dannyg1 

For years, make that decades, I've lived in NYC with my fancy bikes and have met with all sorts of obstacles to their well being daily. For the most part I've been able to strike a balance that works by only taking my bike places where I can keep it by my side at all times and only shopping in stores that say nothing as I walk the aisles, bike in hand. At night, my bikes live inside my apt with me.

So two months ago I found an old brown Huffy womens 3-speed (much like a Raleigh Supreme) with a cute basket on the front in curbside trash. I bought two locks for it and became quite proud of my new urban truck. The idea was that I now had a bike that I could ride anywhere, lock it up and never worry that someone might steal it. I mean who in their right mind would want a brown 70's Huffy? But for me, it was great: It had fenders and a basket and an ugly seat that creaked. It was a blast to ride.

I locked it up at night, in various places on my block and last week, a woman whose store my bike was locked in front of had a scream at me for locking it in front of her store, on a public NY sidewalk, attached to a parking meter and a sign. Her major concern was that I was uglfying her customers view of her, of all things, antique store. I told her that I wouldn't leave it there always, but would sometimes as it was a proper, legal practice to lock my bike this way on a public thoroughfare.

Two days later, my bike was across the street from her store in front of my building and it 'mysteriously' disappeared. I ask the guy at the deli if he's seen it and he gives me a lecture about how he didn't like it "near the deli" because it brought "bad luck" to his business. I spoke to a friend that I built a $2400 bike for, that was stolen from his hallway, a public walkway within his building and he gave me a lecture about how he told a couple of delivery guys to never lock their bikes in front of the bar he works at.

What the f**king h**l is it with Nyer's? Why is a bike so different from a car? Why can't you legally lock it outside your house without starting into a war with the friggin world?

Danny

zonatandem

There's a million other places where you can live.
So move . . . (and yes, have lived in NY state) and spent time in NYC.
A nice place to visit, but certainly don't want to live there; so I don't.
Easy to spot a NYer: most have a chip on their shoulder.

cudak888 

The pest of it is that you have no legal rights to argue for it. If I recall the NYC law (don't quote me, I'm not up on it that well), it is written in such manner that it is technically illegal to lock one's bike to any form of city property, INCLUDING bike racks.

Pretty much nothing you can do in this case other then to utterly ignore the entire existence of the individual attempting to argue with you. It's hard to engage a brick wall in a shouting match, after all.

...and if you like the vigilante revenge method, and don't intend to lock up in front of said store anymore, get a few wrecked bikes, some crappy locks, put some indecent stickers over it and whatever else suits your fancy, and chain it up in front of said store. Maybe to their store's ghetto bars if you're that sort.

-Kurt

Panthers007

Cars are GOD in NYC. I was there on business for a week at the UN. We had a car and were given a free suite at the Hotel Penta - right across from Madison Square Garden. So where to put the car? The hotel doorman told us to park it in front of the No Parking sign. We protested it would get towed! "No. No one's gonna tow it. Just put a plastic-bag over da sine!" Our driver complied and shinnied up the post and bagged the sign.

There it sat. For 8 days. In an extremely high traffic area and tourist-trap. No one boddered it. I hate New York.

WNG

Some NYC residence and businesses are eccentric about their 'domain' of private property extending to the sidewalk, curb, street, view, in front of their building.

I got into a fight with a neighbor in Staten Island over my friend temporarily parking his car in front of their house to unload it. She stormed into our house and started cussing and accusing me of being a bad neighbor.
I reminded her that car was on a public street. We all paid our taxes to use it.
We never spoke again for 23 years. Heard she got a stroke from yelling at her kids. She's now a vegetable in a bed.

Sangetsu

God how nice it is to live in Tokyo where you can lock your bike wherever you damn well like, and nobody will say a thing. I even see bikes locked to "no bike parking" signs.

What's more, bikes aren't locked here because people like to steal them, but because drunk businessmen sometimes use them to get home on if they've missed the last train.

You'll see many a Pinarello/Colnago other high-end carbon fiber bike with it's rear wheel locked to a bamboo rail for months at a time, and no one steals it. There is a Cannondale Raven I see parked by the station every day, locked by the front wheel to a guard rail. It wouldn't last 10 minutes in New York.

I agree with zonatandem, get the hell out of that place.

mobile homeless

I happen to love NYC, including the bike culture, and I live on a 4 mile long island in North Carolina with less than 1200 year round residents. For a city so huge and culturally diverse, I say it runs extremely well and I love visiting, staying for extended periods, and would probably live there to experience it if the right option came up for a while.

Obviously, that's sad news about the bike. Might I ask, when the store owner expressed dismay, why not just say, "OK, yeah, that bike is a bit ugly, sorry about that; it does have some sort of charm, no? I'll try to remember not to park it in front of the stores here as I guess it is a beast. I actually live right here though." Then really make a concerted effort to try not park it there anymore, moving it a bit down the block. Or if you do, make friends with the owner, stopping in, making some effort to be cordial ie break the mold.

Lastly, your posts sort of insinuates that the stores possibly had something to do with it getting stolen. Hope you're sure on that. And Kurt's cryptic solution, also assuming the owners ditched the bikes, is a surefire way to make your name total mud as well as add yet another piece of ill will and negative vibe surrounding the city.

jebensch

As a 10 year New Yorker I can say, yes it can be maddening at times. But also as someone who grew up in a faceless suburb devoid of character, I can say I'm lucky to live in one of the greatest places in the country. The last couple of years have seen the bike culture rise up to a swell that is now wielding some audible influence with city policy. Vanderbilt Ave in Brooklyn just got a honey of a bike lane, and the last time I saw 8th ave, the lower portion there now has a *separated* bike line - whoo!

None of this was aimed at you Danny G. Sorry your bike got nipped. That really stinks. Come to Brooklyn. It's easier on the nerves.

mrmw

Native ny'ers know that you must fight continually for your 'space'. Your well written story resonates as totally natural to me.

With apologies to mba's, militarists and Asian scholars everywhere...If your enemy is weaker than you, crush him. If he is stronger, bend like the breeze.

Until you establish your 'space' with the Deli guy and the antique lady, they are ahead of you in the meaningless street life points competition, wherein the points are redeemable for virtual ibuprofen.

Now go to it.

mainducoyote

I've read about that and was wondering why. Is it because there is no place to unload stolen bikes? Is it just the general mentality in Japan?

Saintly Loser

I spent a couple of weeks in Japan last year, mostly in Tokyo, with a few days in Sendai. I was amazed at all the unlocked or minimally locked bicycles I saw. Thousands of them. Including, as Sangetsu says, any number of really expensive bikes.

Of course, cycling in Japan has its peculiarities. Everyone rides on the sidewalk. Bicycles almost always have headlights, but rarely taillights. Still, it's nice to visit a place where the bicycle is taken seriously as a means of transportation, and where street crime, including bicycle theft, is nearly unknown (at least by New York standards).

Oh, and zonatandem? Most of us New Yorkers don't have a chip on our shoulders, but naturally in a city of eight million people, there are going to be a few jerks. Dannyg1 ran into two or three of them. Out of 8,000,000 people, that's really pretty good.

Burbs

****in' leafers! They need to get out of New England as well!

jfmckenna

Some of the nicest people I know are or were from NYC. You just have to get to know them then they warm up to you. I don't understand why you don't just lock your bike in the same spot every day. That way your bike sort of 'squats' their and creates it's own ownership. People get used to even the most ugliest things as long as they are always their they fade out.

cudak888 

Correct - but if said individual is a CM-type, who cares?

-Kurt

Otis

You've lived there for decades and have not learned to "tip" yet? Simple fact is, you must do something nice for these people before you park your bike in front of them.

dbakl

When I was in NYC, I once was walking down a sidewalk where they were removing all the lamp posts and meters in preparation of repaving and throwing them in a big pile, including a couple bikes that were locked to them.

cudak888 

Time to rescue some flat-black, spray-painted Raleigh Professional fixie conversions.

-Kurt

rumrunn6

The people make the place. You're one of the people. I want to move back sometimes but am scared to especially with young children. I'm confident there's a way to live happy in NYC - maybe not me and my family. Work the problem and keep your humor. Shop owners have different values than the rest of us. You have to find a way to live with them. This is a good place to rant.

BTW: Not all suburbs are faceless. I live outside of Boston and commuted for a while this summer to Newton, 17 miles. My little town is like Mayberry RFD and everyone knows everyone. It's kinda nice but sometimes I just wanna be anonymous.

Make NYC strong, they need you.

Oldpeddaller

All the New Yorkers I've ever met have been extremely well-balanced people.

I guess that's a natural effect of having a huge chip on each shoulder?

bartonfink

Thanks for the heads-up, tumbleweed.


https://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2006/07/polite.php

They have a reputation for being big-headed, but New Yorkers showed they are big-hearted, too, by finishing first in our global courtesy ratings. They placed in the top five in all three tests and were particularly polite when it came to holding doors open, with only two people failing to do so.

“I don’t even think about it,” said syndications assistant Kirsten Chieco, who held the door of one of the Starbucks coffee shops where the tests were done. “Most New Yorkers are courteous.”

YoKev

Just so the general public outside of NY knows, there is more to NY than the city. A lot of NY'ers are nice and polite, but like any bunch of apples, there are a few worms here and there.

I live 90 miles north of the city. This summer, I pedaled north for 4 days and still didn't get into Canada. This is a huge state

infinityeye

Or you need to burn out their life and everything in it. What a bunch of hell bound tools, probably leafs fans too.

dannyg1 

This is what I did do, until the day the antique store lady ripped into me, at which point I moved it across the street, apparently creating a new resentment I was completely unaware of. Both annoyance points were solved when my bike was stolen. Further and in more direct answer to the bold quote above, the bike was not an eyesore at all. It was much, much better looking than your typical mtb-slash-Chinese delivery vehicle and this is the UES, home of half the worlds billionaire club. Not all of NYC looks like the Lower East Side.

In answer to an earlier post, up the thread:

>>>You've lived there for decades and have not learned to "tip" yet? Simple fact is, you must do something nice for these people before you park your bike in front of them.<<

I have zero tolerance for the 'blame it on the victim' sentiment that you've proposed here. When I say I've lived here for decades and you say 'there', it first means that you obviously have not and therefore, might be forgiven for your obtuse 'tippyness' and second, it means that I predate both stores (and storeowners and all their workers). Translating this into soup for you via your own argument would probably be lost upon you. It's best put thusly: when your girlfriend ends up with another guy and she swears at you, screaming that you should have been a better, more attentive and loving boyfriend,this is not the time to retreat into introspection. Understand that parallel?

To another earlier poster: Yes, I do suspect that the intentions of these two storeowners were less than honest, You know the old joke where the punchline runs: 'Your garbage is gone and your dog is pregnant'?

Lastly, a suspiciously identical bike has shown up on CL and the guy seems to know suspiciously little about its featureset. Caveat is that these were never uncommon and I have no photos or serial #'s.

Any advice on this one, braintrust abstaining?

Danny

jfmckenna

Ah that sucks sounds like if you really want it back you might have to buy it. That or haggle with him and talk him down to 0 dollars with a base ball bat

cudak888 

If and ONLY IF you're absolutely sure that it is your machine (and that the fellow is, indeed, the crook), set up a meeting with the guy. Offer $20 extra to the top of the price if he can hold it for you.

Come on foot, take bike for test ride, disappear (and have a friend in a car around the block if you prefer).

Problem solved.

-Kurt