folder fanatic

While browsing Google.for another bike story, I came across this article on local (to me) bike theft:

https://www.theeastsiderla.com/2010/01/bike-owners-pay-the-price-of-fixie-fixation/

The title suggests that this is mainly about the fixie craze and how some young poorer youths turn to petty crime to get theirs’. But if you read closer, you will identify the same underlying current found anywhere that is plaguing the blossoming bike community:

“....Echo Park resident and rider Stephen Roullier said that it would make sense that bike theft would be focused in places like Echo Park, Silver Lake and downtown Los Angeles. “These areas were the ‘ground zero’ for the urban cycling boom that we’re seeing now, so maybe there’s some logic to these areas becoming the hotbed of bike thefts,” said Roullier via email. “Just in the Echo Park area alone, I know cyclists that have been victims of theft at the Library, Masa, Two Boots and Barragan’s. Even if the entire bike isn’t stolen, wheels often are, but in addition pedals, saddles and lights are vulnerable, too.”
Some bike enthusiasts fear that the spike in bike crime could dampen the growing enthusiasm for urban biking across Los Angeles. Forrest, who does not own a car, said he’s taken a cab instead of his bike to nightspots for fear that his bike will be stolen. He also worries what will happen to sales at Echo Park Cycles and other bike shops if customers keep losing bikes to thieves. “They will be less inclined to buy another bike,” Forrest said.....”

The main point here is the have-nots (in this case, the poor youths which always populate these parts of the city), know how easy it is to steal a bike and nothing is done if in the very unlikely event of being caught-even in the act!

While there are very good grassroots programs offered that might slow down or even stop some of these people (see: Bicycle Kitchen https://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=7378634) and the other part of this article:

“....In an effort to combat bike thefts, Echo Park Cycles started offering young riders the opportunity to help out at the store in exchange for parts. Late last year, the shop also hosted a meeting to explore ideas to fight bike theft. About 20 riders, in addition to police, showed up. One idea that was floated was the creation of a website where bike owners could post photos and information about stolen property. A subsequent meeting was held a few weeks later but nothing has come of it.

While there are a lot of complaints about bike theft, few owners apparently take the time or trouble to record bike serial numbers or take photos of their property – two items that can help police...”

The grassroots organizations cannot solve the upswing in waving nice things these youths cannot afford constantly in their faces. This leads itself into more problems resulting in crime, even murder: https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/08/15-year-old-in-lincoln-heights-fatally-shot-during-theft-of-his-bicycle-gunfire-injures-girl-standing-nearby.html

Paste your own city/town and you will see that the present “bike boom” might dry up again when the economic downturns swing back up due to these and other thefts. Perhaps I will finally get some peace from the harsh spotlight on my bikes. That simply means that I can go back to ride in relative safety again when those idiot trendies, hipsters, bimbos, and the urban pioneers go back home to Suburbia.

Robert Foster

Something many of us, or should I say some of us have discovered is that if you have a nice bike you can't park it in the city. We almost all know that besides your good bike you need to have a POS steel, non suspension MTB or flat bar if you are going to leave the bike anywhere that you have to lock it up and can't see it.

I would ride even more than I do if I could ride one of my good bikes and have a safe place to park it. Even my back up bike is too good to leave unattended. So I end up riding an old Trek 800 when I go shopping and then only for short distances.

Cycling will only succeed as a real alternative form of transportation when cyclists can park their bikes and be just as confident of finding them when they return as car drivers. And yse cars get ripped off as well, just not as often. And when they are found it seems as if the owner is easier to give it back to. Go to any year end police auction and you will see truckloads of bikes going for a song.

wahoonc

Even in a cycling utopia like Copenhagen they have rampant bike theft.

Aaron

folder fanatic

"......The statistics in Denmark are such: In 2006 there were 182 bike theft reports filed each day. That adds up to 66,277 that year, on a national level. In Copenhagen alone there were more than 16,000 bikes stolen.

It is not hardended criminals or junkies stealing that many bikes. All too often it is a regular Joe heading home from the bars in the early morning and finding an unlocked bike. Many of my friends will reluctantly admit that they have nicked a bike - or tried to - at some time in their past.....It is easy to just lift up the back wheel and roll a bike away. But to be honest, it is rare. The bikes that get nicked are unlocked bikes and really expensive bikes......"

In the articles I discussed above, I was pointing out the additional problem now of killing or severely injuring, or strong-arming a weaker someone and just taking the bike in their presence that is beginning to happen here in the Los Angeles area, especially during the last couple of years of this current "bike craze". Copenhagen does not a have roving gangs of young men out to brutalize someone over even a department store bike-they know bikes after all. Keep in mind that it is still bike theft in both cases and cities-though good locking techniques is all you need to protect your bike in Copenhagen. If you ride a junker bike there and take the time to lock it properly you will be fine. Here, there is no guarantees as any bike is becoming more valued and sell-able on Ebay & Craigslist with ease.

And the end to this current bike fad will happen if the fear of bodily harm, plus simple theft, will prove too much for the masses to endure. Then there will be a stampede back to the car just like before.

Later Update: It just hit me that the only way the violent kind of bike theft will end is if everyone in Los Angeles adopts bicycles as a serious alternative to the car. If people buy simple cheap bikes, & unless you ride an expensive one, you won't stand out. That means you will be passed over by the gangs. When I was young, bikes were rarely used by anyone over 16 and so were not noticed by criminals-unless locked and the owner was not around.

Fizzaly

i just paint all my bikes flat black seems to work pretty good, BTW it is a all steel bike but with the parts ive put on it its worth a little bit just dosent look it when flat black

folder fanatic

That's the right direction-blend into the background for sure!

Robert Foster

Is what we are saying is to protect ourselves we have to ride POS bikes so no one will want them? Or we have to deface our bikes so no one will notice them? If that is the best we can do why bother? Get a Humvee with Lojack and Dubs and forget it.

I can't see the car buying public setteling for having to buy a hoopty just to keep it safe. If bike people have to do that we are a second class and there is no hope.

folder fanatic

The car buying public has the full support of the social customs and laws of this society. Bikes do not as the very poor response by law enforcement shows. While this is shifting gradually for the better, it might take years for this to become par with cars. I cannot afford to wait around for the change. If I did, I would have missed out on previous 30 or so years of cycling that did not have even the minimal support that the North Americans enjoy right now. Plus I need to get around right now-not in some vague future. I think of safety on bikes as an balancing act. I developed personal approaches to protection when I am actually cycling, along with the hostile criminal types of people that I must co-exist with in the older neighborhoods that I must live/work in. So.....I ride folding bikes that can "disappear" in bags & hidden from temptation. I stay away from popular, expensive looking, or "in" bikes (fixies, track bikes, mountain bikes and similar) that the vast majority of the gangs/criminals are attracted to-although this is becoming more difficult every day. When I was a younger woman, I learned to "dress down" and keep make-up to a minimum, I did not wear skimpy short dresses, and other attention calling means that women use. That did not mean that I did not wear these things. It simply meant that I wore them in places were there were no problematic people roaming about causing trouble. So is my present selection and usage of bikes is done in a similar manner.

Fizzaly

I dont consider my flat black bikes as defaced i rather like their color it just helps with the bike theft issue, i do have bikes that are not flat black they just arent ones i ride to public places and have to lock up on a daily basis. Its kinda like the, if you buy a red car your gonna get pulled over more for speeding thing. The one other thing ive noticed with my "low key" bikes is that i dont have stickers on em that might be another reason they havent been stolen. This one i left unlocked(not on purpose) for two days in a downtown bike rack andit was still there.

himespau 

how did you paint that? rattle can or powder coat?

Robert Foster

I misunderstood. I like black bikes with a few accents however. I just pictured having to ride a Wal-mart bike spray painted black just so I couild ride into town. It is one of many reasons I have little use for densely populated areas because people seems to have to learn to live with crime rather than finding way to deal with it.

But the shame is how easy it is for some dirt bag to just walk off with your bike. As someone posted elsewhere even with the full support of society Denmark has a huge bike theft problem as well. I have had motorcycles and scooters and some were not all that much bigger than a bike and some were not as expensive as my good road bike but they were never taken. I didn't have to lock them to a tree or parking meter. even if a small scooter did get an extra lock through the wheel.

I guess I am just so dissappointed in my fellow man when I realize so few are trust worthy. College students can expect to lose at least one bike every year. And this in on campus with other students.

You are correct that we will do what we have to do to get around. I guess I was simply expressing my frustration with how things are in some of our bigger cities. Even in my small town I will ride my backup bike to do simple errends and my old MTB for shopping. I have yet to need anything more than a large cable lock and that doesn't bother me too much. But to let the criminals determine what I buy and how I paint it bothers me.

You are also correct that the system simply doesn't work.

Roody

So instead you let the criminals determine where you live.


Millions of cars are stolen every year, but the cops will look for a car thief and even keep an eye out for a stolen car, and phone the owner if it's found. But they can't be bothered with bikes.

I called 911 when my bike was stolen, waited an hour for a cop to show up and the first words out of his mouth were, "We really can't help you with that." The thief left another bike where mine had been. When I pointed out that that bike was undoubtedly stolen also, he said, "As far as I'm concerned, It's finders keepers when it comes to bikes." Then he watched as I rode off on a stolen bike. "It saves me the trouble of putting it in my trunk and taking it to the impound lot."

The funny thing was, the bike that the thief left was a nice road bike, and my bike that he took was an inexpensive mountain bike, so he lost money by stealing my bike. This shows that it doesn't always help to ride a beater or to disguise your bike. To a lot of poor city kids, a mountain bike is the fanciest bike they know of, and more likely to be stolen than an expensive road bike.

So continue your usual moaning about how horrible cities are, but bikes get stolen in the country too, and in small towns and fancy suburbs. Anywhere you go, people will steal stuff. If you make it harder for them to steal your stuff, they'll take somebody else's stuff instead.

AdamDZ

Combat bike theft? Carry some dog poop with you. Every time you park you bike smear some visible amounts on the saddle and the handlebars.

mikescooling

I have lived most of my life in Chicago, IMHO people use crappy locks, don't lock to unmovable posts (I can't believe we don't have parking meters anymore) and no I never leave my good bike unattended, ever! I also use 2 U-locks on my MTB just to make it hard on those jerks. I was riding my good bike with a friend from out of town and he wanted to leave his Mandone unlocked when we were going inside for a min. I told him NO, people will follow you around waiting to steal your bike.
When I leave the city people think I am a freek about locking things, but this is where I come from.

KD5NRH

You don't have to leave the city for that.

xizangstan

I think that a big problem is the liberal judges and courts who simply brush off anyone brought in for bike theft. No one considers it real theft. And juveniles especially get off scott-free.

mikescooling

I know.. I know… But when you have more than 20 homless people sleeping in the park, drag queens winning fights at the bar and some guy chasing a cop with a bat; nobody notices me. I’ll try harder.

cyclokitty 

I wonder if the road bike the thief left behind didn't fit him?

Toronto has quite a few bike thefts so I lock mine with a couple of different locks. But I bet it's because my bike looks geeky so it's probably not interesting enough for a thief to work at taking it. I agree if I had a nice, nice bike I would plan my rides to never have to lock it up. I know this plan would fail swiftly since I have the bladder of a hummingbird.

prathmann

I think this highlights the major reason why bike theft continues to flourish in the US. With the current police attitude in many communities there's almost no risk of getting caught and punished for it. And if a stolen bike happens to be recovered the police frequently fail to notify the owners even if they filed a proper theft report complete with clear description and serial number.

And fear of theft certainly seems to be a significant factor keeping many cycling enthusiasts from using their bikes for utility transportation. Very few of the cyclists with whom I ride for recreation would ever consider locking their bike up outside a store, theater, or other business unless it's on a group ride and someone is designated to watch the bikes.

wahoonc

Plus the fact that insurance for bikes can be expensive. I use a high deductible for my homeowner's insurance, which means I am out of pocket for any bike of mine that gets stolen unless they take the entire collection. In the past I have had bikes stolen and only got a couple of hundred dollars to replace a thousand dollar bike. Unfortunately most insurance is geared to towards depreciation. IMHO bikes don't depreciate at the same rate as many other products.

But then again looking at it from the insurance company's point of view, bikes would not be a good risk, with the number that get stolen every year versus the number that get recovered.

Aaron

Fizzaly

rattle can with automotive satin black then baked it in my oven im actually thinking about rhino lining it

folder fanatic

Education is another way of combating any theft, be it bike or otherwise:

Dahon.Steve

I still think my unconventional system of bike theft protection works best but people just won't accept it. I've never had a bike stolen even though my lock was broken and they could have taken it easily! Here's what I do.

I hide my bike when parking it for a long length of time. Over the years, I've learned the the hard way that bike racks are the worse place to lock a bike. This might not have been the case 50 years ago but today is quite different. If you want' to use racks, you'll have to carry a New York chain and a thick cable lock weighing close to 15 lbs not including the bulk! Then you have to pray someone doesn't vandalize or steal components. I refuse to carry the New York 3000 anymore or even the Chain and I own both since they detract from the cycling experience. Yet, my bikes don't get stolen using the simple Kryptolock U-lock offered by Kryptonite.

Today's bike crooks know and use bike racks so why would anyone want to park there? Think about it. I forgot what famous bank robber said it but when they asked him why did he go to banks to steal and he said, "That's where they keep the money"!!

I can't even remember all the bike rack horror stories that appear on these forums each year. It starts around spring and continues until the dead of winter and then levels off. From my personal experience, the worse place to park a bicycle would be a train station followed by malls. However all this changes once you hide the bike just a couple of blocks away.

I used to park my bike by the train station and it took a beating as cooks could not break my NY 3000. (Funny, most of the bikes that used to be parked at the station are gone!) I had cables broken, tires flattened and wheels stolen all in front of dozens of people who use the train. I then started hiding my bike three blocks away in a parking lot away from foot traffic and guess what? Nothing happened!

I started using this same technique at shopping malls with great success. My bike was discovered several times or more but never stolen. When parking my bike at the mall, I would lock it in the back where only store employees work unloading the trucks. These are my actual experiences once my bike was discovered.

1. U-Lock Broken ----- I actually had my U-lock broken but the bike was NOT stolen! The manager had a pickup of garbage and needed to move my bike since it was locked to the container. However, it was not stolen and it goes to show you that people who work behind the mall in general are not interested in stealing bikes. I also stopped locking my bike to the garbage container! LOL!

2. Helmet Placed on saddle ---- I used to hide my helmet under the garbage container but on two occasions, I found my helmet placed right on the saddle. Again, the people behind the malls are not the same kids who are using the bike racks. In fact, the only time my bike was attacked at the mall was when I used the rack! Go figure.

3. Security threatened to take my bike -- I get told by security not to lock my bike behind the mall but that's about it and to date, it's never happened. I'll find other places but in general, it's good to have security searching behind the mall for crooks and. this is to your advantage. Mall security that's constantly roving all around act as your personal bike security! The same security probably never even looks at the bike rack to see if theft is happening.

Although I do most of my riding on a 1980 Schwinn World Tour that's scratched all over, it's still quite valuable. It has new wheels, saddle, pedals, front and rear derailleur, handlebar tape with lights that remain on the bike and can be removed in seconds!

I also take my Jamis Aurora or Bianchi Bergamo at times and have locked them at malls with no problem providing they are hidden or placed in a location from foot traffic. However, not too long ago, I parked the Bianchi at a strip mall in full view of everyone thinking I would be in and out in minutes and nothing could happen. Let me tell you, within two minutes of applying the U-Lock, kids were cicling my bike discussing how to break the lock!! LOL! It goes to show you that having the bike in full view of the entire mall offers no security at all. (I still visit that mall but hide the bike behind some bushes)

I don't consider it a hardship to hide the bike. It's a lot less stressful since you know the bike has an excellant chance of still being there. The amount of time depends on the location but I've found that new locations take a little longer to find but not much longer.

Newspaperguy

A few years ago, I remember hearing accounts of how some cyclists would take measures to ensure their bikes were not stolen. Some would paint their bikes in a flat orange or dirty yellow colour, install upright handlebars and keep the bike as dirty as possible. Even then, they'd hide their bikes and keep them securely locked.

I'm not willing to go to that measure. I don't want to have to make a bike ugly in order to keep it safe. There's something to be said for having a nice bike which looks good and rides well.

There are several measures I'll take to keep my bike safe. I'm not in a high-theft area, but bikes have been stolen in town and the bike thieves can easily recognize the good bikes and good components.

1. For shorter errands, I have the bike locked near the business I'm using. There's usually a post or a bike rack nearby and the bike will be okay there.

2. For longer events, I'll have the bike locked up a little off the main path, behind the building where it simply won't be seen.

3. If I'm downtown, I'll park the bike inside the building where I work.

4. Elsewhere, if I'm going to be somewhere for a while, I'll ask if I can store the bike inside the building or inside a garage or shed.

My good bike is a nice touring bike, but it's not a high-end racing model so it doesn't have a lot of value for the competitive crowd. It's the bike I want but not the bike others may want. In winter, I use a late 1980s mountain bike that's seen better days. I'm a little more lax with security for this bike, simply because it isn't worth putting a lot into that bike. It's been converted to a single speed and while it rides decently, it's no longer anything more than an urban runabout.

Fizzaly

if you live in a low theft area dont worry about it then. Some of us dont, and i dont like to ride crappy bikes so i just paint my frame and forks flat or satin black pretty much to take the "gleem" out. Only bike i had stolen in recent times was a trek fuel who ever stole it cut through two u locks and a cable, it was bright blue with logos and brand names on everything i had it for about three months. So i just learn from experience if im gonna lock my bike up for extended periods of time (at work etc) i just ride my trusty black steed.