The Human Car

I thought I would share this with you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuI5Yquhmcc

FWIW I got a bit of play at 1:47

PDXJeff

No stolen bike story had ever made me smile. I love the woman at 1:58. That seems like a cool program that could work in a lot of places.
Awesome that the police donated bikes (probably once stolen, ironically). What's the relationship like between Baltimore PD and cyclists?

Tude 

That's nice!

joelpalmer

I don't suppose there was a Trek 930 Singletrack in the Green/Black/Green color scheme among the bikes BCPD donated? I had one stolen out of my truck about a year ago on Guilford.

Congrats on keeping the ride going even with the b**theads that are around here.

dipy911

Could be. Did you report it stolen and give the serial number? That is all the police have to go by to determine ownership of stolen bicycles.

dipy911

The Human Car

There is a heart warming side to the story that makes you smile. A lot of people are really upset with the bike thieves and would probably do something not so pleasant to a rider of a blue Trek beach cruiser bike.

The program is really cool, to rent a bike the park asks for a $2 donation. So people that just want to see if they can still ride a bike generally skip the donation just to give bike riding a whirl. Even people who can't complete the 1.5 mile circuit come back with a huge smile and you know they are going to come back and challenge themselves to do a bit better.

Currently there is no relationship between the police and cyclists but we are working on trying to change that. Several years back the police came down really hard on sidewalk riding and as a result they were ordered to leave us alone.

The Human Car

I'll keep an eye out next time I'm out there but you may also want to check at Velocipede https://www.velocipedebikeproject.org/ as they get a lot of used bike in.

As I travel around the city I am still impressed on the number of good and decent people and just how few it takes to mess things up for everybody.

joelpalmer

At the risk of sounding far more snarky than I mean to, yeah, cause I have the serial number. I bought the bike in 95 and rode it off and on for a few years, turned it into a serious commuter when living in CA, moved to Baltimore and promptly had it stolen by someone who pried open the camper shell on my truck. I though very briefly about trying to track it down but figured 1) it was somewhere in a pawn shop and I had no way to definitively ID it as mine or 2) someone took it, rode it, then dumped it when they were done and the chances of seeing it again were nil. So I stopped leaving my bike anywhere I can't see it at night and lock it up at supervised racks when commuting. Live and learn.

joelpalmer

If it ended up there (Velocipede) I'll let them keep it, they do good work and I have other rides now.

radiofree

I hate thieves with a passion, anyone who has ever had anything stolen (in my case bikes) will feel the same. I got so angry after having one particular bike stolen that I considered setting a bait bike outside and waiting with a bat for the first thief to try and steal it.

btoon

How is the effort going to replace the stolen bikes? I saw that BPD donated some bikes, but are you still short?

The Human Car

I like the homing device in this video https://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?...&f=00&fg=email

The Human Car

30 bikes were stolen (but we could easily use 50 bikes) 25 bikes were donated of which we only have 14 of them working now but that should go up to 20 in the next week or so.
If anyone is interested in helping out details are here: https://www.baltimorespokes.org/artic...70807153352372