Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Fixed no more.

Tonight I rode my bike to work for the last time. Parked it outside with a cable lock. Didn't want to endure the stares of all the patrons at the library i work at as i walked it in. Thought, it will be OK outside with this cable lock. Think about 10 o clock i saw it sitting there.

1:30 am i get outside and my bike is gone, fixed no more. Just my cut and completely inadequate cable lock laying on the ground.

Walked home, looking in trash cans, looking in vain. It wasn't much, just an old lugged fuji frame from the 70's i bought on ebay, suzue basics hubs, sakae custom drops, SR seatpost, SR cranks. Nothing fancy. Yeah i was in the process of painting it. Glad i didnt get that finished before they took it. I guess I'm out about $300 bucks (I don't do my own work).

I was carrying the broken lock, hoping to get lucky and find my bike and the thief. No joy. This really bugs me, I'm mad at myself for being dumb, I'm mad at them for stealing something that they might get 50 bucks for and that can't mean as much to them as it did to me. It was my car, my ride, my freedom.

So I think I'm going to buy another lock first, something made by kryptonite with a warranty. Post a reward at the library, maybe i will get lucky.

Think this time around I might build a coaster brake bike, or pickup a van dessel straight up. Only problem is i dont want aluminum.

At any rate, living paycheck to paycheck it will be awhile before i can afford to replace it. I do still have my single speed, better take the winter tires off and put the slicks back on.

Anyways, i plan on learning from my lesson, this is my 2nd stolen bike, the other was a nice peugeot as a kid. Maybe this time the lesson will take.

****ers, i hope i never see them with it for their sake.

maybe they rode it for 50 ft, fell off, and dumped it behind a bush somewhere

or they got hit by a car when they found out they couldnt stop

I've had the same thing happen - someone stole my bike from outside of my building last winter/early spring and I had to ride the bus to work... I borrowed a fix from Goatmeal the next day. On my way home from picking the bike up from him, I saw the bike sitting across the street in front of the White Castle covered in black electrical tape.

The main problem was that I had just replaced the rear wheel. I'd been rear ended (no damage except the bike) and gotten 200 some dollars to rebuild the wheel. Better rim, broken in hub... but not what the thief wanted. They put too fat of a freewheel in, (probably a wheel off an X-mart bike) that rubbed and made pedaling really bad.

I picked it up over my shoulder along with the fix I was borowwing from Goatmeal and ran upstairs and it was all good... except I didn't have my sweet new wheel.

I've also rode a beater fixy to the bar in the middle of winter, then spent more time focusing on taking off the lights than locking (no lock, and I'd lost A LOT of lights that winter) and found the bike sitting at the next pole - the person stealing it couldn't deal with the fix thing... I was missing the lights though.

Most likely, it will show up. Search, and keep you're eyes open.

Good luck.

I really hope you find your rear wheel if it's gone...

OK, you may not believe this but i went downstairs and it was sitting in front of the door leading in to my apartment, completely intact. When i was on my way home i saw two kids who used to live in my apt riding bikes and each also pushing another bike. Of course i stopped them and questioned them but neither of them had my bike. So i was where did u get these bikes? They told me in trash can. And im like where?

Anyways, i didnt beat em up and i told em that my bike had been stolen, accused them of doing it, and of course they denied it.

So now it all makes sense, mystery solved. I'm thinking the kids dropped it in front of the apt when they knew it was my bike they had stolen.

Weird world, huh? Of course i was thinking the odds of them pushing two bikes down the street moments after my bike had been stolen were pretty far fetched.

I got my ****ing bike back!

Woo hoo! OK, kryptonite lock here i come!

man that's crazy.

a friend of mine was telling me a guy tried to steal his fixie from in front of his house, and when he saw the guy take off, he yelled "HEY" to the guy.. the dude's reaction was to turn his head and coast, but he couldn't coast and fell off the bike and ran away.

So does "Kurremkarm" loosely translate into "karma"? The fixie gods must have been watching over you. Who'd a thunk your bike would be sitting there waiting for you? You must have been nice to those kids when they lived in your building for them to return your bike! So which Krypto lock are you going to get?

OK, you may not believe this but i went downstairs and it was sitting in front of the door leading in to my apartment, completely intact. When i was on my way home i saw two kids who used to live in my apt riding bikes and each also pushing another bike. Of course i stopped them and questioned them but neither of them had my bike. So i was where did u get these bikes? They told me in trash can. And im like where?

Anyways, i didnt beat em up and i told em that my bike had been stolen, accused them of doing it, and of course they denied it.

So now it all makes sense, mystery solved. I'm thinking the kids dropped it in front of the apt when they knew it was my bike they had stolen.

Weird world, huh? Of course i was thinking the odds of them pushing two bikes down the street moments after my bike had been stolen were pretty far fetched.

I got my ****ing bike back!

Woo hoo! OK, kryptonite lock here i come!


Well at least those little bike thieves have their code of honor. Good story, glad you got your transport back...

I bought a bunch of mostly cheapo bikes from a police auction a few months back. One had a rather hefty and fancy looking bike cable wrapped around the seatstays, key long gone. I was curious, so I took my plain hand held wire snips, the type used to snip off excess guitar string from the pegs, and decided to cut off the thick stainless cable.

It took less than a minute of moderate nibbling to cut the thing completely off. Using a tool that easily fits in my back pocket.

Glad you got your bike back have you looked into a pair of these?http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/3357/streetcuff.jpg (http://www.masterlockbike.com/masterlock.asp?section=bicycle&page=bike_cuffs&drill=streetcuff)

In college I knew a few people who had their regular bikes stolen and returned, but it was because they were total pieces of ****. Always thought that was funny.

Glad you got yours back for very different reasons. Kids these days...

http://www.onguardlock.com/

i like this brand of locks. they look tougher and are cheaper. also the fagedabodit has a plastic core that i find distastful.

[QUOTE=kurremkarm]OK, you may not believe this but i went downstairs and it was sitting in front of the door leading in to my apartment, completely intact.

That’s great. Sometimes people make mistakes and then do the right thing. You have a bike that comes back to you. Drop some coin on a good lock and park in a conspicuous spot.

I left my bike under the stairs at work earlier this week. there was a mother thunder storm going on so i caught a ride home. when i came in the next day it was gone. Everything went in to slow motion for a few seconds. Then i realized i came in a different entrance than i left the day before. It was right where i left it when i went to the other entrance. That was not a good feeling.
CD

Where do you live, K?... Just out of curiousity. Because it may be the Twilight Zone.

my friend had one of those cheap cable locks on his bike, and he had forgot the combo a while back... it took prolly 2-3 mins to nibble through the cable with a pair of 8 dollar cable cutters, but it took only 2-3 seconds to just snap one of the joints where the cable is attached to the combo part, with bare hands... dont ever trust those ****ty cable locks. once i had found that out, i was almost compelled to steal peoples bikes who had that kind of lock just based on principal, but i'd feel too bad, being a past victim of bike theft.

I remember back when I was a good for nothing kid, we used to steal the occasional bike (btw I have had 3 bikes stolen from me, so I hope karma has caught up with me). Almost any lock wasn't impossible to get through, some just took longer than others. I remember one time taking a bike that was freelocked to itself home, and getting through a krypto u-lock with a metal file. Took about 4 hours, but it worked.

Trust me I don't steal bikes anymore, I think I was 14 at the time...

Phil