vol

...being unable to unlock your bike when parked outside away from home. Such as key stuck or lost. Has it happened to anyone here? What was the aftermath like? I think we all need to be prepared for this possibility. Especially if it's a U-lock.

Nermal

Worse than having the bike stolen is to have the bike left and discover someone has stolen the lock. That is just insulting.

Looigi

Not something that's happened to me with a bike, but I've very rarely been in a situation where I locked my bike. However, similar to hiding a key outside your house or under the bumper of your car, you can stash a spare key on the bike, in the seatpost, end of the handle bar, in the steerer, or something similar. Barring that, call for a ride home to get your spare key, call a locksmith, or buy a angle grinder and extension cord at a nearby hardware store.

joejeweler

I'm pretty fortunate in that on most of my commutes i don't have to lock my "bike de jour" at all. The local Wendy's manager lets me bring it inside and i park it against the back row of tables right across from the bench seat i'll be eating at. So it's in my view at all times.

At the local McDonalds, i do use a basic cable lock but keep the bike in view though a window, and once my food is ready i sit in front of the window a few feet from the bike. This is only a few days a month, as i much prefer Wendy's baked potato and Asiago grilled chicken sandwich,....so they see me almost every day. (sometimes 2x a day but i;ll get a cod fish sandwich on the 2nd trip:-)

I shop a few times a week for groceries at the local Price Chopper supermarket, and bring the bike right in with me and walk it around carrying a hand cart. Once i check out, i transfer the groceries into my shoulder bag and off i go.

I guess what i'm saying is the BEST way to keep your bike is to have it view at all times, or within easy reach and visually accessable.

.....so far i've never had a bike lifted or even attempted :-)

rekmeyata

I'm thinking way differently, like the worse thing I can think of is being burned alive while nailed to a stake. Or getting your nuts chopped off, your shoulders and legs bound tightly then dislocated, hung upside down and shocked with a car battery, sitting on a small stool for 37 days and not allowed to fall off of it...no, I can think of worse things.

spectastic

get your head out of the gutter

---------------

I don't think there's a lot of things in my day to day that could be worse than that heart sinking, spine tingling feeling you get when my favorite thing in the world isn't there. I've had that happen to me several times, but only one time was my bike actually stolen. The other times was when I simply forgot that I had parked my bike on the other side of campus.

rekmeyata

For soldiers caught alive in Afghanistan that does have a meaning.

Keith99

I sort of discount those since they are not bike related.

But run over by a truck or a huge bunch of nasty ways to go down come to mind.

And I have had 2 instances, one dirt but one road bike on the road where I was uncomfortably close to a rattlesnake.

On and running out of water when you do not know where might be is no cakewalk. For a humorous story it is better when the vultures start circling!

Never been quite so happy to pass some roadkill and be reassured it wasn't me they had in mind.

Edit: Of course one could take a nasty fall and get their nuts crushed when hitting the top tube.

rekmeyata

Except he didn't state it needed to be about bikes, he said this: [h=2]Next to bike being stolen, the worst thing may be...[/h]
That's what he said, he didn't give the statement any rules. Are you giving the rules for the OP?

JBHoren

...coming back to find all the spokes had been clipped.

Snowman219

I left my lock keyhole exposed to the snowstorm once and it froze : O. But then! I went and got some hot water and BAM! Off I went : D.

AdrianFly

Returning to my bicycle only to find it was stolen. Then being knocked to the ground, bike shorts pulled off and violated with my very own frame pump by a gang of Tea Party.