I'm really ambivalent whether it's proper to take/destroy someone's bike because they inconvenienced you...however, it is just as likely that it is a thief's ploy to get you away from your locked up bike overnight, in which case I saw go for it.

So so so hilarious. All of it.

I go to a school with a ton of bikes and a shortage of racks in high-traffic areas. Occasionally I'll see someone locking their bike to someone else's....and occasionally there aren't two people standing there as it's happening.

In fact, one of the other first-year graduate students in my cohort had his bike's brake cable trapped in someone else's U-lock. He spent over 45 minutes looking for an allen wrench to get his cable loose (you have to call dept of public safety...you have to call xxx...) all the while his temper getting more and more out of control. He was sitting at his bike thinking of the awful things he was going to do to the person that inconvenienced him with their immense stupididty and finally the guy shows up, and it's another 1st year grad student in our department. Awesome...

Cutting through a frame with a hacksaw takes no time at all and have heard of cases where thieves have locked up people's bikes so that they'd leave them and then gave the thief all the time they needed to steal it.

If I find an other bike locked to mine I will do what I have to in order to free my bike.

HAHAHA!! Epic. the pic is just the icing on the cake

So much hate???
So much MFn WIN!

AWESOME!

As for the OP, it's a bit much, but what can I say? Done with style, that's for sure.

No hate from my perspective, he did a fine job getting his bike and was inconvenienced to have to come back the next day to retrieve his own bike, still having to cut thru the other lock. Who knows, maybe this was a situation where the lock up to the other bike was an attempted theft that was foiled ? Might've been stupidity or even just incompetently drunk ?

It only took a couple of minutes to saw through the bike. It did occur to me that this might be a thief's tactic to come back at night to steal my bike. Mine was a brand new Hard Rock; the other one looked like an old beater bike. If it was a real nice bike, I probably wouldn't have done it.

^ I think this would be more funny ^ and teach the person a lesson better than having the bike vanish when they come back.

Either one is the proper treatment of someone who locks their bike to yours, but having them come back to a two piece top tube would be great.

I thought about this one for a moment, What if the police helped you and then when you rode off pulled you over and nailed you for a BUI, even a citation for no lights ? Sometimes you can't win. I think he should have made the effort to drop it back off where it all started after getting his bike back. Then he didn't steal it, whether it gets stolen after that, well, in getting his bike back, he was inconvenienced enough, returning it clears his conscience as long as he locks it up with the original owners lock he had to cut thru and destroy to recover his own property.

though I'd clearly be upset, I would have to laugh if I walked up to where I locked my bike and it was cut in half.

It would be so much better than just finding out it was stolen IMO

Regardless of whether it was "right" or not, that was f-ing hilarious.


And if this were the case, then the bike locker totally deserved it, and I commend the CL guy.

There's also the social engineering version of this.
Target bike in private/commercial bike rack, put your own lock on it.
Find a security guard that belongs to the area and notify them that someone has locked your bike with their own lock, explain that this is a common way of stealing bikes.
Unlock your lock to prove the bike is yours.
Security guard grabs bolt cutters and cuts the actual owner's lock.

Also, a friend of mine absentmindedly locked his bike to a rack through someone else's bike once. When he came back, his saddle/seatpost was gone (ol' quick-release). He spent the weekend figuring out what kind of seatpost he needed to replace it, finally made the walk down toward the bike shop and went to get his bike and his seatpost was back.

Seems the guy just wanted my friend to walk if he had to walk.

on my way to try this now, wish me luck!

i would hope the guard would ask for some sort of proof before cutting. you should carry pics of you and your bike in your wallet

love it.

kind of scary that no one bothered you while cutting a bike in half. that could not have been a discreet task

In my experience, people generally - and unfortunately - don't give a crap about what's going on around them unless they're directly affected.

the selfish gene

Yup, and most people have it.

****in-A