Bike thieves made me the man I am today!
by Steve ~ March 9th, 2008. Filed under: Department Store Bikes.
Bike thieves changed my life. Really. One of the arguments I’ve often expounded in support of buying a department store bike is the prevalence of bike theft. Why commute with a brand name LBS bike that is going to catch the eye of every bike thief worth the name? I’m wondering if this is a valid argument. Are thieves really brand conscious? Is the use of a department store bike really a deterrent? How far should the bicycle commuter be willing to go… or in my case, how poor a ride should he be willing to suffer… to protect his or her property?
I have personally experienced bike theft four times in the last 10 years. My eldest daughter lost two bikes to theft, a year apart, when she was 7 and 8 years old respectively. Each was parked out of sight in our back yard, or at the side of the house, when she came inside for a drink or or lunch. Each bike cost under $10 at local garage sales, but who stole them? Ten-year-old opportunistic louts cruising the neighborhood looking for unlocked bikes?
Four years ago, somebody broke into our front porch and stole two locked bikes: my Specialized Hardrock and my son’s el-cheapo department store bike. My son’s bike was found a block from the house. The thieves, presumably mentally challenged, had tried to kick the lock off and abandoned the bike when they realized they were just breaking spokes. My Hardrock was never recovered, but the responding police officer confided that because of the quality of the lock I’d used to lock the back wheel to the frame, the bike would probably never be ridden again and would languish in somebody’s back yard. Small comfort.
As a result of that experience, I had a bike rack installed on our front porch. A commercial one, bought from a company that installs them in front of Safeway and other big stores. It holds eight bikes, and we now lock all our bikes to it. No more thefts for us, at least from off the porch. And, of course, I purchased the Bike of Doom on which to commute, rationalizing that brand conscious thieves wouldn’t want it. So far, so good. It’s been parked out in the open, locked up of course, many times, hasn’t been vandalized, hasn’t yet been stolen. I doubt it ever well. But have I done too much?
Before buying the bike of doom I picked up a low-end Giant Boulder that I was going to use for commuting. After riding it a few times recreationally, I realized that it was quite a nice bike, very comfortable, and I didn’t want to lose it to theft. If I hadn’t bought the Bike of Doom, that’s what I’d be commuting on. I rode about 1,200 Km on it last year, but many of them were rough, country kilometers, across farmer’s fields, and worse. The bike has held up nicely, with no repairs at all. I expect it would have done beautifully on my commute, other than being a target for thieves, that is.
As a result, I have commuted for a full year on the Bike of Doom. It has been an enjoyable experiment, but I admit that had I not been committed to learning how to repair the bike and to keeping it in running condition, as well as having fun writing this blog, the Bike of Doom would not have lasted more than a few months. Certainly, any rational person would have sunk it in the lake if they’d gone through my cycling experience during my last holiday.
I think I made the right decision, and there have been benefits from riding the Bike of Doom, but sometimes I wonder. Have I gone too far in deciding to commute on a department store bike? Granted, thwarting thieves was only one of my concerns, but it was a big one. What would you do? If you had to park your bike out in the open, would you be willing to leave it unwatched for nine hours a day?
Why am I asking? Well, I can foresee the time when the wear and tear of commuting will lead to the natural attrition of the Bike of Doom, and I’m trying to decide whether it’s worth buying something similar, or whether I should commute on a decent bike.
And if I decide on a decent bike, can I still call it the Bike of Doom?
Related posts:
The People’s Pedal - a community bike program that works
BOD on Holiday — August 6 — 36.1 Km
Back on the road with the Bike of Doom
March 9th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I used to do maintenance for a bike share program (www.peoplespedal.org). One of our stations was on the university campus right next to a huge bike rack. You would not believe the number of crappy bikes that got stolen. As far as I could see there were two kinds of thieves: the pros who were looking for good high-end bikes and the junkies who were looking for whatever they could get.
Cheap bikes got stolen because they had cheap locks or weren’t locked at all. The rule for keeping a bike is to use a better lock than the bike deserves.
March 9th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
That sounds like good advice. I suppose if I really believed a crappy bike was not attractive to thieves, I’d leave it unlocked, but I don’t. And if I’m going to lock it anyway, with a good lock by the way, why not commute on a better bike?
March 9th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Thinking about it I realized I had more to say about this. I’ve commuted by bike for almost 20 years and have never lost a bike. Yet. I spent most of my time on a Specialized Rockhopper, a similar grade of bike to your Giant I suspect. It was locked up on the street for 8-9 hours a day and other than losing a seat post clamp, having the seat slashed and having a toothpick shoved into the lock nothing ever happened to it.
Why? It was a busy pedestrian street and it was daylight. I wouldn’t leave it locked somewhere isolated, even in daylight. I locked it with a Kryptonite u-lock and made sure that the lock grabbed both the frame and a wheel. Often the lock is stronger than what it’s attached too, if you don’t grab a wheel they can break the rack and ride away with the lock still attached to the bike to be dealt with later. I bought as small a lock as would do the job, the idea being to keep the space where they can fit a tool to break it to a minimum. U-locks are usually broken by prying with a lever or putting a small car jack inside the loop.
At night I’d use a separate cable lock through both wheels as well. People often whinge about the extra weight of carrying locks but I feel like I’m commuting in part to get exercise so a little extra weight just makes it more beneficial.
None of this advice is original. All I did was read what the manufacturers of locks had to say about it and other things about bike security I’d read on-line and did those things. Funnily enough it’s worked.
In the interests of full disclosure I’ll say that I live in Edmonton so there’s only about 4 months of the year where bike theft on the street is likely. The badguys head to Vancouver when the temps get down to -20c and it starts snowing.
March 9th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I say, go for Bike of Doom II.
Oh yeah, and +1 on “use a better lock than the bike deserves”.
March 9th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
When the BOD does finally kick the bucket (may she rest in peace), I’d replace it with an older mid-grade bike. You can often pick up a 10 year old bike that cost $900 new for just $150. Keep looking at the police auctions, craigslist, kijiji, MEC equipment exchange, pawn shops, and yard sales. (Annual church rummage sales can yield surprising finds.) You gotta be careful you aren’t buying stolen property: take a real close look at the seller. “Does this look like someone who bought and rode a $900 bike?” Ask for receipts. Of course, at the police auction, you KNOW you are buying stolen goods and you have to decide if that’s bad or neutral karma….
On the question of theft, I’ve been lucky in Winnipeg. Granted, I live pretty far south and can bring my bike in to the office every day at the U of M. The only attempt on my bike was last summer when I put it on the car rack over night because we were leaving for vacation at 3AM the next morning. The scum bag got the front wheel but couldn’t cut the cable through the frame. There were 3 bikes on the rack, and of course the lightest bike goes on last!
Another joke: All bikes weigh 40 pounds.
20 pound bikes have 20 pound locks on them.
39 pound bikes have 1 pound locks on them.
Steve in the ‘Peg
March 12th, 2008 at 1:34 am
i’m getting my first bike since moving from edmonton to vancouver this week and my strategy is to dress it down. i’m getting a norco or brodie hybrid with vbrakes, scrape off the logos, use some paint, and maybe some duct tape. i hope it works….
March 12th, 2008 at 5:11 am
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