GaryinLA

stolen bike alert. stolen from bike rack, wendys, culver city, venice v
blvd today, police report filed, surveillance films requested.

1993-ish univega via carisma, 56cm, ugly torquise, showing heavy wear. drop bar conversion, suntour bar end shifters, shimano 105 triple crank, 7 speed in rear, 38mm marathon plus tires- hated them. black bar tape. serfas rx seat. was left unlocked in bike rack, i was sitting near window looking at it occasionally. i have locks but they were in my other bike. this one i planned to ride nonstop home but stopped for snack.

apparently thief was on a trek 800, chain broke, so thief left that bike and took mine. since nobodt saw the switch, and video not reviewed yet, the trek is still there now. police wouldnt pick it up, wouldnt give me permission to take it and manager of wendys said no room to store. it could be stolen or may soon be stolen again.
i miss the bike but not the tires. id offer reward but whats the point. i could take same money and rebuild, recollect parts anew. if someone sees my bike id like it back. if u are the thief and now realize you made a mistake since u are on video abd police are viewing it, if u return my bike if i have an option of waiving claims against u i will. if i were u id be afraid of arrest and would want my trek back if u didnt steal that one too.

TJClay

You left your bike unlocked at a fast food resturant in culver city? What did you think was going to happen? How do you know the thief was on the Trek with the broken chain?

GaryinLA

i was sitting at a window with bike rack on other side. i thought i was keeping an eye out on the bike.
one minute my bike was there. next minute or it seemed, other bike was there with broken chain and mine was gone. there are many situations even security conscious bikers like me dont have their biked locked up. ie if we run into a store and leave it inside near the front. or if we are running into donut store and have it parked in plain view right outside on other side of window. on many group rides i do if theres a stop ie for lunch and its possible to keep bikes in plan view many bikers dint lock up and dont have a lock. in the wendys situation - my cars not running well. i wanted to pick up a bike from my mechanic, can only get to him on sats. i was runnning late due to street festival blocking where i live. so rather than take metro and walk to metro and lbs i rode a bike. outside lbs i locked this bike up using both my locks intending to go back for it later. intended to take univega directly home no stops so thought no locks were ok. then i got thirsty biking home. decided to stop at wendys briefly and figured if i sit at table by window in front of bike rack and keep eye out for my bike thats ok. nobodys perfect using locks 100 % of time. im near perfect but this situation threw me. some other siuations bike isnt locked- at beach bike path i take into bathroom but not in my view at urinal. at donut store for quick stop for drink its in view on front but my back is turned when i pay cashier. i think from now on ill gave a 100% locking policy. i was near 100% before but not perfect. situation of no car and 1 bike on shop and i had to get it out before lbs closed, otherwise bike would be there 3 weeks due to my travel and work sched. left me with 2 locks on 1 bike and no locks on bike i was going home on. i opted not to use only 1 lock on the other bike since it would have left wheels exposed to theft.

TJKnight

My bike is locked 100% of the time it's on my car's bike rack. I do hope you get your univega back.

eja_ bottecchia

OP, sorry to hear about your stolen bike. I hope they find the thief and the police gives you permission to whip him with a broken bike chain.

Keep an eye on CL.

GaryinLA

i dont have bike rack on my car. it was stolen months ago. i got it used for 50 and cable from it went into car hatchback so i left it on all the time, hard to install. i was parking across from high school in brentwood daily , i was doing partial biking commute and believe it was stolen by rv transients. if u think bike locked to car bike rack is safe u may be wrong because rack can be taken.

TrojanHorse

I hope you get your bike back... that sucks.

Please type "you" unless you're posting from a 1990s vintage Motorola StarTac phone.