Stolen Bikes, How I feel about them. Share your stories?

[Donavan321]

I think it's a REAL shame someone has to steal our MAB's that we put hard labor, blood and sweat into. Rainy days, icey and cold days, hot 100 degree weather with no shade, etc. When I built my first motor bicycle, this punk in the neighborhood used to harass me with his buddies, my sister saw him attempt to make off with my bike and he ran off. I was riding around a few days later and saw him in public, politely explained, "you touch the bike, police called, you're arrested" Now I don't usually like making trouble(never been arrested or anything like that), but I really hope I never lose a bike to a big low timing theif, they don't think about how difficult it is making things PERFECT. So anyway, I"ve seen some members builds before being stolen, then they miraculously recover it and it's in pieces wrecked, HEARTBREAKING. What do you do to prevent theft when leaving bike unattended for short periods of time?

 

[butterbean]

I am fortunate that in my neighborhood, no one steals. I have left parts and tools unattended overnight and even longer and they remain unmolested. I have even forgotten to lock my bike on more than one occasion. This does not mean that I trust everyone passing through my neighborhood, I just think I have been lucky so far. When my wife and I moved into this neighborhood two years ago, we did not know what it would be like and I don't have a garage here like our last place. So I went to Lowe's and got 3 feet of the heaviest chain they had. It weighs at least ten lbs, and I lock it with a sturdy padlock. The chain would almost certainly have to be cut with a power tool. The lock could most likely be cut with a pair of bolt cutters, but any lock is really only going to deter an otherwise honest person from falling into temptation. I guess my bike has not attracted the attention of dishonest people, or at least those with a means to defeat my lock or chain. I used to chain my bike to a no parking sign in front of my house, but after my bike was knocked over and damaged, I asked the neighbors behind me if I could chain it to their fire escape, and they allowed me to do so. No further vandalism has occurred. I do suspect I know who did the deed, a "real" biker with an attitude who visits the bar 3 doors down from mine, but I can't prove it and moving the bike seems to have solved the problem. I had a non-motorized bike stolen a few years ago when I forgot to lock it up at the library in the town where I lived at the time. Still burns me up a little thinking about it, but I partially blame myself for that one because I did leave it unsecured after all.

 

[Donavan321]

I am fortunate that in my neighborhood, no one steals. I have left parts and tools unattended overnight and even longer and they remain unmolested. I have even forgotten to lock my bike on more than one occasion. This does not mean that I trust everyone passing through my neighborhood, I just think I have been lucky so far. When my wife and I moved into this neighborhood two years ago, we did not know what it would be like and I don't have a garage here like our last place. So I went to Lowe's and got 3 feet of the heaviest chain they had. It weighs at least ten lbs, and I lock it with a sturdy padlock. The chain would almost certainly have to be cut with a power tool. The lock could most likely be cut with a pair of bolt cutters, but any lock is really only going to deter an otherwise honest person from falling into temptation. I guess my bike has not attracted the attention of dishonest people, or at least those with a means to defeat my lock or chain. I used to chain my bike to a no parking sign in front of my house, but after my bike was knocked over and damaged, I asked the neighbors behind me if I could chain it to their fire escape, and they allowed me to do so. No further vandalism has occurred. I do suspect I know who did the deed, a "real" biker with an attitude who visits the bar 3 doors down from mine, but I can't prove it and moving the bike seems to have solved the problem. I had a non-motorized bike stolen a few years ago when I forgot to lock it up at the library in the town where I lived at the time. Still burns me up a little thinking about it, but I partially blame myself for that one because I did leave it unsecured after all.

Well that's good, I've had regular bikes stolen around my area several years ago, other than that....it's been okay. Glad to hear nothing major

 

[HeadSmess]

while i live in an area i can leave my doors open and unlocked, ive still had the odd thing go missing...rolls of copper wire (freakin junkies) car wheels (quick phone call to the father of the guy that asked me about them a few days earlier sorted that out) and there was my free agent eluder that vanished. neighbours kid had one as well, but mine had the 1 1/8 steerer tube...and 3 piece cranks, grind pegs, etc. i actually used those pegs! well, it disappeared, but ive always had a good idea of who took it...little brat down the road. no way to prove it but then i found another one on the roadside cleanups...but sadly, just the lousy one like my neighbour had


and there was a bike i was given for xmas once. wasnt actually stolen, simply "confiscated" by the wayne kerr living at my place at the time...oh, because you keep riding on the road... yeah, a dead end road in the middle of nowhere, with maybe one car a day. where else do i ride, huh? well, after ten years or so i found it, sitting in the yard of someone who knew that ***** from way back...


i leave my keys in my real bike, just because if anyone can ride it away...they deserve the thing! you gotta know how to skip 2nd gear, and occasionally reef the shifter shaft out as its no longer locating, and tends to get pushed back into the engine... meaning youre stuck in 4th as you come up to the lights, or stuck in first as you take off... id laugh if anyone "stole" that one



oh! reminding me! i had my postie stolen one day! rung the cops and all that, then as i finally started walking to work...found it 200 metres down the road, at the bottom of the hill...it obviously hadnt started, because...lol... id pulled the coil off the night before planning to swap it in the morning! that was despair, heartbreak, and finally...mad hysterical laughter


personally i have the idea it was the same guy who took those car wheels off me... him and i have a history, i have his fathers number on speed dial

 

[Donavan321]

while i live in an area i can leave my doors open and unlocked, ive still had the odd thing go missing...rolls of copper wire (freakin junkies) car wheels (quick phone call to the father of the guy that asked me about them a few days earlier sorted that out) and there was my free agent eluder that vanished. neighbours kid had one as well, but mine had the 1 1/8 steerer tube...and 3 piece cranks, grind pegs, etc. i actually used those pegs! well, it disappeared, but ive always had a good idea of who took it...little brat down the road. no way to prove it but then i found another one on the roadside cleanups...but sadly, just the lousy one like my neighbour had


and there was a bike i was given for xmas once. wasnt actually stolen, simply "confiscated" by the wayne kerr living at my place at the time...oh, because you keep riding on the road... yeah, a dead end road in the middle of nowhere, with maybe one car a day. where else do i ride, huh? well, after ten years or so i found it, sitting in the yard of someone who knew that ***** from way back...


i leave my keys in my real bike, just because if anyone can ride it away...they deserve the thing! you gotta know how to skip 2nd gear, and occasionally reef the shifter shaft out as its no longer locating, and tends to get pushed back into the engine... meaning youre stuck in 4th as you come up to the lights, or stuck in first as you take off... id laugh if anyone "stole" that one



oh! reminding me! i had my postie stolen one day! rung the cops and all that, then as i finally started walking to work...found it 200 metres down the road, at the bottom of the hill...it obviously hadnt started, because...lol... id pulled the coil off the night before planning to swap it in the morning! that was despair, heartbreak, and finally...mad hysterical laughter


personally i have the idea it was the same guy who took those car wheels off me... him and i have a history, i have his fathers number on speed dial

These stories really made my day! LOL. It's a shame about the bikes though. I've had my bikes parked outside of a business or something I come outside to see someone had tore apart my CDI wires and all that, HAHA loser, I have a spare one at home! Pedaled home, put it back together and was on the road again. If it's not yours don't touch it, people have no respect these days. Also, not to mention all of the drivers who got their licenses out of a cereal box, DRIVERS, WOW, the way people drive is just WOW. But anyway, that's a whole sperate subject altogether.

 

[keatonx]

One time our pressure washer got stolen, and we saw the guy walking down the sidewalk with it 100ft from our house, as we were pulling in to the driveway! The guy said "I'm filling it up with gas" (Insert bad poker face meme here). How considerate of him

Then just last spring we kept on having this druggie guy asking us for money. He said it was for "diapers" so I just have him 3 bucks so he would stop bugging me (bad idea).
He comes back later that day, at MIDNIGHT, and says he lost his bus pass and needs $2.50
(Funny thing is a bus fare is 3.50 not 2.50). My dad says "didnt you already come by today?"
He says "no it wasn't me" (insert bad poker face meme here)

That night my dad leaves his wallet in his car, and in the morning $70 is gone.
Then him and some other druggies start asking our neighbours for money, never more than $5. And my neighbours saw a lady come running from the mall behind our house, through the creek that runs through our backyard (up to your knees atleast), holding bags of groceries as a couple of police officers chase them! I also saw the guy peeking into the neighbours cars.

What I heard is that a whole bunch of crackheads had moved into a house on a street really close to ours. I don't know what happened but within a few weeks I stopped seeing them.

 

[HeadSmess]

haha, pressure washer!


did he get gas for it in the end?


a local round here, he was mowing his lawn. went round back to empty grasscatcher. returns to front lawn to find his mower being pushed down the road by what appears to be an indigenous resident of this country (awstraya mate!).

he rings the police, and on mentioning the skin colour/race involved, was transferred instantly to a special hotline. ( every government form now includes an entry that if you tick it, you get free house, free food, free everything! and you dont even have to LOOK the part!)

a week later this man receives a CHEQUE, reimbursement for his (missing, presumed stolen) lawn mower he now had a spare catcher for his new mower!

but!

(i dont know if i can finish this without falling over laughing again!)

the "native" returns a few weeks later, knocks on the front door....and asks if he could get the catcher that went with that mower!!!!



this is not a gripe about our indigenous natives, either...ive dated one for a few years and well, its handy to abuse the drunk ones in their own tongue at times, it really makes them shutup and think first. ill call em boongas and abos just because my GF called me far worse things at times! ah, love... an english translation just doesnt mean the same thing! basically "ugly white wombat excrement"...

merely a quick gripe about the few that give the rest of them a bad name.

oh. same person actually! hurled a brick through the window of a computer shop. cops arrive. he simply said he was the owner and someone threw a brick through his window! cops charge into shop! our (anti)hero makes good his escape!


equality should be "equality", not "one set of rules for you and one set for us".


now, back to the bikes...


im recalling that one of my first motorised bikes was stolen...once again, i knew who took it, i went psycho, people learnt things they didnt expect to learn (not from ME at least ) and i was riding it home that afternoon...

the silly things in the fuel tanks and stuff like that can only be put down to stupid teenage pranks...they were the days!


yep, other than the freeagent, no bike has truly been "stolen" from me

 

[grinningremlin]

I think it's a REAL shame someone has to steal our MAB's that we put hard labor, blood and sweat into. Rainy days, icey and cold days, hot 100 degree weather with no shade, etc. When I built my first motor bicycle, this punk in the neighborhood used to harass me with his buddies, my sister saw him attempt to make off with my bike and he ran off. I was riding around a few days later and saw him in public, politely explained, "you touch the bike, police called, you're arrested" Now I don't usually like making trouble(never been arrested or anything like that), but I really hope I never lose a bike to a big low timing theif, they don't think about how difficult it is making things PERFECT. So anyway, I"ve seen some members builds before being stolen, then they miraculously recover it and it's in pieces wrecked, HEARTBREAKING. What do you do to prevent theft when leaving bike unattended for short periods of time?

There's a couple things you can do as far as theft, but vandalism is harder to deal with.For theft, locks, at least two (if you're in that amount of populace) one cable and one U-lock, takes two tools to crack.Pain in the rear I know.Other stuff, take the seat/seatpost with you, if you want extra wonky-ness loosen the stem so the handlebars will turn independent of the forks.Most thieves won't take more than 30 seconds to steal a ride, paranoia gets them, so every thing you can do to add a few seconds of noise-making helps.
For vandalism, action activated alarm, cheapos on ebay/amazon.

 

[HeadSmess]

^^^^ pressure activated switch in the seat + one electrode of a taser on each hand grip....
(im sure this could be integrated in with the ignition somehow?)

watch that junkie FLY!!!!


a bit like on robocop... the flame throwers under the doors

strangely...they are REAL and readily available in south africa!!!!

 

[keatonx]

Run a hidden wire from the spark plug boot to the bike seat, preferably where someone wouldn't want to be shocked