pubb

It scares me to think of how easily I would lose my mind trying to protect a few hundred dollars in property. But the thing is, I would because it is mine, and I protect my property as I would protect my own life.

DallasSoxFan

+1.

And I'm a 6'2" 220# guy who was a bouncer in New Orleans during college. I'm not afraid of confrontation.

Seriously, its just a bike. No reason to get all billy badass over it.

poopisnotfood

These guys have the right idea.

AlmostTrick

As long as we're pretend fighting, we might as well consider pretend u-lockin' his ankle to the post while he's down. That'll teach him!

corkscrew

Only one thing to do...

Schnayke

A guy was trying to steal my bike out of my garage awhile back, in the middle of the night.
I got up walked out there with my mag light in my underwear, and turned on the light for him.
Asked "Does that help?" He was stuck in a small ally way between my truck and the wall, and had to walk out past me.
I stood there in a way he couldn't get out and asked what he was doing. he said he was trying to fix one of my neighbors bikes. lol

I told him to get the **** out of my sight before I killed him, But didn't move to let him out. Seeing him scramble over the side of my truck, and then tripping him as he ran off was fun,
but not what I wanted to do at 2 am. Funny thing is I live in a small town, and I made his life suck for quit awhile. I can't really go into that stuff.

lambo_vt

Post of the year material right here.

ghettocruiser

Depending on which bike, maybe nothing.

chipcom 

reminds me of a friend's Vega when we were kids. We left the POS running, unlocked, overnight, in one of the highest auto-theft neighborhoods in Cleveland...and the next morning the POS was still there, out of gas, but otherwise untouched.

coolio

My bike is protected by Sigg...the water bottle company!

ghettocruiser

I think I had a discussion here a few years back about the ethics of theft-based disposal.

Put my old Trek BMX out for the taking a few weeks ago, so the remaining stable is more valued.

Unless someone is out to score a circa 1999 lightweight aluminum road bike (frame and fork only) that *LOOKS* just fine.

alfonsol

Happened to me once. I went after him with a golf club in my underwear. He gave the bike back.

Happened to me again! I bum-rushed him from behind and put him over the bike rack.

Generally I don't think I have that sort of thing in me, but you'd be incredibly surprised that switch that flips when you see someone trying to steal your bike.

//I've had 3 bikes stolen from me at ages 10, 19 and 26. It never get's easier =-(

neil

Well, in theory I would attempt to restrain them until the police arrived. I'm not a very violent person, so I'm not really up for kicking, nor am I all that interested in dealing with assault charges.

In reality...I've caught a thief red-handed before. Not a bike thief, just a clearly well practiced distract-and-grab team who grabbed my backpack from under my chair. I settled for running very quickly to recover the bag before it ran off. In the heat of the moment, there was no thought of restraining them, or even hurting them. Just of recovering my property. By the time my mind was sufficiently out of crisis mode to think that maybe I should have restrained the one that I caught, they were long gone.

Stray8

I think that one of the quickest ways to incapacitate someone who is intent on stealing your bike is to come up behind them and garrote them with a strong thin cable or rope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrote


.

lambo_vt

I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

AdamDZ

Well, from I've been told most bike thieves would run away if spotted to avoid confrontation. Most thieves are cowards. If he didn't cut/hack my lock yet I would just make some noise and try to make him go. But if he already had my bike I would probably try to kick him in sensitive area. I'm not mucho and I hate fighting but my legs are strong and I'm relatively flexible so a couple of kicks would go a long way.

Adam

PS.: As a fair warning you may get one of these on eBay:

corkscrew

I knew I carried that old bit of shifter cable in my pocket for a reason!

colleen c

Very interesting response indeed, but too bad I cannot apply them in my situation. First off, most reply was spoken from a male POV. If I try any force what so ever, most likely more harm will be done to me. If anything I'll have to find a man who is near by abd ask for his assistant if he is willing. There is option #2. I do carry a pepper spray and a million volt stun baton with me when I ride just for safety purpose and for deterent against dog. I guess at worst, I will fire off the stun gun at a distant as a warning and spray the thief if he still persist.

So in my shoe of a female gender, any better suggestion for me beside beating the crap out of them?

Pinyon

The sane/real-life approach would just to yell at them, loudly stating that it is your bike. If other people are around, the unwanted attention will make them go away fast. If you have a cell phone that can take their picture, then take a picture of their face and send it to your home/spouse's email account (I have a function saved on my cell phone that allows me to push shift/1/send, and it goes right out).

I'm actually surprised that so many people have actually gotten physical (clifton?). Things become very unpredictable when things get physical. Maybe that bike thief has a knife or pistol? Maybe they will be the one-in-a-million test-case that dies of a blood clot after you smack them in the head with a helmet? Jeesh people. Use your noggins.

neil

Real world solution is to let them know that that's your bike. The vast majority of bike thieves have no desire for confrontation and will run away. Police don't give a damn about bike theft, while they will put investigative effort into assault. Most thieves are minor criminals who will only get arrested if they're unlucky enough to get caught in the act, and have no desire to actually be the subject of an investigation.

While having your pepper spray ready is a reasonable precaution, it's not likely to turn physical if you don't start it.

chipcom 

BRUNO, COME QUICK, THERE'S SOME ******* TRYING TO STEAL MY BIKE AGAIN!

PLEASE DON'T HURT HIM LIKE YOU DID THE LAST ONE...REMEMBER, YOU'RE ON PAROLE!

in your loudest voice.

RVD72

i know the chances are slim but what if the guy is just making an honest mistake? he thinks your bike is his (his is locked up at the next fence over) and you have the same U lock so he's fiddling with the lock with his key but it obviously isn't working. so he's spending a lot of time there fiddling with it but not trying to steal anything.

i think some of us have probably walked up to a car thinking it's ours only to find our car a few cars over, etc.

RVD.

lil brown bat

I'm not even a little bit surprised that so many people say they have actually gotten physical. This is the internet, where a 40something computer dork looks just like Jet Li.

CB HI

Get serious, I have never, ever seen another bike that looked just like mine, locked up near mine, with the same type lock and locked in the same manner as I lock my bike.

Are you really trying to say you have mistaken others bikes as yours?

Are you sure you are not a bike thief, just trying to convince us not to kick your ass when we catch you?

tjspiel

40 something computer dork - check

Looks just like Jet Li - does he wear loud green and blue tri-suits?