Koobazaur

Three months ago I picked up my shiny new hybrid and joyfully stashed away my Los Angeles bus pass, glad to embark on a lifestyle of healthy commuting. Today I am scrapping to find my card again and looking up schedules online.

As I've been making plans to go out and meet people in various places, I slowly started to realize there is one occasional problem with biking in LA - yes I can get to any place I want buut.... leaving my bike there for an extended duration is a high risk. Sure, it's fine for the hour I spend at a store doing groceries, or if my employer provides private parking, or even a joyride to a park. But want to head to to a bar with a few friends? Maybe spend a few hours at the local Game Shop playing some board games type stuff? Or meet a potential client for lunch in downtown? Well, leave your bike outside for several hours and hope its still there when you come back!

Perhaps I am overly paranoid, or perhaps I am paranoid enough for living in Los Angeles, but I spend less time actually looking up a route to a place, than using google street view to see how safe it is and what kind of bike racks (if any) are around. And as I have been finding out from others, it's not very safe at all. I'm not saying my bike isn't useful, it plenty is! But still, I feel like I am missing out on half my rides because it's too risky to leave my bike at the destination.

Has anyone else faced this issue? I've tried asking owners of the venue if I can bring by bike in on the side or behind the counter and had a few who let me do that, but most just say "there is parking in the rear." You know, the dark, out-of-sight, un-cameras rear that no one ever goes to that would be just perfect for spending half an hour hacking through a ULock. And the occasional stop-sign in front of the store is arguably even worse (I've seen vidis of thieves hacking through a U-Lock on a busy LA Downtown street numerous times).

Oh and don't tell me "buy a better lock" or "get a second beater bike." If a thief decides he wants your bike, he will take it (lots of "professional" thieves with proper tools in LA), and a riding a beater everywhere kinda defeats the point and isn't as much fun as a good riding bike.

EDIT: Yay 100th post, do I get a cookie or something now

chasm54

Use two decent locks of different types. Yes, they are all vulnerable to power tools ( though a really good u-lock will resist bolt-cutters) but the issue is not to make your bike impossible to steal - as you know, that can't be done - but to make it more difficult to steal than the other bikes around.

TurbineBlade

You go to a board game shop and hang out playing board games? It doesn't seem like you'd get too many skilled bicycle thiefs outside of a place like that....maybe just dudes with capes and plastic swords and stuff.

Honestly, I stopped worrying about it after a certain point. I just use 2 locks, 1 u and 1 cable. I've had 2 frog lights, a pump, and part of a computer stolen, but that's about it over 6 years now. I'd just lock it properly and f"eggit aboud it".

BTW captain Picard >> Kirk. Burn!

MattFoley

Let me answer your question with a question...why the freak did you even bother asking if, at the outset, you're eliminating the two simplest solutions to your problem and the only alternative is to give up?

I, for one, think you're a little paranoid. People leave their bikes all day in places like NYC and, with a proper lock, they seem to be okay. Also, if you get a beater bike, just use it for the times you're going some place sketchy...you don't have to use it ALL the time.

Savagewolf

If you want to ride, you are going to have to take the risk. There's no way to get around that really.

You have two options:
1-Stop riding the bike and take the bus everywhere. Might as well sell the bike in that case
2- Take the risk and use the bike for what it was intended. It may get stolen, it may not. No point in having a bike if you aren't going to use it. You can use different methods to make it less likely to be stolen, but no plan is 100%.

fat_bike_nut

The thing is, like Savagewolf says, "If you want to ride, you are going to have to take the risk. There's no way to get around that really."

Even on your grocery runs (which you say lasts about one hour), your bike can get stolen. A bicycle thief doesn't need an hour to cut a lock open and ride away, after all. Every time you go out on a ride, you run the risk of having your bike stolen. It can even happen while you're riding and not locking the bike. The Santa Ana River Trail, which is located around my neck of the woods, has experienced this very phenomenon. People get knocked off their bikes and then the bikes get taken away while they're on the trail at certain hours of the day.

Bike Snob NYC's first book has a chapter (Chapter 8) titled "Letting Go: The Burden of Bicycle Ownership". Maybe you can read that chapter if you can get your hands on that book? It talks about the very topic that you've started in this thread.

Artkansas 

Having lived and pedaled in L.A. for many years, I'd say, yes you are a little paranoid... but not much. And I'd say that 99% of the time, if you lock your bike properly, you are fine. Of course, riding 365 days a year, that gives you 3.65 days a year of serious danger.

If you only have one bike, you need more. Yes, you need a serious bike if you want to go riding along Mulholland Highway, out PCH or on a route with serious mileage. But for your groceries and rides to local bars, you want something that will do the task without attracting attention to itself. Even an old 10 speed will do, or put Wald baskets on it, the non-folding kind. Professional thieves understand ROI. An old unpopular bike is not going to get them the money they want.

And with experience you will learn the safe places to tuck it away while you are doing your business and places to avoid. As you indicated, IN BACK is never an option. I have usually opted for high visibility when a solid object is not available. Right by the door.

There is no guarantee that you can prevent your bike from being stolen. If the thief cannot steal it while it is locked, they can steal it while you are riding it. I've had that happen. I've also had one stolen when it was chained to a light post on a corner with 4 cops standing there. So my absolute rule is to never buy a bike I can't afford to lose.

And you know, I still have a bike that survived many years in L.A. It's been run-over, assaulted, stolen and somehow it's still up and rolling and parked in my apartment. How much did I pay for that bike? Nothing. I traded a load of wood that was left over from when I built a crate to send all my possessions to Hawaii to join a girlfriend, but she dumped me at the last minute rendering the crate unnecessary. The bike proved to be a far better friend.

wahoonc

I use different locks for different places and different bikes. Some bikes I don't let out of my sight, others I will lock up all day with a lock that cost more than the bike and weighs about as much. For really high risk areas, look for a folder. You take it inside with you, no worry about locking it up. It also can be carried on buses and trains

Aaron

Pobble.808

Well, that depends on what the point is -- if the point is to ride a bike, it's not defeated.
And it's not like you have to ride the beater "everywhere," as long as you have room to keep two bikes.

True, but the more relevant question might be: Is it less fun than riding the bus?

Artkansas 

And there is no assurance that the bus is safer. I've had people try to pick my backpack while I was wearing it while riding the bus. And certainly, they are great transfer vehicles for germs.

And it's not like the beater is a bad or uncomfortable bike. It's just not 'shiny new' nor fashionable. My beater may be 24 years old, but a couple of years ago it got a complete overhaul, so it's strong and smooth.

caloso

Sorry. I was going to suggest a better lock and a beater bike.

Stuffstuff1

Its been said but it worth saying again.. Get another lock. One lock is bad. ANd if the theif has the tools to break it he can break both. But its a huge detterent. He has to do twice the work for one bike.

Artkansas 

As well as germs on the bus, there are bedbugs. I rode the bus last night, to my dismay, I woke up to discover 6 bedbug bites this morning. I'm just hoping that my apartment is not infected now. I did try to knock off my shoes and socks before entering it. But who knows.

Retro Grouch 

The hardest thing about owning a beater bike is keeping it a beater. There's a fine line between "total POS" and "too good to lose". Mine seems to gradually evolve away from that semi-disposable point.

Lord Chaos

I've used the "beater bike" technique in LA for years. I make sure it's reliable, but the appearance puts everyone off. Well, they did steal the cheap bag off the rack, and the flashy little lights on the tire valves were stolen, but the bike was still there and rideable when I got off the downtown bus.

The current "beater" is an '85 Ritchey Ascent. Runs great, nice bike to ride, draws no attention.

On the bus... man, am I glad I don't have to do that any more.

Buggington

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artkansas

As well as germs on the bus, there are bedbugs.

BA also had this problem with their planes a few years ago. Slightly worrying.

And in response to the OP, whatever you do, you're running a risk. I run a risk when I walk down the street with a smartphone in my pocket, or leave my car anywhere. That's just the way it goes.

nd2010

Park it near other bikes with worse locks. Use multiple locks. Put a warning message saying that your bike has GPS tracking.

If I leave my bike at the train station overnight, I have 2 u-locks and a thick cable lock. I leave one of the u-locks there all the time. My bike is the most securely locked up bike on the rack, so a thief would rather pick an easier target. It would probably take an hour for a thief to cut through all 3 locks, and would have to carry 2 different tools to cut each type of lock. Or he can cut the thin cable lock on the bike next to mine in 5 minutes.