rumrunn6

nice, huh?

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-...ens-playcentre

Milton Keynes

They need to get out there with one of those strong magnets on rollers. But whoever did this needs a kick in the backside.

CliffordK

Something similar had popped up elsewhere. A magnet would pick them up fairly quickly.

One sees nails and screws that are apparently inadvertently dropped, even boxes of them, so it is possible this was an accident, but it does seem suspicious.

Likely some HS kids got their driver's licenses, and thought this would be a funny joke. Not that much different from throwing bottles down on the road shoulder to break.

I keep thinking this would be comparable to tossing hollow road spikes out in the middle of the driving lane. Which, of course, would get people who aren't tossing the tacks, so not generally a good idea.

Milton Keynes

The tacks found in that story above are bad enough even for car tires. I know a county deputy that's had problems with flat tires on his personal vehicles, all caused by similar carpet tacks like the ones shown in the pictures on that link. Apparently he arrested someone who knew where he lived.

BikeLite

Sounds like a high schooler prank.

odiolalluvia

This happened not far from us a couple summers ago. The busiest bridge in town for cycling got a bunch of tacks headed into downtown.

atbman

Happened in Australia too. Frequently. So frequently that it was clearly malicious. Ditto during a couple of closed roads sportives in Scotland. Very difficult to catch the culprits.

Marcus_Ti

I was thinking more front side, with a steel toe boot.

CroMo Mike 

It happened on one of the climbs in the TDF one year, too. Vandalism in the first degree.

Cyclist0084

+1

Rollfast

Ban carpeting for two months prior to cycling season, those are carpet tacks/nails.


I'll bet that if you look for a flooring installer the mystery will be solved, without Scooby Snacks.


I had a flat from one myself, in the parking lot of the flooring shop.

B. Carfree

This happens pretty regularly in and near Portland, OR. However, it's almost always roofing nails, so it's possible that they are just falling out of a vehicle into various bike lanes. When it flats your tire, it doesn't matter much if the nail came to be there by malice or incompetence, you still have to deal with your flat.

Rollfast

One would hope and think that these businesses would be more careful but the occasional sharp object can embed in the worker's shoes as well and they do fall out of their vehicles.

CB HI

A ready list of suspects. Tie that to carpet installers and the list gets pretty small.

It has happened 3 times in the same area. That is not just a box falling off a truck.

Rollfast

Well then, they need some of those wonderful cameras moved away from a street and over at the cycleway.

CB HI

Is New Zealand into surveillance cameras the way the US is?
From what I understand, there is a greater hate for cyclist in New Zealand than there is even in the USA.

I would donate to a camera at the school.

Rollfast

I think that we have been catching up to the UK and probably China in that respect, without delving into research.


And I agree, if I were able I would contribute to getting better security measures for the children dealing with such idiocy as well as publicizing this scourge better and the consequences in full detail. Much more than flat tires are possible here, injuries to the fallen riders and infections from puncture injuries are potentially life-threatening. I suppose that some activist parents would be wise to do that themselves.

Chris0516

Hope they catch the miscreants.

Milton Keynes

You can buy those carpet tacks at any hardware store, so it could have been anyone.

dueWest

I have a fitting punishment:

Everyone who has had flats gets new Schwalbe Marathons paid for AND installed by the perp(s). That would stop them from thinking of (or being able to afford) doing it again.

arbee

A few years ago in NYC, carpet tacks showed up on the pedpath adjacent to the Hudson. A cyclist familiar with the route but unaware of the problem heard “carp attacks” and thought there were feisty fish jumping out of the river. It’s a tough town.

KD5NRH

Easy solution; $10/nail deposit on all roofing nails sold, refundable upon their return to a proper recycling facility. Then tire shops won't have to charge for most of their flat fixes as they can just make a fortune when they go to recycle all the nails they've recovered.

If roofers don't like it, tough; they brought this one on themselves by not securing their loads.

vol

I remember reading a news report a few years ago about scattered thumbtacks in NYC's Central Park loop.

CB HI

Sadly, this type of crap has happened across the USA and in several other countries and even bicycle races as noted above.

Milton Keynes

Did they find out who the thumbnails came from? Were they the entire thumbnail or just the part someone clipped off?