woodcraft

No room for bikes...

Unca_Sam

I never would have imagined a member named 'woodcraft' would have a wood shop in their basement.
By far, the neatest workshop I've seen was a luthier's workshop. His stock storage room smelled heavenly.

Batstar

Hah, we have the same cabinets! I don't have spiffy floors though. Nice.
Our bikes and other related items occupy a section at the front of the garage. I must admit that having slat wall covering all sides of the structure makes it easier to shuffle things around. It’s hard enough to keep stuff off the floor even at the best of times so almost everything else is on wheels. To prevent prying eyes, I rarely keep the overhead doors open even for short stints. During these trying times, we have been staying close to home and always disable power to the doors whenever we are away.

Mojo31

I've been happy with the Gladiator products. Your garage is well organized. Like you, I hate stuff on the floor. I would prefer all enclosed cabinets, but between pool and boat gear, the shelves are a better fit for our needs.

Rhondito

I have new neighbors on the corner of my street and they have two bikes hanging on the wall of their garage. They leave their garage door open with no one home. It makes me so twitchy.

SVTNate

Similar to Mojo (albeit smaller), my garage is spotless, drywalled, painted, epoxy floored, baseboards, with nice LED lighting.

The Roubaix lives on a Park Tool stand in front of the BMW.

My garage is closed unless I'm out there.

If I had a multitude of bikes, I have a room in the house where they could live.

Doc_Wui

Yes. Garages are for the N+1. I moved my garage queen out to wax it, and suddenly the space where it fits was full.

Mojo31

Looks like the same floor product - polyaspartic coating?

billnuke1 

Great! There you go!
My problem is that I’m like a gold fish...bigger tank...bigger gold fish!

Cougrrcj

My only bike that was stolen WAS LOCKED! In the bike rack at my high school - which (unfortunately) was right outside the 'Shop class' windows and in the faculty parking lot... Go figure... 1974 Fuji 'Special Tourer' F9B18529. Stolen Sept 1974. Do i ever trust a lock? No. It might discourage the casual ride-away, but against a determined- or prepared thief? No lock is safe!!!

Kat12

Seriously. If putting something in a locked garage or storage unit isn't secure enough, how is a little bike lock on top of that going to help?

Now, if you just leave it sitting out... that's a different story. That's up there with the people who say their laptop/phone/$1000 they just got out of the bank was stolen from their unlocked car (I am flabbergasted at how many such stories I read each time the local paper comes out). Locking a car isn't even a pain in the rear like locking a bike can be!


Pretty much. There's a reason why, when I ride my bike to do errands in our downtown area, that I lock up at the library... there are usually a few bikes besides mine there to choose from, and many of them have crappier locks than I do or aren't locked at all. Just improving the odds.


LOL. That's why I tend to shake my head at people who say "You should get a dog for security!" The pets of most people I know aren't trained guard dogs (what if you have the type who will hide behind the couch when a bad guy breaks in?), plus the people would be crushed if some bad guy walked in and shot their dog...

LV2TNDM

I managed an LBS in San Francisco. You wouldn't believe how many people came in to replace the bicycle stolen by the thief who robbed their apartment. This surprised me at how common it was. Bicycles are great getaway vehicles in the city after robbing a place. How nice to supply the thief with wheels to ride to the nearest fence, pawn or shop shop. This was the early and mid 90's. Prior to this, my college roommate used to laugh at me locking my bike to my desk in my apartment. I felt sheepish. After the SF stint, I realized how smart I had been locking my bike up in my room. I never had the chance to tell my roommate he was full of **** and bikes are stolen out of houses ALL THE TIME. I know I verge on (or past) the edge of paranoia and that's fine. Dad kinda taught me to expect the worst. Plus, a starving college kid doesn't have the $500 or $1,000 lying around to cover just the homeowner's insurance deductible, so I locked my bike to my desk. I had already lost my first bike (thanks partly to the terrible advice from a local locksmith). So locking it where you leave it is simply smart. Leaving the lock on the floor next to your bike isn't.

And to the camouflage comment (I forgot to answer): One of my most beloved bikes IS CAMOUFLAGE!!!! So funny that you said that! Joke's on you then! This is one of the bikes I'm most concerned about losing. But specifically to your point... Problem is, it's DESERT camouflage, so it sticks out like a sore thumb in the city. Ironically, I had it painted in 1990 and after the Iraq War, everyone who saw it said, "Cool bike man; DESERT STORM!" Why fight it? The name stuck. The third Cannondale frame warranty and I even had it custom painted with stem and fork (after the first custom painted '85 frame broke). Probably not the smartest decision at the time, but it ended up being just fine. This is my around town bike now and it's nothing of the sort. Chris King gold rear hub, Cook Bros cranks and a King Ti headset, among other nice bits, means this thing gets noticed.* And that's why I graduated from the NY Fug to the Altor SAF!


And...
[/QUOTE] Seriously. If putting something in a locked garage or storage unit isn't secure enough, how is a little bike lock on top of that going to help? [/QUOTE]

Time. The longer it takes a thief to steal, the better the chance they will be thwarted, give up or get caught red-handed. Again, there's no guarantee. But if your roommate/spouse/knucklehead brother leaves the damn garage door open, there's far less chance your bike will get stolen if some loser walking by can't just jump on it and ride away. This accounts for a LOT of thefts. Again, I said nothing's 100%, you simply tilt the odds in your favor. You already own a good lock; just use it!

Well, I'm glad my post elicited some good response. As my sister loves to say, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they still aren't out to get you!" I hope my post might just help thwart the loss of a bicycle or two.



* And yes, I know the approach of riding a cheap commuter and save the good bike for the nice rides. I tried riding a junker POS around town in college. It was horrible. I hated every pedal stroke, knowing I had a much better bike just sitting at home (locked, of course) not being ridden. The clincher (no pun intended) was riding in the rain with crappy brakes and chrome rims. That was all it took to abandon that idea. It's hard to ride crap when you own much nicer rides. Even my Schwinn cruiser doesn't float my boat. Too hilly where I live and it's an absolute boat anchor. I should sell it... even though doing Pee Wee Herman impressions while riding it is fun!

SVTNate

Honestly, I don't know. I found the highest rated local guy for epoxy floor coatings on Yelp, and went with him. All I know is that he brought in a little Zamboni-type machine to cut the concrete, filled the cracks, etc. and I paid extra for a fast-drying clearcoat so that I wouldn't have to leave my brand new washer, dryer, and other stuff outside. I had just bought the house in late 2018. It still looks great. I blow it out with my electric leaf blower about once a week (when I wash the cars and the bike), and I mop like you. Usually just water, sometimes a little Simple Green.

Durable, looks great, an extension of the house. I have no hesitation walking in my garage with bare feet. When I bought the house, the garage was a disaster. We gutted it, ran new Romex wiring, new junction boxes, receptables, outlets, switches, drywall, baseboards, paint, lighting, the epoxy flooring, etc.

LV2TNDM

Dang it people, stop bringing up more issues.... I have totally thought of that! In fact, several years ago I had read about one shop garage owner who had a power shut off outside the garage (next to a panel in a basement or something) that allowed him to kill the garage power for exactly that reason - to render all the tools useless. I thought "Man, that's smart!" Well, that idea was a good one until about five years ago when powerful battery-powered grinders hit the scene with a vengeance. They bring their own tools now. Oh well. At least you don't have to worry about all the tools in the garage now!

AND THIS JUST IN...

My son literally just walked by brushing his teeth and said, "My friend just had his bike stolen from in front of our friend's house." (Nice neighborhood of $3M homes. Not that that means anything.)

Another unlocked bike down the drain. Another disappointed kid. Another insurance claim. Another police report. I'm trying here, folks!

amaramartin

Sad to hear about your stolen bike. Can understand the pain behind it. I also bought a bike a few months back on half down payment and the remaining on credit. Unfortunately, one day my bike got stolen from the parkyard. Still I need to payoff the money on credit. It hurts when the bike gets stolen.

amaramartin

Sad to hear about your stolen bike. Can understand the pain behind it. I also bought a bike a few months back on half down payment and the remaining on credit. Unfortunately, one day my bike got stolen from the backyard. Still, I need to pay off the money on credit. It hurts when the bike gets stolen.

bruce19

We have 7 bikes. They all hang on hooks in our garage. And, they are chained together with a seriously heavy duty chain and lock. Although in recent days I keep my Guru Sidero in the house.

hedonist222

Danhedonia

I park my car in the driveway - in the well between the two front seats there's a small, black plastic cube with a red button. The car's unlocked, so anyone can reach in and press that button ....

.... which will immediately activate the car alarm.

OK, in all seriousness: start poking around someone's house in my 'hood, and you're going to get shot. And that isn't a joke. I'm not a 'gun guy,' this is not an editorial.

Danhedonia

@OP - #1 university in the world for bike theft, eh?

I'm very curious as to where I can see these posted World Bike Theft University Rankings. Because I'm your campus police would never make **** up to seem more important.

crankholio

What does this mean?

Drew Eckhardt 

Pit bulls are sweeties that would play with a burglar.

Melvang

I lock my bike more than my car.

Mojo31

a Havanese would be better. Ours would bark real loud, and then pee on the thief while wagging her tail.

micomico

-Happened to me. Left me car unlociked one night, they used the garage door opener to get in, stole my bike. Using MyQ app instead of a garage door opener now