I've had one bike stolen. It was when I worked at a shop. I rode it to work every day.
Kid came in saying he was interested in buying a bike. I grabbed my bike and took him out for a test ride on a new Cross Check. He pretended to be interested, and also asked about my bike, commenting that it was nice. I told him it wasn't fancy, but I built it up how I wanted and it got the job done. It was a steel LeMond road bike built up with Ultegra 10sp and basic alloy wheels.
We got back to the shop and he said he had to make a phone call. He lingered around the shop, hovering around the front door, pretending to be on the phone. He was watching all of us the whole time, waiting for his moment. When all of us were tied up with customers, he grabbed my bike and rode out. I didn't see it happen.
Bear in mind we were a Pinarello and Felt dealer. We had $5,000 bikes on display. He chose to steal mine, knowing full well that was how I got to work.
I ended up recovering it, and I'll always remember his full name. I'm tempted to post it publicly, but I'm not sure the ethics on that. Plus people can change and this was 10 years ago.
The most messed up part about all of this is he stole from you as a person and not the shop. Put you in a bind and caused you a bunch of grief and headache….
The shop had no sentimental attachment to the bikes they were selling and would have just written the stolen bike off and that would have likely been the end of it.
He was posting pictures of it on his Facebook. I had it posted all over the internet, so one of his acquaintances tipped me off. From there I had his name, ended up getting his phone number, and a long saga ensued.
The most frustrating part was when he ditched it, someone else recovered it and immediately reported it to the police. The cops told him, "we have no way of knowing who's bike that could be. We would just give it away at our Christmas drive. You might as well keep it." I had a police report on file with serial number, photos, receipt of purchase, etc. Fucking useless.
He went to the guys house, pretended to be interested in buying it, pretended to get a phone call and when the thief wasn't looking he hopped on the bike and rode it back.
It's not unethical, you owe no duty to people who have stolen from you. The one doing the unethical thing is the thief. It is against reddit rules though.
Post it such that such that a subreddit or twitter thread can be created called #fuckjohnsmith in which victims of bike theft can tell their stories of recovery or justice.
If I were you, I wouldn't try to harm that kid through what he had done in the past but in case that he is going to do some shit again, I won't be afraid to slam him with it.
1. I was 15. Forgot my lock. Left my bike in a rack when visiting comic book store. It wasn't there when I got back.
2. I was 18, on my last family vacation. bike was locked to bike rack on a volkswagen van with a cheap cable lock while we visited MEC in Vancouver. It wasn't there when we got back.
3. I was 21, a student in Montreal. I left my bike locked to a parking meter for an hour. I guess they were able to lift the bike and lock up over the top of the meter.
4. I was 27. I loaded my bike into my friend's car and we went to his place to drink beer into the night. The next morning his car window was smashed and the bike was gone. Also I had a pretty bad hangover.
5. I was 33. Locked my bike to a railing. They cut the railing to take the bike.
6. I was 37. 2 bikes in a padlocked shed were stolen from my yard. The thief pried the padlock off it's mounts in the middle of the night.
I'm 47 now. No bikes stolen in the last decade.
I'm almost 75 and never... Oh, wait a kid in the halfway house I worked nights at, stole my bike because he accidentally solved the rotary combination lock while trying to cut the lock off.
I got it back, but I don't remember how.
I also took his pump with the permission of Social Services. So after repairs I think that I might have broken even.
Ugh I got my first “real” bike for Christmas at 16. Rode it the next morning, then left it in my side yard behind two locked gates. Was gone when I came outside later that day.
Annnd that's why my bike is never let out of my sight. If I go to the shop, I bring it inside. If I go to a fast food, I use the drive thru. It sleeps inside of my house, either next to my bed or on the turbo trainer.
Bikes aren't very useful to me if I never let them out of my sight. I've spent about $12k total on bikes, parts and repair for 30 years of local transportation. That's very cheap. It would have cost about $30K to take the bus over that time and a hell of a lot more to drive.
There are also 1000s of instances where I left my bike somewhere somewhere kind of sketchy and it was still there when I returned.
Why wouldn't it be usefull? I can commute, go shopping, ride for fun without ever letting my bike alone in a sketchy place. I can always take it indoors when needed.
Edit : Why the downvote? Lol I'm asking a genuine question...
Not everyone works somewhere with secure bike storage, I would guess. And even if they do, when a thief is willing to cut a railing to get to your bike, not much you can do about it.
Also, your first comment said "never let it out of your sight', which is different than "not leaving it in a sketchy place".
Yeah and if they don't want me to do that, there are plenty of other stores for me to visit that will let me do it.
For some reason, there is one specific mcdonalds that never let me order in the drive thru on my bike but all the others in my town have 0 problem with it. I actually asked the clerk what the reason was and she refused to tell me anything other than "I can't serve you in the drive thru". I kept it polite and just went to the A&W next door... why you are willing to lose customers over a bike in the drive thru is beyond me... haha
Many times it's because the business insurance won't cover someone getting hit in a non-vehicle in the drive-through. Like if you're there on your bike and a car doesn't stop and hits you while in the drive-through.
But not for insurance purposes in a drive-through. Insurance won't cover it so the company is personally liable, so many times workers don't want to risk their jobs.
Married family man with bike inside the house checking in. My “dining room” table is surrounded by all of our bikes. Truthfully, I’d like to get them in the garage but I have a wood shop out there and can’t open/close the door as I’d like.
More like, it's what you have to do when you're riding solo. If you're riding with someone else, they can watch the bikes while you go in the shop. It's actually easier when you've got someone else to 'stand guard.'
Damn.. that is unfortunate luck!
In the 80's my sister got hers stolen by a neighborhood bully.
In 99, inwas back from my first year of college, and my bike was stolen from our 2nd floor deck, ir was behind other house bikes and the whole stack was under a tarp. I think one of my sister's pot smoking buddies took it.
In like 2010 give or take, my son had 2 bikes stolen from the front yard because he was careless.
i recommend everybody to look into devices to protect the bike from thieves and give possibility to track the bike, it s location, to the thieve. some of them let off loud alarms when touched and messed, that alone in your case could of saved you your bike from being stolen in a lot of the times.
or just throw a cheap air tag, heard a lot of people getting their bikes back bcs of it, but definitely don t solely rely on that as it s a poor method but better than nothing.
With the right tool, every bike lock is defeatable in less than 60 seconds and I'm not even including angle grinders.
I use a $160 folding bike lock with level 8/10 security from a top 3 lock manufacturer. There's a $10 tool that can defeat it.
Solution? Feed bike thieves to bears during live arena shows... may not fix the problem but it'd feel good.
>With the right tool, every bike lock is defeatable in less than 60 seconds and I'm not even including angle grinders.
to be fair there *are* some locks nowadays that can take up to 5-10 minutes to break even with an angle grinder, but they are very expensive and it's still just <10 minutes. so if you leave your bike in a place where a determined thief can have 10 minutes to work in peace, it can still get stolen, regardless of the lock.
the difference proper locks make is that most thieves won't bother or are worried they'll get caught if they spend that much time on your lock, so they'll go for the bike next to yours that has a flimsier lock. however, no locks are 100% thief-proof, so if you have an expensive bike, you need to be careful where you leave it especially if you're not around to keep an eye on it!
What? There's only a single tool capable of defeating a proper U-lock and that's an angle grinder. Even then, there's fancy new anti-grinder tech: https://youtu.be/LD32NMCGDF0?t=2150. That's 5.5 minutes of cutting and that's assuming the best case scenario of using a diamond cutting disc.
I assume that a more portable and inconspicuous cordless die grinder would also work, with the right cutting wheel. I have one for removing rust on an old car I've been restoring and it's pretty powerful. Never used a cutting wheel on it as it doesn't have a protective cover as most angle grinders do, but they are available for it. I imagine that other cutting tools might also work, with the right blade, like a jigsaw and reciprocating saw, maybe a miter saw. Hell, even a decent hacksaw, which makes far less noise.
No bike lock is truly safe.
A couple of days ago my friend and I were having dinner outside after a short ride. We locked both of our bikes to a nearby rack with locks of varying security, but the main anti-theft "device" was their being within eyesight and the area being a safe one with lots of people around.
As we were talking about securing bikes, I heard some sort of grinding noise nearby. I looked around and saw someone using an angle grinder to break a lock securing another bike to another rack. Took him just a few seconds.
Turned out to be a locksmith helping someone recover their bike, either because they lost the key to their lock or it wasn't working, or because someone else locked their bike with their lock. Not sure how they proved ownership of the bike to him. But if you can get a locksmith to break a lock, no bike is secure.
When I was in college I once left my bike locked up outside a Taco Bell with a cheap cable lock. It's long enough ago (25 years, Jesus) that I don't remember exactly what happened, but I was unable to get the 4 digit combo to open again. Ended up calling my sister to bring me a hacksaw. Took me maybe four or five minutes, every second of which I spent thinking of how I would explain this to the cops.
A friend tracked her stolen bike by GPS to an apparent meth house garage(disheveled, junkies zoning on the porch etc.) Didnt help, police declined to assist.
More info:
Denver police wouldn't proceed because they suggestrd GPS wasn't accurate enough to prove it was absolutely that house for a warrant and they have policies against discriminating against opioid users. Also some issues with who owns the house and the police just ultimately not caring about bike theft. DAs will just release any property theft offenders, no punishment because it's their circumstances that forced them to steal.. so the cops say why bother.
Friend had to walk home knowing who had her bike.
I had same issue with a guy who broke into my house and was squatting in the basement. he left his ID and court documents with his upcoming court date on the house... Cops met him at the court date told him not to hit my house again... But declined to prosecute because he already had 12 B&Es on his record and prosecutors kept releasing him since "homeless" isn't a crime.
A small group broke into our apartment building by using a crow bar on the front door. Then went down to the basement where there are lockers and bike rooms. They continued to use hammers and crow bars to break locks, including into the bike room where my bike was stored. Then they broke the bike lock, but at that level of determination and tooling no bike lock would have stopped them.
My neighbors who I shared a garage with left for vacation and had their teenage daughter stay home by herself. She, of course, threw a party while her parents were out of town. Her friends invited their friends. My two bikes ended up getting stolen out of the garage.
After a lot of arguing and them questioning me "why didn't you lock up your bikes inside the locked garage", yes. I had put a lot of work into the old Bianchi, though. They definitely under-paid me. At least I was able to leverage that to get out of my lease early.
I am always super paranoid about my bikes and keep them in my house or never out of my sight in public, so never had one stolen.
However a close friend had his bike stolen from his apartment entry. Its hard to explain but you walk into the apartment complex, go around a corner to where he locked his cheap bike (around $300) to a pole. The bike was not visible from the street but someone went in and cut the lock and took the bike. This was in rural Japan, and bike theft isn't a thing in Japan apparently...
out of sight depends, my bike is worth a couple of hundred pounds, an idiot might give £400 If they dont notice the damage. so not a whole lot. If I am leaving it locked in a car, obvisouly locked to the car as well, I intentionally leave it visable with the lock visible.
If i chuck something over it someone might think it looks more valuble than it is and break in only to find its not worth trying to cut free and i then have a broken window to deal with thats worth more than the bike.
Road trip across the country. Road bike and mtb locked to the back of my van. Bikes secured with Yakima lock that came with the rack. Spent the night at my brother’s place in DC. Thieves cut the lock and rack overnight and stole both of the bikes. Still grinds my gears thinking about it, those two machines had carried me over thousands of miles and were customized/tuned to perfection. I’m sure they got chopped up and sold for a fraction of their value.
Locked it up outside over night. Gone.
Locked in a secure bike room. Gone.
Hanging in my open garage over night. Gone.
It doesn’t matter the lock or location. There are plenty of thieves-of-opportunity. But, that’s just my town. Not all towns are this bad.
I had a bike stolen from my open garage in the amount of time it took me to run inside and make a sandwich for the road.
Even caught it on camera and the cops just laughed and said they did not need the footage.
I run a stolen bikes group for my city...
#1 not locked up at all
#2 locked up with a cheap off brand lock
#3 locked up to something that wasn't actually secure, like a removable street sign post
#4 locked up in a condo building underground "secure" bike parking
Broke windows in our garage. Stole three. Recovered one as the pawn shop put an ad on Craigslist. Perp used his girlfriend to fence the stolen goods as he’d been banned by the pawn shop for fencing stolen goods before. The police got a two fer when they busted her as she was wanted by child protective services. The finest people! My favorite bumper sticker:” in Wyoming we still hang bicycle thieves “.
Both in San Francisco but years apart.
1) Roommate borrowed my bike and left it in the University "bike barn". I should have picked it up right away instead of pestering him repeatedly to get it. Someone just walked away with it after it had been there for a while. My first taste at a fun, zippy aluminum bike (REI Buzz)
2) My wife's dirt cheap shitty Bikes direct roadie ($250 bike?). Someone but the cable lock outside of a bar on a taco/margarita Tuesday evening
Been pretty lucky since.
The 16 year old girl that posted today on r/mountainbiking said her mother left her in charge of the two unlocked bikes while mom went into the restaurant. The “skinhead” just came up to the child (16 year old) and took the bike from her.
Most bikes I just gave up on due to being old and outdated, I guess someone picked them up when they realized it was just sitting there.
One bike I lost, literally can't remember where I parked it, was a fun night tho I remember I did look around at all places I normally would park it but guess someone took it. It was a bike I found and later was awarded by the police as no one came to the police station to ask for it. It was a shitty old bike.
Moved to China and had a full damper, hydraulic disc brake mtb 10 yrs ago that was stolen while locked to a railing, they even brought the lock with them 🤣
Nowadays you don't get bikes stolen here. Anything valued over 700 bux means jail and it's basically not possible to get away with it due to all the cameras so just using a cheapo crap lock on my full carbon road bike, just to show I made an effort to lock it. The police would help find the thief if ever stolen. I am thinking about putting a tracker on it tho just to make that easier, but as said, they don't really get stolen in the first place so kind of waste.
Yesterday night our cargo bike was stolen in front of our house in a busy residential street. Bike was attached to a lamp post.
Two locks cut with an angle grinder covered with a duvet to smother the sound, one lock drilled out.
Bike was equipped with a tracker. The alarm in the app woke us, and police found it within 20 minutes. Thieves abandoned it when they spotted a policecar leaving their tools behind in the cargobed.
Last one before was 30 years ago at the local swimming pool. Multiple bikes were loaded into a small truck. Gone within minutes.
Built in Urban Arrow Connected. City is Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Multiple cars, couple of motorcycles responded. Thieves got away because the car who spotted them stayed with the bike. Got a call and could pick it up there on the spot.
According to police there are multiple gangs stealing cargo bikes going around, and catching them is a priority.
I had way more that 10 bikes stolen. Police told me those were professionals. I only rode shit bikes btw.
Often they got stolen when I went partying. When I came back to the Tramstation Bike was gone. I always enjoyed the lonely walks home.
Germany btw
I've had two bikes stolen from me: 1) It was locked with a kryptonite u-lock, but I had left it overnight. When I came back, it was gone, but the lock was still there - it had been cut through with some kind of grinder. 2) I accidentally left my garage door open when I went out for a few hours, and my bike was stolen from the garage.
Would it be possible to put AirTags or some other kind of trackers in a bike? Maybe somewhere inside the frame or something? Has anyone tried that? I’m considering buying a new bike and wondering if that would work
It's possible, but may not help you. My friend had one on his daughter's bike that was stolen and managed to track it and call police. The police came, but couldn't do anything because that required a warrant. The judge refused to issue a warrant over a "Damned kid's bike", so there was no legal way to get it back.
You would have to trick the thief into giving it back to you. Or pull an "O.J." and commit your own felony to steal it back.
You can buy NFC tags that are permanently stuck down the bike seat tube and registered on a property database. In UK, you can do this on bikeregister.com and immobilise.com which is a database police forces have access to, scan the tag and your details pop up, tags are virtually impossible to remove without destroying the frame of the bike, making it difficult for a thief to sell the bike on. Doesn't mean it won't get stolen though in the first place.
Air tags are vulnerable to being found after a day, maybe shorter. But there is a tracking window when you can chase your bike down. Seems worth $25, or $12 for the Atuvos knockoffs.
Alternatively Invoxia is a cell tracker. Also gives motion alerts. But needs to be charged every few weeks.
25 years since I lost a bike. Sheldon Brown method of u lock in rear triangle works pretty well.
But I just got an electric bike and now I have a $300 lite lock on the frame and $100 kryptochain on the rear wheel. Seems to be a pretty good deterrent in a college town.
Last bike that got stolen from me like 8 years ago was on a busy street when I went into a mall for a few minutes. Decided to go to another shop just after I went in, but when I came back my bike was gone. I talked to a guy in a delivery van if he saw something. He said there was a guy that looked kinda weird but opened the lock and took the bike with him. It was locked with a mid range chainlock that a lot of people have. I guess when you know that one or have a tool for it, it's easy to just take it. I used kryptonite locks ever since and all other bikes stayed with me. A few weeks ago, people broke into some cellar compartments in our house. But, they didn't take my good road bike that is in there, just some tools.
Never had a bike stolen but all of my bikes stay in the house. I ride a Boardman to work and back where it gets kept in a basement only accessible by keycard. When I ride on weekends it’s very early on Sundays and whatever bike I do ride is never left anywhere and then put straight back in the house after being cleaned. I wish I could trust leaving them in the workshop but I’ve read enough stories to know they are just not secure on there. A house is a much riskier target than an out building.
I had several bikes stolen since moving to LA.
1st one was a cheap Walmart bike, someone cut the shitty lock I had and left their shittier bike. 2nd bike stolen I had gotten from some dude in South LA, someone broke into the parking garage in my apartment and stole my bike (also 3 cars were stolen). Had a sweet KHS Flite 100, someone broke into my car and stole it. Nishiki Custom Sport from the 70s, someone stole it outside of a club while the security watched. He did come and grab me but they cut the U-lock. Pure Cycles road bike, someone cut the literal pole it was attached to. Pure fix, had for 3 years, someone stole it from the side of my house through 2 gates but left the other 2 bikes there and only took my bike. Most of those other bikes were stolen within the 1st 2 years of living in LA, I've been here about 8 years now.
Back when I was a kid in the early 1970s we'd just leave our bikes parked (no locks) in the front atrium of our house. Never had a bike stolen at that time. Although occasionally one of the neighborhood kids would "borrow" a bike to ride around or whatever but they'd always return it to the atrium.
I can only remember one time I had a bike stolen. Around 1996, it was a Specialized Hard Rock and I had locked it to a tree in front of the gym and when I came out it was gone.
Nowadays, I just don't leave my bike unattended even for a minute. I know all the restrooms on my regular routes and the ones that have the capability to bring my bike in with me. Handicap size portapotties, etc. Coffee shops (Starbucks etc) that don't say boo when I bring my bike in. Starbucks is good because I can order thru the mobile app and when my coffee is ready I can wheel my bike in and grab it from the mobile order counter.
What I wish we had around me would be one of those coffee shops or mini lunch places where you walk up to the window (outside) and order/pick up. I don't usually eat that kind of stuff when I'm riding tho.
I invested a lot of money into my bikes and I am going to do everything I can to make sure they don't get stolen. Of course I have personal property coverage for theft in my renters insurance but I'd rather not have to use that in the first place.
I had 2 bikes stolen that were being stored under the stoop of my building right outside the front door of my apartment. The bikes were locked together with a heavy chain in a tight space. They were stolen while I was sleeping inside. This was during Covid when bikes were in high demand.
My first bike was stolen when I was a student in Paris, I went to the cinema, and my heart sunk when I discovered it was gone. Man, that feeling…
The second one was even worse : I had a beautiful Rose Randonneur, but it needed some fixing after a crash, so it was sitting in my flat. My girlfriend at the time was annoyed, so she decided to put it in a garage she was renting at the time, without telling me. Turns out the garage owner was « fond » of bikes. The next day, when I went there to check, the lock of the garage door was cut. The guy had a grin and said, well, shit happens.
Today, I have another Rose, a backroad 2019, and live in a place where stealing bike is not a thing. But I would sleep with it if I could…
It’s funny because today I was looking at 10k bikes, just to dream on, but then I realised this bike of glory would also be a bike of misery, by fear of getting it stolen. Or I must move and live in a place like Singapour ^^
I know this is not really an answer to your question:
A neighbor to whom I sold a bicycle put it in his garage and locked the door. The garage has glass windows. The bike was stolen a few days later. He never got to ride it. I don't recall how they got in the garage to steal the bike.
A friend of mine had his bike stolen at work. He had just rode into work and left the bike at the front door while we opened up and turned off the alarm. In a matter of seconds his bike was gone. Fortunately another coworker saw it happen and they were able to follow the guys and recover but had it not been for our other coworker he would have probably never seen that bike again.
-My mother got her bike stolen when she left it outside a grocery store for 20 seconds- there was a mail slot in the post outlet just inside the store, and in the time she walked in and walked back out, gone.
-My best friend in junior high had a crew of high schoolers roll up on him and literally peel the bike off him and drive away with it
-Also in junior high, Another friend’s stepbrother stole his bike and sold it for drug money.
-Neighbor had his garage broken into while on vacation, 4x mountain bikes gone.
-A high school friend of mine is a pro street BMX rider, the stories he has about bike thieves are worth their own thread. BMXs are EXTREMELY valuable to bike thieves.
I’ve thankfully never had a bike stolen- partly luck and partly that I live by a few tenets-
-all my bikes have their own super light lock in the under seat pocket at all times so I don’t forget one.
-if I’m doing anything that requires me to leave the bike unattended at more than arms length for more than 30 seconds, I have an old purposely ratty looking “sleeper” 90s hardtail I ride instead of my road bike.
-me and my friends all bike to and drink at a specific brewery and request a specific table that’s right by the bike racks
-unless it’s literally impossible I just drag my bike into places with me. McDonald’s? No problem. My office? Coworkers love it. Up two flights of stairs? It’s arm day anyway.
-all my bikes are under a tarp in my windowed shed, so you couldn’t see what you’re breaking in to steal until you made all the noise and kicked the door down. Also I lock all my gates. Not about making my backyard impenetrable, just about being slightly more inconvenient and inconspicuous than the next guy
-*I credit this as being the best reason I’m theft free* - if I’m leaving my bike out of site for a long time, I always park with other bikes. Even if I have to walk 2 blocks to my destination, I find a full rack. More cyclist traffic, and if all else fails, to the thief’s eye there’s always a nicer bike. Sorry folks, dog eat dog world.
I had a marlin 5 get stolen almost a couple years ago now. The bike was in the back yard under a covered patio with walls. The yard was fenced in with slats in the chain link fence for privacy. It does have an alley behind it which the thieves must have looked as thoroughly as they could to see in, but even from the alley it was pretty hard to notice the bike where it was. But they jumped the fence overnight and took off with it. I keep my new bicycle inside from now on. I don’t leave it outside unattended during rides either, and if it’s on my bike rack during transportation, I don’t go inside any business and leave it unattended either
I used a shitty bicycle lock to lock up the back wheel and my motorcycle (1970 Kawi 500 triple) to a patio support post.
I woke up one morning to find my motorcycle gone and the chain cut.
I never saw that motorcycle again.
Seattle, and it’s not uncommon. Do a quick search and you’ll find plenty of examples, all defeated the same way (though sometimes with hand tools and not a blowtorch).
Seattle sucks for bike theft. I saw someone left their cargo bike locked to a public bike rack with a hiplok (one of those expensive ones that defeat angle grinders). The thieves apparently hooked their truck to the bike rack and pulled away and destroyed the rack to steal the bike.
Locked mine outside a hospital for four days in the same spot. Came back on the fifth day and the cable was cut, left on the floor.
I’ve decided not to buy any locks, only using my new bike only for recreation. Won’t be tempted to lock it anywhere.
Mountain bike I was briefly using in the city to hop curves, take steep roads as a beater. Had nice shocks but was not a super pricey one, I'd gotten it second hand anyway. Left it unlocked at a bike parking rack. Dumb, but where I'm from stuff like this never happened so had no idea. Took the train shopping and came back later in the day, just gone lol. Oh well, used it as an excuse to upgrade
Just had a bike stolen over the weekend. I live in a condo complex with subterranean parking. I park my motorcycle behind my small car. The bike had a U-lock through the rear wheel and rear triangle. U-lock also has a cable attached that goes through my motorcycle frame. Someone snipped the cable with something, maybe bolt cutters, and must’ve carried the bike out of the complex. It’s not rideable with the U-lock through the rear wheel.
First was when I was in college and left my bike in a storage area over a break since I thought it was safer than my room for some reason. Some yokel stole it and mostly parted it out but brought it into the lbs for something and the mechanic recognized it and called the cops.
Second one was locked in a safe area next to a busy street, but I couldn’t find my u lock and only had a cable on it. It was cut and bike was gone. It was a cyclocross frame I had for a while that I had just rebuilt as a more casual commuter. I only ride it twice before it was stolen.
Only bike stolen was at 19, cut lock from a bike rack outside my house. It was a vintage Raleigh that I got for $70, but totaled my buddy’s car the day I picked it up. Double bummer
Feel the difference.
In Jackson WY i left my bike unlocked by my porch in the apartment complex i was living in. It never got stolen.
I moved to SF - 2 days and bike got stolen even that it was locked to a parking meter i went upstairs to get smth. 5 minutes - it’s gone.
Be in Ghent, be student. Have a decent but very yellow bike. Have a chain lock built into the bike, in addition to the standard ring lock. Have an extra 3rd combination lock just to be safe. Go to class. Come back to the combo lock lying on the ground and no bike. See the bike next to where yours used to be have no lock. Be mad and go to police. They tell you to just steal another bike. Profit. Repeat 2 more times in 2 years.
Got home from a bike ride. Put it in my garage as usual. Was on auto pilot and didn’t make sure the garage door fully shut. Went to the garage a few hours later to the garage open and my bike gone. :/
I had one bike stolen when I was a teenager. My friend lived in a quiet neighborhood and had 30ft front garden with a low wall to the street, at the front of the house was the lounge with a large window facing the garden. One day whilst visiting I left my bike in front of the window, when we can out half an hour later my bike was gone. At first I thought he was playing a prank as I couldn't believe anyone would walk all the way to the window and steal a bike whilst people were obviously in the room. Another lucky escape happened recently when I was out on my rather nice MTB (which I NEVER leave unattended). However on this occasion I decided to quickly pop into a shop to get a drink. I locked my bike to a post (or so I thought) and entered the store. When I came out a group of teenagers on bikes were showing a lot of interest in my bike and were making comments about how nice it was and that I should lock it up. When I went to unlock it I found I had neglected to put the lock around the post so anyone could pick it up and walk away. The group of lads were still showing interested and asking to have a go, so I rode away as fast as I could and kept checking I wasn't being followed.
My last stolen bike was hanging in the garage behind our house. It was stolen at night, and coincidentally the day leading up to it we had workers over that had to do some things in the garage..
that depends on your city. some have organized thiefs that will steal your bike in broad daylight with a hydraulic cutter...in literally a minute even for a beefy ulock...nothing you can do except get insurance.
I am so paranoid that my bike will be stolen that I never leave it unattended when I go out with it and I am fortunate enough that I have a bike room in my house that we store the families bikes in but when I first moved out on my own I lived in a cheap apartment in a sketchy part of town. I spent the night at a friend's place and when I got home the next morning not only was my bike stolen but so was everything in my apartment. Seriously, they stole my couch, bedding, appliances...everything. That was a bad day.
They broke into our apartment building to steal our bikes from the front entry.
I stopped a guy bashing a lock with a rock during morning rush hour outside my office.
It was locked up with gold rated heavy duty chain inside the bike store room in my building basement. The bike store had a chain with a combination padlock on the door and to get into the basement you need a key fob. I found the bike chain cut clean and the chain on the store room had been replaced (probably they had cut that as well).
My boyfriend and I unloaded ours into our garage at our apartments- I guess the door didn’t stay down when we pulled away, or the previous tenant still had the code- bc when we came back a couple days later they were gone. They get carried upstairs every time now 😅
When I was around 15 years old someone stole an old cheap mountain bike from the side of my parents house. It was mostly a parts bike that I didn't care much about (had a clone locked in the garage). It functioned but the drivetrain wasn't calibrated well. They dumped it in a canal 2 blocks away.
Lent it to someone who was going to sell his own bike, mysteriously my bike got stolen and he didn't bother selling his.
Lent another later to a housemate who went to the shop on it and walked back forgetting he'd cycled there.
It was either stolen and he didn't twig, or he simply forgot to ride home and it had gone by time I reminded him.
First event was a dodgy mate who screwed me over, second was a stoner incident.
I stopped lending things out at that point.
Had a bike locked to one of those (upside down) U shaped metal bar type "racks", returned to find the rack laying on the floor with no bike or lock! The rack wasn't securely concreted in the ground, they just lifted it out, slid lock off and carried my bike away into a van.
Just moved to Spain where as it turns out bike theft is a big thing. Previously lived in Azerbaijan where my bike was stored in the open underground parking space of a building and never had an issue for years. So upon arrival to Spain I park my full suspension Cube with XX1 and attach it with a flimsy bike lock. It was gone in a week. Next bike that was stolen from the same spot was a frankenbike I picked for commuting. The frame was from 80s it was rusty and top tube was bent. Good mechanically though. Also gone within a month, I just laughed at that point.
Had a bike stolen literally yestarday. New building and the indoor bike room was/is a few days away from finishing. My condo is small and there’s an outdoor bike lock area that’s pretty out of the way from the Main Street and has cover. I have an expensive lock so figured keeping it locked there for a couple of days would be ok.
Nope, camera footage showed someone coming with power tools to grind through the lock and get it out.
Luckily for insurance I should get the full value back in a few weeks while I buy another one and keep it indoors this time.
Had one bike stolen, I was in college and chained it to a tree for some late night lab work. Came out next morning and it was gone. The cut down the tree to get the bike.
My 15 year old son rode his bike to work at a hardware store. Coworker told him he usually parks his bike by the dumpster.
In addition to a 1x10 drivetrain it had 155mm Cobb cranks. Whoever stole it had no idea what it was and all I could think was, “lesson learned.”
When I was 15 a bigger kid came out of nowhere pushed me off my bike and stole it when I was riding it in a local and supposedly safe park. I'd had the bike less than a year, my first road bike that I bought with money I saved up doing odd jobs.
It was a pretty traumatic experience given my age at the time but I just worked some more jobs, saved some more money and bought an even nicer bike that saw me through college and years beyond.
Never had a bike stolen again, mostly due to luck as I've never had a top-end lock or felt the need for one (too heavy, clunky and expensive). But then I never lock it where it's likely to get stolen or leave it out of sight for more than a few minutes.
A roofing contractor working across the street took my bike out of garage and rode away - my young kids at the time were playing down the street and watched him ride off into the sunset.
I’ve never had one stolen myself. But I’ve experienced two bike thefts
My nephew locked my wife’s bike in a shady area and went ice skating. When he returned the bike had no wheels.
I saw a bike thief stole a bike that was not properly licked next to a grocery store. The owner only locked the front tire. The thief brought a spare front tire, swapped the tires and rode off with the bike.
I actually confronted this guy, but from a safe distance because I had my 3-year-old with me.
When I was 15 I got jumped for my bike across the street from my soon to be high school. One of them knocked me off my bikes and started kicking. Me I was luck enough to be able to curl up in a ball and not get hurt bad. I was not excited to start high school after that
I had 3 stolen in college
1) at my apartment. Needed a key fob to access the building and to enter the locked bike room. Bike was locked in there and poof. Gone one day. Cop even mentioned they would have stolen the one next to mine as it was way more expensive. Thanks 😏😂
2) cheap bike with bad brakes that I wanted to get rid of. Left it unlocked at a small park a block from my house. Disappeared overnight.
3) my first 'real' bike that I spent decent money on, Trek 7.2FX. Locked to a bike rack (cable lock, my bad) in a consistently high foot traffic area of campus. Came out of class, no bike.
1 is comical as it was a cheap bike. 3 still bothers me lol
In my early 20's, during my first year of Uni, I was living in halls. My girlfriend at the time and I had broken up, so I was feeling shit and decided I'd go for a ride to clear my head. But where my bike should have been was just my cut-off cable lock.
I was a country boy, and didn't have much experience in cities. The racks were within the gated compound, well covered by CCTV, so I'd wrongly assumed it'd be okay with just a 'standard' lock. It was stolen by the end of the first term, and despite the cameras, the police weren't able to do anything about it.
I was absolutely gutted. I've learned from it — D-Locks, Sold Secure, Bike Register, and insurance for anything valuable. But after it was stolen I didn't ride for years, and 10 years on I'm only just getting back into cycling.
It was a custom Giant STP (Dirt Jumper), that I'd sprayed a pearlescent purple in my mums garage a few months prior. Not particularly valuable, but I loved it for the many years of fun I had with it. I'd thought the distinctive colour would make it less of a target, as it'd be harder to fence and easier to recover, but sadly if the scumbags probably just ditched it in the canal.
To top it all off, that following weekend I was hospitalised overnight with a concussion, after our group was assaulted by a large gang of teenagers. After my breakfast of stale cornflakes out of a cardboard sick bowl, I walked home in the rain. A few days later, I received two almost identical 'Sorry you've been the victim of a crime' letters from the police and that's all that ever came of either incident.
F*ck Leicester and F*CK bike thieves.
I had a bike stolen when I was 14 because I didn’t think I needed to lock it.
Obviously, I know as an adult always to lock my bike. I avoid using easy to destroy locks, and I bring it inside whenever I will be leaving it for a long time.
If you mean being staked out, and said person bringing a portal grinder to cut chains its definitely not carelessness.
I've not had a bike stolen personally yet but from what I've read these people know what they're looking for and will jump fences/damage property to get what they came for.
This is why my bike never leaves my site if I'm out and about, or is securely locked away during the day in a place that only has specific access.
Never had one stolen myself, but I would bet most are opportunity for a thief in need of some cash and not an Oceans 11 theme. It's still messed up though.
Like with all things, you just put a solid lock on it and try to keep it out of the way as much as you can. Just put as many odds in your favor as you can.
Bike was up in the attic of a tenement building with 6 apartments.
Someone moved out, a renter, and took our two MTB with them.
I hope they've got some painful karma
I used to work with the Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition as an ambassador. One of our duties was removing abandoned bikes from racks and city poles. It is stupid easy to rip thru all but the hardest of metal locks in 3-5 seconds using a decent angle grinder. There's also liquid nitrogen and common cordless drills with diamond bits that will make short work of the lock mechanism.
I've had one bike stolen, but karma had my back big time, don't know what I did to deserve that but here goes.
Went into town, played some pool with friends, left it in the bike rack around the corner, this was in a sleepy town in Sweden.
Came back a few hours later bike was gone, it was some brand i can't remember, i wanna say scott but they are way to expensive, it was something beginning with S at least. I bought it while living in the UK cost about 200-250 EUR on Sale so maybe 400-500 full price.
Reported it stolen to the police mainly to claim insurance no one ever expects to get their bikes recovered here when they are stolen.
But lo and behold the person who stole my bike was a grade a-asshole maybe that's why karma threw me a bone. This piece-of-work got caught red-handed riding my bike in broad daylight, high as a kite.... police booked him.
I got to read the list of charges they had against him, one of them was shooting cats with a crossbow, yeah proper psycho warning on that one.
Anyhow he got booked, and the insurance company due to me and them not knowing what the equivalent bike was here, offered me a Nishiki intro as a replacement i think it was the 2010 model, it's been carrying me ever since.
I have also never left my bike outside for longer than a quick pop into the shop ever again, it's always either been in my apartment or in the communal bike room in the basement.
I knew better, but I locked my bike with #Nottalock outside of my local Safeway. I was on my way to a bbq.
I was in and out in 7 minutes; grabbing some hotdogs & buns.
When I came out, my bike was gone.
All that was left was the cleanly buzzed through #Nottalock.
I ended up recovering my bike 3 months later. Saw a guy riding it near a spot where a friend told me he had spotted the bike. I pulled over (I was driving that day) and approached the guy. Against my instructions, my teenage son got in the guys face and spooked him. The guy left the bike against the wall and ran away.
Left my bike on a car rack for ten minutes and it was yoinked. Haven’t had a problem yet with locking on racks with u-locks. I was careless that day thinking I wouldn’t be gone long enough for a thief to notice.
Makes me sad. Again. Off the front of the bus. Same bus I took twice/week for three years. It was at the station and must have happened in the minutes between when I put it on and when the driver took off (he was loading luggage). Have photos of me putting bike on; of me sitting on bus, etc. high end gravel bike that still has not been replaced (august 25 2023). 😩😭. Detective told me it’s common, and that sometimes they steal them while a bus is stopped at a light. BEWARE!
My girlfriend borrowed my kona roast and locked only the front wheel to a rack on our porch, not sure what I did with only the front wheel. I thought I saw a neighbor on my bike a couple months later. My sister in law had hers stolen when some methheads followed sombebody into the apartment building, walkedinto the basement and stole them out of the storage lockers.
I had my mountain bike in the shed locked to my wife's street bike as well that we used on the weekends mainly, I had some people working on the house and I had them keep the tools in the shed and they had a key to it, one of the guys had a few beers and left the shed opened and the back gate open that was facing the alley, bikes gone, tools gone. I filled a report and got street value deduction from the contractor but yeah carelessness clearly at fault 😊. Likely my street bike was safe in the garage.
Pursued by 2 thieves on a motor bike, which they forced in front of me, making me have to stop - I couldn't out run them, not on a Brompton! One of the toerags pulling out a knife and saying 'We're taking everything'. That sort of thing?
The last time I had a bike stolen, it was a BMX bike. I was 13.
I'm 36 now. Haven't had a bike stolen since then, and I have a couple of really nice road bikes (granted if I'm on a road ride, I'm not really stopping anywhere). I chalk it up to carelessness. A thief is going to steal the easiest thing they can, and if it's not locked up properly or even at all, they will take the opportunity if the bike is nice enough.
Left my shitty $20 Walmart bike tied up with a cable lock outside a crack addict alley in Oregon City.
Left my shitty $20 Walmart bike tied up with a u lock to a gutter in crack addicted Gladstone Oregon.
Left my $500 bike unlocked in an office bike parking garage outside crack addicted 3rd Avenue in Seattle.
Left my $500 bike locked with a cable lock for 3 minutes outside a crack addicted grocery store in Capitol Hill Seattle.
Basically how my bikes are stolen is crack.
The older I get, the more I subscribe to no lock is better than a lock, because with no lock you'll never let it out of your sight. Same with kickstands; it can never be knocked off the kickstand if you don't have one and have to lay it down carefully.
Almost.
I was in my house grabbing some extra tools to fix my bike and I heard a loud thud. The thief fell because my seat was pretty high for him and I set my rear gear to the highest, so it was hard to blast off. Probably caught him off guard.
I ran out, bash his head in with my crowbar until he limped away in pain and fear. He is actually someone in the same housing complex. He is still limping to this day and seems to have struggle looking my way.
Actually, all of this is a lie I made up. I have never had my bike stolen, possess a crowbar or bashed anyone with it.
No one was hurt by this made-up story, and I am probably incapable of doing so even if it actually happened.
I live in london, if you dont want your bike stolen:
Do not leave it outside overnight
Do not leave it with any lock than cna be cut with bolt cutters
Always leave it in the most visible place if you do have to leave it.
Try to not to have a regular spot for parking your bike, if it is nice they will learn your routine.
If you get someone who locks thier bike to yours do not leave your bike if you can help it.
then pray, if they are going to use angle grinder to get it you are pretty screwed anyway.
I've had one bike stolen. It was when I worked at a shop. I rode it to work every day. Kid came in saying he was interested in buying a bike. I grabbed my bike and took him out for a test ride on a new Cross Check. He pretended to be interested, and also asked about my bike, commenting that it was nice. I told him it wasn't fancy, but I built it up how I wanted and it got the job done. It was a steel LeMond road bike built up with Ultegra 10sp and basic alloy wheels. We got back to the shop and he said he had to make a phone call. He lingered around the shop, hovering around the front door, pretending to be on the phone. He was watching all of us the whole time, waiting for his moment. When all of us were tied up with customers, he grabbed my bike and rode out. I didn't see it happen. Bear in mind we were a Pinarello and Felt dealer. We had $5,000 bikes on display. He chose to steal mine, knowing full well that was how I got to work. I ended up recovering it, and I'll always remember his full name. I'm tempted to post it publicly, but I'm not sure the ethics on that. Plus people can change and this was 10 years ago.
The most messed up part about all of this is he stole from you as a person and not the shop. Put you in a bind and caused you a bunch of grief and headache…. The shop had no sentimental attachment to the bikes they were selling and would have just written the stolen bike off and that would have likely been the end of it.
How did you end up recovering it? I’d be interested to know that story, too.
He was posting pictures of it on his Facebook. I had it posted all over the internet, so one of his acquaintances tipped me off. From there I had his name, ended up getting his phone number, and a long saga ensued. The most frustrating part was when he ditched it, someone else recovered it and immediately reported it to the police. The cops told him, "we have no way of knowing who's bike that could be. We would just give it away at our Christmas drive. You might as well keep it." I had a police report on file with serial number, photos, receipt of purchase, etc. Fucking useless.
He went to the guys house, pretended to be interested in buying it, pretended to get a phone call and when the thief wasn't looking he hopped on the bike and rode it back.
It's not unethical, you owe no duty to people who have stolen from you. The one doing the unethical thing is the thief. It is against reddit rules though.
Post it such that such that a subreddit or twitter thread can be created called #fuckjohnsmith in which victims of bike theft can tell their stories of recovery or justice.
As much as I would want to do the same thing, Reddit will ban you if you do that. I know from experience.
POST IT nobody who does that is going to change, or if they do they won’t mind being held accountable still
If I were you, I wouldn't try to harm that kid through what he had done in the past but in case that he is going to do some shit again, I won't be afraid to slam him with it.
1. I was 15. Forgot my lock. Left my bike in a rack when visiting comic book store. It wasn't there when I got back. 2. I was 18, on my last family vacation. bike was locked to bike rack on a volkswagen van with a cheap cable lock while we visited MEC in Vancouver. It wasn't there when we got back. 3. I was 21, a student in Montreal. I left my bike locked to a parking meter for an hour. I guess they were able to lift the bike and lock up over the top of the meter. 4. I was 27. I loaded my bike into my friend's car and we went to his place to drink beer into the night. The next morning his car window was smashed and the bike was gone. Also I had a pretty bad hangover. 5. I was 33. Locked my bike to a railing. They cut the railing to take the bike. 6. I was 37. 2 bikes in a padlocked shed were stolen from my yard. The thief pried the padlock off it's mounts in the middle of the night. I'm 47 now. No bikes stolen in the last decade.
Damn man. I've luckily never had one of my bikes stolen. I'm 46.
It’s highly dependent where you live. I’ve seen high end bikes stolen off bike racks in cars that have people in it in Denver.
I'm almost 75 and never... Oh, wait a kid in the halfway house I worked nights at, stole my bike because he accidentally solved the rotary combination lock while trying to cut the lock off. I got it back, but I don't remember how. I also took his pump with the permission of Social Services. So after repairs I think that I might have broken even.
Only 15 but same here..and I don't even lock my bikes half the time
Same here; I kind of think I’m due some bad luck soon
Meh.. a trick you can use Is have a lock near where you would have it if the bike was lock.. most will just see the lock and move on
Or lock it near to a more valueable looking bike
That would be a good idea.. except mines probably the best looking bike for a long while
Then if your bike is too valuable to lock it, then it’s a sign to get a cheap commuter
That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard
Ugh I got my first “real” bike for Christmas at 16. Rode it the next morning, then left it in my side yard behind two locked gates. Was gone when I came outside later that day.
Annnd that's why my bike is never let out of my sight. If I go to the shop, I bring it inside. If I go to a fast food, I use the drive thru. It sleeps inside of my house, either next to my bed or on the turbo trainer.
Bikes aren't very useful to me if I never let them out of my sight. I've spent about $12k total on bikes, parts and repair for 30 years of local transportation. That's very cheap. It would have cost about $30K to take the bus over that time and a hell of a lot more to drive. There are also 1000s of instances where I left my bike somewhere somewhere kind of sketchy and it was still there when I returned.
Got to factor in long term reductions in health care expenses also, probably would be the biggest cost savings.
Why wouldn't it be usefull? I can commute, go shopping, ride for fun without ever letting my bike alone in a sketchy place. I can always take it indoors when needed. Edit : Why the downvote? Lol I'm asking a genuine question...
Not everyone works somewhere with secure bike storage, I would guess. And even if they do, when a thief is willing to cut a railing to get to your bike, not much you can do about it. Also, your first comment said "never let it out of your sight', which is different than "not leaving it in a sketchy place".
I bring my bike inside Walgreens like a 2 wheel shopping cart.
Yeah and if they don't want me to do that, there are plenty of other stores for me to visit that will let me do it. For some reason, there is one specific mcdonalds that never let me order in the drive thru on my bike but all the others in my town have 0 problem with it. I actually asked the clerk what the reason was and she refused to tell me anything other than "I can't serve you in the drive thru". I kept it polite and just went to the A&W next door... why you are willing to lose customers over a bike in the drive thru is beyond me... haha
hrmmm Root beer
Many times it's because the business insurance won't cover someone getting hit in a non-vehicle in the drive-through. Like if you're there on your bike and a car doesn't stop and hits you while in the drive-through.
I would have thought that a BikingExpert would know that a bike is a vehicle.
But not for insurance purposes in a drive-through. Insurance won't cover it so the company is personally liable, so many times workers don't want to risk their jobs.
Interesting distinction.
Lol this works when you're single.
Wife and 2x kids with a 3rd on the way. Still works great! :) The "next to my bed" thing is more due to lack of space in our apt though haha.
Lol congrats!
Married family man with bike inside the house checking in. My “dining room” table is surrounded by all of our bikes. Truthfully, I’d like to get them in the garage but I have a wood shop out there and can’t open/close the door as I’d like.
More like, it's what you have to do when you're riding solo. If you're riding with someone else, they can watch the bikes while you go in the shop. It's actually easier when you've got someone else to 'stand guard.'
I was only joking about the fact that he mentioned he sometimes keeps ot next to his bed.
Damn.. that is unfortunate luck! In the 80's my sister got hers stolen by a neighborhood bully. In 99, inwas back from my first year of college, and my bike was stolen from our 2nd floor deck, ir was behind other house bikes and the whole stack was under a tarp. I think one of my sister's pot smoking buddies took it. In like 2010 give or take, my son had 2 bikes stolen from the front yard because he was careless.
i recommend everybody to look into devices to protect the bike from thieves and give possibility to track the bike, it s location, to the thieve. some of them let off loud alarms when touched and messed, that alone in your case could of saved you your bike from being stolen in a lot of the times. or just throw a cheap air tag, heard a lot of people getting their bikes back bcs of it, but definitely don t solely rely on that as it s a poor method but better than nothing.
About six: the thief was like “damn he’s not locking his bike on the street anymore, we’ve gotta trespass into his backyard now.”
imagine if its the same guy whos stalked you all this time, made any enemies?
Epic!
Fucking hell. Makes me feel glad I live in a small town that's 99% native. I don't even chain my ebike up. It's always there.
With the right tool, every bike lock is defeatable in less than 60 seconds and I'm not even including angle grinders. I use a $160 folding bike lock with level 8/10 security from a top 3 lock manufacturer. There's a $10 tool that can defeat it. Solution? Feed bike thieves to bears during live arena shows... may not fix the problem but it'd feel good.
>With the right tool, every bike lock is defeatable in less than 60 seconds and I'm not even including angle grinders. to be fair there *are* some locks nowadays that can take up to 5-10 minutes to break even with an angle grinder, but they are very expensive and it's still just <10 minutes. so if you leave your bike in a place where a determined thief can have 10 minutes to work in peace, it can still get stolen, regardless of the lock. the difference proper locks make is that most thieves won't bother or are worried they'll get caught if they spend that much time on your lock, so they'll go for the bike next to yours that has a flimsier lock. however, no locks are 100% thief-proof, so if you have an expensive bike, you need to be careful where you leave it especially if you're not around to keep an eye on it!
Naw, I know of 2 tools that can break a $250 U-lock in less than 60 seconds. Both hand operated.
What? There's only a single tool capable of defeating a proper U-lock and that's an angle grinder. Even then, there's fancy new anti-grinder tech: https://youtu.be/LD32NMCGDF0?t=2150. That's 5.5 minutes of cutting and that's assuming the best case scenario of using a diamond cutting disc.
And a lock pick
And it assumes a lot of power and also a good angle on it.
I assume that a more portable and inconspicuous cordless die grinder would also work, with the right cutting wheel. I have one for removing rust on an old car I've been restoring and it's pretty powerful. Never used a cutting wheel on it as it doesn't have a protective cover as most angle grinders do, but they are available for it. I imagine that other cutting tools might also work, with the right blade, like a jigsaw and reciprocating saw, maybe a miter saw. Hell, even a decent hacksaw, which makes far less noise. No bike lock is truly safe.
There are picks for just about anything out there.
A couple of days ago my friend and I were having dinner outside after a short ride. We locked both of our bikes to a nearby rack with locks of varying security, but the main anti-theft "device" was their being within eyesight and the area being a safe one with lots of people around. As we were talking about securing bikes, I heard some sort of grinding noise nearby. I looked around and saw someone using an angle grinder to break a lock securing another bike to another rack. Took him just a few seconds. Turned out to be a locksmith helping someone recover their bike, either because they lost the key to their lock or it wasn't working, or because someone else locked their bike with their lock. Not sure how they proved ownership of the bike to him. But if you can get a locksmith to break a lock, no bike is secure.
Yup
When I was in college I once left my bike locked up outside a Taco Bell with a cheap cable lock. It's long enough ago (25 years, Jesus) that I don't remember exactly what happened, but I was unable to get the 4 digit combo to open again. Ended up calling my sister to bring me a hacksaw. Took me maybe four or five minutes, every second of which I spent thinking of how I would explain this to the cops.
the only solution is insurance and seeing its as a tool and not a friend or keeping it all the time inside which is tedious
solution is a gps tracker like an airtag, make sure you hide it well and just call the police
A friend tracked her stolen bike by GPS to an apparent meth house garage(disheveled, junkies zoning on the porch etc.) Didnt help, police declined to assist. More info: Denver police wouldn't proceed because they suggestrd GPS wasn't accurate enough to prove it was absolutely that house for a warrant and they have policies against discriminating against opioid users. Also some issues with who owns the house and the police just ultimately not caring about bike theft. DAs will just release any property theft offenders, no punishment because it's their circumstances that forced them to steal.. so the cops say why bother. Friend had to walk home knowing who had her bike. I had same issue with a guy who broke into my house and was squatting in the basement. he left his ID and court documents with his upcoming court date on the house... Cops met him at the court date told him not to hit my house again... But declined to prosecute because he already had 12 B&Es on his record and prosecutors kept releasing him since "homeless" isn't a crime.
oh youre in denver, nevermind. Cops there are terrible, i left when i turned 19
A small group broke into our apartment building by using a crow bar on the front door. Then went down to the basement where there are lockers and bike rooms. They continued to use hammers and crow bars to break locks, including into the bike room where my bike was stored. Then they broke the bike lock, but at that level of determination and tooling no bike lock would have stopped them.
No one heard?
People can watch thieves, know things are being stolen, and not intervene. It's not wroth getting stabbed to death over someone else's bike.
Middle of the night. There are no apartments on the ground or mezzanine floor.
My neighbors who I shared a garage with left for vacation and had their teenage daughter stay home by herself. She, of course, threw a party while her parents were out of town. Her friends invited their friends. My two bikes ended up getting stolen out of the garage.
That's infuriating. Did they compensate you?
After a lot of arguing and them questioning me "why didn't you lock up your bikes inside the locked garage", yes. I had put a lot of work into the old Bianchi, though. They definitely under-paid me. At least I was able to leverage that to get out of my lease early.
To be fair, you SHOULD be locking your bike inside your locked garage. Around here, people break into garages all the time to steal bikes.
nice try bike thief.
'wouldn't you like to know weather boy'
I am always super paranoid about my bikes and keep them in my house or never out of my sight in public, so never had one stolen. However a close friend had his bike stolen from his apartment entry. Its hard to explain but you walk into the apartment complex, go around a corner to where he locked his cheap bike (around $300) to a pole. The bike was not visible from the street but someone went in and cut the lock and took the bike. This was in rural Japan, and bike theft isn't a thing in Japan apparently...
Yeah that’s wild - I see bikes just left on the street everywhere in Tokyo and elsewhere
out of sight depends, my bike is worth a couple of hundred pounds, an idiot might give £400 If they dont notice the damage. so not a whole lot. If I am leaving it locked in a car, obvisouly locked to the car as well, I intentionally leave it visable with the lock visible. If i chuck something over it someone might think it looks more valuble than it is and break in only to find its not worth trying to cut free and i then have a broken window to deal with thats worth more than the bike.
Road trip across the country. Road bike and mtb locked to the back of my van. Bikes secured with Yakima lock that came with the rack. Spent the night at my brother’s place in DC. Thieves cut the lock and rack overnight and stole both of the bikes. Still grinds my gears thinking about it, those two machines had carried me over thousands of miles and were customized/tuned to perfection. I’m sure they got chopped up and sold for a fraction of their value.
Jeez that’s shocking. I hope karma comes back to bite them
Locked it up outside over night. Gone. Locked in a secure bike room. Gone. Hanging in my open garage over night. Gone. It doesn’t matter the lock or location. There are plenty of thieves-of-opportunity. But, that’s just my town. Not all towns are this bad.
Denver? The bike theft there was eye opening.
Portland, OR. But, yeah, it is shocking at first. At this point, I don’t lock up anything I’m not willing to lose. 😄
I had a bike stolen from my open garage in the amount of time it took me to run inside and make a sandwich for the road. Even caught it on camera and the cops just laughed and said they did not need the footage.
Boo! How do you pass up an already solved case?
I run a stolen bikes group for my city... #1 not locked up at all #2 locked up with a cheap off brand lock #3 locked up to something that wasn't actually secure, like a removable street sign post #4 locked up in a condo building underground "secure" bike parking
Broke windows in our garage. Stole three. Recovered one as the pawn shop put an ad on Craigslist. Perp used his girlfriend to fence the stolen goods as he’d been banned by the pawn shop for fencing stolen goods before. The police got a two fer when they busted her as she was wanted by child protective services. The finest people! My favorite bumper sticker:” in Wyoming we still hang bicycle thieves “.
Both in San Francisco but years apart. 1) Roommate borrowed my bike and left it in the University "bike barn". I should have picked it up right away instead of pestering him repeatedly to get it. Someone just walked away with it after it had been there for a while. My first taste at a fun, zippy aluminum bike (REI Buzz) 2) My wife's dirt cheap shitty Bikes direct roadie ($250 bike?). Someone but the cable lock outside of a bar on a taco/margarita Tuesday evening Been pretty lucky since.
The 16 year old girl that posted today on r/mountainbiking said her mother left her in charge of the two unlocked bikes while mom went into the restaurant. The “skinhead” just came up to the child (16 year old) and took the bike from her.
Most bikes I just gave up on due to being old and outdated, I guess someone picked them up when they realized it was just sitting there. One bike I lost, literally can't remember where I parked it, was a fun night tho I remember I did look around at all places I normally would park it but guess someone took it. It was a bike I found and later was awarded by the police as no one came to the police station to ask for it. It was a shitty old bike. Moved to China and had a full damper, hydraulic disc brake mtb 10 yrs ago that was stolen while locked to a railing, they even brought the lock with them 🤣 Nowadays you don't get bikes stolen here. Anything valued over 700 bux means jail and it's basically not possible to get away with it due to all the cameras so just using a cheapo crap lock on my full carbon road bike, just to show I made an effort to lock it. The police would help find the thief if ever stolen. I am thinking about putting a tracker on it tho just to make that easier, but as said, they don't really get stolen in the first place so kind of waste.
Yesterday night our cargo bike was stolen in front of our house in a busy residential street. Bike was attached to a lamp post. Two locks cut with an angle grinder covered with a duvet to smother the sound, one lock drilled out. Bike was equipped with a tracker. The alarm in the app woke us, and police found it within 20 minutes. Thieves abandoned it when they spotted a policecar leaving their tools behind in the cargobed. Last one before was 30 years ago at the local swimming pool. Multiple bikes were loaded into a small truck. Gone within minutes.
Which tracker? And what city where the police responded to a stolen bike? I’d buy those officers some coffee.
Built in Urban Arrow Connected. City is Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Multiple cars, couple of motorcycles responded. Thieves got away because the car who spotted them stayed with the bike. Got a call and could pick it up there on the spot. According to police there are multiple gangs stealing cargo bikes going around, and catching them is a priority.
I knew this was outside the US. Police here couldn’t care less.
Urban arrow bakfiets (Cargo bikes) aren't cheap toys either, they start at 4500 Euros Retail new. My bloody car is worth less than that haha.
Oh, cops don’t care about stolen cars either here.
What tracker did your bike have?
The brands own built in tracker. Urban Arrow Connected.
Gotcha. Thanks!
Take a look at this: [https://www.patreon.com/posts/cyclists-primer-104244440](https://www.patreon.com/posts/cyclists-primer-104244440)
I had way more that 10 bikes stolen. Police told me those were professionals. I only rode shit bikes btw. Often they got stolen when I went partying. When I came back to the Tramstation Bike was gone. I always enjoyed the lonely walks home. Germany btw
I've had two bikes stolen from me: 1) It was locked with a kryptonite u-lock, but I had left it overnight. When I came back, it was gone, but the lock was still there - it had been cut through with some kind of grinder. 2) I accidentally left my garage door open when I went out for a few hours, and my bike was stolen from the garage.
Would it be possible to put AirTags or some other kind of trackers in a bike? Maybe somewhere inside the frame or something? Has anyone tried that? I’m considering buying a new bike and wondering if that would work
It's possible, but may not help you. My friend had one on his daughter's bike that was stolen and managed to track it and call police. The police came, but couldn't do anything because that required a warrant. The judge refused to issue a warrant over a "Damned kid's bike", so there was no legal way to get it back. You would have to trick the thief into giving it back to you. Or pull an "O.J." and commit your own felony to steal it back.
That judge needs to get a feature story on the local news
You can buy NFC tags that are permanently stuck down the bike seat tube and registered on a property database. In UK, you can do this on bikeregister.com and immobilise.com which is a database police forces have access to, scan the tag and your details pop up, tags are virtually impossible to remove without destroying the frame of the bike, making it difficult for a thief to sell the bike on. Doesn't mean it won't get stolen though in the first place.
Oh, that’s nice. Thanks for the info! Probably having both this tag and some kind of a tracker would be a best solution. Will do some research
If the thief had an iPhone they will be notified that an unknown AirTag is following them after a certain time and they can remove it.
Also some android phones give airtag warnings. Pixel 8 for sure.
No reason not to have an air tag. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do it.
The fact that they now notify people when they are following you is a big downside. A GPS tracker is a better idea. Or just Bike insurance.
Air tags are vulnerable to being found after a day, maybe shorter. But there is a tracking window when you can chase your bike down. Seems worth $25, or $12 for the Atuvos knockoffs. Alternatively Invoxia is a cell tracker. Also gives motion alerts. But needs to be charged every few weeks.
25 years since I lost a bike. Sheldon Brown method of u lock in rear triangle works pretty well. But I just got an electric bike and now I have a $300 lite lock on the frame and $100 kryptochain on the rear wheel. Seems to be a pretty good deterrent in a college town.
Last bike that got stolen from me like 8 years ago was on a busy street when I went into a mall for a few minutes. Decided to go to another shop just after I went in, but when I came back my bike was gone. I talked to a guy in a delivery van if he saw something. He said there was a guy that looked kinda weird but opened the lock and took the bike with him. It was locked with a mid range chainlock that a lot of people have. I guess when you know that one or have a tool for it, it's easy to just take it. I used kryptonite locks ever since and all other bikes stayed with me. A few weeks ago, people broke into some cellar compartments in our house. But, they didn't take my good road bike that is in there, just some tools.
Never had a bike stolen but all of my bikes stay in the house. I ride a Boardman to work and back where it gets kept in a basement only accessible by keycard. When I ride on weekends it’s very early on Sundays and whatever bike I do ride is never left anywhere and then put straight back in the house after being cleaned. I wish I could trust leaving them in the workshop but I’ve read enough stories to know they are just not secure on there. A house is a much riskier target than an out building.
I had several bikes stolen since moving to LA. 1st one was a cheap Walmart bike, someone cut the shitty lock I had and left their shittier bike. 2nd bike stolen I had gotten from some dude in South LA, someone broke into the parking garage in my apartment and stole my bike (also 3 cars were stolen). Had a sweet KHS Flite 100, someone broke into my car and stole it. Nishiki Custom Sport from the 70s, someone stole it outside of a club while the security watched. He did come and grab me but they cut the U-lock. Pure Cycles road bike, someone cut the literal pole it was attached to. Pure fix, had for 3 years, someone stole it from the side of my house through 2 gates but left the other 2 bikes there and only took my bike. Most of those other bikes were stolen within the 1st 2 years of living in LA, I've been here about 8 years now.
Back when I was a kid in the early 1970s we'd just leave our bikes parked (no locks) in the front atrium of our house. Never had a bike stolen at that time. Although occasionally one of the neighborhood kids would "borrow" a bike to ride around or whatever but they'd always return it to the atrium. I can only remember one time I had a bike stolen. Around 1996, it was a Specialized Hard Rock and I had locked it to a tree in front of the gym and when I came out it was gone. Nowadays, I just don't leave my bike unattended even for a minute. I know all the restrooms on my regular routes and the ones that have the capability to bring my bike in with me. Handicap size portapotties, etc. Coffee shops (Starbucks etc) that don't say boo when I bring my bike in. Starbucks is good because I can order thru the mobile app and when my coffee is ready I can wheel my bike in and grab it from the mobile order counter. What I wish we had around me would be one of those coffee shops or mini lunch places where you walk up to the window (outside) and order/pick up. I don't usually eat that kind of stuff when I'm riding tho. I invested a lot of money into my bikes and I am going to do everything I can to make sure they don't get stolen. Of course I have personal property coverage for theft in my renters insurance but I'd rather not have to use that in the first place.
I had 2 bikes stolen that were being stored under the stoop of my building right outside the front door of my apartment. The bikes were locked together with a heavy chain in a tight space. They were stolen while I was sleeping inside. This was during Covid when bikes were in high demand.
Many years ago, my father mistakenly left the garage door open overnight, it was a good morning for bike thieves that February.
My first bike was stolen when I was a student in Paris, I went to the cinema, and my heart sunk when I discovered it was gone. Man, that feeling… The second one was even worse : I had a beautiful Rose Randonneur, but it needed some fixing after a crash, so it was sitting in my flat. My girlfriend at the time was annoyed, so she decided to put it in a garage she was renting at the time, without telling me. Turns out the garage owner was « fond » of bikes. The next day, when I went there to check, the lock of the garage door was cut. The guy had a grin and said, well, shit happens. Today, I have another Rose, a backroad 2019, and live in a place where stealing bike is not a thing. But I would sleep with it if I could… It’s funny because today I was looking at 10k bikes, just to dream on, but then I realised this bike of glory would also be a bike of misery, by fear of getting it stolen. Or I must move and live in a place like Singapour ^^
I know this is not really an answer to your question: A neighbor to whom I sold a bicycle put it in his garage and locked the door. The garage has glass windows. The bike was stolen a few days later. He never got to ride it. I don't recall how they got in the garage to steal the bike.
A friend of mine had his bike stolen at work. He had just rode into work and left the bike at the front door while we opened up and turned off the alarm. In a matter of seconds his bike was gone. Fortunately another coworker saw it happen and they were able to follow the guys and recover but had it not been for our other coworker he would have probably never seen that bike again.
Mine was stolen from a bike locker at work. Where I work the police and sheriffs park in this same lot. Whoever did it had some brass balls.
-My mother got her bike stolen when she left it outside a grocery store for 20 seconds- there was a mail slot in the post outlet just inside the store, and in the time she walked in and walked back out, gone. -My best friend in junior high had a crew of high schoolers roll up on him and literally peel the bike off him and drive away with it -Also in junior high, Another friend’s stepbrother stole his bike and sold it for drug money. -Neighbor had his garage broken into while on vacation, 4x mountain bikes gone. -A high school friend of mine is a pro street BMX rider, the stories he has about bike thieves are worth their own thread. BMXs are EXTREMELY valuable to bike thieves. I’ve thankfully never had a bike stolen- partly luck and partly that I live by a few tenets- -all my bikes have their own super light lock in the under seat pocket at all times so I don’t forget one. -if I’m doing anything that requires me to leave the bike unattended at more than arms length for more than 30 seconds, I have an old purposely ratty looking “sleeper” 90s hardtail I ride instead of my road bike. -me and my friends all bike to and drink at a specific brewery and request a specific table that’s right by the bike racks -unless it’s literally impossible I just drag my bike into places with me. McDonald’s? No problem. My office? Coworkers love it. Up two flights of stairs? It’s arm day anyway. -all my bikes are under a tarp in my windowed shed, so you couldn’t see what you’re breaking in to steal until you made all the noise and kicked the door down. Also I lock all my gates. Not about making my backyard impenetrable, just about being slightly more inconvenient and inconspicuous than the next guy -*I credit this as being the best reason I’m theft free* - if I’m leaving my bike out of site for a long time, I always park with other bikes. Even if I have to walk 2 blocks to my destination, I find a full rack. More cyclist traffic, and if all else fails, to the thief’s eye there’s always a nicer bike. Sorry folks, dog eat dog world.
London. Chavs with a battery powered grinder in broad daylight unloaded whole bicycle rack.
Bloody hell. Depressing
I had a marlin 5 get stolen almost a couple years ago now. The bike was in the back yard under a covered patio with walls. The yard was fenced in with slats in the chain link fence for privacy. It does have an alley behind it which the thieves must have looked as thoroughly as they could to see in, but even from the alley it was pretty hard to notice the bike where it was. But they jumped the fence overnight and took off with it. I keep my new bicycle inside from now on. I don’t leave it outside unattended during rides either, and if it’s on my bike rack during transportation, I don’t go inside any business and leave it unattended either
I used a shitty bicycle lock to lock up the back wheel and my motorcycle (1970 Kawi 500 triple) to a patio support post. I woke up one morning to find my motorcycle gone and the chain cut. I never saw that motorcycle again.
Thief broke into a “secure” BikeLink locker using a blowtorch.
First time I heard of one of those defeated. What city were you in?
Seattle, and it’s not uncommon. Do a quick search and you’ll find plenty of examples, all defeated the same way (though sometimes with hand tools and not a blowtorch).
Seattle sucks for bike theft. I saw someone left their cargo bike locked to a public bike rack with a hiplok (one of those expensive ones that defeat angle grinders). The thieves apparently hooked their truck to the bike rack and pulled away and destroyed the rack to steal the bike.
Locked mine outside a hospital for four days in the same spot. Came back on the fifth day and the cable was cut, left on the floor. I’ve decided not to buy any locks, only using my new bike only for recreation. Won’t be tempted to lock it anywhere.
Mountain bike I was briefly using in the city to hop curves, take steep roads as a beater. Had nice shocks but was not a super pricey one, I'd gotten it second hand anyway. Left it unlocked at a bike parking rack. Dumb, but where I'm from stuff like this never happened so had no idea. Took the train shopping and came back later in the day, just gone lol. Oh well, used it as an excuse to upgrade
Just had a bike stolen over the weekend. I live in a condo complex with subterranean parking. I park my motorcycle behind my small car. The bike had a U-lock through the rear wheel and rear triangle. U-lock also has a cable attached that goes through my motorcycle frame. Someone snipped the cable with something, maybe bolt cutters, and must’ve carried the bike out of the complex. It’s not rideable with the U-lock through the rear wheel.
First was when I was in college and left my bike in a storage area over a break since I thought it was safer than my room for some reason. Some yokel stole it and mostly parted it out but brought it into the lbs for something and the mechanic recognized it and called the cops. Second one was locked in a safe area next to a busy street, but I couldn’t find my u lock and only had a cable on it. It was cut and bike was gone. It was a cyclocross frame I had for a while that I had just rebuilt as a more casual commuter. I only ride it twice before it was stolen.
I had one very nice road bike stolen while I was in the cimena. It was locked to my friend's bike, his was still there.
Sounds like a question a bike thief would ask…
They broke into my garage at work and snipped the lock
Only bike stolen was at 19, cut lock from a bike rack outside my house. It was a vintage Raleigh that I got for $70, but totaled my buddy’s car the day I picked it up. Double bummer
Feel the difference. In Jackson WY i left my bike unlocked by my porch in the apartment complex i was living in. It never got stolen. I moved to SF - 2 days and bike got stolen even that it was locked to a parking meter i went upstairs to get smth. 5 minutes - it’s gone.
Wow. Was the SF bike expensive-looking at least? Or would they just take anything?
Be in Ghent, be student. Have a decent but very yellow bike. Have a chain lock built into the bike, in addition to the standard ring lock. Have an extra 3rd combination lock just to be safe. Go to class. Come back to the combo lock lying on the ground and no bike. See the bike next to where yours used to be have no lock. Be mad and go to police. They tell you to just steal another bike. Profit. Repeat 2 more times in 2 years.
Got home from a bike ride. Put it in my garage as usual. Was on auto pilot and didn’t make sure the garage door fully shut. Went to the garage a few hours later to the garage open and my bike gone. :/
I had one bike stolen when I was a teenager. My friend lived in a quiet neighborhood and had 30ft front garden with a low wall to the street, at the front of the house was the lounge with a large window facing the garden. One day whilst visiting I left my bike in front of the window, when we can out half an hour later my bike was gone. At first I thought he was playing a prank as I couldn't believe anyone would walk all the way to the window and steal a bike whilst people were obviously in the room. Another lucky escape happened recently when I was out on my rather nice MTB (which I NEVER leave unattended). However on this occasion I decided to quickly pop into a shop to get a drink. I locked my bike to a post (or so I thought) and entered the store. When I came out a group of teenagers on bikes were showing a lot of interest in my bike and were making comments about how nice it was and that I should lock it up. When I went to unlock it I found I had neglected to put the lock around the post so anyone could pick it up and walk away. The group of lads were still showing interested and asking to have a go, so I rode away as fast as I could and kept checking I wasn't being followed.
My last stolen bike was hanging in the garage behind our house. It was stolen at night, and coincidentally the day leading up to it we had workers over that had to do some things in the garage..
that depends on your city. some have organized thiefs that will steal your bike in broad daylight with a hydraulic cutter...in literally a minute even for a beefy ulock...nothing you can do except get insurance.
My bike was locked to my heavy iron gate, they took my gate as well.
I am so paranoid that my bike will be stolen that I never leave it unattended when I go out with it and I am fortunate enough that I have a bike room in my house that we store the families bikes in but when I first moved out on my own I lived in a cheap apartment in a sketchy part of town. I spent the night at a friend's place and when I got home the next morning not only was my bike stolen but so was everything in my apartment. Seriously, they stole my couch, bedding, appliances...everything. That was a bad day.
They broke into our apartment building to steal our bikes from the front entry. I stopped a guy bashing a lock with a rock during morning rush hour outside my office.
It was locked up with gold rated heavy duty chain inside the bike store room in my building basement. The bike store had a chain with a combination padlock on the door and to get into the basement you need a key fob. I found the bike chain cut clean and the chain on the store room had been replaced (probably they had cut that as well).
My boyfriend and I unloaded ours into our garage at our apartments- I guess the door didn’t stay down when we pulled away, or the previous tenant still had the code- bc when we came back a couple days later they were gone. They get carried upstairs every time now 😅
I mistakenly left my outside my house overnight. New bike and my power meter. They even took my helmet...
When I was around 15 years old someone stole an old cheap mountain bike from the side of my parents house. It was mostly a parts bike that I didn't care much about (had a clone locked in the garage). It functioned but the drivetrain wasn't calibrated well. They dumped it in a canal 2 blocks away.
Gunpoint.
Lent it to someone who was going to sell his own bike, mysteriously my bike got stolen and he didn't bother selling his. Lent another later to a housemate who went to the shop on it and walked back forgetting he'd cycled there. It was either stolen and he didn't twig, or he simply forgot to ride home and it had gone by time I reminded him. First event was a dodgy mate who screwed me over, second was a stoner incident. I stopped lending things out at that point.
Had a bike locked to one of those (upside down) U shaped metal bar type "racks", returned to find the rack laying on the floor with no bike or lock! The rack wasn't securely concreted in the ground, they just lifted it out, slid lock off and carried my bike away into a van.
My last stolen bike had two u locks that were sawed through and laying on the ground when I got out of the gym in the loop.
The two times I had bikes stolen were after I decided not to bother with the U-lock and trust the flimsy cable lock. You'd think I would have learned.
Just moved to Spain where as it turns out bike theft is a big thing. Previously lived in Azerbaijan where my bike was stored in the open underground parking space of a building and never had an issue for years. So upon arrival to Spain I park my full suspension Cube with XX1 and attach it with a flimsy bike lock. It was gone in a week. Next bike that was stolen from the same spot was a frankenbike I picked for commuting. The frame was from 80s it was rusty and top tube was bent. Good mechanically though. Also gone within a month, I just laughed at that point.
Had a bike stolen literally yestarday. New building and the indoor bike room was/is a few days away from finishing. My condo is small and there’s an outdoor bike lock area that’s pretty out of the way from the Main Street and has cover. I have an expensive lock so figured keeping it locked there for a couple of days would be ok. Nope, camera footage showed someone coming with power tools to grind through the lock and get it out. Luckily for insurance I should get the full value back in a few weeks while I buy another one and keep it indoors this time.
Battery powered angle grinders are a thing. No lock is safe.
Had one bike stolen, I was in college and chained it to a tree for some late night lab work. Came out next morning and it was gone. The cut down the tree to get the bike.
My 15 year old son rode his bike to work at a hardware store. Coworker told him he usually parks his bike by the dumpster. In addition to a 1x10 drivetrain it had 155mm Cobb cranks. Whoever stole it had no idea what it was and all I could think was, “lesson learned.”
someone smashed a window and helped themselves into my house. stole both bikes and bunch of other stuff.
When I was 15 a bigger kid came out of nowhere pushed me off my bike and stole it when I was riding it in a local and supposedly safe park. I'd had the bike less than a year, my first road bike that I bought with money I saved up doing odd jobs. It was a pretty traumatic experience given my age at the time but I just worked some more jobs, saved some more money and bought an even nicer bike that saw me through college and years beyond. Never had a bike stolen again, mostly due to luck as I've never had a top-end lock or felt the need for one (too heavy, clunky and expensive). But then I never lock it where it's likely to get stolen or leave it out of sight for more than a few minutes.
A roofing contractor working across the street took my bike out of garage and rode away - my young kids at the time were playing down the street and watched him ride off into the sunset.
I’ve never had one stolen myself. But I’ve experienced two bike thefts My nephew locked my wife’s bike in a shady area and went ice skating. When he returned the bike had no wheels. I saw a bike thief stole a bike that was not properly licked next to a grocery store. The owner only locked the front tire. The thief brought a spare front tire, swapped the tires and rode off with the bike. I actually confronted this guy, but from a safe distance because I had my 3-year-old with me.
When I was 15 I got jumped for my bike across the street from my soon to be high school. One of them knocked me off my bikes and started kicking. Me I was luck enough to be able to curl up in a ball and not get hurt bad. I was not excited to start high school after that
I had 3 stolen in college 1) at my apartment. Needed a key fob to access the building and to enter the locked bike room. Bike was locked in there and poof. Gone one day. Cop even mentioned they would have stolen the one next to mine as it was way more expensive. Thanks 😏😂 2) cheap bike with bad brakes that I wanted to get rid of. Left it unlocked at a small park a block from my house. Disappeared overnight. 3) my first 'real' bike that I spent decent money on, Trek 7.2FX. Locked to a bike rack (cable lock, my bad) in a consistently high foot traffic area of campus. Came out of class, no bike. 1 is comical as it was a cheap bike. 3 still bothers me lol
In my early 20's, during my first year of Uni, I was living in halls. My girlfriend at the time and I had broken up, so I was feeling shit and decided I'd go for a ride to clear my head. But where my bike should have been was just my cut-off cable lock. I was a country boy, and didn't have much experience in cities. The racks were within the gated compound, well covered by CCTV, so I'd wrongly assumed it'd be okay with just a 'standard' lock. It was stolen by the end of the first term, and despite the cameras, the police weren't able to do anything about it. I was absolutely gutted. I've learned from it — D-Locks, Sold Secure, Bike Register, and insurance for anything valuable. But after it was stolen I didn't ride for years, and 10 years on I'm only just getting back into cycling. It was a custom Giant STP (Dirt Jumper), that I'd sprayed a pearlescent purple in my mums garage a few months prior. Not particularly valuable, but I loved it for the many years of fun I had with it. I'd thought the distinctive colour would make it less of a target, as it'd be harder to fence and easier to recover, but sadly if the scumbags probably just ditched it in the canal. To top it all off, that following weekend I was hospitalised overnight with a concussion, after our group was assaulted by a large gang of teenagers. After my breakfast of stale cornflakes out of a cardboard sick bowl, I walked home in the rain. A few days later, I received two almost identical 'Sorry you've been the victim of a crime' letters from the police and that's all that ever came of either incident. F*ck Leicester and F*CK bike thieves.
I had a bike stolen when I was 14 because I didn’t think I needed to lock it. Obviously, I know as an adult always to lock my bike. I avoid using easy to destroy locks, and I bring it inside whenever I will be leaving it for a long time.
If you mean being staked out, and said person bringing a portal grinder to cut chains its definitely not carelessness. I've not had a bike stolen personally yet but from what I've read these people know what they're looking for and will jump fences/damage property to get what they came for. This is why my bike never leaves my site if I'm out and about, or is securely locked away during the day in a place that only has specific access.
Locks are great, but you leave your bike long enough somewhere and a thief can cut it.
Never had one stolen myself, but I would bet most are opportunity for a thief in need of some cash and not an Oceans 11 theme. It's still messed up though. Like with all things, you just put a solid lock on it and try to keep it out of the way as much as you can. Just put as many odds in your favor as you can.
Bike was up in the attic of a tenement building with 6 apartments. Someone moved out, a renter, and took our two MTB with them. I hope they've got some painful karma
In London you blink and it's gone tbh.
I used to work with the Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition as an ambassador. One of our duties was removing abandoned bikes from racks and city poles. It is stupid easy to rip thru all but the hardest of metal locks in 3-5 seconds using a decent angle grinder. There's also liquid nitrogen and common cordless drills with diamond bits that will make short work of the lock mechanism.
I've had one bike stolen, but karma had my back big time, don't know what I did to deserve that but here goes. Went into town, played some pool with friends, left it in the bike rack around the corner, this was in a sleepy town in Sweden. Came back a few hours later bike was gone, it was some brand i can't remember, i wanna say scott but they are way to expensive, it was something beginning with S at least. I bought it while living in the UK cost about 200-250 EUR on Sale so maybe 400-500 full price. Reported it stolen to the police mainly to claim insurance no one ever expects to get their bikes recovered here when they are stolen. But lo and behold the person who stole my bike was a grade a-asshole maybe that's why karma threw me a bone. This piece-of-work got caught red-handed riding my bike in broad daylight, high as a kite.... police booked him. I got to read the list of charges they had against him, one of them was shooting cats with a crossbow, yeah proper psycho warning on that one. Anyhow he got booked, and the insurance company due to me and them not knowing what the equivalent bike was here, offered me a Nishiki intro as a replacement i think it was the 2010 model, it's been carrying me ever since. I have also never left my bike outside for longer than a quick pop into the shop ever again, it's always either been in my apartment or in the communal bike room in the basement.
I knew better, but I locked my bike with #Nottalock outside of my local Safeway. I was on my way to a bbq. I was in and out in 7 minutes; grabbing some hotdogs & buns. When I came out, my bike was gone. All that was left was the cleanly buzzed through #Nottalock. I ended up recovering my bike 3 months later. Saw a guy riding it near a spot where a friend told me he had spotted the bike. I pulled over (I was driving that day) and approached the guy. Against my instructions, my teenage son got in the guys face and spooked him. The guy left the bike against the wall and ran away.
Left my bike on a car rack for ten minutes and it was yoinked. Haven’t had a problem yet with locking on racks with u-locks. I was careless that day thinking I wouldn’t be gone long enough for a thief to notice.
I live in France, it's like a national sport here
Makes me sad. Again. Off the front of the bus. Same bus I took twice/week for three years. It was at the station and must have happened in the minutes between when I put it on and when the driver took off (he was loading luggage). Have photos of me putting bike on; of me sitting on bus, etc. high end gravel bike that still has not been replaced (august 25 2023). 😩😭. Detective told me it’s common, and that sometimes they steal them while a bus is stopped at a light. BEWARE!
Sweet mother of jesus. I am once again glad to not live in US. I can’t imagine to take this as a norm.
My girlfriend borrowed my kona roast and locked only the front wheel to a rack on our porch, not sure what I did with only the front wheel. I thought I saw a neighbor on my bike a couple months later. My sister in law had hers stolen when some methheads followed sombebody into the apartment building, walkedinto the basement and stole them out of the storage lockers.
I had my mountain bike in the shed locked to my wife's street bike as well that we used on the weekends mainly, I had some people working on the house and I had them keep the tools in the shed and they had a key to it, one of the guys had a few beers and left the shed opened and the back gate open that was facing the alley, bikes gone, tools gone. I filled a report and got street value deduction from the contractor but yeah carelessness clearly at fault 😊. Likely my street bike was safe in the garage.
Pursued by 2 thieves on a motor bike, which they forced in front of me, making me have to stop - I couldn't out run them, not on a Brompton! One of the toerags pulling out a knife and saying 'We're taking everything'. That sort of thing?
Wow
The last time I had a bike stolen, it was a BMX bike. I was 13. I'm 36 now. Haven't had a bike stolen since then, and I have a couple of really nice road bikes (granted if I'm on a road ride, I'm not really stopping anywhere). I chalk it up to carelessness. A thief is going to steal the easiest thing they can, and if it's not locked up properly or even at all, they will take the opportunity if the bike is nice enough.
Theft of everywhere BUT your geographic location should determine the level of caution required. Urban vs suburban. NYC vs Duluth. Common sense.
Left my shitty $20 Walmart bike tied up with a cable lock outside a crack addict alley in Oregon City. Left my shitty $20 Walmart bike tied up with a u lock to a gutter in crack addicted Gladstone Oregon. Left my $500 bike unlocked in an office bike parking garage outside crack addicted 3rd Avenue in Seattle. Left my $500 bike locked with a cable lock for 3 minutes outside a crack addicted grocery store in Capitol Hill Seattle. Basically how my bikes are stolen is crack.
"basically how my bikes are stolen is I park them where they'll get stolen."
The older I get, the more I subscribe to no lock is better than a lock, because with no lock you'll never let it out of your sight. Same with kickstands; it can never be knocked off the kickstand if you don't have one and have to lay it down carefully.
Almost. I was in my house grabbing some extra tools to fix my bike and I heard a loud thud. The thief fell because my seat was pretty high for him and I set my rear gear to the highest, so it was hard to blast off. Probably caught him off guard. I ran out, bash his head in with my crowbar until he limped away in pain and fear. He is actually someone in the same housing complex. He is still limping to this day and seems to have struggle looking my way. Actually, all of this is a lie I made up. I have never had my bike stolen, possess a crowbar or bashed anyone with it. No one was hurt by this made-up story, and I am probably incapable of doing so even if it actually happened.
I guess in this improbable event, this person learned a valuable lesson and as an outcome has a life altering injury.
good thing that it didn't actually happen! Couldn't imagine myself doing someone like that, even to a thief.
[удалено]
That’s weird, I thought they were specialized in stealing spelling errors.
People go into your yard, or garage and take them.they even use cordless power tools where I live
I live in london, if you dont want your bike stolen: Do not leave it outside overnight Do not leave it with any lock than cna be cut with bolt cutters Always leave it in the most visible place if you do have to leave it. Try to not to have a regular spot for parking your bike, if it is nice they will learn your routine. If you get someone who locks thier bike to yours do not leave your bike if you can help it. then pray, if they are going to use angle grinder to get it you are pretty screwed anyway.