Blue Order

+1

We all need to take this seriously.

alanbikehouston

Well, that is how it work in my neighborhood. The drifters, bums and kids just grab any random bike that happens to be unlocked. But, the skilled "Pro" crooks make regular tours through area college campuses, go by the art museum, the natural science museum, the baseball stadium. At those locations, they will target $2,000 and $3,000 bikes, many with Campy components. The "Pro's" bring the tools they need to get the job done.

So, in my neighborhood, if a bike is left unattended, and it has a Campy wheel that is not locked with a top quality u-lock, it WILL get stolen...just a matter of time. My solution: when I go the art museum, it is on a bike that rides like a $2,000 bike, but looks like a $25 bike. And, it will be locked with two or three locks.

alanbikehouston

I wish I knew how to post pictures. Because my "ugly" bike could win an "ugly" contest. All the original decals are missing. The original paint is covered with a crude DIY application of an awful shade of green. Streaks of surface rust speckle the frame. One side of the top tube has a dent that is about four inches long, a quarter inch wide, and an eight of an inch deep. The shifters and gear changers have been stripped off. The bar tape is torn and ragged. Blackwall "no name" tires. No decals on the hubs or rims.

How ugly is it? If I park at a rack that later becomes "packed" with expensive bikes, nobody parks close to it. I guess the owners fear that rust or "ugly" is contagious.

But, even with massive BMX pedals, its Reynolds 531 frame and fork keep its weight under 22 pounds, and the sturdy, but light wheels perform well on the bombed out inner city streets of Houston.

!!Comatoa$ted

I find the best paint that will make the best bike look the garbage is barbeque black, the stuff dries in about 10 minutes also. I used to paint all my bikes with the stuff, garunteed to work.

catatonic

All you need to post pictures is a photobucket acct (free), and either a scanner or digital camera.

upload the file to photobucket, copy the IMG tagged link they provide, paste it here.

Or use yahoo photos, view the image, right click on it and check the properties to get the real address to use in your link, and use the format [img ] your photo [/img ] (without the space before the ] bracket.

alanbikehouston

I suspect it is because I grew up in the age of manual typewriters, but your explanation makes no sense to me at all. Sounds like Latin. I have my nine year old nephew explain your explanation to me...he has grown up thinking of computers as being as basic as a pencil.

I recently asked the clerks at a store whether I could buy an IPOD, and put my CD's onto the IPOD. I did not quite understand the answer, but I think it was "no". But, the clerks certainly seemed amused by the question.

Boudicca

A man after my own heart. I have not figured out the IPOD/CD connection yet either.

But I did buy a digital camera, and have worked out how to do pictures.

Guest

Thanks to everyone, really. But here's the situation:

First, it sounds like some folks are insinuating that I took my expensive bike for a joy ride, stopped at Georgetown Law, laid it on the ground, went inside for a few hours and laid around in the whirlpool, then rolled out and was surprised it was gone. That's not what happened. I'll emphasize before- my mistake was that I had 1 lock on me that day and not two. This is to do with my new job being out in Suitland. The commute in from Alexandria to Suitland every day (most days, I have to start out at 3:40am to get there by 5:00am) is a killer for me. I just didn't have the conditioning (still don't) to carry 12.5 pounds of locks, plus books, changes of clothes, cd's for classes, etc. So I split my locks up, leaving the kryptonite chain with the multi-lock at the Census Bureau, and the OnGuard Ulock at Georgetown. I parked my bike directly into campus, directly in front of the security desk where two security guards were working. I definitely made a mistake not buying another lock and securing the bike as I always do. It's unfortunate that the security guards can't do what they're supposed to do- secure the area! And it's unfortunate that I trusted that the guards would do their job. It's equally unfortunate that I just didn't bring the lock, but I've been parking in that same exact spot for nearly a year now without incident. Then again, I always double locked my bike!

As someone else said- bikes are meant to be ridden. The amount of money I paid to have this bike made, the trip to Italy to get measured and purchase the bike, and the amount of money I've paid since for maintenance makes it absurd that I would not ride that bike often. It's a well ridden, well loved bike, and if I want to stick a rear rack on a $10,000 bike to the grocery store, that shouldn't make a bit of difference to one person here. The problem is not whether or not I should ride a bling bike to my job. The problem is that I did not secure my back wheel and trusted campus police to do their jobs, and as a result, my bike wheel was stolen. That sucks.

Some folks who owned a DeRosa were debating about whether they should ride their good bikes in bad weather. I had to laugh. I wrote the DeRosas and told them how wonderfully their bikes rode, and how because their bikes are so well constructed, I had faith that their bikes would hold up in any type of weather. Ergo, I ride in all weathers with my bike. I don't have a problem with riding my bike in the rain, snow, sleet, mud, sand, etc. I don't have a problem with riding my bike to the store, the gym, work, my photography club meetings, etc. It's a well built bike with great wheels (or rather, a great wheel, since the other one got stolen by some dumb****er), and such a bike is a great bike for me to ride to work. It's lightweight and helps me to get up and down these big hills out here when I'm schlepping all my crap from Virginia, through DC, and into Maryland. I would not attempt that ride on my beater. I did my commute on my beater ONCE- and it took me an hour and forty minutes. On my good bike, I was getting it down to an hour (should have been an hour that day, since the day before, I'd gotten it down to an hour and 2 minutes!!! ). I was really looking forward to the ride- I could almost feel my fingers itching with anticipation as I burst out of the building and hurried toward my bike. But then the joy of the anticipated ride quickly turned to horror and shock as I realized exactly what happened to my bike. That was just terrible for me. Just terrible.

I digress. I have my folder, and it's an equally expensive bike- double locked, but will be triple locked as of tomorrow. The students felt terrible about my bike- they all had kind words for me today. Not one person in the building argued with me as I rolled my bike through the door and got on the elevator with it. Another staff person had a room for me to stick my bike in, and she sat next to the door until it was time for me to head out. Everyone feels bad, and that does help. Another woman is good friends with other security guards, so she proclaimed that she's going to track down the tape and see if one of them can get me a copy or a still shot. Plus, she's friends with some of the messenger community, so she's putting out some phone calls. All that made me feel a lot better about my wheel. I spoke with the DeRosas today. They're also being very sympathetic and helping me with the gear ratios and stuff so I can get a new wheel. I just have to call them tomorrow morning and get their thougths, then I'll be set.

I still want my wheel back! Another guy at Georgetown gave me the names of all the pawn shops and bike shops where my wheel might turn up. So I'm going to head out and check out these places and see if my wheel might be showing up there. I'm not holding my breath, but I still will hold out some hope.

*sigh* I really just want to make it to Friday night so I can crawl under my covers and pretend like this week never happened.

Thanks to everyone for their comments. Point taken for those who say I should have packed two locks. I know! I know!

Koffee

randya

Sorry about your wheel, Koffee.

IMO, the campus police are dickheads for not sharing the video with you, and perhaps even worse for potentially watching the crime in progress on their monitor and not intervening at the time.

Is Suitland an actual place, or is that just what you call it because everyone wears a suit there?

Guest

Hardy, har... huh?



Suitland is an actual city in southern MD- like south east MD. It's like in the middle of nowhere, and just past this big assed graveyard that goes on and on. I ride past that graveyard in complete darkness every single morning. Those bullfrogs are just surreal.

Koffee

Thylacine

Koffee....please.....get a townie/beater bike. If you commute, go anywhere near a city, get a beater bike. That's all I'm sayin'. Hired security goons are not bike-sitters, your bike is your responsibility, Etc. etc. All things you probably know now already. Just thought I'd remind you.

Guest

I don't think you're hearing me-

I have to get up at 3am and ride to my job... a state and a half away. I can either get up at 2am and start that commute 40 min early, or I can ride a good bike with solid gearing that's light, where I can drag my ass, along with all the crap I have to carry for my two jobs I go to, up and down hills, or I can ride my beater bike. Hands down, I'm riding the good bike.

It makes absolutely no sense what you're saying.

Koffee

Blue Order

Now that's dedication.

!!Comatoa$ted

Get a commute bike that is not a POS and you may go almost as fast as a DeRosa.

But I see your point, it is hard to resist a nice ride, at least you can bring it inside now, so that takes away the worry.

Guest

My beater bike is not a POS. It's a beater bike, yes. But it's no comparison to a nice, light bike with crisp campy shifters that I can spin my way up the hills with.

Please- don't bother with the "ride a beater bike" comments. It means nothing to me. Period. I'm going to ride the best bike I can possibly ride if it means I can get that extra 40 -60 min of sleep.

Koffee

catatonic

You can put most of your CDs on the ipod. It's just whether the CD is one of the new DRM (copy-protected) CDs, or just a regular vanilla CD.

I pretty much grew up on computers, so this stuff is second nature to me.

Photobucket is a website, www.photobucket.com. Pretty decent little online photo storage site. If you get bored one day, try to mess with it. Just get a random picture, heck the bikeforums logo, and try to upload it. Everything I said will make sense once that is done

staple

koffee,

That really sucks about your wheel. Just curious, though -- I work on an urban college campus where I am able to rent a bike locker for $70 a year. My $400 commuter bike does not remotely approach yours, but it's well worth the $70 bucks to me to have peace of mind that neither my bike nor anything I leave on it/with it will be missing when I'm ready to head home at the end of the day. Does Georgetown have bike lockers for rent, or anything similar? It might be worth it to get the bike out of view.

meb

As an alternative, I just checked and Metro lacks bike lockers at the Judiciary Square, Union Station and Chinatown stations which are the three closest to the law school. There are lockers at Suitland, but Koffee has previously indicated bike theft is not a concern at that location due secured facilities.

meb

I thought Dracula usually went to bed at sunrise.

At any rate, my bed time varies between 6 pm and 7 am.
Unfortunately, deadlines mean I can't always get much sleep.

Trakhak

Koffee, I've been locking bikes up at Union Station for the last five years - lost two bikes and one front wheel with a Campy track hub. Now I just pull off the front wheel and lock it with the frame and rear wheel.

It might be worth your while to find out who has the authority to view the security tapes. Since the security guards you spoke to aren't being cooperative, you might want to ask at another security station on the campus or talk to the head of security there - or to management at the security firm the guards work for.

Cyclist0383

I'll say it once again, locking skewers for your wheels work. With locking skewers you don't need to lug around an extra lock just for your front wheel. They don't weigh much and keep your wheels where they are susposed to be, on your bike.

Both my wife and I use them on our expensive wheel sets (I have a Hope hub laced to a Mavic 719 rim with DT spokes and a SRAM 990 cassette. This costs more than most bikes sold in Riga. A flashy high theft item) in downtown Riga. We have had no problems in over two years.

Having used both Pitlock and Pinhead skewers I find the Pitlock to be a much better product.

Pitlock skewers are avaible in North America here: https://www.urbanbiketech.com/about.html

markhr

wise words

!!Comatoa$ted

Then dont whine about getting your stuff ripped off as soon as you forget to lock it properly.

Guest

Nope. No bike lockers. They told me that they did have a room to lock up the bike inside- but they NEVER told me that before. I would have used it! I specifically asked them where I could safely lock my bike when I came in to teach, and they never gave that alternative. Friggin bastards!

Koffee

Guest

I'm not WHINING- I'm upset and acknowledged that I was stupid not to lock it properly. Do you just not pay attention, or do you have selective memory?

Do me a favor- NOTHING you say makes sense, applies to me, or is worth my time reading. Don't bother responding here again. Your comments are worthless.

Everyone else, thanks- the comments are constructive, and I appreciate the advice and words of caution.

Koffee