JonRags

Had a mountain bike stolen off the roof rack of my Mom's car. The cable was only long enough for the Rossin, so the GT mtn bike was taken. That was in 89. And I still have it's front wheel.

old and new

Stolen bikes... WOW SDRider, I feel that loss, I remember that model quite well , pre-'78 I saw a couple exactly that color and all, others too along those lines.With those tires ,saddle etc. they sold for over 500,alot of $$ back then,real shame.I feel all the losses here. I'm orgionally from NYC and area.north Jersey as well, all of which is te bike theft capital of the world. I've had bikes stolen from family members to whom I've given my old bikes to. I think since they were free, my folkes were careless, I'm carefull, too carefull. Anywhere or time I ride is predicated upon my never leaving the bike unattended /out of my sight.I'm just used to that.Locking or any
such precaution is simply not an option. The only degree of calculated risk percentage that I'll deal with is ZERO.
Unfortunately bike theft is not so random, thieves go back a second or third time for others,even later for anticipated replacements.Keep them in your house.They do that in Italy by the way. I had one bike stolen,I recovered it so it doesn't count. The boy that swiped it didn't ride for awhile,a bike that is. They should severly punish bike thieves,they used to hang horsethieves. I worked at auto stores in NYC and cities in Jersey, in the spring, guys would by freon and such.They came to the store on the last bikes they stole.The bike thieves use
freon and such to freeze the chain /locks hard ..brittle like ice..I knew it ..I resented it.. greedy, uncaring owners of stores don't care,you just sell it. I did what I could,when I could but...it's like swimmin' up-stream. Maybe when you see a "type" peddlin' down the street, showin' WAY too much post, take pause.think about it,maybe he's riding the charge of his last victim.The bikes too small, younger individuals are more careless sometimes to fall prey to these cockroaches. Defenders of thieves (most other residents of the afformentioned cities) maintain
"it serves one right,they shouldn't leave the bike in front o' thier house anyway"..I'd here that too.that makes me more angry.No inocent person has anything comin', no wrong-doing serves anyone right.

ridethecliche

That makes sense!
Freeze the locks so they shatter. I shudder to think what'd happen if some of them got liquid nitrogen on their hands (actually, I know. Hypothermia and loss of hands).
But it wouldn't be fun for us if they put it on our bike locks!

sunninho

In college, I had two bikes stolen, a Peugeot and a Cannondale. Both were locked. After the second one, I always took my third bike into class or into stores. If I was refused service in the store, I'd leave and never come back -- even without the bike.

wildcat

One, a few years ago. POS Target MTB-ish thing. I had it on a removable bike rack on my car, and had even taken the precaution of locking it to the rack.

Oh, did I mention that the rack was attached to the car with nylon straps? *head smack*

Needless to say, I'm a little scared to take the roadie I'm building out when I'm finally done with it, since I'm into it for at least several times more than that POS. At least I won't be leaving it on a rack on my car (never replaced it ).

Dick Rhee

Last year someone stole my girlfriend's bike out of the trunk of my hatchback car that was parked in our apartment's garage. We live in a building with about 12 units and it's enough to make us want to move knowing that it was most likely someone in our own building. It was a relatively nice 5-6 year old steel frame upgraded with Ultegra 10 and carbon fork. She cried so hard when it went missing; she loves riding and it was her only means of transportation.

She's back riding now, as her family and I were able to piece a bike together with our old parts as well as a donated frame from her brother's professor. The bike itself is one of the stranger things I've ever seen: a late 90's Cannondale frame, lugged fork, a mix of Tiagra 9 and Campy Centaur components, 2005 Ksyrium SL wheels, Look ergopost 2 seatpost, and a Fizik Aliante saddle.

CrimsonKarter21

Two from when I was a kid.
The first was this amazing chrome Dyno BMX bike that got stolen from the library and never recovered. I got that baby for Christmas, and I rode it through that winter.

The second was a GT mountain bike I got for free from my neighbor who was moving, it had some sweet brakes that threw me over the handlebars once, it was a real upgrade from the Target Magna with the plastic brake pads. That got stolen from the library, too.

Since then, I've either kept a close eye on my bikes through a window in a store, or kept them nice and stowed away with both wheels off. I don;t really commute on any of my bikes anymore, so it isn't much of a problem anymore.

sunninho

In college, my roommate's girlfriend had her beach cruiser stolen in front of our apartment. A month or so later, after he'd broken up with her, my roommate saw a guy walking a similar beach cruiser in front of our place. He told the guy to stop and got his baseball bat and threatened the guy to give back the bike -- which he did.

After he told his ex-girlfriend to come get her bike, she told him it wasn't the same bike. I felt bad for the guy that my roommate technically robbed (with a deadly weapon).

My bastard roommate went and stayed at someone else's house for three nights after that incident for fear of reprisal or police action, which never happened.

Dick Rhee

haha that's messed up.