some people needs to get a life!!!
 

WTF??? Why do people insist on taking sh*t that's not theirs. I come out of work yesterday and notice something wrong with my bike. Oh... THE F**KING HANDLEBARS ARE MISSING!!! not the seat, or the pedals, but the cheap $15 nashbar bullhorns. They must've really wanted some cheap bars with the tape scratched falling apart. The bastards didn't even have the consideration of leaving me the faceplate to the stem. Would've saved some trouble if they've just taken the stem too... so I had to ride the train with a handlebarless bike... so I paid 30 bucks for a used crappy stem and threw my $10 drops on there.

Is it just me getting annoyed at nothing or does finding missing handlebars bug other people too?

Sorry just had to vent.

I think it must just be you, I don't understand why that would be upsetting...

joking of course. Those bullhorns are on sale BTW. maybe get two.

One reason why threadless headsets suck...no quill stems without the removable faceplate.

Totally agree. I came home from a weekend at my parents to find my garage door open a broken window and two bikes missing. My wife's Comfort bike was easily replaced but the bike was in great shape so I shouldn't of needed to. But my winter beater fixie was also stolen. The bike itself was cheap and beat up but I had been trying out some new IRO wheels and a Nitto Moustache bar with Nitto stem on the bike. Those parts were worth far more than the rest of the bike. Very annoying.
Craig

Man, I heard it was bad in NY when it comes to bike/bike parts theft but I didn't realize it was so cannibalistic.

i once came out of work to find my bike, after only having been locked up for a couple hours in mid morning, with the STEM missing and my handlebars dangling from the brake cables. i mean, it's one thing for some punk kid to rip off your unlocked qr seat or something, but dayum, a man's stem? you can't lock that up!

Sorry to here about that. I'm starting to get real paranoid when locking up my bike in Brooklyn, forget about the city!

How long did you leave your bike for? What area of the city do you work in?

ceya actually told me a neat trick that i'm definately gonna tryout.
dab some superglue in the screw hole and stuff the sucker with aluminum foil. I guess you can get it out with nail polish. sounds like a good idea.

That ain't true. There are plenty of quill stems with removable face plates just as there are many threadless stems without 'em.

And its easier to steal everything with a quill stem, snip any cables going to the handlebars and undo one bolt, volia you have yourself a nice 'present'.

I wish there was a good solution to stop peeps from stealing bars and stems. Melted wax in the bolts works ok and you can sometimes swap the bolts for torx bolts.

Super glue is a b1t2h to get out. Squeeze some hot glue in there and cover it with aluminum foil, then trim the excess, if done nicely it will look like a flat aluminum bolt with no hole for a wrench. but if somebody wants some nashbar bullhorns bad enough, they'll just scrape anything you've jammed in the bolt and unscrew it.

One of bikes parked outside my office was missing the front tire and tube. The saddle was also missing. Somebody actually went to the trouble of taking the front wheel (unlocked) off the bike, removing said tire and tube, and replacing the wheel. wtf? I guess the tube, tire and saddle are easier to stash, but why take the time to replace the wheel?

Another reason I feel lucky to have underground bike parking at work.

I've thought about a drop or two of solder, that can be later melted out, gotta watch heating metals though, hot enough to melt solder, but not heat up aluminum too much. Maybe even a red hot allen wrench to remove.

Al

Man, that's scary. I'm always wrried abut my brook being stolen. Sorry.

This thread reminds me of this poor guy...

Funny read (I know, it's been posted here before). They stole his brake pads...

Sorry Al but can't solder aluminum

Some BMX kids I used to know had a near-foolproof way of not getting their gear stolen:

Rust.

Most of their bikes were so scratched up and mistreated that almost all the bolts were rusted on, and near-impossible to remove.

I didn't say they were practical...

Oh I know that, but you can drip solder into a hole in aluminum and it will stick if clean. Same idea as putting hot glue into the screw head, but harder to dig out.

Al

hahahahah! that's hilarious, there's no way they really wanted that stuff, someone hates him and knows that his bike!

well that certainly sucks. i'd like to have a hologram of a vicious rottweiler that i could project to guard my bike... pretty sure no one would go near a salivating 90 pound rottie to steal it.

i have the same bullhorns (they've got blue keirin grips on 'em) that you can have until further notice, if you like.

let me know, and i'll bring 'em to coney island tomorrow (mermaid parade) for you. i might do nyack on sunday instead.

Worth the revival Scheik - thanks for warming my jaded hearth.

Aww geez....this is bringing back nostalgia of the worst kind. My old roomie/coworker used to gank brake pads whenever his were beat-to-the-point-of-dangerous and he was broke. They're like, what, 5 bucks? Yeah, I'm talking REAL broke.

In retrospect, this is probably the reason he went fixed gear.

I said that here so many times. If they want it they will take it. it is just like any crime it to deter them from trying or thinking about it.


S/F<
CEYA!

that's so wrong, even if he had no brake pads left, at least he knew that and can anticipate it. Whoever got their pads stolen had no clue till they try to brake and just heard metal on metal...that's harsh, hope no one got hurt cuz of your broke a$$ roomie.

But yeah, that some funny stuff. I gotta find some theft prevention soon, I hate the drops I have on now, but it'll still suck if they get stolen.

I'm hoping my 1983 quick release 27" front wheel is stolen (when I can get a ride back home ;) ) so I have an excuse to buy a nice new 700c wheel to match the rear.

Al