so i just got my single speed mtb built up a couple nights ago and i hadn't gotten a chance to ride it yet, so today i thought i'd ride it down to the inner harbor for lunch. i lock my bike in front of the science center (where i'm meeting my friend); it's a nice public place, didn't really think about the idea of it getting stolen. i lock it through the front wheel (QR), frame, and railing and head off to eat.

on my way back i'm walking down the street and i see a guy ride across the street in front of me ON MY BIKE so i take off running after him. after about a block and a half i've run him down and i yank him off my bike. he starts telling me this crap about how some guy was going to pay him $30 to take it etc etc which i didn't care about, i just told him i wanted my bike back. as much as i wanted to beat him down i didn't know if he had a knife, gun, whatever, so i really just wanted my bike back. he walked off one way, i rode off the other. turns out he had used bolt cutters and cut through my masterlock.

so now i finally feel like i'm in the "big city." time for a u-lock and fat chain...

I can't believe you let the guy just walk away.

At least you got your bike back, but ****!

[Using Charile Murphy's voice"] WRONG!


Hey man, that's life in the big city. I'm glad you got your bike back.


Print this out and read it (the Big City will test you on it daily): https://www.bikeforums.net/singlespeed-fixed-gear/200683-how-not-get-your-bike-stolen.html

Pay particular attention to points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, & 12.

They call it B-More because it's short for "B-More Careful"



All's well that ends well.

remember the other day there was a thread about when is it ok to beat down another cyclist? not so sure if this guy was a cyclist - but it would have been completely ok to take him out.

the guy got off easy. next time he'll ride off faster.

you should have bolt cuttered his face.

Man, my key in my mini u broke last week. I spent a good hour hacking away at the u lock about 8:30 on Monday morning on a busy street. Only one guy stopped to tell me to send it back to krypto to get a new one.

so did you get through it with a hacksaw?

can you drill the lock mechanism out of those...was it on-gaurd or krypto?

I vote for beat down + arrest.

Nicely done.. I've done some pretty stupid stuff, like leaving my new (to me) road bike unlocked by the side of a busy road (actually, right across from a bike shop now that I think of it) for about thirty minutes. Just forgot a bloody lock. Then I got nervous and brought it in to the arcade I was in.. my friends messed with me and hid it, which completely freaked me out.. since then I've been more careful (and ridden downtown more often), so I really always try to bring a lock. Another time I locked my bike on a sidewalk right outside of a different bike store that keeps all their bikes for sale on the sidewalk near my bike, and fifteen minutes later I came back and a guy was trying to buy it.. the clerk was looking for a pricetag. Kinda funny.

Are you serious? I'd beat the dirtbag to a bloody pulp.

precicely

It was good that you got it back, but I would have personally beat the crap out of the dude if I caught them stealing one of my bikes.

I think I would have lost it and "beaten him about the head."

It's burned the same day you ride for the first time, and the ugly bag of mostly water is still walking? Man, you just got yourself some serious Karma padding there today. Go do something wicked for free.

i knew of a kid in HS that chained his bike around his waist and the top tube while he rode it.

another courier from van told me a great story about catching a thief in the act. he's one of the guys here that ride full on mountain bikes for work, i'm talking knobby tires, disc brakes, 5 inches of travel... the whole deal. i don't know if this is just a vancouver thing, cause the shore is so close or what... but anyways. dude has a pretty nice rocky mtn, like, brand new. locks up to the rack, goes inside, drops package, comes out sees a guy at his bike prying on the lock with a crowbar or something. instead of freaking out, he just walks up to the thief and says, "that's a nice bike, eh?"

the thief and him start talking, thief saying about how his key is effed up or something and he can't unlock the bike. well, courier guy just plays along for a bit, then says to the guy, "well, let me try my key...". reaches down, unlocks his lock right in front of this laughably idiotic thief. drops the lock, pulls the thief's hoody over his head and pummels him for a bit before sending him on his bruised and bleeding way.

i thought that was great, the way the courier dude was so nonchalant and totally suckered the idiot in for a bit before he beat his head in.

Personally, I think you did the right thing because like you say, he might have had a knife or worse on him and he would have had nothing to lose. That is big city, knowing that the ****bag might do you in over a bike.

No offense the the e-thugs on the board. But, do you really want homeless-junkie-bum-guy blood on your knuckles? The knuckles that get split open when you fight (or beat someone up).

me and about eight of my friends would march him around town with a sign saying I am a bike theif and let people throw stuff at him them maybe I would let him off by duck taping him 10 feet up on a light pool holding said sign

maybe a block from a school so kids could get the message not to be that guy

im confused.... he isnt talking about lubbok right.. thats not a big city.

Ive been in way more scuffles than I care to speak of but if you are constantly splitting your knuckles you have no idea what you are doing. Keep your fists away from teeth unless you want a sweet infection and a horrible visit to the doctor.

To the OP, nice that you got your bike back. Though it would have been nice to have some "payback" because you almost lost it you did the right thing. You didnt know if he had something and its better to be pissed but get your bike back than be pissed, get stomped out, and then have no bike.

Good for you for not resorting to violence. Who cares whether or not the guy had a weapon, beating his ass wouldn't have gotten you anything. If we, as a society, don't get over bull**** physical violence, we'll never progress.

I think he moved to Baltimore recently.

that's lubbock, texas to you, you europeans..sheesh