stolen bike - college ave

[eatabananaortwo.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone

My friend had her bike stolen last night from her front porch, and she doesn't know what to do
She lives on College Ave and she thought it was a safe street...
The poor thing is kinda frantic, and I thought I'd help her out by posting this here.
This is what her bike looks like. It's a brand new purple Schwinn ranger. She already had a bike and a car stolen before, and she's getting kinda bitter about this area... :(

What should she do at this point???
Thanks

Comments

[tfarrell.livejournal.com]

"Safe" and "no thefts" are different things. She may be relatively unlikely to be harmed in that area, but that doesn't mean stuff won't be stolen.

It's sad but true that a certain percentage of people tend to steal things. This is true anywhere. When you live in a place where people are densely populated, which is to say, any city, you have more people in any area, which means more thieves. Leaving anything outdoors in full view in Somerville is just a way of tempting thieves. That doesn't mean Somerville is a bad place, it's just the reality of living in any semi-urban area.

You can reduce the likelihood of an outside bike being stolen in several ways:
1) Use an excellent quality U lock.
2) Lock the bike to something that isn't easily removed or breakable. Locking it to a porch post isn't good, that can be sawed or broken. You may not have something suitable.
3) When putting the lock on the bike, ensure that it passes around the rear wheel and part of the frame and whatever it's being locked to.
4) Get a bike with a quick-release front wheel, and maybe a quick release seat, and take it (them) off of the bike and take it (them) with you.
5) Don't leave any accessories, such as lights or water bottles, on the bike.
6) Get a cheap-looking bike.
7) Lock up the bike someplace where it can't be seen from the street, and remove anything from your porch that isn't part of the building. Thieves are often opportunist: if they see something they want to steal, they will walk onto your porch to do so, but if they don't see anything, they're unlikely to walk onto your porch to look for stuff to steal.

Speaking as a formerly avid biker, I also want to suggest that keeping the bike indoors is much better for the bike. Leaving a bike outdoors often, even if it's under a roof, leads to much more and faster rust. If you don't want to deal with carrying a full size bicycle into your home or finding space for it, I certainly don't blame you, but you might want to consider a folding bike that you can fold up and carry in and stash in a closet when you aren't using it.

[makoshark.livejournal.com]

You can always leave your bike out for a night or so when you guests over.