dwb
Proven Member
- 853
- 604
- Sep 9, 2021
-
Broomfield,
Colorado
I just need to vent for a moment. TL;DR at the bottom. This has nothing to do with cars, but rather mountain bikes. For the record, I live in a fairly low crime area.
My son has an excellent opportunity to attend a technical school to fulfil his last two years of high school and graduate with multiple IT certifications. The program was supposed to provide transportation but the bus route got nixed due to driver shortages. Mine and my wife's schedules do not allow us to take him so he has to take public transportation. So he rides his bike to the bus and locks it up.
We bought him a new mountain bike summer of 2021 (27.5" Giant). It wasn't a super nice bike, but it was brand new and fit his needs perfectly. Shortly before Christmas it gets stolen from the bus stop. Everything was stolen - bike, helmet, lock, lights. I scour around but never any sign of it. I forgot to record the serial number so no police report but it did have some identifying parts installed. I question a guy (bum) at the bus stop a day later who was very suspicious, with two bikes in his possession all by himself. He couldn't get a coherent word out and quickly gets on the bus and leaves. I'm a non-confrontational person, so I get in my DSM and leave too. We're PO'd at this point and not about to go buy another used (aka stolen) bike (but it did cross my mind) so my son rides my bike for a while and knows not to leave it anywhere locked or not.
In January I bought him another brand new bike (29er Trek). This time I bought him good U-lock and told him to never leave it at that bus stop again. We agree that the local high school is a better place to lock it up since there are cameras and police presence. Unfortunately he had to leave it there overnight once a week due to scheduling conflicts. Last week, you guessed it, it gets stolen! This time the thief cut the U-lock with a metal cutoff wheel, left the cut lock and helmet on scene and rode the bike away. They were caught on camera but police couldn't identify them since it was dark. We filed a police report, I posted a stolen craigslist ad, and put it up on a couple bike registry sites. I don't have any hope that it's going to surface, but at least it might make it difficult for them to resell.
It really ticks me off that there is literally no possible way to do anything about it short of leaving it at home. Better lock? Nope, they will use a better cutter. Cameras? Nope, cover of darkness, masks and hoodies. Bike cage? Nope, the ones we have use glass(!) walls. High traffic areas? Nope, most people don't even pay attention. Thieves are scum and need to rot in hell. They don't have an ounce of decency and will take anything from anyone if they can get away with it. Even a bike from a kid!
He is now relegated to the 26" frankenstein bike I built in the 90's that nobody would take even if you left it unlocked on the corner with a 'free' sign on it. It's only about 4 sizes too small for him. I seriously feel bad about his situation, but hey, it *might not* get stolen this time.
TL;DR: We've now had two brand new bikes stolen from different locations in a matter of 4 or 5 months, both had the lock busted and the thieves got away scot free. It makes my wife and I ill to even think about buying a 3rd bike. We could have bought him a beater car for what we already spent in bikes.
My son has an excellent opportunity to attend a technical school to fulfil his last two years of high school and graduate with multiple IT certifications. The program was supposed to provide transportation but the bus route got nixed due to driver shortages. Mine and my wife's schedules do not allow us to take him so he has to take public transportation. So he rides his bike to the bus and locks it up.
We bought him a new mountain bike summer of 2021 (27.5" Giant). It wasn't a super nice bike, but it was brand new and fit his needs perfectly. Shortly before Christmas it gets stolen from the bus stop. Everything was stolen - bike, helmet, lock, lights. I scour around but never any sign of it. I forgot to record the serial number so no police report but it did have some identifying parts installed. I question a guy (bum) at the bus stop a day later who was very suspicious, with two bikes in his possession all by himself. He couldn't get a coherent word out and quickly gets on the bus and leaves. I'm a non-confrontational person, so I get in my DSM and leave too. We're PO'd at this point and not about to go buy another used (aka stolen) bike (but it did cross my mind) so my son rides my bike for a while and knows not to leave it anywhere locked or not.
In January I bought him another brand new bike (29er Trek). This time I bought him good U-lock and told him to never leave it at that bus stop again. We agree that the local high school is a better place to lock it up since there are cameras and police presence. Unfortunately he had to leave it there overnight once a week due to scheduling conflicts. Last week, you guessed it, it gets stolen! This time the thief cut the U-lock with a metal cutoff wheel, left the cut lock and helmet on scene and rode the bike away. They were caught on camera but police couldn't identify them since it was dark. We filed a police report, I posted a stolen craigslist ad, and put it up on a couple bike registry sites. I don't have any hope that it's going to surface, but at least it might make it difficult for them to resell.
It really ticks me off that there is literally no possible way to do anything about it short of leaving it at home. Better lock? Nope, they will use a better cutter. Cameras? Nope, cover of darkness, masks and hoodies. Bike cage? Nope, the ones we have use glass(!) walls. High traffic areas? Nope, most people don't even pay attention. Thieves are scum and need to rot in hell. They don't have an ounce of decency and will take anything from anyone if they can get away with it. Even a bike from a kid!
He is now relegated to the 26" frankenstein bike I built in the 90's that nobody would take even if you left it unlocked on the corner with a 'free' sign on it. It's only about 4 sizes too small for him. I seriously feel bad about his situation, but hey, it *might not* get stolen this time.
TL;DR: We've now had two brand new bikes stolen from different locations in a matter of 4 or 5 months, both had the lock busted and the thieves got away scot free. It makes my wife and I ill to even think about buying a 3rd bike. We could have bought him a beater car for what we already spent in bikes.