anti-bike sentiment?

Usually, I lock my bike onto the railings of my front steps. This has proven to be very safe. But sometimes my roommate likes to lock her bike in a way that makes it impossible for me to lock my bike without blocking her in, so I lock my bike around the corner onto a street sign. I only do this on days when I get home late and know I'm going to be out fairly early in the morning. I try not to do it too often or lock it in the same spot too often.

But a few times that I've done this, I've arrived in the morning to find that my rear tire is flat. I've never found any visible, forcible signs of an intentional puncture, so I didn't think anything of it, until it happened again the other day and realized I only ever seem to get flats when I lock my bike onto a street sign in my neighborhood. Anyone else is the Pilsen area notice anything similar?

I've noticed all these "Yuppies Out Of Pilsen" signs posted up and down 18th Street lately and thought maybe someone was targeting bikes as a sign of "yuppiness." But I don't want to be paranoid and jump to conclusions (it could very well be just a coincidence), so I thought I'd ask if anyone else noticed anything similar.

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Permalink Reply by natalee on August 19, 2008 at 7:38pm
eeep. what's a CM? (excuse my ignorance)

also, my bike is not nice, and i, as a person who bikes, would not necessarily say bikes are a yuppie thing. but i would also say that there aren't really too many yuppies, per se, in Pilsen (yet). it's a lot of hipsters, college students, artists/intellectuals, who usually presage gentrification & yuppies. and i think maybe those are the people the "Yuppies Out of Pilsen" signs are referring to. and yes, i have a "hipster" bike and live in one of those houses with a million bikes out in front.

i've had to replace the tubes, but the tires are fine. thinking about it, it probably wasn't an intentional act. but yeah, i won't be locking my bike to streets signs too often anymore.

M.A.R.K. said:
Now was the air just let out of your tires, or have you had to patch or replace tubes/tires and such? I know alot of Pilsen has come under some serious gentrification in recent years and from what I know alot of residents are pissed about it(hence the signs perhaps?), but idk about attcks on peoples bikes. I would talk to your roommate and figure out a way to place both your bikes within the fence as locking to a street sign since the bike can either be lifted over, or the sign removed from the ground isnt a sound place to lock your bike and opens yourself up to theft.

Bikes as a sign of yuppiness? Idk how nice your ride is, but isnt it usually the other way around, yuppies(as it were)calling people on bikes hippies, or hippies who cant afford cars? I know they run a CM down there in Pilsen now. I havent been out to it yet, so idk how big it is, but maybe some of the residents are upset about it? I dont see that really happening in my experiences with pilsen, but i wouldnt excluse it from the possabilities, I havent spent time down there in quite some time.
Permalink Reply by natalee on August 19, 2008 at 7:57pm
ohhhhh. duh.
thanks. :)

M.A.R.K. said:
Critical Mass to answer your question.. Or in this case, Pilsen/Little Village Circular Mass
http://www.bikechicago.info/PCM/PLVCM.html
Permalink Reply by Chucko on August 20, 2008 at 3:02am
I would guess it's just some kids playing around. Anyplace else you could lock the bike?
Permalink Reply by niconico on August 20, 2008 at 12:42pm
i will say this, i too live in pilsen and the same thing was happening to me even tho i bring my shit into my apt every night. i get all my tubes from irv's, and i bought 4 kenda 700c long stem presta tubes only to find that they were from a bad batch. they were leaking out of the stem. it took me some figuring out, but if you buy your tubes there, let him (henry) know. i told him and he said to bring them in w/ a reciept and he'll refund me or whatever. i just haven't yet. i'm pretty sure that the batch i bought from is still there.
what you should do is pull out the tube after its flat, and you may notice that there is a little air still in there. squeeze the tube and put your ear near the stem and if its what i'm talking about, you'll hear air leaking out. may sound like a long shot, but it might be your problem.
Permalink Reply by jen on August 25, 2008 at 4:21am
I was told at a bike shop the other day to not lock your bike to a street sign, but rather to a parking meter if you can find it because a street sign is just bolted into the sidewalk, not bolted and then the bolts covered with concrete like parking meters. Something I never realized, so... find a skinny tree to lock to?

Or better yet, talk to your roommate.
Permalink Reply by vxla on August 25, 2008 at 5:12am
To the original poster: get yourself a nice kryptonite chain lock and have two keys made, one for you and one for your roommate. Then, just lock them with that lock all the time, so you don't have to worry about blocking them in.

I've got 4 bikes locked in my basement, and it's a shuffle game, but it works. I'd recommend the 5-foot lock instead of the 3-foot. You can find 'em on eBay for about $80.

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