Comments on: Note to Thieves: Please Do Not Steal My Bike. Thanks.

By: Unknown

Unknown — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 23:32:33 +0000

Oops, Bianchiphile right here. Guilty as charged. I even whisper sweet nothings when I lock it up… "Don’t worry, this won’t take long. I’m in, I’m out – stay put sweetheart.."Well, I am actually OCD about my bike, but just kidding about the latter part (or was I).

By: knobby tires

knobby tires — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 20:53:20 +0000

back in high school, i owned a forest green huffy superia. while this wasn’t the nicest bike, having owned it for over 8 years, it and i had been through many adventures over the years. it was the bike that got me started, and i still ride it when i go back to my parents house (if nothing else, huffy builds them to last!).on most days, i would ride my bike to the bus stop, lock it up, get on the bus and go to school, confident that my loyal huffy would be awaiting my return. but one day, i got off the bus, and where my stoic bike had been, there was only a broken chain lock. someone had cut my lock, and kidnapped my bike. heartbroken, i walked home, never expecting to see my wayward companion again. i made it through the week, walking past the empty bike rack everyday, hoping to see my bike, waiting for me to take it back home; but no dice.well, the weekend rolled around, and about an hour into my shift at the local supermarket, i noticed a familiar green shape hiding amongst the shopping carts in the cart corral. thinking quickly, i called my dad, and we loaded my huffy into the back of his pick-up, and he drove it home to the safety of our garage. i spent all morning on cart duty, hoping to find the SOB that’d kidnapped my huffy, but no one ever came back looking for it. too bad; i woulda really liked to share my feelings with him.so moral of the story: one way or another, a good bike will always find its way home.

By: cosmogrl

cosmogrl — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 20:04:02 +0000

I once had a bike stolen from a bike rack. My bike’s name was Big Red. I loved that bike. This was a very traumatic experience that occured in grade school and left a stinging scar. Since then, I never put my bike in bike rack. Of course, I also don’t own a bike at the present time…… hehehehe …….. due to circumstances beyond my control…… no, actually, I gave my mountain bike to someone who had no mode of transportation. Since I am not an avid biker and own a car, I figured they could use it more than me. I say keep the positive mental attitude that today is not the day for your bike to get stolen. I am convinced that had I been saying that to myself every day back in the day, Big Red would still be with me today. Whew! That was a konfusing sentence–but then again, that’s what I do best! You are hilarious and your blog rocks! —Wen

By: Unknown

Unknown — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 19:22:50 +0000

Being a native of the Netherlands I’m no stranger to bike-thefth. Thousands of bikes are stolen every day and there is no trouble in getting a ‘ second hand’ bike. Most of these second hand bike salesmen are junkies who need their daily dose of whatever they get their kicks from. The fact that they steal the bikes is partly accepted in The Netherlands. I once noticed a junkie stealing a bike in a very crowded shopping area and it bothered nobody. The fact that he was using a large sturdy metal pole to destroy the lock was probably one of the reasons….. The second hand bike trade is so accepted that people feel no shame in buying one. I have never bought one, because my bike has never been unvoluntary stolen. There even is a theory why the junkies steal the bikes. The most fascinating theory is the one of the lease bike. According to this theory if you buy a bike from a junkie and it gets stolen a couple of weeks later it means that your lease contract has ended and that you haven’t renewed on time. As I mentioned before my bike has never been unvoluntary stolen….. A couple of months ago I bought a new bike and had to get rid of my old and very dodgy one. I could have sold it, but it was way to much trouble. My solution: ride the bike, but don’t lock it. If it gets stolen: no problem I already have got a new one. It actually took four days before the bike got stolen. During these days I drove the bike to the train station, the shopping centre and my own street. All these places are very popular among people who are in the bike trade…. and still it took four days to get my bike stolen!

By: Unknown

Unknown — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 18:45:01 +0000

I hope you realize that you have become a cultural icon and your fame will only spread farther and wider.WAY TO GO!Hugs,MuMo

By: Unknown

Unknown — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 16:47:34 +0000

I haul my bike into my office, mainly because I don’t want to get on a cold and/or wet seat, even though we have covered racks. My morning ride is short enough, only about 20 minutes, where I don’t get real sweaty, so a quick wipe down (psudeo sponge bath coupled with baby wipes), rather than a full shower, gets me cleaned up. I change in my office as well. The closest shower is nearly all the way across campus, and I just don’t need a shower. Plus, hauling a lock is just more stuff to lug around. Finally, with my bike in my office, my students see that I ride to work a lot and they get interested in it. Maybe some day they’ll start commuting by bike. Yeah, and they’ll adopt my neo-bolshevist politics as well. Afterall, I’m a college perfessor (sic by the way). So, talk to Jake and tell him you want to ride with Brad over in Spokane sometime, or when I come to Seattle to ride with him. We’re family, Jake and I.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 15:59:19 +0000

My mom’s bike lived over at her aunt and uncle’s house for a while when she was first married to my dad. Her cousins rode it around or something. Anyways, one day it was stolen from their garage, where it had been unsecured and the garage door was hanging open. One day, at my dad’s bike shop, some guy walks in with a blue Nishiki that freakishly resembles my mom’s and is trying to sell it back to my dad on trade-in. We don’t live in that small of a town (i.e. there is more than one bike shop) so I find the coincidence pretty hilarious. My dad calls my mom from the back room and is whispering to her over the phone about whether or not my mom knows the serial number to her bike or if she can give him a full description of it, and then tells her to call the cops! Well my dad must have distracted the guy for a few more minutes until the fuzz showed up and arrested him for trying to sell my mother’s stoeln bike to my dad. True story. :)

By: joan

joan — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 15:57:20 +0000

OK – I do have a good story about having a bike stolen. I had put my road bike on my bike rack one day after a ride and, due to the ride-induced malfunction of my brain, forgot to lock it. I went to run an errand and came out of the store after being away from the car for 10-15 minutes max. Not only was my bike gone – but my rack had also been stolen. It was not a particularly valuable nike – but it was what I could afford at the time – and I was ripped. I’m a nurse and had to be in to work that night – and was assigned to work in the ER. My 3rd patient of the evening was a young guy in his 20’s who came in with a fractured collarbone and quite a few scrapes. We got to talking about biking and the rides we had both enjoyed in the area. At that point, he told me that he’d had a bike vs. motor vehicle encounter that had brought him into the ER. His girlfriend says "You’ve got to see the bike – it’s on the rack but it’s totally messed up!" I went out to the parking lot – and of course, it was my bike, my rack, and my helmet – which I hadn’t even realized was missing!! Guess that vehicle was one of those newfangled karmas…

By: Unknown

Unknown — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 15:33:12 +0000

July 23, night before a race. Trundling gear and misc. from basement to vehicle for an early morning depart. I had my bike leaning against the back of my car, in my driveway, behind the house. (with shoes clipped in, Polar HR/speed/cadence watch on the handlebar) So I’m making 2 minute trips, back-forth, basement-car. Suddenly I notice that there is a 47 pound "Magna" Kmart MTB in the exact spot where my magnificent road steed was only minutes before. Awwww must be a joke….expecting one of ‘the guys’ to hop out and say "gotcha"…..nope. A frantic recon of the ‘hood ensued in the passenger seat of Johnny Law…..no recovery, to this day ‘gone in 60 seconds’. After all that I went to the basement again and selected a fine ‘84 Schwinn Voyageur, removed the kickstand and fenders and rode with anger and fat tires to a gratifing 4th place.

By: Unknown

Unknown — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 15:14:38 +0000

I had a vintage Diamondback I’d inherited from my brother-in-law stolen when we lived in Vegas. I know, who’d think immoral people lived in Vegas? (Not me, you fathead – the thieves) The interesting thing was that I had it chained to the railing of our second floor balcony at the time. Somebody worked WAY too hard (climbing up there with a bolt-cutter? Ninja bike thieves?) for what would probably have been worth about $200 at the time, if I hadn’t already beat the hell out of it playing around in Utah. The Gary Fisher seat was probably worth more, but I’d quick released that and taken it inside.