we had a party on belmont at the beggining of the month were my roomie got his messenging bag ripped off from the middle of the party (kinda his fault shouldnt leave your bag laying around unattended) but he complained about it his CD's and clipboard etc (which later he found scattered outside)....

guarantee it was the gutter punks.....

edit: and that was way off topic, I need another beer

I don't think those are real bike theives, more like a bunch of HS kids joking around.

nah it wasnt HS kids guarantee there weren't any at that party..... but it wasn't bike thieves.... you're right on that, I guess I was trying to make the drunk connection that messengers get their gear ripped off too.

I don't know how it is in other cities, but in Houston if there were something like that among us they paid a stiff price. In 8 1/2 years on the road there only one can I remember. Stole parts with his tools from non-courier bikes and accidentally from a few working bikes. Not much cycling in downtown Houston, the problem became apparant quick. Bikes would get stolen occasionally on the outskirts of downtown near some bad areas..but parts off bikes parked at nice buildings? So when it was figured out he was surprised to come out of a building one day to find his own ride quite literally wrapped around the pole he'd locked it to. Frame and wheels. Quite destroyed. He was even more surprised to find us still standing there with a set of grim expressions for him as well as a few harsh words. His final surprise (we never saw him again) was one of his crew advising him to hand over his radio and all freight per the dispatchers orders. Blackballed and No last check. Very embarrassed I expect he was.
I'd only been on the road a year and was not surprised but happy since I'd had that same misperception before I started.


I needed to hear that.

Although pissing on someones ride, hipster or not, is pretty f'd up too...

How about pissing in a water bottle and using it as a weapon against cabbies that cut you off? :D

there are cops who break the law
doctors that hurt people
cooks that spit in food
arsonist firefighters
messengers who steal bikes
and there are tons of other pieces of sh1t, who do things to people for no other reason other then they think they are better the rest of us, or feel they deserve more then they have gotten.

**** em!

How about pissing in a water bottle and using it as a weapon against cabbies that cut you off? :D

hahaha nice, and honestly if you were a cabbie/driver would you rather face U-Lock justice? or mystery liquid #1? ;)

Does anybody remember when Trackstar in NYC was robbed? I believe they recovered all the parts at a courier company. Go figure.

Shady people exist in every walk of life, not just messengers. But when it comes to track/fixed gear bikes there is probably a relatively small number of people who know what these bikes are and their value. A good percentage of those being messengers. A classic case of a few bad apples spoiling the bunch.

Does anybody remember when Trackstar in NYC was robbed? I believe they recovered all the parts at a courier company. Go figure.

Shady people exist in every walk of life, not just messengers. But when it comes to track/fixed gear bikes there is probably a relatively small number of people who know what these bikes are and their value. A good percentage of those being messengers. A classic case of a few bad apples spoiling the bunch.

seconded. "Messenger" is not a single entity, there are good and bad in every group.

OK my comment about "HS kids joking around" I was referrning to a post that looks like it was removed, someone found an internet group called "bike theives" and I went and read it, and it didn't sound to me like any of those kids had actually taken a bike in their lives, it sounds like some HS inside joke.

As for skanks at the party, yeah trashy ppl crash parties and take what they can, not just food and beer. too bad you didn't find them and have a good old beat-down to make the party more fun!

gotcha.... again... tuesday is a drinking night for me ;) I tend to get things crossed up.

I checked that myspace bike theives group aswell the kid with the nick $MoNeY$ with the mask and his parents camera impressed me the most :p

hahaha nice, and honestly if you were a cabbie/driver would you rather face U-Lock justice? or mystery liquid #1? ;)

Rent 2 Seconds (http://www.chibikefed.org/content.php?id=242_0_6_0) sometime - you'll get the reference...

so i want to start riding to work...i asked the security guard today of there are a lot of thefts from the rack att he side door to the building. he said that bikes were stolen every once and a while....usually by bike messengers.

ive heard that before...

...are the guys here just the nice messengers? do bike messengers actually steal bikes?

whats up?

in the same convo th eguard asked what kind bike i had, i responded "track"...he got all excited.."me too...i just bought a hybrid"....confused i asked him to elaborate..."please elaborate

turns out he had a trek hybrid bike....he was so excited about it...hey whatever makes you happy....but it gave me a chuckle


How would you feel if instead of "bike messengers" he said "blacks" or "hispanics", etc... There's not really much difference, instead of discriminating based on race he's doing it based on occupation. But you probably wouldn't have taken him seriously, just write him off as an idiot racist. Please think about this before you condemn such a large, diverse group of people.

That said, some bike messengers do steal bikes/parts, so do some security guards, etc... There are bad apples everywhere, as many have pointed out in this thread. In nyc your bike is much more likely to be stolen by professional thieves, in a van with bolt cutters, jacks, etc... Not sure if this is the case in Philly. But I do know that Philly has a fairly small, close knit messenger community and bike thieves usually don't last long in a group like this.

As Sam said, here in Toronto the community is fairly close knit and if there are messengers stealing bikes and parts you can bet they are NOT part of this community of good people. I will also say that you are more likely to get your stolen bike recovered by a messenger than stolen by one. Got your bike stolen? Want to get it back? Let the messenger's know about it....a description of the bike and most will be thrilled when they see the s#!tstain that is riding it and even more thrilled when they return it to the grateful owner. Speaking purely from experience.

As Sam said, here in Toronto the community is fairly close knit and if there are messengers stealing bikes and parts you can bet they are NOT part of this community of good people. I will also say that you are more likely to get your stolen bike recovered by a messenger than stolen by one. Got your bike stolen? Want to get it back? Let the messenger's know about it....a description of the bike and most will be thrilled when they see the s#!tstain that is riding it and even more thrilled when they return it to the grateful owner. Speaking purely from experience.


Yep, prettymuch.A guy here got his ride taken by a homelss guy once, every messenger knew about it within 5 minutes(we all talk to each other via phone), less than 20 mins later he had his bike back and the homeless guy was a smudge on a wall in an alley on wall st.

A few of the messengers I worked with in NYC would steal anything they could get their hands on. They liked to smoke crack in the park after work, too. And they would organize fake races to dupe new guys out of their paychecks. They were like the bullies of the schoolyard, and everyone knew (or learned) to steer clear of them.

I doubt they represent the majority of messengers, though. Most messengers I knew in NY and DC were hard-working, honest guys who were trying to make some money while they looked for a better job. They were much more likely to help you recover a stolen bike than to steal one.

How would you feel if instead of "bike messengers" he said "blacks" or "hispanics", etc... There's not really much difference, instead of discriminating based on race he's doing it based on occupation.

A) There's a colossal difference between race and occupation.
B) He wasn't "discriminating" against anyone. He was asking a question.

m.

you're going to see shady characters in any group which is composed primarily of low-income individuals whos job is all about outsmarting the streets.

when you learn to secure your bike so it can't be stolen, you learn, in effect, how to steal bikes.

similarly, i've known a number of professional computer security and sysadmin types who'd break into other computers for kicks in their spare time.

A) There's a colossal difference between race and occupation.
B) He wasn't "discriminating" against anyone. He was asking a question.

m.
Absolutely. But he(the security guard) was making a sweeping statement about a large group of people based on the actions of a few. And granted, it's nowhere near as foul as a negative stereotype based on race, but it's still a negative stereotype about a group of people. One that I'm not ok with.


I was referring to the security guard, not emayex. And emayex, I wasn't accusing you of anything. I realize that you are just asking a question, I just don't want you to condemn the entire group based on some knucklehead security guard's statement.

Yep, prettymuch.A guy here got his ride taken by a homelss guy once, every messenger knew about it within 5 minutes(we all talk to each other via phone), less than 20 mins later he had his bike back and the homeless guy was a smudge on a wall in an alley on wall st.

http://www.deutsches-filminstitut.de/caligari/dp2fc4850_02.jpg

There are like, maybe two messengers in the entire metro area, but they are blamed for everything gone bad with bikes.

On a local forum, some moron was blaming messengers for terrorizing pedestrians on some of the local trails.

It was an unintentionally hillarious read.

I was referring to the security guard, not emayex.

Sorry, my mistake.

m.

Sorry, my mistake.

m.

No problem, m.

actually..when he said it...i got kinda defensive

well, those folks you see riding a different (usually crappy) bike every week probably aren't paying for em.....

There are like, maybe two messengers in the entire metro area, but they are blamed for everything gone bad with bikes.

Um, what? I know we've got at least five, maybe even six... Though I've heard numbers have been going down.

i used to work at a garden center, so let me tell you a secret about weapons against cabbies.... instead of your own urine in that water bottle... go to a garden store and buy Coyote or Fox urine (designed to ward off plant nibblers). if you sprayed that in a shopping mall the place would evacuate it is so powerful and potent...
they also sell a few other scents, powerful stuff, only use it on the worst cab drivers.

i used to work at a garden center, so let me tell you a secret about weapons against cabbies.... instead of your own urine in that water bottle... go to a garden store and buy Coyote or Fox urine (designed to ward off plant nibblers). if you sprayed that in a shopping mall the place would evacuate it is so powerful and potent...
they also sell a few other scents, powerful stuff, only use it on the worst cab drivers.


but where is the satisfaction in some animals' urine?
when a cabbie taps me with his bumper or cuts me off potentially risking my life i want to know that i sprayed a nice 6 or 7 ozs of my own urine into or onto his cab.. see: ass pennies theory
the longer i ride in the city the more urine that cabbies that recieve a spray of my own personal urine..
in essence its a long term plan to curbing road rage
how can you possibly be mad at someone when you know at some point in time they were dosed with your pee...



I've been sticking $30 in pennies up my ass for the past 11 years! That's 3,000 pennies a day; 21,000 pennies a week; 1,092,000 pennies a year! To date that's 12,012,000 pennies, 8 times the population of Nebraska. Those pennies were in my ass! You think you're better than me? Oh, you're not better than me. You handle my ass pennies everyday. You pick up my ass pennies for good luck. You throw my ass pennies in fountains and make wishes on them. You give my ass pennies to your little daughter to buy gumballs with.

before i get flamed, i don't really believe any of the things i just said.

the longer i ride in the city the more urine that cabbies that recieve a spray of my own personal urine..
in essence its a long term plan to curbing road rage
how can you possibly be mad at someone when you know at some point in time they were dosed with your pee...

But what happens when you get them dosed enough that they feel they belong to you? Isn't pissing used by animals to mark territory?

"I don't know officer, it was the weirdest thing. He didn't look like the guy always hitting me with the water bottle full of pee, but suddently I had to be right where he was..."

Mmmm... Jameson is starting to do the trick.

Dude do you honestly think some piss is gonna stop a cabby? I'm pretty convinced that most of those dudes just go in the car anyways.

oh man, ass pennies. so good

i just bought a brand new alpha track bike yesterday, and i took a wrong turn down an alley last night and i guess i interrupted a secret alley cat or something. all these couriers with pink bikes and high knee socks surrounded me and started trackstanding, they appeared to have several aces of spades playing cards inserted in their spokes. one stole my Alpha after threatening to do me in with a cog. the moral of the story is dont buy a really nice bike because it is inevitable that it will be stolen by someone, im not saying that all couriers steal bikes, these must have just been "rogue" couriers, im sure if they hadnt stolen it someone else who isnt a courier would have recognized that it was expensive and finely crafted and stolen it anyway.

I want a pursuit bike made out of copper from pennies.

Of course if a messenger had his bike stolen in the middle of his run ,he might be tempted to'borrow' someone elses bike to finnish his day ?
Apparently in Holland its quite common for someone to 'borrow' your bike so you just 'borrow ' another , that why the city bikes are all old dungers!