Road Cycling - Really Unscrupulous Behavior!

I take one of my road bikes to work every day and lock it up in the bike rack in the back of the hospital where I work. Usually, I have one or two things to worry about: the weather or theft. Can't deal with the former, as for the latter, I remove the front wheel and lock it with the rest of bike. The bike rack is located near an alleyway, where a lot of vehicles go in and out.

On Friday, as I was leaving work, I noticed that my bike was swaying heavily to one side: someone had apparently run over it or backed into it with their car: the entire crank set was completely bent, and the back wheel was out of true. It's pretty clear that the bike was fairly unridable.

I took it to the Performance bike shop a few blocks away, and they were able to get it to where I could ride it home. Unfortunately, I need to get an entire new crank set and bottom bracket. I'm not a rich person, and part of why I ride my bike to work is to save money.

I realize it could have been worse, the bike was fixible. Still, I'm out $200, and that's a lot of money!

It just reminds me a bit of the type of society we live in: if I had done something like this to someone else's bike with my car, I would have at least left a note with contact information.

I always try to see the glass as half full and treat others as I would myself like to be treated. It's incidents such as this that put these words to the test.

Sorry, had to vent a bit.

Dude, that sucks. I'm sorry.

Check hospital security or businesses around to see if they have camera record of the area. My heart weeps for you.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Have you asked if hospital security can help with locating a witness or is there a survelience video? Have you asked if the bike rack can be moved to a safer location?


Several years ago I worked at a hospital that provided a bike rack that was situated under a giant oak tree. It offered some protection from rain but whenever it rained really hard (which it does quite often in central Florida) a dead branch would break off and crash to the ground, hitting anything that was below, which was usually a bike.
After my bike had a few close calls with the branches I gave on the idea of riding and walked to work. It was only 1-1/2 miles.

It just reminds me a bit of the type of society we live in: if I had done something like this to someone else's bike with my car, I would have at least left a note with contact information.

I'm guessing that he/she didn't even realize that your bike was struck. Perhaps a cell phone, or a new DVD dominated the "driver's" attention.

Anywho, I would, @ the very least, post a reward notice on the hospital's bulletin board asking for potential witnesses. Post a reward of $100/200 - collectable only if the person is prosecuted. It's worth a shot!

Do you have homeowners or renter's insurance? Maybe it would be worth it to give them a call and see if they can cover any of the repairs and/or replacement of the bike. It's worth a shot, and you have nothing to lose.

Sorry about the bike. I know I'd be FURIOUS if someone f-ed up any of my bikes, even the junker ones!

Koffee

Not to sound too capitalistic, but I'm fairly certain the hospital is liable for damage like this, owing by the mere prescence of a bike rack. It might be worth a polite inquiry.

Dave

The first thing I did was contact hospital security: they were of no help, whatsoever, saying "oh well, can't help you, file a police report, blah blah".

I did some investigation on my own: in the alleyway was parked a huge moving trailer: it was definietly wide enough to scrape against the bike: I found out name of the resident who was moving (the bike rack is located next to residents' housing) and left a message on his voice mail. Obviously, I don't know who did it, but I'm just trying to ascertain the facts. Needless to say, he never called me back.

That's a good idea: I'm going to call Security and see if they can move the bike rack and relocate it away from the alleyway.

Do you have homeowners or renter's insurance? Maybe it would be worth it to give them a call and see if they can cover any of the repairs and/or replacement of the bike. It's worth a shot, and you have nothing to lose.

Sorry about the bike. I know I'd be FURIOUS if someone f-ed up any of my bikes, even the junker ones!

Koffee

Sadly, if you make small claims on your HO insurance, you will promptly either get a rate increase or get cancelled. Likely, his deductible is more than $200.

Recently, they were raising your rates if you even asked them about a damage claim. That's right, even a telephone inquiry. I think?? our legislature passed some sort of law against that this year??