Touching someone else's bike
 

I was walking through the parking lot at lunch and saw a bike in the bike rack with its LED headlight turned on. My first instinct was to go over and turn it off, but then I wondered if the owner would like some stranger touching their bike, even if it was just turning off a headlight. I ended up telling a security guard the light was on and he was going to try to notify the owner.

Would you have turned off the light or left it? It might not seem like a big deal to leave it on, unless the person was depending on the light to help get them home after work.

I would have turned it off. Would Be grateful for someone to do the same for mine.

I wouldn't touch someone's bike other than maybe turning a light off.

I agree, I would shut the light off. I have also adjusted bikes chained adjacent to mine so they don't become too wobbly.

Kinda hard to say what's right or wrong. On one hand, it is personal property and similar to seeing someone left their headlight on in their car, motorcycle or moped, it would be proper to not touch it. On the flip side, some Hi power lights can result in serious heat damage if left on and you will do them a favor by turning it off for them.

It will depend on the surrounding. In a good area of low crime, I probably will turn it off. In shady area, I just as well treat it as hands off personal property.

Would be the right thing to turn it off.
(If they really cared about their stuff, they wouldn't leave the light on the bike.)

Sometimes one needs a fast run to the rest room.

If nobody is around I would just turn it off. If there are people in the area I might ask if they knew who's bike it was or something.

In the small rural town I grew u pin if someone left their lights on in their car you just opened the door reached in and turned them off. I would never do that here. LOL

It was in my workplace parking lot and there were other people walking around, which is another reason why I felt kind of funny about poking around the light to turn it off.

It's a pretty safe parking lot, I don't remove my lights or Cateye bike computer when I park my bike there.

This thread sounded hot, but it disappointed!

X2! Just turn it off. I often went out to my bike and found others turning them on. Had to fashion a quick removal system for them.

Turn it off. I do the same.

Heck, about a month ago I tried to turn off the headlights that someone left on in their car! I ended up not doing so because an alarm went off when I opened the door. I ended up heading calmly inside to let the DJ know so he could make an announcement that no one will listen to (thats the reason I tried to do it myself). On the way in some bike patrol pulled up and asked what happened. I told them I tried to turn the lights off and the alarm sounded so I was going to go inside. I then offered my license and contact info. They said it wasnt a big deal and let me pass. Circumstance kept me in the parking lot an additional 20 minutes and I noticed no one had gone out to turn them off.

Even though it's a bit of a grey area due to privacy/private property concerns, given the fact that the owner's batteries are wasting away I think this falls under the golden rule category--do unto others what you want them to do to you.

I would turn it off. Unless there was a post-it note on it asking me not to because the owner was testing his battery life. My cousin has a ranch, way out in the country. His wife wanted to start locking the doors on their house. He said "Don't do that. What if someone's car breaks down on our road and they need to come in and use the phone?" I wish we could all live like that.

ALWAYS TURN IT OFF, i left both my lights on over night :(

I'd turn it off.

If I was concerned about looking 'wrong' I might tell a bystander what I was doing, or video myself doing it with my phone.

Yeah, I'd say turn off the light. I've done it here in the bike parking area of the basement of my org's building. I know the bike owner, so I told her I'd turned it off for her, and she thanked me. I'd want someone to turn mine off. As someone else, said, golden rule...

if it were a light i would turn it off. there is a small chance they were leaving it on to check longevity of the battery but I would assume theyd do that at their desk, unless they were testing it in the non-room temp conditions... :)

There have been a few times when I've thought about following people to their destination and then oiling their chain for them when they went inside. Would that be too invasive, or does that also come under Good Samaritan category?

You can touch my bike anytime...as long as you do it in French!

Touch them all, maybe rub some baby oil on them.

Turn it off. I would rather someone chew me out for having done so than for them to have to ride a bike at night time without a light.

I would turn it off, and hope that someone would do the same for me.

Assuming that it was a battery light, I would have turned it off. My dynamo light has a standlight function, so it stays on for ~7 minutes after I stop. I actually had one of my coworkers tell me the other night that I forgot to turn off one of my lights on my bicycle, it was my dynamo light that was on. I thanked them, for their concern.

Other than that situation, I am very hands off around other people's bikes.

Where I grew up, you locked the front door to show that you weren't home and you left the back door unlocked--in case someone needed to get in. Wish we still lived in that world, it was much better.

Car; not these days, many cars have automatic headlights with delay and auto locking. My car shuts the lights off and locks the doors after the delay.

Bike light; I'd turn it off.

If its in your business' parking lot I would have turned it off. In a shady area I would have left it alone.

Standlights, on Hub Dynamo bike light setups, are like modern cars,
somewhat, you have a charged capacitor
to keep the light on, stopping at intersections.

If its obviously a battery light I'd turn it off, certainly..

I would turn it off.

Ha i left my light on again today, but someone nice turned my headlight off. THANK YOU

Hahaha, if you're touching somebody's bicycle and it is to turn off - you're doing it wrong! You must do it, ducimo... slowly!