Blind bicyclist, partner just want stolen tandem bike back

Chainlinkers, keep a lookout people!

 

This remind me of the stolen trike last year or the year before.

 

Suntimes article by STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporter sesposito@suntimes.com April 6, 2012 6:06PM

Sheldon Atovsky and Terry Gorman ride their tandem bicycle near Irving Park and the lake on Tuesday. The bike was stolen Friday. | Al Podgorski~Chicago Sun-Times

Updated: April 7, 2012 2:06AM

 

There are times in life when Terry Gorman, who is blind, feels invisible.

Like when he walks into an elevator, says ‘hi,’ and — in the way of keep-to-themselves city folk — no one replies.

That’s why the 63-year-old Edgewater resident’s tandem bicycle, which he rides with his partner, Sheldon Atovsky, is hot pink — so that Gorman is sure to be noticed.

Unfortunately, thieves took notice of the bike Friday morning while it was locked up outside Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

“It’s very upsetting,” said Atovsky, 61, a retired DePaul University music professor. “It’s just so surprising. It was locked very carefully.”

That’s perhaps an understatement. Atovsky and Gorman used four different locks to immobilize the bike and secure it to a low, wrought-iron fence on East Huron, while Gorman went to a doctor’s appointment.

When they returned less than two hours later, the bike and locks were gone — stolen in daylight on a street where there’s almost always a constant stream of patients, doctors and other hospital staff.

The bike is worth about $3,800, Gorman said.

Gorman and Atovsky have called their insurance company; they’ve filed a police report; they’ve checked with hospital security to make sure someone didn’t confiscate the bike. They just want their bike back.

Perhaps you’ve seen Atovsky and Gorman — as Chicago Sun-Times photographer Al Podgorski did this week for a photograph that ran in Wednesday’s edition — riding along the lakefront. Last year, they logged 3,300 miles.

“I love the sound of the bicycle and the sound of the environment around us,” said Gorman, who has been blind since birth and takes the back seat — the “stoker” position. “You hear birds, you hear the sound of the wind, you hear traffic along Lake Shore Drive. You hear golf balls hitting this and that.”

Perhaps you’ve heard Gorman’s bicycle bell. It’s part of a little game the couple play: Whenever someone waves or smiles at them along the lakefront, Atovsky takes notice and tells Gorman to ring his bell.

“Sheldon is someone who doesn’t want to be noticed,” Gorman explained. “I want to be noticed.”

The missing bike is a “C-Motion Scout,” in a color that’s technically called pearlescent magenta. The bike is about eight feet long and it has no fenders.

If you see it, email Atovsky at s-atovsky@sbcglobal.net.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on April 13, 2012 at 9:16am

I was hoping a real engineer would pipe in. Here's a link to eHow comparing properties of iron & steel. Wrought iron is softer, has less tensile strength, and has less compression strength than steel. 

Ornamental wrought iron, like that around a planter, can often be defeated with just a hammer.

Cameron Puetz said:

The fence is a bad choice because it's relatively easy to cut. The intermediate verticals can be cut with the same sort bolt cutters that make a cable lock useless. When locking to a fence, lock around the post if you can.



Zoetrope said:

For those of us that don't know, can someone explain why locking to a wrought iron fence is a bad idea?  I don't do it often but if there's nothing else it always seemed like a decent option, especially considering the apparent strength of iron and the ability the fence would give you to lock the frame and front wheel.

Really sucks this bike was stolen, but it's equally upsetting that somehow word got out that 4 locks were used.  It's a shame that some members here likely read that and felt discouraged from riding or afraid for their bikes.  

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 13, 2012 at 9:26am

The soft iron of a fence like that can be cut through with even a hacksaw in about 30 seconds and then simply bent away enough slip the lock out.   It can also be easily cut with even a short 12" bolt-cutter.  A bolt cutter can cut through the case-hardened shackle of a keyed lock almost like butter -a wrought iron fence is about 1/2 or even less hard than that.  A wrought iron fence can be literally deformed by simply kicking really  hard with the flat of your foot on a piece that is 3 feet long. 

If there is nothing better to lock to I've often locked to a feed pipe of gas or electric meter.  Nobody in their right mind is going to try to cut through that.

Permalink Reply by Len Krietz on April 13, 2012 at 9:36am

It also has to do with fence manufacture/construction.  Wrought iron is fencing is cheaper than cast iron, typically bars running through holes in perpendicular channels with either no or poor welds.  Really more ornamental, light duty fencing.  We had bikes "removed" from the neighbors wrought iron fence a few years ago in the middle of the night.  No cutting.  The thieves pried apart the fence and just did some minor cutting with hand tools (did make a bit of noise and they we caught with the bikes but after destroying a section of fence.  That said the difference in cutting a wrought iron bar vs a cast iron bar or a steel bar with the proper tool would not be significant in the scheme of theft. 

Permalink Reply by Liz on April 13, 2012 at 9:40am

Additionally, since the racks have larger width, it is much more difficult to get a bolt cutter to fit around the steel. With the smaller width of the thinner fence posts, it is very easy to fit a bolt cutter over the piece and cut off what you like.  The materials in U-locks have been hardened to resist the forces of the bolt cutter, while the fencing has not.  Bolt cutters are designed to cut off sections of steel that are between 3/8"- 1-1/2" thick as these are the common bolt sizes. 

As a general rule I would say lock to the standard bike racks, or to pieces of fence post that are a minimum of 2" thick.  

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