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Lock bike or not?

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Old 09-02-13 | 04:38 AM
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vol
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Lock bike or not?

Do any of you keep your bike right where you work, like your office? If so, do you lock the bike?
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Old 09-02-13 | 04:51 AM
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If you think you co-workers will steal it, lock it. If not don't.

When I commute to work I keep it under a covered storage area where they store brake parts for trains, chains, misc. equipment and a utility vehicle. There is no place to lock it there, and also my workplace parking lot is teeming with cameras. So even if it does get stolen I can tell a foreman to review the camera footage.
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Old 09-02-13 | 04:55 AM
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If your door is locked when you leave maybe, but I would still feel better if it was locked up anyway.

I don't but I'm the boss and my door is always locked and the bike rests in front of my desk were my eyes are always on it.

Last edited by tim24k; 09-02-13 at 04:58 AM.
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Old 09-02-13 | 05:43 AM
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I live in a country where the top crime is bike theft, so I lock my bike when I go anywhere. I'm a teacher actually, so when I bike to school, I simply bring my bike into the school's building and I don't lock it.
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Old 09-02-13 | 06:48 AM
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Where I live I'm just not worried about it. I not only don't lock at work, I don't lock when I leave it in front of grocery stores, Lowes, etc. I don't even really know where my lock is right now.
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Old 09-02-13 | 07:15 AM
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Originally Posted by ItsJustMe
Where I live I'm just not worried about it. I not only don't lock at work, I don't lock when I leave it in front of grocery stores, Lowes, etc. I don't even really know where my lock is right now.
Welcome to my world, I am not really sure where my locks (I have three of them, a U-lock, a cable w/a padlock, and a hardened square link chain w/a mini u-lock) are.

I got them when I got my bike, then found out that around here, they weren't needed.
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Old 09-02-13 | 08:07 AM
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Originally Posted by ItsJustMe
Where I live I'm just not worried about it. I not only don't lock at work, I don't lock when I leave it in front of grocery stores, Lowes, etc. I don't even really know where my lock is right now.
You obviously don't live in Detroit or Flint.

On holladay last year I went to province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Nobody locked up anything. All the province was like that from what I could see. Very refreshing!

Last edited by tim24k; 09-02-13 at 08:18 AM.
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Old 09-02-13 | 10:05 AM
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professional bike thiefs will get your bike if it is worth it and they want it. But the real worry comes from young and homeless people who will just jump on an unlocked bike to get somewhere when they are walking.

I always lock my bike, mostly i dont want to get stranded without a way to get back home. I have about 15 riders,,,if somone asked me for a bike I would give it to them and have given away about 50 bikes.
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Old 09-02-13 | 12:03 PM
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At work I always bring mine into my office. I trust the guys that work there but there are so many other people coming and going it's just safer, even if not for stealing but getting knocked over, etc. Anywhere else, I don't even lock my nice bike up, it comes in with me or I ride my old crappier bike if it's going to be locked up outside. This was a good idea since my crappy bike had its lock cut and was stolen while I was at dinner a few weeks ago. Now I really won't lock up my nice bike anywhere!!!
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Old 09-02-13 | 12:09 PM
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The Brompton Can come in, since it Folds ..
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Old 09-02-13 | 02:22 PM
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Originally Posted by tim24k
You obviously don't live in Detroit or Flint.
Nope, I'm about 40 minutes from Detroit.

My house hasn't been locked in years either. If I had to lock it, I'd have to pull a bunch of old keys off the wall in the laundry room and figure out if one of them fits the door.

My point is, it's kind of pointless asking on a forum such as this whether people lock their bike or not, unless they can get someone who works in the same building as they do, the advice will probably be useless.
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Old 09-02-13 | 02:33 PM
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I keep mine unlocked in the middle of our sound equipment warehouse, but I remove all valuables from the panniers. It's not that we've got thieves roaming around here, but you never know who is going to wander in from outside.
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Old 09-02-13 | 02:37 PM
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My bike stands in the corner of my work area, out of the way; it's securely locked by the trepidation the rest of my co-workers have about dealing with me (I was described as "hard to approach" on an annual evaluation recently, LOL).
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Old 09-02-13 | 03:34 PM
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I have great co-workers, so it's not about them, but rather, the door is sometimes left open even when no one is inside. People who are around and passing the door are mostly co-workers, too, but sometimes there are strangers from outside or part time maintenance workers that we aren't familiar with. I don't want to make my co-workers feel I don't trust them by locking the bike, but OTOH I don't want to fall victim and lose my means of transportation. I'm tired of asking co-workers to close and lock the door when they leave.
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Old 09-02-13 | 04:54 PM
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Originally Posted by ItsJustMe
Nope, I'm about 40 minutes from Detroit.

My house hasn't been locked in years either. If I had to lock it, I'd have to pull a bunch of old keys off the wall in the laundry room and figure out if one of them fits the door.
That is great. How big of town/city do you live in?

Here in Vancouver, Wa we are the third largest city in the state with a bum on every major corner, holding up a sign wanting money, smoking a cigarette, many with their dog at their side. A lot of them in their twenties and thirties. But it's not as bad as Portland, OR. The wife and I rode along the waterfront, I counted 38 bums on the east side under the Marquam bridge and 68 on the west side sleeping or passed out in the park.
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Old 09-02-13 | 04:55 PM
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I lock my bikes when I'm at home with them in the garage.
LOCK IT.
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Old 09-02-13 | 04:56 PM
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Bike lives in my office at work... I love my work..
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Old 09-02-13 | 05:00 PM
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When I ride to work, I keep my bike in my office and don't lock it. I used to leave it in a locked, empty lab room, but a lot of folks have keys to that, so I locked it there. But carrying a lock is a pain, so I decided keeping it in the office was easier.
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Old 09-02-13 | 05:10 PM
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Originally Posted by tim24k
That is great. How big of town/city do you live in?

Here in Vancouver, Wa we are the third largest city in the state with a bum on every major corner, holding up a sign wanting money, smoking a cigarette, many with their dog at their side. A lot of them in their twenties and thirties. But it's not as bad as Portland, OR. The wife and I rode along the waterfront, I counted 38 bums on the east side under the Marquam bridge and 68 on the west side sleeping or passed out in the park.
Thought they were supposed to be called "the homeless." Anyway, I work in an area that has public housing mixed in with an otherwise nice historic town. The other day I caught a young guy trying to steal my gloves that were drying on my handlebars. Seriously, sweaty bike gloves. My bike is triple locked.
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Old 09-02-13 | 07:54 PM
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At my last job, my bike was parked by the cargo door of the TV studio. It wouldn't have been too difficult for a stranger to snag it if they happened to walk by when the door was up. But I wasn't too worried. The door was usually shut unless someone was actively loading or unloading something and the State Police headquarters were about 20 feet away.
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Old 09-03-13 | 06:07 AM
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There are cameras where my bike is locked that could be checked to see who took it if something happened to it, yet I feel better locking it so I do.
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Old 09-03-13 | 06:14 AM
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Originally Posted by tim24k
That is great. How big of town/city do you live in?

Here in Vancouver, Wa we are the third largest city in the state with a bum on every major corner, holding up a sign wanting money, smoking a cigarette, many with their dog at their side. A lot of them in their twenties and thirties. But it's not as bad as Portland, OR. The wife and I rode along the waterfront, I counted 38 bums on the east side under the Marquam bridge and 68 on the west side sleeping or passed out in the park.
I CHOOSE to live in an area like this. 5000 people in this town. I could have been making a lot more money if I'd agreed to live in a more crime-ridden area.
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Old 09-03-13 | 06:16 AM
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I lock the frame+rear wheel. I doubt it would be stolen, but the lock discourages the casual thief (especially since my office is right on the walking route from the local high school). Anyone could come by and use the quick-release to steal the front wheel, or use the allen key in the seat bag to steal the seat, or unhook the rear blinky from the rack, etc.
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Old 09-03-13 | 07:14 AM
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I don't lock my bike, it's more about being forgetful than purposely not locking. I work at a suburbon office bldg - not much crime around, so I never really worried about it in the first place.

I use to lock it up, then one day I realized I forgot the key, so I couldn't lock it, and it took about 2 weeks to find the key, and in that time, I wasn't carrying the lock because - well I couldn't use it . so when I did find the key I then was forgetting to bring the lock. so Now it's been like 6 weeks with no locking.
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Old 09-03-13 | 07:21 AM
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At work my bike is parked in a storage room. No, I don't lock it there.
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