idiotekniQues

I live in JC near a PATH station and would never leave my bike, or any bike, overnight in the city. Except maybe a real crappy beater as an experiment like you are about to do. Unless you opt for the parking garage of course.

But if you want to experiment I'd be more than happy to follow along and see what happens

And Hoboken sucks. Their parking infraction policies are atrocious. Up until recently they would give a boot even upon a first violation. Insane.

jade408

I use bikelink in the Bay Area. It is great. Depending on locker location you can leave your bike anywhere from 3-14 days at a time. I feel safe leaving my bike.

CliffordK

That would be ambitious to take the hubs with you

Most people would just settle for the skewers.

As far as thieves bringing their own parts... probably not, but a skewer isn't needed to pack off a wheel.

If you're going for the beater, then just get bolt on wheels and carry a 15mm wrench or adjustable wrench for you for flats. Still protecting the seat might be good, or you could use a torn up seat so it isn't a high risk target, and chain it down. It doesn't take long for an improperly locked beater MTB to get stripped. So, I wouldn't keep my hopes up too high. Maybe a $20 bike plus $200 worth of locks?

HvPnyrs

I remember a thread from a - couple?/3 - years ago or so.
An Engineering Professional, was seeking advice on improving braking performance on his NEW big box store Schwinn hybrids.

Turns out he had purchased a PAIR.
One to be Stationed/Stored near each side of the - HUDSON? - for his Commute Into and back home from The BIG APPLE.
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noglider 

@djordan, Citibank does not run the bike share concession. They infused a pile of cash in the beginning in order to have their name pasted on the bikes, but they are not involved any more. With that said, it's fair to criticize the city for allowing only one company to have the advantages that Citi Bike LLC enjoys, especially the free real estate.

I see what happens to bikes left overnight. It's not pretty. The English 3-speeds and the Dutch style bikes are messed with less than all the others. The difference is very big, bigger than I can explain. You'll be surprised how much an old English 3-speed in good condition costs, but considering they can give good service and not be stolen, they are just about ideal.

If you're going to use it every day, you could at least lock it in a different place each evening so the thieves don't think it's unattended for the long term. This will help a little.

noglider 

The sponsorship doesn't reduce the public funding for Citi Bike, because there is no public funding (in dollars) for Citi Bike. The only things from the city are the grants of space.

idiotekniQues

oh OP, please keep us updated!

djordan

Hmm... wondering what transit mode he was using to get into the city. Could have been a bus to Port Authority, but might also have been train into Penn Station, or even the PATH train that runs on 6th Ave. Also wondering how many months, weeks or perhaps just days his shiny new Schwinn lasted overnight in NYC. (or maybe he wasn't a cheapskate like me and had a place to lock it up properly).

djordan

I think you've nailed the ideal specification for the "left for dead in the city overnight - commuter". I was actually looking at some of the three speeds jobs earlier today... and this will help me stay on target. (Problem here is that Craigslist - especially this time of year - has lots of really nice and cheap bikes - like vintage Peugeot's and Motobecane road bikes - that I'd enjoy riding and know how to maintain...). But I can see that they're all MUCH more likely to be stolen. AND they are sexier bikes with parts in all the right places... which means they are MUCH more vulnerable to being molested.

So I'll have to restrain my lust for the hot bike and go for the boring bike.

djordan

I admit that I don't know that much about the dealings with Citi Bike - so I'll give my rant about the evils of the corporatocracy a rest.

vol

I have the impression that Kryptonite's anti-theft guarantee excludes New York.

noglider 

There is actually a lot to like about English 3-speeds. Many of us here have affection for them. Many of us have to own at least one even though we don't ride them often. I keep mine in Florida for my once-a-year visit to my mother in law. There is a thread here in C&V called "For the love of English 3-speeds." It's too much to read from the beginning, but you can hop on in at the end. It's quite busy.

How tall are you? There is an abandoned tall 3-speed in my building.

I'm on your side when it comes to opposing corporatocracy, and I think Citibank is ugly in the way it gets its name all over for a one-time infusion of cash. But the Citi Bike operation is stranger than fiction. In order to get it approved, the city promised it wouldn't use public money. It's clear enough to me that the program is good for many people in the city, including lots of people who don't use it. Cyclists reduce traffic congestion in general, and that's just one example. So maybe the public will eventually see it's something that justifies public money. My view is that they must be hanging on by a thread even with all their success. The annual membership fee is only $150, which seems much too low, even though it went up from $100. If you use it moderately, it's an insanely good value, and if you use it heavily, well, wow, you save hundreds or thousands compared with the subway. If it doesn't eventually get public funding it could fail all because they kept the fee too low. I'd like to see them raise it to something reasonable and give discounts to low income people.

CrankyOne

There was a great article, I think in The Atlantic, about a year before CitiBike launched about how it all came together. The Citi part went something like this... Their sponsorship began with a sr exec who rides a bicycle to work and proposed their involvement. Many in their internal PR group and external ad agency were against it because the general population was believed to hate cyclists so much they thought it could be a huge negative. At one point there was consideration that Citi would sponsor it but without any publicity. The CEO apparently stated that he thought bicycling good for people and good for NYC and regardless of what people thought that Citi should be proud to put their name on the bikes.

OP's plan is a good one and quite common in northern Europe and Switzerland where every train station has a safe bicycle parking facility, often indoors. A bit more difficult in NYC. I thought the suggestion above of renting space in a local facility a good one. If it were me I'd buy a Workcycles Opafiets and rent space to store it overnight and weekends. City Bikes | LocalMile

Using Citibike isn't a bad option though and I'd support Citibike over any other transportation option except walking.

And on a completely different note... Not so sure about this new look of noglider :-)

I-Like-To-Bike

Renting a space in NYC, especially Manhattan, near the train or bus terminals, to store it overnight and weekends I suspect would involve a yearly outlay far greater than the cost of several very expensive bikes or dozens of BigBox store bikes.

StarBiker

Boy am I glad I am not in NYC. Especially New Jersey.

CrankyOne

Ranges from $25/mo to $90/mo

https://www.transalt.org/garages

sbpark

I used to live in Hoboken and worked in mid-town manhattan and Jersey City. This was back in 1997-2005. I was a bike messenger in MYC, then worked at a recording studio in midtown, and then was in nursing school in Jersey City and worked on an ambulance in Jersey City while in school, so I know/new the area well.

Believe it or not, when I was a messenger I would bring my bike on the PATH train, but it sucked because I'd have to go in after rush hour (no bikes were allowed during rush hour in the AM) and would either have to come back to Hoboken before rush hour or after rush hour since I had my bike, which greatly limited the hours I could work. I was lucky enough to be splitting $500/month for a railroad style apartment way back by the projects in Hoboken with my brother, so $250/each. As a bike messenger I had one bike stolen, and that was with a square chain lock, and was in the building for only a few minutes. My guess though is I loved it incorrectly or forgot to check the pole/structure I locked it to, etc. (many times you'd find a pole or structure that could be easily lifted from the ground, making walking away with the bike pretty easy, and the thief could carry the bike away and deal with getting the lock off later).

With all this said, there is absolutely no way I'd leave a bike locked up anywhere outside in Manhattan. It's not a question of will you're bike get stolen or vandalized, it's more a matter of when will it get stolen or vandalized. How may times have you seen a stripped down, beat to heck bike frame locked to a street sign or bike race that looks like it was picked apart like an animal carcass after a pack of wolves had their way with it?!

I-Like-To-Bike

Actually a range $25 to $206 month, Any idea what the difference might be in service, such as weekend or night time access, ease and convenience of access, proximity to train or bus terminals, availability to the general public, security, etc. to justify such a range in prices? Neither Transportation Alternatives nor the NYCity DOT web sites provide much information on available indoor parking open to the general public, especially for overnight parking or storage.

idiotekniQues

living in North East Jersey is amazing. Minutes to the greatest city in the country, and possibly the planet - full of culture and parks and food and art of all kinds - not to mention some amazing bike infrastructure and riding. Less than an hour south of me are beaches and north of me you start hitting plenty of state parks starting in Jersey and going into New York State. An hour and a half west is the Delaware Water Gap and all it's natural activities.

just don't leave your bike out overnight.