Bike Theft

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

As a warning, bike thieves are afoot.

Someone, I'm assuming two people, broke into our screened porch on Day St last night between 1am and 8am and stole two mountain bikes. Considering they moved my new hybrid out of the way to get to the two old, scratched up mountain bikes it was leaning against, I'm betting the thieves were either idiots or very savvy, as my bike was the only one that was registered.

Police was notified and unsurprised.

Figured I should tell you guys to keep a vigilant eye out for assholes.

Comments

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear about the theft and hope you get your bike back somehow, but this:

bike thieves are afoot

made me laugh and laugh. Probably not so much, huh?

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

This could also be a crime of opportunity; they wanted bikes and assume you won't go looking for your old stuff when you have the hybrid.

[haptotrope.livejournal.com]

Here have been a bunch of other bike thefts in the neighborhood. Largely of the crappy and untraceable... our bikes did turn up at the Cambridge recycling center...

Either way, its a case for at least a good solid cable lock, and registering you bike somewhere. (poor man's register = write your name and phone on a piece of tyvek and put it in the rim -- so that when it gets a flat, the bike shop sees the note and has the option to call you)

[ellf.livejournal.com]

That sucks, and I'm sorry to hear it.

For everyone else, please remember to secure your bikes, even at home. A screen or window can be quickly bypassed. Lock them to something immobile if you have to leave them in sight.

Sheldon Brown wrote a great article on lock strategy (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html), worth reading if you ride.

[tisana.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reminder to register mine.
You just talk to the town police about it, right? Or is it state-wide?

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

I called the non-emergency Somerville police department.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about that.

[tisana.livejournal.com]

"keep a vigilant eye out for assholes"

...in the Boston area??

Wouldn't that get tiresome quickly?

[ron_newman]

Sorry to hear that, especially on my own street. (We seem to be neighbors but haven't met yet.)

[shaxxon.livejournal.com]

There was also a smash-n-grab in front of my place on Highland Ave near kickass cupcakes -- I felt pretty bad about it, as that I had been in the living room awhile and didn't hear anything. This happened between 7pm-10pm

*Sigh* Crime makes me sad.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Not to add an I-told-you-so so much as just a warning to other people around here with bicycles:

*Literally* every single person I know who either a) leaves their bike locked up outside for long periods of time with any regularity OR b) leaves their bikes inside but in an unsecured location (porches and vestibules are common), has had a bicycle stolen at least once and, in many cases, multiple times. Unprotected bikes, like after-market car stereos, have a high difficulty-of-theft to resale value. If someone can take it, they will most likely do so. If you value your bicycle, bring it completely inside whenever possible, and if you must leave it outside (as anyone who hopes to use their bicycle will certainly do!), replace the quick-release stem on the rear wheel with a lugged stem, use a non-quick-release seat (unless you want to take the seat with you every time), and lock the front wheel *and* the frame to an object that is at least as sturdy as the lock itself (i.e. NOT the chain-links of a chain-link fence).

[m00n.livejournal.com]

As an addendum to this, I meant to add that Cambridge was number eight on the top 10 cities in the United States for bike theft. In many recent years this list has included Somerville, too.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, how effective is the registration system? Is it like, shops will check the registry when buying a used bike, and see if it's been reported as stolen?

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Town police (and Tufts campus police, but you probably have to be a student for that). I don't recommend Arlington, should you live there; their sticker fell off inside of two days and was also hideous.

[suzybuzz.livejournal.com]

yah, and how do you register?

[suzybuzz.livejournal.com]

and the article on locking suggests leaving your u lock and carrying a cable for short errands, but that sounds sketchy to me. i once had the folks at ATA make a holder for my Ulock so i didn't have to carry it. i need to do that again, come to think of it.

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

This particular species of asshole is called the Common Junkie (heroinophagus maledictus).

The common junkie will steal anything worth more than $20 that can be stolen with less than 5 minutes' work.

[yttrai.livejournal.com]

Not trying to be a downer, but in 10 years here i've had 4 bikes stolen, value varying from $250 to $1000. All 4 were locked, i would say securely - U locks, if not Kryptonite brand. All 4 were locked to either the giant M or W shaped bike racks by the T, or else to the a giant welded steel bike racks that live inside parking garages. 2 of the 4 (the more valuable 2) were Kryptonite brand locked to the W inside LOCKED garages that required security card or key entry only.

Oh, and since the Kryptonites were over 2 years old the guarantees had expired and they were not helpful.

Keep your renters'/homeowner's insurance up to date, and hide the bikes better. I wish i had better advice.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

As far as I know junkies don't actually eat their drugs, but then there probably isn't a good Latin suffix for smoking or injecting, eh? ;)

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

By odd coincidence, a junky sort of bike appeared on my property yesterday evening. There's an outside chance it belongs to my neighbor upstairs, but I find that highly unlikely. I'm wondering whether it was stolen and then abandoned.

A different perspective

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

I will probably jinx myself by saying this, but: I've had the same ugly-colored but decent-working hybrid for six years. I've parked it outside year-round for the last five years. I commute and travel with it constantly. I have a simple U-Lock, with no cable. I never lock the back wheel. I never remove the seat (though the seat has its own little cable lock.) I never remove my head or tail light at home or away, even in Davis or Harvard. A few times I've even left the bike parked overnight in Davis or Harvard. In that period of time, the worst that's ever happened was my head light being stolen exactly once. In that same time, I've gone through five other headlights due to water/freezing damage (from leaving it outside).

My different perspective is this: I could spend an extra five minutes every time I locked and unlocked my bike, to make extra-double-triple certain nobody could steal it. Given how much I ride, that would add up to dozens of hours per year -- not to mention all the times I'd get stuck somewhere without a headlight because I'd left it at home by accident, or when I'd have to go back and forth three times between my bike and the house because of something I forgot. Even at minimum wage, all that time would add up to way more than the cost of a new bike, tricked out with all the accessories. So, I just LET IT GO and tell myself I'm not going to worry about it. If someone takes the bike one day, I'll be pretty upset, but the cost of a new bike will likely be worth all of the time I DIDN'T spend doing unpaid labor for the Department of Bikeland Security.

Re: A different perspective

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I should add as an aside that in spite of all that stuff I said about how to keep the bike from getting stolen, I *always* leave my lights on my bike, and when it's wet I always leave the fender, and I've never had any of those get stolen, ever (though I, too, have broken several). In fact I am probably more likely to permanently misplace the light if I take it off the bike than I am to have it stolen from *on* the bike.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

That's the basic idea. Also, if your bike DOES get picked up by the police (stolen bikes are often found abandoned at other bike racks months later and police regularly clear public bike racks of abandoned bikes), it is pretty much the only way (that I know of) to prove that it's yours.

http://www.nationalbikeregistry.com/ (http://www.nationalbikeregistry.com/)

[m00n.livejournal.com]

See above comment...

http://www.nationalbikeregistry.com/ (http://www.nationalbikeregistry.com/)

[m00n.livejournal.com]

How were these bikes stolen, exactly?

[yttrai.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't that be awesome to know? :)

I wasn't present when any of the thefts occurred, so your guess is as good as mine.

In the case with the security card garage, i offered to watch the security tapes with the security company, but they turned me down. I think i got the runaround from them, since i called several times to follow up and they finally told me they "couldn't see anything conclusive". They also declined to give the tape to the police. It was frustrating, as all of you are well aware.

In the end i could only eat the deductible on my renters' insurance and get new bikes, new locks, and find better places to lock - basement of parking garage instead of first floor, etc.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I should have been clearer. What I meant was did they break the locks? Did they take the locks with them when they left? Did they leave any evidence at the crime scene at all?