General Cycling Discussion - Toronto's Post and Ring Bikestands Vulnerable

Not sure if this has been posted before or not but read in the Toronto Star that the city's famous post-and-rings can be snapped open with a two-by-four piece of wood:


Beside the post lay a plank of wood, and the metal ring that bears the words City of Toronto was left in two pieces. Lama believes there's a flaw in the bike post that allowed the thief to use the two-by-four as leverage to snap the ring in two.

"When I talked to the cops, they said a couple of other bikes were stolen that way." The officer told him to get rid of the wood "so no one sees that these posts can be busted like that."


http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1155073815403&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home

I passed this along to a friend in Toronto. She'd read the article and says the new trend is for bike thieves to pull up with a truck, and load the entire bike rack, bikes, locks, and all.

i saw that article today - particularly brutal since myself and two other co-workers (out of a work force of less than TEN) have had bikes lifted in the last month or so.

harvesters are out in full-force, protect your assets, folks.

joe

Somewhat off-topic: I lost my front wheel last week. blargh.

A friend of mine returned to his bike a couple years ago to find half the ring snapped off. Close call!

Wow, that's an eye opener - thanks for the link.

I had my bike taken from my own back yard between 3pm and 6pm the other Sunday, thankfully my lock (it wasn't locked TO anything, just to the frame/backwheel) saved the day I think, as I found it across the street and just around the corner. They ripped off my tools and kit, and my saddle but left the saddle bag (who does that?!)..

Scares me reading this about the posts now.. I use one for 20 mins on my commute in :eek:

Edit: lock is an Onguard standard Ulock, worth every darn penny! :)

This happens every summer with the influx of vagrants into the city; stuff disappears, be it a bike or tools in your car, don't leave anything to chance.

Try finding two immovable posts 1 meter apart, and lock the frame & a wheel to each of them? The bike pictured below is locked to a parking meter and a street sign, for example. 2 types of locks, etc etc. http://www.mechbgon.com/lock/index.html

http://www.mechbgon.com/lock/dual_locks.jpg

I just Googled up a pic of these things.

http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/images/postandring.jpg

How about ignoring the ring, and just locking to the post itself with a U-lock, like in the pic below. Any good?

http://www.mechbgon.com/lock/lsmini.jpg

We have those all around here too. They're the latest thing.

Well I think if they can snap the rings off they can just slide the bicycle up off the pole afterwords.. but then again i guess it depends how and where the ring actually brakes, I would do that just to be on the safe side if I couldnt find anything else to lock too.


Last time I was in Toronto was 2001, saw lots of frames of gutted bicycles locked up everywhere.

Well I think if they can snap the rings off they can just slide the bicycle up off the pole afterwords.. but then again i guess it depends how and where the ring actually brakes, I would do that just to be on the safe side if I couldnt find anything else to lock too.


Last time I was in Toronto was 2001, saw lots of frames of gutted bicycles locked up everywhere.

Yeah it'll depend on where it brakes

How about ignoring the ring, and just locking to the post itself with a U-lock, like in the pic below. Any good?



That sounds like a good idea but I'm not sure how much clearance there is along the post below the ring itself. You may have to take off the front wheel in order to have the bike "kneel" down enough.

Quote:Beside the post lay a plank of wood, and the metal ring that bears the words City of Toronto was left in two pieces. Lama believes there's a flaw in the bike post that allowed the thief to use the two-by-four as leverage to snap the ring in two.

"When I talked to the cops, they said a couple of other bikes were stolen that way." The officer told him to get rid of the wood "so no one sees that these posts can be busted like that."
Good thinking, never suspecting it was going to be published in the paper for millions to read, anyway.

That sounds like a good idea but I'm not sure how much clearance there is along the post below the ring itself. You may have to take off the front wheel in order to have the bike "kneel" down enough.I can't tell from the photo how high the ring is off the ground, but my chainstays are only 30cm off the ground, and if the U-lock's shackle isn't grossly oversized, the remaining parts of the ring that didn't break off (the thicker parts where the ring appears to be bolted to the post) would probably prevent a lift-off approach. If the shackle's longer than necessary, snare the driveside crankarm in the shackle as shown in my photo to help fill up the space.

Alternately, with a fairly long chain like a Kryptonite New York Chain, you could put a couple wraps of chain around the post down there below the ring and make sure all available slack is removed, to get a "python grip" on the post. But if I had a New York Chain along, I'd go right for a full-blown streetlight pole. Let's see them cut through THAT! :p

The city has started a series of tests to see how vulnerable the posts really are:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060815.BIKETHEFT15/TPStory/?query=bike+posts

The latest story, this time from the Toronto Sun

http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2006/08/16/1758316-sun.html