Ways not to lock your bike

just interested... did they show up/catch the guy?

that sounds crazy... my sister used to live nr bg. 3 burglaries, her flat being fire bombed and bicycles being stolen signalled time to move on.

Wow.

in my understanding this is the worst place. Well, Bethnal Green, maybe not outside the station?
I had my bike locked near the station a Friday night, locked with a friend so two massive Abus locks to both frames and all four wheels. Came out and my bloody forks had been stolen...
My friend who lives in BG was going home once and saw some dude with an angle grinder (or something, I don't understand tools I they don't fit my bike) cutting every single lock of every single bike on his street.
I now never leave my bike locked in BG, if I have to I make sure it has two looks and that I can keep an eye on it.

Time for a beater.

Haha! I'm pleasantly surprised!

Probably got so clogged up with front wheels, you couldn't fit any new bikes in.

they aren't just in london those crazy useless pieces of street furniture. my local sainsburies just tore out around 6 normal 'N' shaped bike stands (is that what sheffields are?) and replaced with two 10+place vertical plastic things and you lock it at shoulder height through the front wheel.
round here there is zero bike theft, unless you actually give it to someone and wish them a nice day with it, but still, amazed companies are still buying the bike trees when they are so useless.

Locking up outside a station is a bad idea all round I reckon.
Outside a pub, cafe or busy office and the (more opportunistic) thief might be worried that the owner was watching or could be out at any minute. Outside a station or cinema and it's almost like a guarantee that the owner won't be around for the next few hours.
That's my understanding anyway. If anyone thinks I'm off the mark I'm very happy to stand corrected.

There's a cop shop on the other side of the little park adjacent to B'nal Green tube... would make some sense to lock up opposite there and walk round the block maybe?

Cue comments about cops being more likely to ignore angle grindists than arrest them.

Those are some crazy stories. I shall not be tempting fate then but if i ever need to then Wrongcogs idea of chaining it to the polis station railings is definitely a good one....

outside stations there camaras, I have always think of them as a good place to lock bikes...

There's a cop shop on the other side of the little park adjacent to B'nal Green tube... would make some sense to lock up opposite there and walk round the block maybe?

It makes sense to me but then to some it's little deterrent: http://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/news/9052944.Brazen_bike_thieves_arrested_within_metres_of_police_station/

But they got caught so a happy ending more or less : )

Those are some crazy stories. I shall not be tempting fate then but if i ever need to then Wrongcogs idea of chaining it to the polis station railings is definitely a good one....

Not sure I'd go for their actual railings Omar, they might not like it. But there are some railings opposite. The road is called Victoria Park Square.

If anyone has doughnuts, I'm down for a stakeout.

I've had a lot of time to think about this and I have understood that there is probably an unofficial policy for law enforcement in most big cities to ignore cycle theft to some extent as the victims are usually in the student, or lower classes that may not vote or not taken seriously in general. And also the LCD's general idea that a bike is worth £50 tops does not make the local bi-pods give a poop cause they think they are all daralictic crap heaps in their eyes (London does not have good Bike locking facilites). The average joe still thinks that bikes are for kids; take a wheel off a bike and it is instantly junk and marked for disposal. If someone takes a part of your bike, the vultures will pick it clean in days.

Bottom line is that they would prefer druggies steal bikes for a hit. That way the students get to buy their stolen bikes back in the spring (the big shuffle) and everybody is happy or unhappy. But who cares because the crooks did not need to move on to more distruptive crimes like burglary or muggings and bag snatching.

It's a similar concept to when the political types want to clean up an area (i.e. open a few Starbuuks), they just turn up the heat and move the riff-raff and alley cats slightly cross town to a new an area where they can steal bikes and sniff glue without a challenge. You cant stop or legislate crime away, so you just steer it.

I don't agree with vigilates but, I don't like bike thiefs for obvious reasons. I Dislike the vultures even more. Sadly, I don't think the CCTV cameras are going to save a bike unless the theif is really sloppy but one thing we got going is that riding fixed is not so easy for the unsuspecting. A friend had his fixed gear bike stolen and dumped a block away...

bike crime like any other is almost entirely run by demand. if no-one will buy a suspiciously cheap or obviously stolen bike then the need to supply will fade away.
the simple answer would be for everyone to be fully clued up on the subject and everyone behave in a decent manor. but this will never happen, not in our society, too many people are only too glad to be able to save a few bob on something by being in teh right place at the right time to receive said stolen bike, but then that action also requires someone else to have been in the wrong place at teh wrong time for their bike to have gone.
all swings and roundabouts. The housing thing is another one of those 'big games' you get, councils basically playing with peoples lives by moving troublemakers from a run down part of town to a better part of town in some vein effort to try to curb their behavior by transplanting them into an area which will guilt them into becoming better human beings, yeah right.

essentially like anything else, get clued up on bike security or expect to be ripped off at some point or another*

*this also applies to car servicing, double glazing sales, national ugandan lottery and mobile phone contracts.

I'm guessing a road bike.. Those guys never seem to know how to lock them properly

outside Lidl?

Yup... Thought I saw you in the park...

you did

Went to Oxford yesterday. At least half of the bikes in the city centre are just freelocked. Out in the suburbs I saw a lot of bikes left in front gardens not locked at all. Crazy.

me dad lives in oxford and i go over there every few weeks.
its bizaar the same bikes are leant on fences and walls and racks for years at a time, not even touched by any owner OR any thief.
dad says the students just ride them on nights out then lock them up and never return.

http://www.lfgss.com/album.php?albumid=1646&pictureid=10852

http://www.lfgss.com/album.php?albumid=1646&pictureid=10851

Seen just off Oxford Street at the weekend. It was somehow still there on Monday!

http://www.lfgss.com/album.php?albumid=1646&pictureid=10853

(forum pictures seem a bit unreliable at the moment)

cant see anything...

Yeah, the forum's photo albums are a bit wonky I think

Low crime area I guess

being a locksmith I am paranoid whenever I lock my bike up! Even use one for city calls but dread the day its nicked, red face when I report that one............

Yeah, the forum's photo albums are a bit wonky I think

You forgot to chop Dropout into the pics. The forum doesn't like that.

I think he was there but then they cut the cable locks and took him.

being a locksmith I am paranoid whenever I lock my bike up! Even use one for city calls but dread the day its nicked, red face when I report that one............

why, because you know your lock is defeatable by picking, or just the usual being cut through?

http://www.lfgss.com/album.php?albumid=1646&pictureid=10851

Is that a Magnum or that type of thing?