A-fucking-gain

[juliet]

My bike got nicked again last night. That's, what, the third time in 9 months? Something like that. From the front lobby of St P, this time. GrrRRRRR.

Islington police are crap & don't answer their phone; but the Halifax have accepted the claim happily anyway (will phone the police again this evening). Since I am still in disagreement with the Halifax over the *last* claim[0], this time I am borrowing Pete's bike until the Halifax's bike-sorting-out company get a replacement to me. Still have the excess, though. Bah.

In happier news: now have Pixies tickets for the 4th June, hurrah. And Amazon delivered my exciting knitting books today. Which is nice.

[0] A matter of their not telling me that getting a cash settlement would mean that I wound up £45 out of pocket, due to the cash settlement being for the cost of replacing the thing through their supplier, & the cost of the new bike to me being through a regular bike shop & therefore more.

Comments

[simonb.livejournal.com]

That sucks big time.

Sometimes I wish that we could have the sort of anti-theft stuff shown in the adverts in RoboCop II - guy jumps in car to steal it, guy gets electrocuted. Somehow I think the police wouldn't be happy if we wired up our bikes so that the rider got an electric shock 2 minutes after starting to cycle if something wasn't disabled.

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[missfairchild.livejournal.com]

There's a lovely scene in The Wizard of Speed and Time where Mike Jittlov rigs up his bicycle to do something very similar. I wish I had the technical know-how to replicate it, if only for the ensuing sight gag :o)

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[vampwillow]

yeah ... quite like that film

:: wonders whether to get the tape out and watch it later::

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[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Flechette grenades, every 7.5 feet or fraction thereof of length on each facing of the vehicle.</car wars>

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[juliet]

I'm telling you, right at the moment it's a *damn* tempting thought. [sigh]

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[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

Everyone knows that my views on crime are so right-wing I wouldn't be allowed to write for the Daily Mail, but anyway, I think we should all leave clapped-out badly secured bikes with dodgy brakes on the tops of hills. Fighting crime through Darwinism, that's my motto.

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[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

They won't steal clapped out bikes. The reason Juliet's keeps getting nicked is that it's a decent bike. Yes, there are bike thieves who are just opportunists, but I suspect that London, like Cambridge, has pretty organised gangs who know a good bike when they see one, and have the tools to get through bike locks.

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[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

I've had clapped out bikes stolen.

Spraypainting them brown apparently works wonders, though.

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[juliet]

I really think it's been opportunists all 3 times. Admittedly, the last twice it's been a decent bike that's gone, but the first one was an elderly, rusting, road racer (about 15 yrs old), with dodgy gears & a knackered saddle. It was chained to a metal fence, even, & it *still* went (that was from out the front of our house). This is why I don't really buy the "rust-coloured paint" idea, because that was *genuine* rust & it *still* didn't put the buggers off!

Last time was from our back garden; talking to the neighbours has revealed that we're fairly certain it's local kids, who climb into the alleyway belonging to the college that's out back of our back gardens. They've also been known to break into sheds & nick things like lawnmowers. The general consensus is that they're just going for whatever they can find in any given back garden. Hence why the bikes now live in the living-room, which is a pain in the arse.

This time, given that it was inside the lobby, again it seems more likely that it was opportunism from the kids who hang around outside the front door. It was an OK bike, but it wasn't the sort you look out for to try to nick, if you see what I mean. Only just off the bottom of the range, really.

Unfortunately, bike locks are almost intrinsically not that sturdy, because you have to carry the buggers round with you on the bike! And bolt-cutters aren't terribly expensive (nick a couple of bikes & you'd cover it), so you don't have to be terribly organised in the opportunistic theft line to have acquired a pair.

[sigh] lots. I may say something to CJ about your other suggestion (cheers; hadn't thought of that), but tbh I think I'll be inclined to just go through the hassle of carrying the damn thing up 2 flights of stairs. GrrRRRR.

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[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

The other thing is to leave the rusty-looking bike around lots of better-looking bikes. It doesn't put off thieves who are looking for anything to finance their next buy of heroin, but it will encourage casual thieves to steal the shiny looking one next to it instead.

Sticking lots of bits that look like bad repairs to it is very effective. Mine has a load of rubber bands wound around the handlebar, bits of algae-covered string hanging off it, gaffer tape all over the place, etc and has been missed out in every bike raid it's seen and it has seen a lot. Mechanism worked perfectly well except for being a little old, until the gears died when they got iced up a year ago, but that's okay where there aren't hills.

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[juliet]

Yeah - I think the dilapidation trick works better when there's lots of other bikes around (because they'd rather take the shiny one(s)). My bike-thefts have only ever occurred from places where mine has been the only bike there (& finding others to act as decoys isn't really an option, cos it's just places where there *aren't* other bikes in the vicinity!). Might try the string/rubber bands/etc-thing, though, when I get the replacement...

[daneel-olivaw.livejournal.com]

It's probably worth telling the Bermondsey Community Wardens about the previous incidents (I've got the number somewhere) --- they're more in tune with the local-kids-related crime and generally more user-friendly than the police. Why I know this I'll leave for a face-to-face discussion...

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[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Attach some kind of power source to a capacitor via a diode so the charge doesn't all flow back the other way and try to turn your wheel when you're stopped at traffic lights, and expose a connector on the handlebar when you get off the bike. Am tempted to say dynamo, but don't know how much charge you'd store up. Might be enough for a proper shock. Then discharge it using handily placed screwdriver before you ride off yourself. Of course the saddle would be a more entertaining place to put it, but you don't see many bike thieves with bare arses and most just lift up and carry anyway.

The police probably wouldn't care if it wasn't fatal or permanently damaging - nobody is going to walk into a police station and say "I'd like to place a charge of GBH because of this small burn on my hand, you see, I was trying to steal this bike when..."

Also I've said it before and I'll say it again - rust coloured paint, and a bit of gaffa tape on the saddle.

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[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

Could also write 'Property of Tony Martin' on it with white paint. *mutter mutter hanging too good for them mutter mutter public flogging mutter mutter*.