Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - They Booted My Bike!

Probably everyone has heard of the dreaded Denver Boot, a contraption the powers that be use to immobilize scofflaw drivers (really, scofflaw parkers) until they pay their tickets. And I have to say seeing them from the vantage point of my bike saddle has on occasion given me the same sort of smug satisfaction that parking meters do--i.e. another potential problem that I have dodged by travelling by bike.

Which is why I was stunned last night when I came out of a movie theater and went to unhitch my steed from the signpost I had it locked to, only to discover an impound notice taped to the frame and a f###ing kryptonite lock through the frame and wheel. As I'm standing there scratching my head over this and thinking about all the ways I have heard of breaking U-locks, a cop walks up to me and in the course of our interaction I learn that
1) the commercial movie house I was just in (Starz Film Center, BTW) is technically on the Auraria/UCD campus,
2) it is campus policy that bikes must be locked only at designated bike racks,
3) no, sorry, the policy isn't posted anywhere and it doesn't matter that you're not a student,
4) also, sorry, there aren't any bike racks near the theater, and
5) for $5 (first "offense") and 45 minutes of your time at the campus police station, you can have your bike back tonight.

What the ####? Does this happen anywhere else? I'm not talking about some remote college campus here, this is right in downtown Denver. This totally burns me!

I had that happen to me when i was a messenger, but a security guard at some building did it. I told to unlock my bike or i was calling the cops. ( there was no sign up) 2min later i had her back.

at my campus they'll post tickets on your bike, but they don't really do anything about it, and if your bike's not registered, they don't have any way of knowing who you are. basically you can just throw them away. once i got a ticket for having my bike "improperly secured" or something like that when it was locked to a bike rack.

I hate this type of ****.

I tried to lock my bike to a signpost for 5 minutes while I ran inside to my friend's office. The post was well off the sidewalk, not blocking foot traffic or car traffic or anything. A Univeristy of Wisconsin Parking Enforcement minivan pulled up and gave me a hard time.

45 sec and a few smartass comments later, I locked my bike to the signpost. No problems.

The stupid thing is that I worked for the university! I fixed their goddamn network for the umpteenth million time that day. Ungrateful ****s...

Another baffling anti-bike policy I just don't get. People suck.

At Ohio State here they will just put a tag on your bike saying move it or it will be removed. I have seen bikes sitting there with tags like that for weeks before they get moved, so I don't think they enforce it unless it is obstructing something.

Someone else ulocking my bike is something I have always been afraid of. They will either just lock it for a laugh or lock it so I cant get it and come back and steal it during the night.

F*** that! That is horrendous to say the least, especially if there were no bike racks around and the policy was not posted anywhere. The only way that I could see that as being a justified reaction was if you were blocking foot traffic or something serious that was impeding the flow of traffic.

Another baffling anti-bike policy I just don't get. People suck.

I agree. This is totally mind boggling. I really can't see any justification for this.

I agree. This is totally mind boggling. I really can't see any justification for this.

I always though Denver was a bike friendly town. I guess I was wrong.

2) it is campus policy that bikes must be locked only at designated bike racks,


Colleges are really anal about where bikes are chained, since it's a major problem for them. They expect you to chain your bike up in the designated bike ghetto with 100 other vandalized old bikes so you don't block views of their precious landscaping. They certainly don't give a hoot if yours gets ripped off or broken.
However, who knows how much bureaucracy and $$$ it would take to get a bike rack installed there. Probably not even worth trying to request one.

bkr

Hmmm. College campus cops must have nothing to do if they are going to break your balls about that. You need to move to a city that has bigger things to worry about that bicycles - like a dysfunctional East Coast city, like DC. I have blown many a red light in front of cops and they don't do a thing. No one wants to go through the hassle of writing up a ticket for a cyclist, hahaha. Of course, DC has bigger problems to worry about....


Probably everyone has heard of the dreaded Denver Boot, a contraption the powers that be use to immobilize scofflaw drivers (really, scofflaw parkers) until they pay their tickets. And I have to say seeing them from the vantage point of my bike saddle has on occasion given me the same sort of smug satisfaction that parking meters do--i.e. another potential problem that I have dodged by travelling by bike.

Which is why I was stunned last night when I came out of a movie theater and went to unhitch my steed from the signpost I had it locked to, only to discover an impound notice taped to the frame and a f###ing kryptonite lock through the frame and wheel. As I'm standing there scratching my head over this and thinking about all the ways I have heard of breaking U-locks, a cop walks up to me and in the course of our interaction I learn that
1) the commercial movie house I was just in (Starz Film Center, BTW) is technically on the Auraria/UCD campus,
2) it is campus policy that bikes must be locked only at designated bike racks,
3) no, sorry, the policy isn't posted anywhere and it doesn't matter that you're not a student,
4) also, sorry, there aren't any bike racks near the theater, and
5) for $5 (first "offense") and 45 minutes of your time at the campus police station, you can have your bike back tonight.

What the ####? Does this happen anywhere else? I'm not talking about some remote college campus here, this is right in downtown Denver. This totally burns me!

the cops here at my school won't let me park my bike anywhere other than the rack due to "if you do it then everyone else will too".... .... i'm the only person that brings a bike to this school. :rolleyes: