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Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on September 13, 2019 at 12:10pm

For all that you do for the biking community, this is extremely unfair. I sure hope you get your bike back. You're a better person than I am -- to me, stealing someone's bike is never an "understandable temptation", especially since he probably stole the bike he was riding before he stole yours, too.

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Permalink Reply by John Greenfield on September 13, 2019 at 12:21pm

Thanks a lot Jim, I appreciate the good vibes.

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Permalink Reply by ketoguychicago on September 14, 2019 at 1:51am

I'll be on the lookout for the stolen bike, no reward required, and I'm rooting for the idea that if I help get it recovered we could together buy a bike for a needy child with a fraction of the reward, but the reward might help get some action here too I hope.

You're right of course Jim about the bike thief likely riding up on a stolen bike, and these crimes aren't an understandable temptation imo.  If not dealt with, he'll likely continue it - unfortunately your bike or my bike may be next - we're all at risk.

(To empower us and clarify that, with bike theft, nobody but the perpetrator is at fault. If my wife is absent minded and doesn't lock the front door and there's a home invasion, it's really the perpetrator who's to blame for an attack on my family.)  We have a right to have our bikes out in public and not have them stolen, and not live on lock-down because we like to ride, although I'm appreciative of a sympathy or forgiveness sentiment when appropriate.

Meanwhile, if certain cyclists keep opposing adoption of the cost-effective registration system already in place with for two-wheeled motorcycles or cars or trucks all using that same registration system regardless of vehicle type, then the bike theft business remains that much easier.  (Theft doesn't go away with mandatory  registration but it curtails it)  For now, we're left with our voluntary system, which alas is weaker because it isn't comprehensive, and thieves know that.  https://operations.chicagopolice.org/BikeRegistration/Account/Login

I'm aware some members of the community contend that mandatory registration curtails cycling, when actually, not having our bikes when they are stolen can curtail cycling. To head off any notions, "studies" or "analysis" that we see out there that bike registration is ineffective or too expensive and fails, we already know that registration for Bike-The-Drive is a fund raiser, just as it is for cars, motorcycles and trucks.  (The "failures" are enforcement failures, and, new expensive registration systems instead of just properly adding to the existing effective registration system) 

At some point, people may stop opposing this and see that registration opposition just costs cycling and society more in the end.  Regardless, it's time we work together to stop bike thefts, and the rotten impact they have such as we've learned of here.  

A bill-board post or something at DePaul or elsewhere in the area with the details could help us with this too.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Lazzaro on September 17, 2019 at 1:08am

So sorry this happened.  I hope very much you can recover the bike, and I'll keep my eyes open.

Bike theft is really personal, especially when it's a bike that you've spent a lot of time setting up, and much more so after you've collected some little dents and scratches from your adventures.

A car is just a car; mine is the same as thousands of others.  But nobody has a bike like mine, with exactly the same components, and everything adjusted just as I like it.  I've usually messed around with a new bike for a year or more before I feel like it's *just right*.  If my bike were stolen, I'd be annoyed about the monetary loss, but would feel really violated and angered by the loss of my time and effort.

Good luck!

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