Bigboxeraf

I walk out of the apartment this morning to find the wheels from my Fred bike stolen. I'm amazingly vexed. It's not all about the money although the money does sting considering my current employment situation. the problem is I don't know what to do. The Madone 5.2sl stays inside all the time. The beater stays on the street. The fred was secured with a kryptonie U-lock and a decent cable through the wheels. They must of hacked at the cable for a while. Sacrilige to many here but I can't have both bikes in the house the wife will kill me and I can't blame her. I'm now at a crossroads should I get the 2 new wheels and cassette and a Hundred dollar lock for the wheels. Or should I sell the Madone and get a tour bike. The beaters great it had a godzilla rack. I take it everywhere grocery store meet the wife for lunch. It was nice having a bike that was useful, practical and until this morning carefree. Any opinions are welcome. Any reccomendations are also welcome.

Ken Cox

IMHO, if you can only have one bike in the house, try to put together a bike that will do everything you need a bike to do.

Upgrading security only creates more of a challenge.

After all, how much time did the thieves invest and for what return?

Rip Van Winkle

think about possibly getting a folder bike. Maybe if you can get it out of sight, the wife will let you have an extra bike in the house. There are some great folders out there these days.

Air

Yup - I found Downtube was perfect for me. Has the heaviest weight limit of most of them for not too much.

Geordi Laforge

tell your wife that she needs to be more flexible...and the stolen wheels are the result of her being inflexible.

and then figure out a better indoor storage solution (i.e. wall rack).

if she has a problem with a rack, dont budge. take your balls out of your purse.

chrisvu05

+1

jboyd

Sucks about your bike

With no better track record then I have, I hesitate to give advice that is relationship related, but I have to say that I sort of agree with the last couple posters (even though that last guy seems to be standing in an empty apartment

I spent 23 years in a relationship where, at the moment it looked like I was happy or having fun, the dark force (my ex) would quickly extinguish any content that was starting to form. After a decade of being single, I am now married to a woman who would encourage me to ride my bike through the house and ring a bell if it made me happy.

So, to fortify the thoughts of the above posters, tread lightly into the relationship issue of this current event, but do not loose the part of you that loves the bikes. Your relationship is important, but your bikes are important and it is not fair to have to choose.

btw.....this advice is worth exactly what you have paid for it

Neil_B

+1.

</intolerance>

I'm curious if the posters above who suggest you "take your balls out of your purse" are married themselves.

A real relationship is about give and take. Maybe his wife has a reason for not wanting two bikes in the house, like they couldn't walk around in the living room.

That being said, you should explore some other possibilities like the wall rack that was mentioned. I would imagine your wife might have a different outlook on the situation after seeing that your wheels were stolen because it was outside. She probably thought in the past that there was no way anyone would want to steal the Fred bike because it was "too ugly" or something.

I would approach her again and see if you can come to some sort of agreement.

baron von trail 

That is some seriously stanky crap.

To think that a person owning a bike has to spend time worrying about how to store it so that some Sasswipe can't steal it. It is a really sad commentary on the state of things to know that your stuff was locked. And, to think they went to all that trouble just to steal the wheels.

JoelS

I'm married. 2 kids, 2 dogs, and a cat. 1500sq ft house. Garage is full of powertools, no room for bikes if I'm going to be actually able to make stuff in there. 3 bikes in the living room, 2 bikes in the front room when you walk in the door, 2 bikes in our bedroom, 2 bikes in my son's room, 1 bike in my daughter's room. And a frame hanging up on a wall somewhere.

It's pretty crowded, but we manage just fine. I don't like to keep the bikes outside. Many are steel and the changes in temp lead to condensation/rust.

If you've got room in the apt., try to come up with a solution to keep 2 bikes inside.

CliftonGK1

This was the issue at my old place. The layout was horrible and 2 bikes was pushing the limit of usable space.

Forget everyone's ridiculous "lay down the rules" suggestions and do the reasonable thing: Move to a bigger place. It's the only option.

bautieri

+1

Fortunatly my wife doesn't mind my bicycles being in the house so long as they are in the basement or garage. Even when we lived in a little townhouse she didn't mind them in the kitchen so long as noone tripped over them. To the others telling the OP to man up, perhaps the wife isn't thrilled with the prospect of a wet and grimy commuter bike on a white carpet. It's possible that the bike that is allowed inside is only used on warm sunny days.

Sorry to hear about the wheels, maybe once she understands what it is going to cost to replace the wheels, rubber, and cable lock that was stolen/destroyed she may change her mind about allowing the Fred bike inside.

RI_Swamp_Yankee

Locking skewers might be a better solution. More of a challenge than cable-locks to bozos with hacksaws.

If Pitt or Veratomics skewers are too pricey, look into Zefal's "Lock and Roll" - they have a mechanical gravity switch inside the QR that prevents it from being opened when the bike is rightside up. U-locked in place by the frame, flipping your bike upside down isn't an option for thieves. Kind of a pain when fine-tuning saddle height, tho.

pipes

+2

Wogster

Do you have a garage? I keep the bikes in the garage, the garage window is kept dirty enough that you can't see what is in the garage (good excuse to never clean it ), the bikes are kept locked up in there. The car, when we have one is parked outside. A nice wall bike rack in the garage would allow nice compact bike storage. If your in an apartment, then see if anyone else in your building has a bicycle, a steel tool shed on the property with a bike rack inside with a good lock with controlled keys would be helpful. If your in a house, then perhaps a shed behind your house that will hold the bikes and a good lock on the door will work for you. If it's large enough, will hold the lawnmower and gardening stuff, as well. As long as there is no window, it should be safe enough.

dbikingman

let the bike have your side of the bed and you can sleep on the porch

Bigboxeraf

A second bike in the house isin't possible. Much as I would like to go all Neanderthal on my wife It is her home as well. If we had the room for the 2 bikes it wouldn't be a problem. I'm pleased to announce a solution has been found. I've rented space in a neigbors garage. I'm not getting a tour bike. I rode the Madone to the shop today for a full tune up. I can't give it up. It's too much fun.

sstorkel

What about locking the frame up outside, but stashing the wheels and saddle/seatpost in the house somewhere? I know guys that do this when they commute to work; boss won't let them bring a complete bike into the office, but stashing the wheels under a desk isn't a problem. So far, nobody has had any components removed from a frame.

Bigboxeraf

I was considering that; I may go ahead and do that. It's just unfortunate that It would have to come to that.

Neil_B

+3!

Goodness, the testosterone is flowing in this thread.

Wino Ryder

Yep, Tell her (in a nice way) that you may have to dip into her "Avon" account to replace the wheels, since it was her inflexibility that caused it.

See how that goes over.

baron von trail 

Back when I was single, I kept my bike in the living room, right next to the waterbed. The bedroom served as an office and a super-sized clothes hamper.

Those sure were the days.

IbikezLA

cable lock, there's your problem

Wogster

There are cable locks and there are cable locks, the real key is the size of the cable, a 1" cable, the kind that can hold up a 40' bus on the back of a heavy tow truck, is going to be tough to go through, a 1/8" cable is good for show, but little else. Most are somewhere in between.