What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?
09-05-12, 03:29 PM
#1
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What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?
Forgive me if I'm the umpteenth person to post this.
https://blog.priceonomics.com/post/30...tolen-bicycles
https://blog.priceonomics.com/post/30...tolen-bicycles
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Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
New York City and High Falls, NY
Blogs: The Experienced Cyclist; noglider's ride blog
“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author
Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
09-05-12, 04:16 PM
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i had not seen that. it's fairly informative, especially for those in san francisco.
the irony for all of us that use cl and appreciate a 'good deal' is we may unknowingly be on the purchasing end of a stolen bike or part. i've bought four brooks saddles off ebay and cl. i'd be kidding myself if i thought there was a 100 percent probability that none of the four were stolen.
the article read that 1.5 minutes is needed to cut through a u-lock with the proper tools. really? i thought it took 30 minutes or so? why lock a nice bike at all? it's lunacy.
just take it with you.
i was in the grocery with my bike last night, and a lady gave me the death stare as i struggled to reach in the back of the cooler to grab a carton of milk that couldn't slide down to the front. apparently my bike was preventing her from grabbing her item in a timely manner. sorry my bike cost you those precious five seconds, lady. i would've left it up front, but we live in a very uncivilized society. i could tell this by your stare.
the irony for all of us that use cl and appreciate a 'good deal' is we may unknowingly be on the purchasing end of a stolen bike or part. i've bought four brooks saddles off ebay and cl. i'd be kidding myself if i thought there was a 100 percent probability that none of the four were stolen.
the article read that 1.5 minutes is needed to cut through a u-lock with the proper tools. really? i thought it took 30 minutes or so? why lock a nice bike at all? it's lunacy.
just take it with you.
i was in the grocery with my bike last night, and a lady gave me the death stare as i struggled to reach in the back of the cooler to grab a carton of milk that couldn't slide down to the front. apparently my bike was preventing her from grabbing her item in a timely manner. sorry my bike cost you those precious five seconds, lady. i would've left it up front, but we live in a very uncivilized society. i could tell this by your stare.
09-05-12, 04:23 PM
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I got nowhere with that link...
09-05-12, 04:25 PM
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09-05-12, 04:28 PM
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"server temporarily over capacity"
09-05-12, 05:50 PM
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Interesting article. I only have one bike that I'll lock up out of sight. Bike theft is one of the biggest obstacles to the bike being a car substitute in any city.
I have a family member who has a drug problem. Her circle of friends steal anything. Since the cheap car no longer exists, bike are a necessary item for the average street person. She received a nice small Cannondale from some clown who stole it from some girl who "owed him money". Somewhere along the line, it received a coat of gold spray paint, rim, tires, seat-everything. Not even applied anywhere close to evenly. It was offered to me for $40.00. I turned it down. Went into a dumpster where someone else found it. So much stolen stuff seems to end up this way. One of them stole my Specialized Rockhopper. They returned in a roundabout way. I pretended not to know it was them. I was 10 feet away from it in her place when it happened.
I hate these people. I really, really hate drug people. The closer you are to them, the more you'll hate them.
Once bought a stolen socket set. A nice set of Craftsmen. It was on sale at Sears for $79.95, the shoplifters offered it to me for $30, when they heard sirens they took $15. Not one of my proud moments.
I have a family member who has a drug problem. Her circle of friends steal anything. Since the cheap car no longer exists, bike are a necessary item for the average street person. She received a nice small Cannondale from some clown who stole it from some girl who "owed him money". Somewhere along the line, it received a coat of gold spray paint, rim, tires, seat-everything. Not even applied anywhere close to evenly. It was offered to me for $40.00. I turned it down. Went into a dumpster where someone else found it. So much stolen stuff seems to end up this way. One of them stole my Specialized Rockhopper. They returned in a roundabout way. I pretended not to know it was them. I was 10 feet away from it in her place when it happened.
I hate these people. I really, really hate drug people. The closer you are to them, the more you'll hate them.
Once bought a stolen socket set. A nice set of Craftsmen. It was on sale at Sears for $79.95, the shoplifters offered it to me for $30, when they heard sirens they took $15. Not one of my proud moments.
09-05-12, 05:56 PM
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My bros bike got stolen like 8 years ago. He filed a police report, didnt have much hope of ever seeing it again... The other week we got a call from the police dept saying they had his bike in storage and it had been sitting there for the last 8 years. Turns out they recoverd it but never notifed him about it. Haha.
09-05-12, 06:16 PM
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the article read that 1.5 minutes is needed to cut through a u-lock with the proper tools. really? Local news had a test, 95% of the locks tested, cut off under 10 seconds with a cordless disc saw. Consumer Reports top model-30 seconds.
i was in the grocery with my bike last night, and a lady gave me the death stare as i struggled to reach in the back of the cooler to grab a carton of milk that couldn't slide down to the front. apparently my bike was preventing her from grabbing her item in a timely manner. sorry my bike cost you those precious five seconds, lady. i would've left it up front, but we live in a very uncivilized society. i could tell this by your stare.
i was in the grocery with my bike last night, and a lady gave me the death stare as i struggled to reach in the back of the cooler to grab a carton of milk that couldn't slide down to the front. apparently my bike was preventing her from grabbing her item in a timely manner. sorry my bike cost you those precious five seconds, lady. i would've left it up front, but we live in a very uncivilized society. i could tell this by your stare.
09-05-12, 06:20 PM
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Now that there are more bikes out there easily breaking the $3K mark, I noticed that the stolen bike issue is getting a bit more attention than in the past. Maybe bikes can be considered as big ticket items by the law soon and the cops will take bike wrangling more seriously. I think that in the past, most police departments look at stolen bikes as stolen "toys". JMOs
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09-05-12, 08:02 PM
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Someone needs to merge a U Lock with an exploding dye pack.
09-06-12, 12:09 AM
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They end up ditched in a canal, a boat fishes them out and they go to the boneyard, aka a pile 'o bikes three stories tall at the edge of town. At least that's how we rock in the low countries.
09-06-12, 01:15 AM
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For what it is worth, 300 of Kenk's stolen bicycles ended up in Thunder Bay. I helped to prepare 49 of them for shipment to people in need at Spirit Lake Ontario. The other 251 bicycles were either incomplete or of a vintage nature, neither being of much use to the target recipients.
At the end of the day, roughly 250 bicycles were left in the weeds to rot! And you know what? Igor predicted that would happen...
You can get a bit more information in this old thread, if interested.
At the end of the day, roughly 250 bicycles were left in the weeds to rot! And you know what? Igor predicted that would happen...
You can get a bit more information in this old thread, if interested.
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09-06-12, 05:21 AM
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" ...[i]f Goldman Sachs didn’t have more profitable market inefficencies to exploit, they might be out there arbitraging stolen bikes..."
The authors suggest that global investment banking and securities firms (e.g.,Goldman Sachs) only lack a financial incentive to engage in unlawful commerce...shameful political claptrap. PG
The authors suggest that global investment banking and securities firms (e.g.,Goldman Sachs) only lack a financial incentive to engage in unlawful commerce...shameful political claptrap. PG
Last edited by Phil_gretz; 09-06-12 at 05:26 AM. Reason: correcting the quote
09-06-12, 05:31 AM
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I'm not sure what San Fran is like, but we don't really have the cordless power tool thieves yet. We have junkies with a cable cutter, and they aren't getting through a decent ubolt.
I think the future is obviously going to be GPS tagging of some sort. I think some police decoy programs would do a lot of good, as would a usable national database that police used first up.
I think the future is obviously going to be GPS tagging of some sort. I think some police decoy programs would do a lot of good, as would a usable national database that police used first up.
09-06-12, 05:35 AM
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These systems are around, already. But then again, for the price of one of those systems you could buy 20 nice beaters from ye neighborhood crackhead.
09-06-12, 05:40 AM
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I'm not sure if the police would be willing to follow up on the GPS either; they won't with stolen phones (unless it's a cop's relative).
09-06-12, 05:46 AM
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Local police departments really do not have the time to identify and get stolen items back to their original owners. When a friends truck was stolen I told him to check the local police towing yard. The truck had been sitting there for a month. He had to pay storage but got his vehicle back. I bought a few bikes directly from the local police but they started asking too much for them.
09-06-12, 05:51 AM
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I'd assume police department size ranges, but they have plenty of time to run hooker busts here...and to harass convenience store owners for selling plastic bags. They can find the time to run a decoy program a few times a year if they chose to.
09-06-12, 06:45 AM
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I thought ubolts could be unlocked with the tube from a bic pen. Have the cylindrical locks been swapped for unpickable key locks?
09-06-12, 06:56 AM
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I think it depends on the lock, I know the better kryptonite ubolts can't be picked and have a fairly complex key mechanism.
09-06-12, 08:56 AM
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Check out www.djcatnap.com for articles on vintage Japanese & French bicycle restorations, components and history.
09-06-12, 08:56 AM
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vintage rigid MTB + ulock = low chance of theft 
