Stolen Giant Transend EX 2008

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on September 29, 2011 at 11:07pm

Sorry this happened to you, and for the miserable response.  In my opinion the theft of a $300 bike that's ridden daily is a tragedy of much greater magnitude than the theft of a $3,000 bike that's been hanging on a hook in the garage for the last 8 months.

Debra J said:

Sorry that happened to you, DRU.  I just have to say I can sympathize.  I had a bike stolen in broad daylight from my office building downtown, Madison and Wells.  It was a real bummer, as I have been biking for 15 years and this was only my second new bike and the first time I had even spent more than like 300 bucks on a bike.  It was a road bike - not expensive as far as road bikes go (the second cheapest new one in the brand that I bought), but pricey for cheapskate me.  I only had it 6 weeks and it was locked up on a rack supplied by my building, with camaras surrounding it.  I couldn't believe the amount of "blame the victim" flack I got from so many people (including building mgmt) - like "what were you thinking" and, my favorite..."were you sure that you locked it?"  Well hell yeah I locked it properly and I had additional wheel locks, too.  I can't believe how many people tried to tell me that I didn't lock it.  Luckily my homeowners insurance covered it and I got a new bike within a week.  But now I only ride it or keep it locked up in my building at home with $three sets of locks on it, and I ride an old mountainbike or 80s ten speed anytime I want to communute, do errands, or stop somewhere that requires locking up a bike. I feel like ya can't have a "nice" bike (basically a bike worth more than 100 bucks) locked up in the city anywhere.  Your video just goes to show that people will take anything they can get their hands on, and pretty easily, too.  

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on September 29, 2011 at 11:17pm

A couple things I've learned reviewing boatloads of reports for the last 5 years that are a bit counterintuitive:

1) Thefts of bike locked with cable locks seem to occur as much under the cover of a crowded street as they do when nobody's around (if not more).

 

2) Thieves often don't seem to be terribly concerned by the presence of security cameras.

 

How many times do you think an experienced bike thief has people look right at them as they're cutting a lock, and just keep walking? I imagine once you've experienced that 20, 50. 100 times, you just stop believing that there are consequences.

 

In this particular instance it seems the thief used the fact that view of the bike was partially obscured by the pillar to his advantage-- he may be fully visible but there's almost no angle from which you can see what he's up to while he's doing his thing;  in that sense I'm not sure I would describe this particular spot as "high visibility."

Sometimes when  I'm in an area with lots of bikes locked everywhere (which is not too often actually) I cue myself to really -watch- what people tending to bikes are doing.  You realize in that moment how completely you have that tuned out when you don't specifically think about it.

 

S.Presley said:

I think I'm pissed because this is a high visibility area and it makes me think that...

if this guy can do it here, I can not park my bike anywhere in the city planet.

A  couple seconds later the security guard? walks around the corner.

 

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