ignant666

This afternoon, from in front of Brooklyn Ale House, 103 Berry in Williamsburg:
Black frame, serial # 1060204, extra long seatpost & stem riser, BBB folding stem, Nitto randonneur bars, black tape with white threads, Tektro levers, J-Tek shifter, Nexus 8-speed, MKS road pedals with hand-sewn black leather Velo Orange shoe protectors on MKS large toeclips, black Brooks B17 with deep depression on right side, none on left, small rack on front, Planet Bike fenders with twisted baling wire repair on rear fender. Knogg Frog red light on left rear dropout, bottle cage & small white Planet Bike white light on front riser.
Ironically, Abus armored cable lock looped around seatpost rails, rather than say, locked onto the tree it was leaned on (yes, I know this was why it was stolen, having lived & ridden bikes in NYC for 30+ years; however I'm not as smart as you- please spare me comments as to how it wouldn't have been stolen had i bothered to lock it; thx)
Probably gone forever, but police report filed & hoping some BFer sees it.

Lalato

Ouch! Sounds like a beautiful bike too. Keep an eye out on craigslist and ebay. You might get lucky.

folder fanatic

One thing you will not hear from me is nagging about locking techniques at this sensitive painful time you are going through right now. But please don't run yourself down like that. You are not stupid because you a a lapse of better judgment. It simply means you are human in a city that is inhuman.

vincentnyc

one reason i got a folder and NEVER lock my bike especially in a shark infested bike-thief nyc. the bike goes where ever i go.

djetelina

As you probably know, never use ANY cable device to "secure" any bike that you would rather keep. Bolt cutters will cut said cable like butter, a small pair of wire snips will whittle its way thru in a matter of minutes. Only use a case-hardened security chain w/ monobloc style lock. And be a little proactive and REGISTER & TAG the silly thing using a free BikeRegistry service off the net before it rides off on its own....

Dahon.Steve

A bicycle like the OP had required a New York Chain with an American lock. He had a real nice bike that cost close to 1K if not more. I think everyone here learned something and that's not to use a cable lock on anything but $99.00 dollar rusted department store bike.

I just came back from vacation with my folder and did not even bother bringing a lock with me. I took my Brompton bag with me and if the resturant or store didn't like my bicycle, I walked away.

What a sad story.

EastBiker

OP, sorry about your loss. I will keep an eye out for your bike, who knows we might get lucky, that's a beautiful bike you have there.

OK, NYC inhuman? How so? have you lived here?

wheeldeal

Just curious what the bike was doing outside?

ignant666

To those who replied saying they'd keep an eye out: Thanx.

To the helpful folks (with reading comprehension skills on par with their levels of compassion & irony-detection) who responded with lock sermons: Because (as I said in OP) I am not as smart as you, I leaned my bike up against a tree in front of a bar where I lock it regularly, didn't lock it, & it vanished before I realized I had forgotten to lock it; I was within 10 feet of the bike, but distracted. Had I used the lock, my bike wouldn't be gone. I'm quite aware it was a dumb thing to do. Thanx for pointing it out.

To the very helpful person who said "[b]olt cutters will cut said cable like butter,": Actually, last year, while locked on the corner of 23d & 6th, someone cut through the outer rubber casing with a knife and used some sort of power tool on the steel armor links that surround the cable, cutting a shallow groove. There were no marks on the opposite side of the cable, so I guess they were using a power tool because they didn't have the bolt cutters you mention. I've used that lock to lock my Swift on NYC streets every day for 3 years & will use the same lock again on the new Swift I will be buying in the near future, thanks to insurance. I am able to bring a bike indoors most places I work & use a lock for brief day-time lockups.

bhkyte

is it insured?

ignant666

The lock I didn't use is Sold Secure Bronze rated:
https://www.soldsecure.com/search///centuro-86085.html
It weighs 780 grams & I would actually recommend it highly; had I used it yesterday, this thread wouldn't exist. There certainly are more secure locks (I own several of them), but few as secure & light.
My bike hasn't shown up on craigslist yet.

jayfrmbklyn

Damn that sucks. I live in BK too and will keep an eye out for it on e-bay and c-list. I would be pretty peeved too if my Swift were taken. I hope it all works out. Good luck.

Dynocoaster 

Sorry to hear that your bike was stolen, this came up for sale last night https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/bik/1447471013.html

folder fanatic

I think the lesson learned (or rather reinforced) is....don't bother depending on locks, especially for things (unlike cars & the like) that is not valued by local law enforcement (police, sheriff departments) or taken too seriously, even thought much of at all, by anyone else for that matter. I have experienced the freedom from worry of theft since I got my Boardwalk. I won't trade it for the world now. No expensive, but mostly useless, locks of any type for me anymore. Besides my bags & slipcovers for the bike is ample cover-up to gain access to almost anywhere I care to go (unless it is a high security place like a courthouse) with no second glance as the bike becomes just another piece of luggage.

My sister lived in the Boston area during college and stayed frequently in NYC. I don't think she cared much for the city beyond a tourist interest in it as she is from a vast urban area already. I-and my sister too now-live in a nasty, problematic overpopulated city (Los Angeles area) already. It is just as anonymous and troublesome as any other major urban center is, no more or less. So don't think I am necessarily pointing out New York City itself, I just am rather tired of looking over my shoulder all the time or locking bikes worries. When I am lucky enough to afford to vacation or take a holiday within North America, I prefer to stay away from massive urban areas and have a few days of peace at least. And my ideal place to live is now protected rural areas or even Suburbia as I grow older. When you lose the anonymous, ever changing crowds or populations, generally people seem to behave themselves more. Like not stooping to bike theft.

When you visit any strange city, I noticed that people stick to the beautified "tourist traps" (like Hollywood tours here), and/or the civic business areas, and really avoid the "real city" (East LA & South Central LA anyone?) itself. That is another reason why I see little or no point in visiting a large city in North America unless business warrants it.

vincentnyc

^^^ if that is really the bike thieve. give him a nice beat down after u confirm it is ur stolen bike.

ignant666

Yeah, I saw the new listing on craigslist today & was like AHA!
Sadly, not my bike. I have some (1%?) slim hope that it may be recovered just because it's such a rare bike, but this is most likely because I'm still in the denial stage of the grieving process.
Thanx to all for looking out.

kraftwerk 

Just wondering does your homeowners /renters insurance cover this type of thing?

Will keep my eye out for that bike . I live around there..

jayfromqns

Sorry to hear that, sounds like it was a nice bike.

ignant666

A sort of happy ending to the story:

I've been checking craigslist for my bike. 3 days before it was stolen, someone listed a Swift for a very reasonable price. It turns out to have been one of the first steel frames made (according to the owner's recollection; he bought it 10-11 years ago). It's set up with a Nexus 7 speed hub with roller brake & very cool fenders that look like they will be much less breakage-prone than the Planet Bike ones. It's in pretty much immaculate shape. I'll be swapping out a bunch of parts for fit & personal preferences, but I'm pretty happy & the healing process has begun.

Still keeping an eye out for my old bike & yes, to those who asked, there is some possibility I'll get some of the loss back in insurance.

geo8rge

FWIW when I was emailing craigslist posters on how their bikes were stolen, one large category was bike chained to itself(not an immovable object), along with front or rear wheel chained to post(frame left unchained).

I lost a bike by chaining the front wheel. Various time I have returned to find by bike chained to itself, or the tumblers if the combination lock set to the correct combination.

Using 2 locks even if one is a cheapy cable might solve the problem in exchange for extra hassle and cost of a lock. The Sheldon Brown locking technique might also reduce the chance of a screw up.