Stolen cargo "trike" bike, Teele Square

[elements.livejournal.com]

My blue & chrome Torker Tristar cargo trike (a bike with two back wheels and a large cargo basket between them) has been stolen. Please help me look for it!








Distinctive modifications include a non-standard heavy duty white cargo basket with a blue reflective-striped cord (actually a dog leash!) woven through the wires, and silver reflective tape.

I have made a police report. If you see someone riding this unique cycle, please give the Somerville police a call (they say 911 is fine). There are one or two other Somervillians with similar bikes that they have legit, but they would have a different style basket and may not be the Torker brand. My hope, though a slim one, is that the bike hasn't been taken far, and that through word of mouth and its unusual style we can locate it or scare the thief into abandoning it.


EDIT: IT HAS BEEN FOUND! Thank you so much to this community!

Comments

[ron_newman]

Oh no no no! I'm so sorry to read this! I know how much that trike means to you. Where was it when it was stolen?

[elements.livejournal.com]

It was on Broadway near Teele Square (at my house).

[ron_newman]

did the thieves break a lock? what kind?

[elements.livejournal.com]

They broke *two* heavy duty u-locks. One was a Kryptonite I'd bought myself and another was one I was long-term borrowing from a friend so I forget the brand.

My theory is that this was not a crime of opportunity. It would have taken some time (probably middle of the night) to cut through 2 u-locks. And it's a more unique and harder to fence bike. So I expect that if the thief was smart, they've taken it elsewhere to resell. I've been combing Craigslist ads throughout New England, but there's going to be a limit to what I can do. I can't see a local thief being dumb enough to steal this and then try to use it around town.

What's almost worse than the theft itself is the fact that I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to be comfortable getting a replacement (even if I could afford to, which I can't right now). Since this feels like it was premeditated to some degree, there's no lock or combo of several locks that can guarantee it wouldn't immediately happen again. And since our garage has no door and nothing to attach a bike to inside it and is usually full of car anyway, there's no safer place for me to store it. Even when the previous downstairs neighbors let me keep it on their back porch, I had to lug it up the stairs all the time, which was quite a pain. It doesn't fit through the hatch-style basement doors, and there are steps there too - not a practical way to store it. And the cars are always blocking access to that anyway.

So I guess I'm upset to realize that it may not be feasible for me to have a bike for at least the next year, which sucks a lot. I might consider getting a two-wheeled folding bike that I can bring into the apartment, but then I'd lose the cargo capacity and the independence I get from that. I hate having to go grocery and cat food shopping whenever I have a friend with a car who offers, regardless of what else I'm doing, because who knows when I'll get the chance again.

< / rant >

Anyway, thanks for the support & sympathy.

[ron_newman]

if you have the broken lock and you bought the anti-theft guarantee from Kryptonite, you should be able to file a claim with them now.

your renters' insurance should also cover this, minus a deductible. (It covered my old bike when it was stolen from my apartment building basement)

[elements.livejournal.com]

Sadly neither of those is an option here. The thief left nothing, including the broken locks. And I also had not known, when I bought the lock, about the anti-theft program and by the time I did the short window for registering for it had already passed. You can bet I will be registering any future locks, though! I don't think you need the broken lock, even. Just precognition if you hadn't know about the program and the need to register pretty much immediately upon purchase.

I had to give up having renters insurance - with the length of time I've been un- and severely under-employed, I had to take the gamble. At least though the trike was expensive for me, it's only about twice what the insurance would have cost, nevermind deductible. I do of course regret not having it, but there are a few more pressing things that I'll need that cash for at first even when I do get better employed.

Pheh, sorry to be such a downer when you are being so helpful.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Ack, I'm so sorry! :(

[elements.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Just read your reply to Ron and yeah, I'd be even more upset by all that, too! Any chance you can cash in on the Kryptonite guarantee?

Also, my bike happens to be a full-sized foldie, and I (alas) don't expect to have opportunity to ride in the near future, so if you want to borrow it to see if a foldie does work for you, you're welcome to. I haven't ridden regularly since my second trimester so it might need a bit of adjusting, but other than that, it should be fine.

[elements.livejournal.com]

That would be really awesome, actually!

Re the Kryptonite thing I missed the time window back when I bought it, so sadly no. Now I know about it I'll absolutely register future locks.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Email me and we'll coordinate.

[gingicat]

Oh, hell. I'll keep an eye out. Want me to signal boost?

[elements.livejournal.com]

Yes please! Thanks.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I'll be sure to keep my eye out. (Just in case nobody has mentioned this to you yet, more than one person I know has found their stolen bike advertised for sale on Craigslist.)

[elements.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I have been lurking Craigslist, and probably will daily for a while just in case. I'm also going to check in with local bike shops.

[pakoo.livejournal.com]

What a low thing to do; I had a bike taken from my apartment once and it feels like such a personal violation, so sorry.....Have you checked out-of-state craigslist? I will do that for you if you want.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Hmm, how far afield do you think I should be looking? I have read every page of bike ads for Boston, and done some searches for farther afield.

So far I have searched "trike" "tricycle" and "cargo" in Boston, Cape Cod, Eastern CT, Maine, Providence, Vermont, Western MA, and Worcester.

backup

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

If you do find it on Craigslist and want to initiate a "purchase" meetup, I'll be happy to go along with you as backup.

Re: backup

[ron_newman]

Me too -- the more the better

Re: backup

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

I was MADE for meetups like this. Totally in if the opportunity arises.

Re: backup

[elements.livejournal.com]

Wel, so far the only suspicious post I've found is one in Hartford. It does feel possibly suspicious to me though - It's *possible* it was stolen early enough to be posted on Thursday; I feel like I remember seeing it on the street when I went out Thurs but I can't be sure of the memory.

http://hartford.craigslist.org/bik/2389293471.html

I find the idea of posting an ad for something and saying it's a name brand but you don't recall which a little obfuscating, but I don't know if it's worth trying anything when they're so far away unless I were *positive* it was mine. I will probably set up a dummy account and ask for a pic.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

An idea: are you sure it wasn't removed by a property owner or the city?

Locked bikes bother some people for some reason. I've seen property owners (mostly universities) saw through bike locks and confiscate bikes which weren't in anyone's way. And I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't let the police know they were doing it, even if it was a different city department that did it.

You win!

[elements.livejournal.com]

Thank you so so much! This was the tip that paid off! DPW has my bike!!

It had never occurred to me that this might happen without it being something that filing a police report would uncover. Apparently usually they do tell people filing reports of bikes stolen from the street to check with DPW but they didn't when I called.

bike cargo options

[greenward.livejournal.com]

Bike thieves are the worst and I hope you get your bike back. In the event that you don't, you mention getting a folding bike. I have a 20" wheel bike that is the size of a folding bike, and I have been buying all my groceries with that for several years, so don't think that a folding bike would be the end of shopping by bike. I use side baskets on my rear rack, but I have been saving up to get one of these new Burley shopping trailers that seems like the ideal arrangement:
http://www.burley.com/home/bur/page_416/travoy.html

I have not been able to find a shop that carries them locally, but they get good reviews and a shop that carries Burley should be able to order one even if they don't stock it.

Re: bike cargo options

[elements.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that is definitely better than most trailers I've seen. I'm generally very leery of trailers because IMHO they are too destabilizing. Thanks!

What I'm really lamenting losing in not having the trike is the size and stability of cargo space. I have been coordinating a monthly meal at Havurat Shalom, where we get catering food from local restaurants, and I always do the pickup on my trike. I can fit several large catering trays and containers in the trike basket in a way that's just not possible on a 2-wheeler without one of the huge unwieldy trailers. I can fit an entire cart's worth of groceries, or 8 24-can pallets of cat food and a bag of litter, in that cargo basket.

[blondeamazon.livejournal.com]

This totally sucks! I was in a bike shop, getting a new lock for my bike, and was discussing with the owner the best one. He was saying that this year is particularly bad and he has had at least one call a week that are people reporting their bike and asking him to keep an eye out. He also told me about some guy bringing in a very expensive bike and asking for $50 for it. He told him to GTFO. And it's not just pedal bike. A friend of mine had his Ducati stolen out of his locked and gated back yard in the middle of the night. I hope you catch the sucker.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I am here from tigerbright's LJ. I am very sorry about your trike. I hope you find the guy, or that surrealestate's folder works for you. If you do end up with a bike, I have folding baskets on my carrier; when they're folded up the bike is much slimmer and easy(er) to get through the door.

I kept my bike inside for years and got pretty good at sheparding it in and out through a person door--I can see with a trike it might not work but with a bike it works fine.

Also one of my bike books recommended locking with two different kinds of locks. Because apparently the tools to break a U-lock don't work well on a cable lock and vice versa. One time it was the cross-locking that saved me (I came back to find the cable lock defeated but the bike still in place, safely locked by its U-lock.)

[elements.livejournal.com]

I'm going to try things like panniers; I just know nothing can replace the convenience and cargo capacity of the trike. It's a shame because it totally *could* fit through a door, the issue is stairs. And room in the apartment. But I live on the 2nd floor, and even when I was allowed by former downstairs neighbors to keep it on the 1st floor back porch, getting it up and down the stairs was a pain. If I ever live in a place that has a flat entry.... Really what I need is access to a garage.

I have actually been doing a lot of reading up on bike locks these past few days, and apparently the two kinds of locks thing is no longer as good advice as it used to be. Nowadays the tools most thieves use to break u-locks can also break the other kinds, and the u-locks are the sturdiest and hardest to break, so two u-locks is now better than one u-lock and one cable, or one u-lock and one chain. There is one particular heavy duty chain company that I can't recall the name of right now, but apparently only their chains were able to withstand the standard tools that work on u-locks. If I can get an off-street place to lock my next bike, whatever it is, I might supplement two u-locks with one of those chains if I could then keep the chain at home rather than cart it around.

[gingicat]

I'm beginning to wonder if there's a market in trikes:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2011/05/24/special_tricycle_stolen_from_ri_special_needs_teen/

[elements.livejournal.com]

Ugh - that makes me even more furious.

It does seem possible that some group of bike thieves has hit on the niche popularity of trikes and been doing a theft spree in the region. This kid's trike could easily have been stolen on the same day as mine, even.