The Chainlink


On Friday afternoon someone cut through my U-lock with an angle grinder!

In the middle of the afternoon!!  

 

Right after I got done warning someone about locking up with a cable lock.  

 

BYE BYE bike #2 to Chicago bike thieves. Great way to start the summer.

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I'm down for a recovery ride, call the date and I will do everything I can to be there. Somebody should bring their trailer in case we reclaim a few.

FYI: In the day of the cordless angle grinder there is NO method of locking your bike up that can not be defeated in a a minute or two. Period.
That's horrible to hear, I'm very close to George /Sheffield.

I guess the ultimate lesson is that no bike is safe, and locks are just delay mechanisms. Also, insure it and have a junker bike for backup.

Has anyone ever had a junk bike stolen? Is the common theme newer bikes with clean paint jobs?
I lock up and use locking skewers on my hubs as an added deterrent, but nothing will really stop some asshole from taking your shit if they want to bad enough - sorry Laura :(
WOW! I am sorry to hear you have been a victim twice within a year in this city. Hang in there kiddo, let me know if you want to borrow a ride?
I pretty much only ride my beaters around the city for this reason. I have an old Trek steel mountain bike, and an old Raleigh fixie that I'll pretty much leave anywhere (albeit still locked with good ulocks). I will only ride one of the good bikes if I'm going to be keeping them within sight, or perhaps only need to lock it somewhere safer out of the city, and even then only briefly. One thing that might help would be to lock to different racks once in a while, and not in the same place every day. Thieves that are casing the area for bikes they want (which it sounds like the Lakeview thief is since only some bikes were lifted) have a harder time if they see a bike they want, but can't get a fix on where it usually is. Unfortunately though, if they want it, they'll find a way to get it. Bastards.
I like it. Let's do it Saturday May 8th.

Ron said:
This ride would start around 7:30 A.M. end around 9:30. So it wouldn't conflict with most rides. Start next week is fine by me. Oh and don't forget to bring cameras. Take pics of obviously stolen shit and post them here. If that's ok.
Better to have someone assigned to be at home by a phone with an internet connection ready to search the Stolen Bike Registry and other online reporting sites and contact the owner if there's a =definite= match.

Not really sure what good a bunch of pictures of "obviously stolen bikes" is going to do anyone, unless your intent is to harass the thieves further underground (in which case you should be aware the swap is open Thursday and Sunday as well).

You guys really need to be there =by= 7:30 A.M.
I agree we need a plan before we get this rolling.
Should we start an event page and start planning from there?
It would be great if we could make this a weekly or biweekly event in attempt to locate stolen bikes.

Saturday is my "graduation" from my internship (the reason I am in this city) and I thought this would prevent me from riding with you guys. But I decided that if I pack on my fancy clothes with me I can ride with you guys and just change at the ceremony!


H3N3 said:
Better to have someone assigned to be at home by a phone with an internet connection ready to search the Stolen Bike Registry and other online reporting sites and contact the owner if there's a =definite= match.

Not really sure what good a bunch of pictures of "obviously stolen bikes" is going to do anyone, unless your intent is to harass the thieves further underground (in which case you should be aware the swap is open Thursday and Sunday as well).

You guys really need to be there =by= 7:30 A.M.
Laura said:
I agree we need a plan before we get this rolling.

Perhaps step one might be to take the conversation off of a public message board where thieves might be lurking? Just a thought.
I'll be out of town next Saturday but it would be great to see this get rolling; past attempts to drum up support have met with little resonance, so it's great to suddenly see what looks like a groundswell of interest in tackling the bike theft problem.

What about starting a group instead of an event listing? It's not terribly likely the theives/fences/whoever would see the event listing, but still it seems a bit odd to publicly announce a sort of "sting" operation.

The group would also be a good place for me to post info that I receive via the stolen bike registry (I have to read every post before publishing) that might be useful in spotting a pattern.

And speaking of spotting patterns-- Allie any chance we could get you guys to enter a report?



Laura said:
I agree we need a plan before we get this rolling.
Should we start an event page and start planning from there?
It would be great if we could make this a weekly or biweekly event in attempt to locate stolen bikes.

Saturday is my "graduation" from my internship (the reason I am in this city) and I thought this would prevent me from riding with you guys. But I decided that if I pack on my fancy clothes with me I can ride with you guys and just change at the ceremony!


H3N3 said:
Better to have someone assigned to be at home by a phone with an internet connection ready to search the Stolen Bike Registry and other online reporting sites and contact the owner if there's a =definite= match.

Not really sure what good a bunch of pictures of "obviously stolen bikes" is going to do anyone, unless your intent is to harass the thieves further underground (in which case you should be aware the swap is open Thursday and Sunday as well).

You guys really need to be there =by= 7:30 A.M.
Sadly, we do have to be suspicious of fellow riders but only so many precautions can be made and a ride down there in force would at least show the bike thieves that we won't accept this garbage. I'd be more happy if we caught one of these shit birds in the act (oh the thumping i would deal out!) but I'll settle for recovery of stolen property.

I would say that it shouldn't be a regular event but a "spontaneous" event so that no planning on the part of the thieves attempting to sell can be made.
Sounds like its a go. Meet at 7:30am 5/08. This is not a sting. It's a ride. The purpose is to have fun and to reclaim OPS. Other Peoples Shit. Who else is in?

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