Shifty

This is the second loaded touring bike stolen in Eugene this summer. This time a touring rider rolled into Eugene, rode to the library to check email, cabled his bike to the rack and went inside. He came out and everything was gone, bike bags, money, he left everything on his bike in the afternoon. Too bad, half a block one way is a bike shop who would have gladly let him put his bike and gear inside. A half block the other way was a police station who also would have put his stuff inside.

If your travel plans include Eugene, don't let your stuff out of your sight. Better yet, go around this town, too many a**hole junkies who steal you stuff. Don't go downtown, check in with a bike shop for safe places to shop, or get a motel room and lock your things inside. Or send me a PM and I'll stand guard over your gear.

I'm sad to have to post this, but if it saves one more touring rider from this situation it's worth it.

Agentbolt

I get realllll lazy with mine sometimes here in Tucson. Today I went into the grocery store for 10 minutes and left my bike outside UNLOCKED.

I'll be much more careful now. Sucks this happens to some people.

jfry541

I love eugene, but I hate the methheads. I feel really bad for those who have lost their bikes and everything they had on them. I have personally had two bikes stolen in this town, but nothing like losing your loaded bike on tour.

Eugene really is a nice place, especially in the summer, just watch out for the bike thieves.

Dave Nault

I hate to read stories like this, after just completing my custom build. People really have some balls to take other peoples property and I know it happens all the time. I was working in my friends garage helping him with a house project and in the 30 seconds we walked into the house and came back to the "attached" garage, someone had come into the garage and unhooked his bike from the rafters and rode off. It was such a short span of time I couldn't beleave it. Keep an eye on your stuff is all I can say.

positron

Dude.

Used to live in T-town. After the third stolen bike I learned the drill. Love the town, love the people, but I would consider Tucson a theft-zone for sure....

Steve.D

What a tragedy for the tourist that lost their bike, money, and gear. A U-lock is heavy to carry, but I wonder if that would have prevented the theft in this situation.

Doug64

On two occasions I had the same guy try to sell me a bike in Eugene. It was pretty amazing, because I only go there a couple of times a month. He would approach us and show us his hand. It was either a fake or he had an accident or some condition. He looked like he was in pretty rough shape. He "needed to sell his bike for $25 to buy medication for the infection". I don't know what the odds are of getting hit upon twice (about three months apart) by this guy, but they should be really low. I'm pretty sure they were stolen bikes.

We lock ours up even in the garage!

spinnaker

This is very sad but what kind of idiot leaves their money on the bike. I put every thing important (money, credit cards, ID, passport, camera etc.) in my handlebar bag bag and it goes with me everywhere, even into the shower at hostels and campsites.

I would never leave my bike on a cable lock in a large town for more than just a few minutes, and even that makes me nervous. I look at the cable lock as a way to slow someone down.


That said they used to hang horse thieves, they should do the same to a bike thief especially for bikes stolen while someone is on tour.

jfry541

I have totally run into this guy a couple times. His hand looks horrible, but he kind of also seems like a crook

Machka 

I was in Eugene with my bicycle in 2005 (got pics in this set: https://www.flickr.com/photos/1430288...7602332365295/).

I had to stay there overnight because of Amtrak, and decided to ride a while in the morning before catching the Greyhound out of town. The guy at the motel wasn't at all sure about me riding around Eugene by myself and warned me several times not to let my bicycle out of my sight. Then when he heard I was taking my boxed bicycle and all my gear down to the Greyhound station in a taxi, he just about lost it. He gave me very detailed instructions about being sure to check in all my luggage and not wandering too far away from the station while I waited, etc.

The area where I cycled wasn't bad, but the area around the Greyhound station was a bit scary.

lighthorse

While I was in Eugene on my touring bike I found a couple of good bike shops that let me leave my bike in their shop while I visited the library and walked around the town. Way too many people around the library for me to leave the bike there, even locked up.

NeilGunton

My wife and I had a couple of bad experiences in Eugene back when we were living in Corvallis. On one occasion Chiho was driving, and waited in the car in a parking lot while I popped inside the Radio Shack for a computer part. Unbeknownst to either of us at the time, my cell phone fell out of my pocket when I got out of the car. While I was in the shop, my wife saw a guy come out of a mexican restaurant (in the mini mall) and he looked directly at her, walked over to our car, bent down, picked something up, put it in his pocket and walked off. She didn't know what to make of it at the time, but later on we realized what had happened. I thought it was quite bizarre that someone would do that, since we locked the phone out with Verizon within minutes so that it would be useless to anyone else.

When we were living in Corvallis, we had Chiho's bike messed with a couple of times. The first, it was chained to the post in our car port, so visible to the street. One morning we found the handlebars missing, and a couple of tools lying around on the ground. We surmised that the thieves had been in the process of stripping the bike (being unable to take the frame due to the motorcycle chains) but had been surprised.

Another time, Chiho was in her office at lunchtime, and she had locked the bike to the railing in front with her cable lock. A couple of minutes later one of the girls at the desk said "Hey, isn't that girl riding your bike?" Sure enough, it was. The girl had a pair of small bolt cutters in a backpack slung around her front. They gave chase, but lost her in a housing development. Now Chiho swears it was the same girl who we had seen previously on the road in Corvallis, riding another bicycle. It was a memorable encounter, because she had swerved out suddenly in front of four lanes of traffic to do a U-turn, causing everybody to slam on their brakes. What has stayed in my brain was the look of utter nothingness on her face. She just looked completely vacant. It was really disturbing. We assumed drugs.

Now, here's where it gets interesting: We had photos of the bike, and we gave printouts to the police, "just in case", but didn't expect to hear anything else of it. But two weeks later we got a call that the bike had been found. Apparently the police had actually passed the photo around (I know, like WHAT they actually do that) and then an alert officer had spotted the same girl riding Chiho's bike at 5am one morning. The front wheel was different, and the brakes had been stripped off, and the saddle was trashed, it was like she was gradually stripping the bike for parts or something. In any event, the police were able to use this to search her apartment, and they found a bunch of other stolen goods in there. Eventually they convicted her of check fraud. I think they confirmed that she was a drug user/abuser.

Lesson learned is: Always try to have pics of your bike, and if you're on tour, have pics of your bike the way it looks on tour - both with and without bags. If you can provide the police with printouts, or email them, then you never know what they might pick up. Not all bikes are stolen by cold eyed professionals, to be stripped and on a truck out of state within hours (though I'm sure that happens sometimes). Often these days it's just some crime of opportunity for a meth head who is desperate for their next fix. These people don't give a rat's ass about your tour or your possessions or what grief this will cause you. All they can focus on is their need to get more meth. Their sense of morality has been completely stripped away.

I think it's really important to remember that ANY town that is "bike friendly" is also quite likely to be, ironically, also very "bike hostile", in that bicycle theft will be rampant, and today it's probably just as likely to be a druggie who takes it as a "professional" bike thief.

Neil

Editz

Amen. I'm all for getting a group of club wielding citizens together, locking up a bike and waiting for a thief to show up.

spinnaker

Wow! Sounds like Eugene is a place to avoid!

djetelina

We have been shipping a LOT of lock sets up to Portland, maybe the issue is trending south. But aside from that, one thought on a strategy to recover your bike if stolen. We advocate proactive Bike Registry and the tagging of your bike in advance it riding off on its own. It is free and no-hassle.
This week only the Decal Kits are even free (postage inclusive).
www.BikeRegistry.com
Something to think about....

stevage

I second the use of a detachable handlebar bag for all valuables. Not sure what I would do in the original situation, but I can say that bringing a laptop with wi-fi means you're much more likely to be able to use the internet with your bike in sight.

Steve

Shifty

Exactly, don't hesitate to ask a bike shop if you can leave your bike in the back room while you take care of business, mostly they will be happy to help. The shops know as much as the police about bike theft, victims go to the police first, then to the bike shop for a replacement.

Tourist beware, not only in Eugene, but where ever you travel.

Neil_B

And perhaps all of Oregon. Daryl Farmer in his book Bicycling Beyond the Divide writes about having his bike stolen in that state. It seems a little place called Coos Bay has a meth problem too. Farmer did get his bike back, so perhaps there's hope for the tourer in the OP's post.

staehpj1

It seemed like a nice town to me. I have fond memories of our stop there. We met several really nice folks there and the town seemed very bike friendly. As with most bike friendly towns, bike theft is a problem. Sadly, that is just a given.

Eugene was definitely not the kind of place where you leave your bike unattended without worry. I am very lax about locking up most of the time on tour, but in towns like Eugene it would seem pretty foolish not to use extreme caution. I will never carry a big heavy U lock, but I will also not leave my bike unattended in towns where my radar says the risk is likely to be high.

Fortunately I spend very little time in bigger towns when on tour. On the TA there was only Missoula, Eugene, and Pueblo where I was very worried. Some smaller towns I was extra careful but not to the same extent. On my KC to Santa Fe trip, Santa Fe was the only place that I stopped at where I was very concerned. I never let my bike out of my sight there. It helps that I don't have a huge amount invested in my bike and gear and can afford to replace it all if necessary.

Most of the time in tiny towns I don't even lock up. I do always take my money, ID, electronics, check and credit cards with me. Anyone who leaves that stuff on the bike and unattended is really asking to be ripped off.

avatarworf

No reason to avoid Oregon. You can find bikes stolen in any state or part of the world just about. Oregon has some great scenery. We loved it.

Heck, even in Iran - my all time favourite country and extremely kind people - I have heard of backpacks being snitched off buses and I would lock my bike. Just use common sense and lock stuff up. If you have a lot of important stuff, don't use a cheap cable lock. Throw a D-lock in there too and take all your valuables (passport, money, camera - all in our handlebar bag).

And keep your bike within sight. That's another good reason to use a laptop. You can sit just outside the library with your laptop and keep an eye on the bike!

Bekologist

a u-lock is not heavy when added into the rest of the gear. mount it to your bike and you'll never forget it.

Steve.D

+1 on carrying a U-lock. A cable lock may be okay in a campground or small town. But I would never use a cable lock in any city, anywhere.

BigAura

All locks just slow down thieves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvjp0qGPBi4

gregstandt

We enjoyed our time in Eugene and thought they did a nice job with their bike lanes and most people we met we're friendly and welcoming. Like every other city Eugene is struggling with the problems associated with substance abuse and it's sad when we are personally affected by it.
That being said I would not discourage anyone from visiting Eugene and enjoying the many pleasurable aspects of that city and the great people who are far and away in the majority there.

babysaph38

I had the same thing happen to me in Los Angelas. I was coming out of a convenient store and some maggot was cutting my chain. Fortunatley I had my pistol with me and he didn't get my bike. You could have knocked him over with a feather when I cocked the hammer behind his ear.