Originally Posted by bici_mania

I was the one snapping photos. I work next to a university and a hospital and there are bikes everywhere and sometimes my own bike is among them. On breaks, at lunch or when there is a lull in the work flow I often wander about checking bikes out, sometimes laughing, sometimes drooling. It is a habit that I have had for the last ten years and it has not once been an issue until this week and I have hundreds of photos that I have snapped all over town. Sometimes with the owners in the shot, other times not. It had not ever occurred to me that anyone would take offense, in my experience the general mood among fellow cyclists is one of camaraderie. Of the bikes I took pictures of when the cyclists were around, all of them were thrilled that I was so impressed with their bikes and on occasion they have in turned snapped pictures of my bike.

Socially, I am not exactly adept it is not unusual for me to completely misread a social situation. Still, I was none the less caught completely off guard yesterday afternoon. I saw black Raleigh that looked like a 70's something and walked over. There was no one within 20 feet of the bike rack. I hadn't had time to get a good look at it but it appeared to be in pristine condition and I noticed "Nottingham" on the Raleigh head badge so I pulled out my phone, never touched the bike, but zoomed in on the head badge and snapped an a picture. I walked around to the other side and started to line up a shot and this guy comes running over yelling at me.

I explained what I was doing, showed him pictures of my own bikes, but he was convinced I was a bike thief. The police came, they ran my license, I explained everything to them twice, let him see me delete the pictures of his bike and was then let go. The police suggested I not do that any more. It was quite humiliating.