Bikerdrummer

I bought a tern folding electric bike which has disc brakes, all my other brakes are rim (which I prefer)

I had to go to midtown Manhattan for work for about 1.5 hours. I locked the bike up to a bike rack in a busy area with a hiplock, I tuned on an alarm I have under the saddle, and took off the battery and took with me.

When I got back from the meeting, I started riding away and noticed a weird clicking sound and when I tried the brakes, the front brakes were not working correctly.

I got off, inspected the front area, and saw someone put a heavy gauge staple in one of the disc holes, where the brake pads meet the disc. I took it off, and the front brakes seemed to be working again. I took it to a local shop to get it checked out by a professional and they said it looked fine. This could have really damaged the brakes.

What kind of a person would put a staple on someone’s disc brake? There’s no chance it was an accident or that this wasn’t malicious intent. I guess I’m lucky nothing is broken, but you can’t have anything nice here.

I have a bit off the wall theory that a bike thief saw the bike, started to drool, and when they got close to the bike saw there was no battery and a hiplock was on and decided it wasn’t worth it and then put the staple on to cause trouble.


On a separate note, heading over the Williamsburg bridge, I noticed an ambulance at the entrance. When I got on the bridge, I saw paramedics bandaging up someone who was pretty bloody all over. There was an electric stand up scoot laying on the ground and another guy was there watching with a bike. I assume the bike and stand up scooter rider collided, it wasn’t pretty. Looks like he was conscious so that’s good.

What a day… staying inside for the rest of the day with my cat, a cold beer, and Netflix.

Troul 

it can happen anywhere. vandalism as such happens by me. If they can't have your property, they default to ruining it for you...

jon c. 

I've seen riders cruising at 35+ on those scooters. You can get seriously hurt if you wreck at that speed.

Bikerdrummer

yea, I’m not good with blood so I didn’t get the full scope of the injuries. I just glanced and then had to look away so I didn’t get light headed. I just saw a lot of blood and they were banding up one of his arms. I’ve always been like that with blood, my own included.

It could be the scooter just crashed and the biker stopped to call the ambulance. I don’t know. The guy looked to be in his upper 50’s/early 60’s.

Inusuit

Brakes.

Trakhak

So someone was walking along, primed to steal a bike if one happened to be vulnerable, and also happened to be carrying a heavy-duty staple. He also knew enough about disc brakes to know that the staple could be inserted into the workings of the brake for vandalism (in this case, to cause a clicking sound) and did so when he grew frustrated that you'd protected the bike too well.

There's at least a tiny possibility that, e.g., the staple was kicked up by your tire and got jammed into the brake when you applied it when you parked the bike.

Reminds me of a number of stories I've read on this site where people were convinced that their bike tires were slashed maliciously. It can happen, of course, but there are also plenty of reports of similar or identical-looking slashes where the rider happened to see what caused the slash, and it wasn't a maniac with a machete.

Myself, I remember the day when I was beside myself with fury that some creep had stolen my keys out of my bike's seat bag when I parked the bike outside a convenience store, 2 hours into my ride, only to find them still in the lock in my front door when I got back from the ride.

Not saying that your imagined scenario is wrong - just that there might be other possible explanations.

smd4

Did they brake your breaks?

Bikerdrummer

I’ll definitely give you it’s a far fetched idea that a thief did it. But there’s 100% no way that was accidental. Someone put it there. And it was very likely someone who knew about disc brakes and the damage that could cause. There’s 1,000’s of people walking in that area at any given time. Who know who or why they did it. There’s lots of crazy people everywhere.

Bikerdrummer

No, I stopped as soon as I knew something was wrong. The staple was hanging from a hole in the disc. I should have took a picture. I was so stunned that I threw it on the ground and then was worried about the brakes because I did rotate the wheel a few times which made me realize something was wrong.

smd4

Ok, well that’s good. At least you found the problem.

SurferRosa

At least they didn't staple your face. Statistics say a face gets stapled every 12 minutes. So, a little perspective.

smd4

Every 2 minutes in NYC!

rsbob 

In NYC, them’s the breaks.

Bikerdrummer

I made an example because I didn’t take a pic.

R32

I've wanted to build a 360 degree stealth sentry camera for this reason. Turn it on when you lock it up and catch the perp in the act. Then pay a homeless guy in the area to keep their eyes open for the person to gather more information. Once you know who they are, you can start plotting your revenge. Something similarly petty like staples in a disc brake.

Shadco 

Are you just now figuring that out?

​​​​​​​.

Bikerdrummer

lol, I just noticed that. Typing too fast on phone.

Duo

agree. staples don't walk up to your bike and insert them selves. probably only thieves would have an interest in your bike and do something about it in that fashion. reading your story reminded me that we really are in the end times, this world is not getting better: education and politics will not help us, neither will hand wringing. as a country and a church we have gotten away from the holiness life style;

blessings.

wheelreason

Yeah, I'm thinking that thing was there all along, or maybe it's something else lthat came undone, ike a retaining clip or the like, but without seeing it, we'll have to run with someone dressed like the hamburglar shoplifted a staple gun from Home Depot and his GF ran off with a guy with an e-bike...

smd4

Personally, I'm reading "On Boyington's Wing," by Lt. Col. McClurg. Is that the one you're referring to?

Bikerdrummer

I’m opened minded how it got there, but thinking it over, I rode it to the bike rack. It was the only bike there, and then I carefully locked it up. When I came back, I took off the lock, put it in my bag, hopped on, and when i rode away I noticed it immediately.
I can’t think of a single part on the bike that would resemble the staple. The top of the staple was slightly bent so it would stay on, and the bottom was hanging freely.
I’d prefer to think this was a total accident, but I just don’t see how that would happen naturally.

Trakhak

Trying to imagine the vandal carrying not only an industrial staple but also a Vice Grip so he could bend the staple just so (might have taken two Vice Grips; industrial staples are tough to bend). Might have taken a few tries to get the bend to where the staple would stay in place without damaging the brake.

If it was vandalism, you were lucky that he was careful to leave the bike undamaged. Frustrated bike thieves who want to express their rage generally attack the frame or wheels to render the bike unusable.

"Don't see how this could happen naturally." Welcome to the world of Ripley's Believe It Or Not. That newspaper feature has been going strong for over 100 years, and it hasn't run out of hard-to-believe-it-could-happen-naturally occurrences yet.

Here's my latest. Coming back from a ride about a month ago, I was nearly at my house when I suddenly heard a sharp ticking sound and then the hissing of an almost instantaneous flat. I found some sort of long, nasty-looking textured nail, probably meant for use in concrete work. The nail went through the tire, the outer and inner sides of the tube, and the rim. Took pliers to get it out.

The ticking had been the sound of the nail hitting the brake bridge. If I hadn't seen it, I'd have said it was impossible for a nail to insert itself into a tire at precisely the angle necessary to make it all the way through to the rim.

A week and a half later, the same thing happened. Except this time it was a roofing nail, the nail only made a dent in the rim without penetrating it, and I was 20 miles from home.

Yes, I replaced the tire and the rim strip.

Setting aside the coincidence, I would have sworn the only way a nail could go through a tire and a tube and into a rim would be someone driving it in with a hammer. And I would have been wrong.

smd4

I've got a dictionary. I figure it's got all the other books in it.

rsbob 

Think you book review is misplaced in the GC Discussion area. If you want to help people with their reading, best go here Politics and Religion.

Duo

have you tried Webster's 1828 dictionary, best one yet. tells it like it is.

well i tried to present solutions to bicycle theft and i almost could predict the reaction. sad. but we can throw up our hands over it with nothing being said.

there are solutions, but we hafta put our Big Boy pants on, haven't seen much of that lately. it all in The Book.

Edit, we need to get back to Real solutions. how about Real leadership everywhere with wisdom. the solutions are everywhere. the fields are white unto harvest but the laborers are few.