would it ever be okay to cut a lock?

Okay, I know this sounds terrible. However, there are SO many abandoned bikes locked up getting shit stolen off of them and then just sitting there deteriorating.
My question of course is, would anyone morally object to cutting a lock off of a bike that has been sitting in the same place, with flat tires, missing handlebars and anyother shit that can be taken off with minimal work?

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Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on December 4, 2010 at 3:22pm
No.
Permalink Reply by cutifly on December 4, 2010 at 3:35pm
Go for it, just don't tell people about it.
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on December 4, 2010 at 4:02pm
If you can look at yourself in the mirror and be a peace with the fact that you are a thief who takes other people's stuff...
Permalink Reply by Luca Acito on December 4, 2010 at 5:03pm


James Baum said:
If you can look at yourself in the mirror and be a peace with the fact that you are a thief who takes other people's stuff...
Then what would you do?
Let a perfectly good bike sit there rusting away?

Honestly though, I'm not going to do it.
Permalink Reply by Shawn C. on December 4, 2010 at 6:00pm
It's ok to cut your lock when you lose your keys.
Permalink Reply by David on December 5, 2010 at 3:04am
In my opinion, call 311 and report it as an abandoned bike. Let the city tag it. After 7 days have passed with the tag on the bike, I really think it's okay to cut the lock and take it. At that point, the bike is officially abandoned and the original owner is about to lose it anyway.

That's assuming the bike has been abandoned in a public place. If it's on private property that's not your own, then it's never OK to cut the lock and take it.
Permalink Reply by mike w. on December 5, 2010 at 4:42am
i work at a university where it is not uncommon for a student to abandon a bike on a rack or post, sometimes even left behind in a dorm room (although as of last year the school banned bikes in the dorms.) Usually it sits there for months or even years. Eventually campus safety cuts the lock if present (actually, they have the maintenance department do it for them.) The bike club folks sometimes collect these bikes for Working Bikes, Bikes not Bombs, etc. Some get plowed back into their borrow-a-bike fleet. i've gotten a bike or two and some odd bits from the abandoned bike pile over the years.

My personal attitude is it's okay to repurpose/reuse an abandoned bike IF and only IF it's certain it's been truly abandoned.
Permalink Reply by Luca Acito on December 5, 2010 at 8:26am
Thanks, all, I'll call it in to 311 and if it's still there at the end, I'll cut it. Also, I would never go on to someone's private property to steal a bike, I've had numerous bikes stolen, I know how it feels.

mike w. said:
i work at a university where it is not uncommon for a student to abandon a bike on a rack or post, sometimes even left behind in a dorm room (although as of last year the school banned bikes in the dorms.) Usually it sits there for months or even years. Eventually campus safety cuts the lock if present (actually, they have the maintenance department do it for them.) The bike club folks sometimes collect these bikes for Working Bikes, Bikes not Bombs, etc. Some get plowed back into their borrow-a-bike fleet. i've gotten a bike or two and some odd bits from the abandoned bike pile over the years. My personal attitude is it's okay to repurpose/reuse an abandoned bike IF and only IF it's certain it's been truly abandoned.
Permalink Reply by T.C. O'Rourke on December 5, 2010 at 9:36am
Yes.

Specifically your scenario.

Taking an abandoned bike is fine. In fact, it is a public service if the abandoned bike is taking up an otherwise useful parking space, if you donate it to a socially minded bicycle concern, if you fix and give it to someone/use it yourself, or even if you recycle it. All of these are better options than waiting for drunks to stomp the frame.

The moral issues revolve around 1) properly identifying the bike as abandoned and 2) allowing the owner to claim it before it is removed.

I say a bike needs to be sitting in the exact same spot, outdoors, accessible to the public, unmoved, for at least 30 days to be considered abandoned. Ensure somehow that the bike has not been used & returned to the same spot; tie a piece of string through the frame and wheel, mark the tire with chalk, etc.

Next, you need evidence that the bike is in peril. Seeing a wheel/saddle disappear from one day to the next. Missing components. Damaged/vandalized parts.

Then you need to put a sign on it yourself. "This bike will be removed". Wait 30 more days. If the sign is removed, start the 30 day period over.

Follow my patented process and, in the end, the off chance is that you will at the very worst be taking the bike of a person who left it, for two months minimum, while it was being stripped/vandalized, without checking on it for a month. I think the man in the mirror will be just fine.

P.S. Do be prepared to spend the night in jail.
Permalink Reply by Rick norris on December 5, 2010 at 9:42am
IMO if its got an abandoned tag on it, it's OK to grab it if your really going to use it for yourself, if your looking to flip it, thats another issue...

But I wouldn't do it, my luck is I cut the lock JUST as Chicago's finest roll up behind me...

And probably some cop that just had their kid's bike stolen...

I'd make a rotten thief
Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on December 5, 2010 at 9:47am
The frame I'm riding now was cut by the building manager at work because it sat there unmoved for 6 months. You're real issue is determining if it's actually abandoned or not. T.C. wrote a few good methods for that.

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