smasha

what's the most expensive/desirable thing you accidentally left attached the bike?

was it there when you got back?

how long were you gone? what city or type of area was it?

i want to know about things that you'd otherwise take off the bike, but for some reason you left it on.

i'll go first...

twice i've left a GOPRO on the bike. once i left a red-zone-4 on the rear-rack. once i left a XML-T6 flashlight on the bars. this was in wellington, so every time i came back a few hours later and my stuff was still there. both times i left a GOPRO on my bike, it was "just" a HERO-960, and mounted under the top-tube, where it could've gone unnoticed.

The Chemist

I once left my Garmin eTrex 30 on my bike for a whole day when I was at work.

But fortunately, although I'm parked outside, my school has a gate with security guards so my GPS was still there when I came out after work.

cyclezealot

I always take off my lighting system and put it into my back pack. it might be a disadvantage to loose one's pump.. That's too bulky to take off.
One time I was cautioned . there are bike haters out there.. Just Once my bike was parked( locked) outside a grocery store outside of San Diego..
A bike friendly person noticed from the parking lot , some jerk came up and spit into my water bottle. thanks to her I was forewarned.

Mark Stone

I have a lot of lights, and when I lock up the bike I pull them off their quick-releases and put them into a bag and then into my backpack. Once I took them off the bike, put them in the bag, and left them on a table next to the bike rack. Probably $500 worth of lights - NiteRider stuff. I rode the bus the rest of the way to work and didn't realize I had forgotten them until I got back to the bike about 10 hours later. Someone found them and turned them in to the lost-and-found at a grocery store where the bike rack was - they were safe and sound!

locolobo13 

Not too expensive. Cheap Target headlight. Forgot it one night while taking a class at one of the local community colleges. It was still there when I got back.

Word of warning tho. Same bike, same school, same rack, I did take the computer and light with me to class. My locked bike was stolen!

KonAaron Snake 

One of the iHome2Go portable iPod speakers, with iPod inside. It looks like a water bottle, but it's still not something I'd want taken.

I did have a pump stolen from my bike...that really irritated me. My wife has had an empty pannier stolen and a super flash turbo.

nelson249

I parked my bike outside the office yesterday and saw the following on on the nice Trek cyclocross beside me. A really nice Road Morph pump, a fairly expensive trunk bag that looked like it was full of nice tools, a rechargeable rear flashing light and an expensive Cygolite light system and battery. Ironically, the owner (I assume) unclipped the cyclo-computer from the bar.

Anyways, I hope all his (or her) stuff was still there when they were ready to go home.

acidfast7

I always leave my under-saddle bag with tools and money (maybe €15-€20 in €1/€2 coins) on my bike.

Haven't had a problem.

tarwheel 

I always leave my Dinotte 140 taillight on my bike because it's sort of a hassle to remove and is rather inconspicuous, but it's worth over $100. Fortunately it's never been taken. However, I always remove my headlights because they are more visible and easy to take. I usually remove my seatbags, as well, except for one of my Acorn bags which has leather straps that are rather cumbersome to undo. So I leave that bag on my bike when I use it, which I may end up regretting one day but I don't often ride the bike with that bag on it.

Commodus

What the f? Well I won't be leaving my bottle behind anymore that's for sure. You know I was always afraid of something like this, but my friend convinced me I was just being ridiculous.

fietsbob

Left a battery light on , it was taken, on the way home i got a citation for not having a light.
fine was significant..

had front wheel stolen..

in CPH , went to Pee in Public Toilet , I came out interrupting a Bike Stripper,
who Took the bolts out holding my brakes on the Frame.
Just not enough time to actually take them off.

nelson249

Hope you gave him a really bad day

ThermionicScott 

That gave me an interesting mental image before I figured out what you meant.

kookaburra1701

My purse. (It's an Avenir that velcros onto the handlebars) I realized my mistake while I was in the middle of relieving myself. Fastest pee I ever took, then bolted outside. It was still there. I took it back in with me to wash my hands.

I leave my AirZound on my bike, as well as my waterbottle (tho maybe not anymore after cyclezealot's story!) everywhere, and I leave my lights on (MagicShine and RadBot1000) and my toolbag on at work - we have a locking bike cage for employees. Not entirely safe I know, especially because it's such a big hospital, but I'm cool with taking my chances there.

SlimRider

This ain't exactly the same thing, but I was once talking with a friend outside of the San Francisco Library. We were laughing and talking as I was locking up my bike. We then said our goodbyes, parted our ways, and I entered into the library.

When I returned to my bike (a 2012 Raleigh Grand Prix) about 2 hours later, I discovered that my OnGuard U-Lock really wasn't locked at all!

truman

Not left on the bike, but I did leave it, while on my bike...

On a cross country tour, in very rural Colorado, 50 miles into the day, I took a break on a bench in front of a store in a tiny ville I'd counted on to be open for me to get lunch and water, but wasn't.

I was on my Android, trying to use one signal bar to locate some food and fluids, stopped to talk to a local, got up got some water from her and rode on off.

12 miles on, I realized that I'd left my phone on the bench in front of the store. Rode back (thankfully downwind) and it was still there, two hours after I'd left it.

I still had 45 upwind miles to get to Salida that day, and no lunch for 20 of that, but it would have sucked worse to have gone back only to have lost all my easy communications, contacts & blog platform and such, halfway into the tour.

treadtread

Geez. I never thought of taking the bottle in. I guess I will from now on.

ThermionicScott 

I've left work a couple of times and noticed that I'd forgotten to move the cable lock from the seatpost to a useful position. So I'd left a $130 Brooks saddle and $50 VO Grand Cru handlebar out there unprotected!

hubcap

I have accidentally left front lights on my bike (I never take off my rear lights). I have a habit of hanging my helmet from my handle bars while removing the panniers/lights/locking the bike. I usually lock the helmet up with the bike, but I have returned to the bike in the evening to find the helmet still hanging from the bars. This is leaving the bike at the train station all day locked to a railing. Despite these lapses in focus, I have not had an accessory stolen. I have had a whole bike stolen from that train station though.

mconlonx

I've had whole bikes stolen before...

Only thing that ever went missing was a $30 Petzl headlight I'd wrapped around the seatpost one night when I forgot a real tail light. Locked it up the next day, was gone by the time I got back from work.

apollored

MY £25 set of cycle lights.

Maybe not expensive to some but for some reason my front one decided it wanted to stay in position so fine they can stay on.

Tho I stopped at a shope and there were kids hanging about so I made sure I locked my bike.

When I came back out my lights were gone and I had to ride home in the dark.

CommuteCommando

I try to remember to pull my Garmin Edge 500 off every time I lock the bike. Sometimes I forget. Have been lucky so far.

stykthyn

I pull my seat off and stow it in my locker. is that being paranoid?

erig007

Me!

chandltp

A couple of hundred in lights. Individually the most expensive one was $100. I never take anything off my bike other than my wallet and phone. If it gets too inconvenient to stop, I won't want to ride to begin with. That may change if I get stuff stolen.

In my area, I doubt that's a problem. There's not a big enough bike culture for used lights and stuff to have any value.