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Permalink Reply by Filka Bean on December 17, 2018 at 1:57pm

Ugh, this has come up in other threads before, but it never turned out to be a scam... What did you do? And let us know if your bike is still there tomorrow!

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Permalink Reply by Douglas Price on December 18, 2018 at 8:28am

It's a tactic thieves will sometimes use to get you to leave your bike. Either way, if I found a foreign lock on my bike I'd cut it off.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on December 18, 2018 at 2:49pm

Happened to me in Evanston at the Davis St Metra station. I recognized the bike as belonging to someone else who parks there. I left it overnight. The offender's lock and bike were gone the next morning.

In thinking about what I would do if my bike would have still been twinned that evening, I decided I would cut his lock,  locked his bike with my lock and left a note.

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Permalink Reply by Phillip Hutchinson on December 27, 2018 at 8:59am

So what happened with the OP's bike? While it makes sense that thieves might slap a new lock (or two) on there as a way to get someone to leave a bike overnight, I'm not sure why they would lock up a second bike to it. 

Also, unless it's a cheap cable lock or chain on there, cutting a quality U-lock with bolt cutters is not an easy task and will take some time and effort (and possibly power tools). I'd probably call the cops first and ask for their assistance, rather than trying to explain the situation to people walking by on a downtown street who would rightfully be suspicious seeing someone working a pair of bolt cutters into a bike lock.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on December 27, 2018 at 10:18am

Not sure about the OP, but in my case, yes, the other bike was locked with a cheap cable lock.

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