knucks

I was locked up to one of those U (but picture it upside down, obviously) metal poles, and some guy came when I was during class and locked his bike w/ a thin cable lock (w/ metal combination part + metal ends on the cable).

I guess he wasn't careful and locked his cable around my top tube...I was pretty pissed but I didn't have anything too sharp on me. I had my adjustable wrench with me and a flat screwdriver on my mini tool..so I started hacking away at it..it took me about 20mins to break that lock.

Anyways, on to the point, anyone ever run into this, and if so, how did you go about it? Anyone carry anything especially for these kind of run-ins? Maybe some kind of a smallish wire cutter?

asherlighn

I call campus police.

666pack

yes. last year some ****** locked his next three point suspension bike up to mine at a lighpole. this idiot didn't even have HIS bike locked up, the chain was just looped around the stem a few times and locked loosely to the pole... and my downtube.

i picked up a rock, wedged the combination lock on the chain on the base of the lighpole and smashed it.

kemmer

On some poorly designed combo cable locks you can sort of feel the thing click into the right position. My guess is that somebody dumb enough to do something like this is not likely to be using a very high quality lock and it could be defeated by about anything. (like a rock or a mini tool and adjustable wrench)

Did you leave his bike unlocked? Imagine how confused he must have been to find his lock defeated and his bike still there. (assuming it wasn't stolen)

mathletics

A friend of mine had her bike locked by some jackass, and when she called the police they told her that they can't do anything. They said since the lock was someone else's property, they couldn't destroy it.

Anyway, good job hacking through the lock. People are morons.

lvleph

So if someone chains the doors to your house they can't do anything since it is someone else's property. lol BS.

br995

I was thinking about that happening earlier today. I'd be pissed.

kjohnnytarr

This tends to be a problem on my campus, because the racks are so ****ing crowded. Obviously you have to be an idiot to lock someone else's frame, but sometimes it's hard to keep free of the mess of cable housing on the bike next to you. We need more space.

666pack

that's how the racks are at my campus. but no one here locks up to iron fences, lightpoles or street signs... so i usually lock up there and stay clear of the idiots and their matching walmart bikes and locks.

knucks

Yeah the campus police said "You need to contact a bike shop."

Oh I also took his chain as a trophy (are KMC chains any good?)

kjohnnytarr

That's stupid (on the cops part) because the bike is property too. In fact, I think once someone puts their lock on it, it's stolen property in a way.

kjohnnytarr

You should probably check your campus's rules on that though; I know that here, if you lock up to a tree or something they can impound your bike.

deathhare

Makes me think i need a lock killing tool with me or something.

Seven Sane

pretty much everyone around here uses beefy U locks. If someone locked my bike up I'd be boned.

asherlighn

Our University Police force is a subset of the State Police, but fortunately they are able to enforce University laws/rules/guidelines (one of which is that if you lock your bike in a way which is against the University rules, the lock is able to be cut by cops) which frequently supersede personal property laws.

Read the above with as much or as little sarcasm as you like, Im not sure how I stand on it.

SneakyMilo

This happened to my girlfriend last year. The campus police said that they couldn't help unless she proved that she was the owner of her bike that was already registered under her name with the campus police. I said screw it and went looking for some bolt cutters.

JohnnyDoyle

Last week, my friend and I came out of class to find his bike locked in by a u-locked mountain bike. The lock was only over his top tube, so we were able to finagle the other bike out of the way--only to find that the moron had locked only his seat tube to the rack. The seat slipped easily out of the lock, and we promptly put the MTB right in the middle of the sidewalk, in hopes someone was looking for a new bike.

mathletics

That's what the girlfriend said to me, but I'm working really hard to overcome the urge to be over-prepared. I've only recently convinced myself that I can carry a multi-tool instead of an 11-piece individual hex caddy and a 5-in-1 full size screwdriver. The last thing I need to do is carry a pair of bolt cutters (or whatever else) for the off chance that some moron locks me up.

knucks

If I had a bigger screwdriver I could have broke the lock as well. The screwdriver on my mini tool is too small/wide to fit in the space, but I was able to lever it a bit and just hit it w/ my adj. wrench

fetch

well your doors are yours and the chain is on your property. i think you're allowed to bust it.

deathhare

you think?...of course you can bust it.

fetch

well your doors are yours and the chain is on your property. i think you're allowed to bust it.



but OT: yeah over-crowded/stupidly designed bike racks cause this in my town. i'll find a nice street pole to lock it too and sometimes, not often, a cop would lecture me about locking it to the pole instead of the crowded bike rack

deathhare

Of cousre you can bust it man. Its your ****ing front door.

roadfix

Some people are just plain stupid.

Nouia

Yes, this has happened to me before, but only with his/her lock going through my brake cables and such. I just undo my cables, remove my bike, put cables back on and get on with life. If I were malicious, I would have sacrificed a small stand-alone masterlock (like, locker style) through his/her disk brake rotor or around a chain ring or something.