Good luck with that!

Thanks! That's really instructive.

a- if i had more evidence than a suspicion and lack of other suspects...
b- if that wouldn't create unwanted friction between him and the tenant that i do volunteer work with.

if i had evidence, that i could present in court, that it was him, then i'd plough through (b) and let the chips fall where they may. as a purely practical matter, i need something more solid than "i can't think of anyone else who would've gone through the trouble" before taking it to a disputes tribunal (small-claims court).

edit: i don't even have hearsay or circumstantial evidence that it was him.

I'd bet someone complained. a chain wrapped around a rack makes it harder to use, sometimes much harder to use. Annoy another user of the rack, they're going to complain, and the property manager might cut them off. Now, of course, he knows who the guy who leaves stuff locked to his rack is...

unlikely. there are 3 commercial tenants in the building, and only one of them attracts people with bikes; that's where i go. my contact would've been the first to hear any complaints; if it's a complaint that she's unable to resolve, then she'd be the one raising the issue with the landlord/pm. the other tenants didn't know anything about it, other than telling me how looney and stingy the landlord/pm is.

anyway... the racks are big enough to make the locks look small; no one could reasonably complain that the locks were in the way of anything, especially with a 2nd rack right there.

i still think the landlord/pm just got tired of seeing them there, never saw a bike locked-up during the day, and assumed they were abandoned. if that's the case, then he screwed up by not talking to any of the tenants first, and he's lying to cover his ass. that's where i'd put 10-1 odds.

I'm truly sorry your locks were taken.

I show you a video of an 8mm security chain being snipped, and you reply that won't work against your U-lock. I refer you to an article explaining how straightforward it is to jack a U-lock apart and you reply that won't work against a security chain.

If you personally want to believe it takes hours to defeat bicycle security, that's fine - but I do not wish to see anyone else misled. There is ample, easily researchable evidence to the contrary.

is it more likely that someone did the job with multiple tools? or just one tool?

maybe someone used a bolt-cutter to bust the chain, after sliding it down to the ground.

maybe someone busted the M18 with a jack, but i'm not sure a jack would work on an M18... arguments against it are 18mm of Kryptonium™ steel held to a crossbar with two bolts, while the lock is attached to a vertical pole; if the lock was not on a vertical pole, more leverage could be applied to the jack-handle. arguments for it are plenty of room to get a jack inside the U, and a long shackle that may be vulnerable to a jack when it's not "stuffed". even then... if the shackle bends instead of snaps, it's going to be a real time-consuming PITA to bust it using that method. for locks that are smaller, poorly made and/or not properly hardened, or locks that only have a single bolt holding the shackle to the crossbar, a jack is a viable means of attack. i'm confident that a screw-jack would NOT bust it. a hydraulic jack vs M18... i'm not so sure.

i'm just saying that the only tool that's likely to bust both locks in a reasonable amount of time, without leaving slag or blast damage, is an AC powered angle grinder. a gas/petrol angle-grinder could also do it, quicker, but that's a less common tool.

A battery powered angle grinder would do the job in five minutes, including the time to put a cutting disk in. A corded one would take less time. Neither are particularly exotic tools.

Sorry, dude, but you abandoned your locks on someone else's property. You shouldn't be surprised they're not there when you came back.

i think 5 minutes with an AC grinder to get through an M18 is a an optimistic estimate. we're talking about two cuts through the shackle. that's likely to consume (at least) one disc per cut.

thanks for your sympathy...

first of all, "abandoned" is not consistent with "being used several times per week". if you want to determine if locks are abandoned, put some tape over the key-hole. check back a few weeks later. if the tape is gone, the locks are NOT abandoned.

saying the locks were "abandoned" is the logic of a bike-thief who rationalizes their theft by saying "someone just left a bike here. no one's sitting on it, so it's obviously abandoned." yeah, that's a common excuse when bike thieves are caught, and it's just as sociopathic when you apply the same logic to locks on a rack.

since the locks were (a) not in anyone's way, (b) no one complained to any of the tenants, (c) the landlord/pm claims to not know anything about it, it's odd.

add to the above the simple fact that it is, for all practical purposes, (d) impossible to remove an M18 without destroying it; so theft (in and of itself) isn't likely to be the simple answer - even if someone wanted to destroy the padlock and steal the chain, the M18 should still be there.

i actually AM a bit surprised. especially in a city where i've seen locks that have been really abandoned for years, tied up to racks, parking meters, signs, etc.

of course, the landlord/pm now says that he would've checked with the tenants before removing any locks... well, no ****, that'd be the Right Thing To Do™.

@dscheidt - also... if the locks were left on someone's mailbox, or water-line, etc... then i wouldn't be suprised to find them gone. but they were attached to a bike rack. that's an object that's designed, installed, and maintained for the sole purpose of attaching bike locks to.

it'd be hard for anyone to say the locks didn't belong there... but the landlord/pm (suspect#1) simply denies that he removed the locks, or knows anything about it.

Watch these, just about any lock that is light enough to carry on a bike is next to useless against a pro thief

Would depend on local law. But other than that, it could be perceived as lazy not to take the lock with you, and it could be perceived as rude that you are using the lock to lay claim to a rack that is public. Either way you are not going to get as much sympathy as if it were your bike, which is important in small matters like this. If the cops or insurance company don't care about you then it's harder to get service from them.

i'm well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the locks... i just wasn't expecting a "pro thief" to grab the locks, while the bike was NOT there.

FWIW, an angle-grinder (common tool of "pro" bike-thieves) will cut through an all-max chain just as quickly as an M18. most people would consider an all-max chain to be too heavy to carry on a bike.