Someone stole my bike! So mad!!!

sarahp

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I got it back from a friend yesterday, only to discover a spoke is broken as DH and I went to leave the house on the bikes!

We were going to San Francisco (on the train), so just dealt with it, and got the spoke fixed when we got to SF - $1 for the spoke, $20 for labour


We rode around all day, then locked our bikes in one of the city garages that has bike parking so we could see a movie - it was nothing fancy, just hunks of metal to attach your bike to, but in a visible area, right behind the cashiers, and under video surveillance.

We went and saw Dark Knight at the IMAX (OMG so good!!!!), and came back, and someone had cut through our lock (both bikes were chained together), and taken my bike, but left DHs!

I have finally calmed down I think... It was a nice $500 mountain bike, but I thought they'd be pretty safe - and we were only gone 3 hours, and it was in the mid-afternoon!

They had video surveillance, and reviewed it and said the person just walked in, cut the lock, grabbed the bike, and walked out - straight past the cashiers! You can't see much though
We filed a police report anyway.

It was so annoying - we were exhausted from a day of biking, then walked 30 minutes each way in our bike shoes to file a police report in person (should have just done it online), then stuffed around some more talking to the guy on duty at the garage, then finally started making our way home. On the BART, we discovered DHs tire was flat - seems as though he got a huge staple through it. We just made the Caltrain connection (slowest train in the world), then because DHs tire was flat, and I had no bike, we had to walk home from the train station!

I had figured we'd be home by 8, but we didn't get home until about 10pm - over 12 hours after we'd left!

I really like San Francisco as a tourist and seeing the sights, but hate the city itself. It has a really bad homeless problem, so everywhere smells of urine, people hassle you constantly, and you have a ridiculous amount of petty crime, and enough more violent/major crime to make it a slightly scary place. I would never ever ever live there.

The fact that I can't leave my bike locked up for 3 hours in a low traffic, but highly visible area without getting it stolen is ridiculous. Particularly since I just fixed the stupid spoke.
 

kristykitty

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That sucks so much, I'm sorry.
People are evil!!


I just got a new bike this summer, I love it. It's not a super expensive bike, I believe it was around $250. But I'm always worried about it getting stolen too, I always lock it up but you know, I just worry. I know people that want to steal bikes have special tools they use to cut the locks off.
I think they usually go after the more expensive bikes, which is probably why they stole yours since they knew it was a nice bike.


That's awful though, I would be so pissed off too.


I've had things stolen before (some stereo equipment, movies, games, nintendo--my apartment got robbed once
). What made me feel better was just thinking, these are just material items, they're just things... They aren't really what's important in life. Plus there's nothing you can really do about it. Maybe not exactly what you want to hear, but it did make me feel better when it happened to me.
 

mews2much

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Years ago I was staying overnight at my Grandparents house and we stopped at Golden Gate Park for 5 Minutes. We got home and everything was gone including my Vitamins. I was only 8. My Sister lived there until last Aug and I do not know how she could stand it. I hope they catch the jerk that stole your bike. When my Dad had a triple bypass we started going down a one way street to et to the hospital the wrong way. Not a good city to drive in either.
 

natalie_ca

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How awful!!


Every year where I live the city has a bike auction to auction off all of the recovered stolen bicycles. Thousands and thousands of them each year. Bike theft here is so bad that most people don't even bother reporting them anymore because the chances of the bike being recovered is slim.
 

mrblanche

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There are locks that will keep your bike secure, but that doesn't help you now.

Part of SF's problem is that they don't believe in the "broken window" theory of crime prevention. That is, if you take care of the small stuff, the big stuff gets a lot rarer. NYC discovered the truth of this under Giuliani. SF doesn't want to punish the "poor, unfortunate" perpetrators, until they commit a really big crime, and then they can't understand why petty crime is so bad.

I have an acquaintance who is a 911 operator there.
 

rubsluts'mommy

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Portland is bad for bike theft/vandalism as well... this is a HUGE bike town... and the junkier your bike, the less chance of it getting stolen... I have (well, I haven't checked on it lately, so it could be 'had') a $200 Schwinn... fairly basic bike, aluminum frame, etc... I rode it once. Once. I locked it up right outside my front door... removed the seat, locked the front tire in (looping the lock rope through it), as front tires are easy targets, as are the quick release seats... I came home one evening to find the quick release mechanism and the mudflap attached below it were gone... within days of it being out there. It's now in the 'bike storage' room on the other side of the property, which supposedly only those with bikes in there can get into... since I can't afford the repair (it looks like something was filed off, but I'm not sure), it just sits, locked up, in the bike room. My lock is on it in there as well... If I could remember the combination, I'd go up and check on it... but i can't remember the combo for the room... I'll have to ask this week.

It s*cks when something is stolen... SF isn't the best town for safety sometimes... esp certain areas (SOMA is what comes to mind, as my truck was broken into there).

I hope things get better...

A.
 

russian blue

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Ick! Not a great day for you (but I'm glad you at least enjoyed the Dark Knight
)

I think bikes are stolen everywhere, these days. Toronto just had a major crackdown on bike thefts. You can read about it here:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/sto...s.html?ref=rss

They arrested many bike shop owners! These owners would pay thieves small amounts to go around town and steal bikes, then they would re-sell them. It was quite a business.


Around here, if you're going to park your bike, you remove the seat and front tire and take it with you.
 

gailc

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Thats terrible!! Plus all the walking and other rigamarole to report the theft.

Mine is always in the garage and I haven't yet ridden it anywhere yet that I had to lock up.

Does your renters insurance cover any of it??
 

starryeyedtiger

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Aww sweetie i am so sorry to hear that
I hope they catch whomever is responsible for that- i would be mad too!

Was your bike insured? If so i bet you could get a copy of the police report to send off to the insurance company and maybe you could get some money back for a new bike?

Did you at least have a good time at the movies with dh?
I really enjoyed that movie!
 

renovia

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I'm so sorry sarah. People are so evil. And the 'onlookers' are so lazy. They never want to get involved anything.
I was jogging on a track in college and my car was in the parking lot under a lamp. A truck pulled in and a kid got out and slashed all my tires. It was so horrible I cried so hard. I felt so violated and it was the first time I had ever experienced something like that. Coming from Aroostook County - you never lock your car or your home even when going away on vacation.......
 

clixpix

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Originally Posted by GailC

Does your renters insurance cover any of it??
That's a good point. Do you carry renter's?

I'm sorry this happened though, that stinks!
 
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sarahp

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Yep, we have insurance, but it depends on what the excess is, and whether it will increase our insurance premiums.
 

kristykitty

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Originally Posted by Renovia

I'm so sorry sarah. People are so evil. And the 'onlookers' are so lazy. They never want to get involved anything.
I was jogging on a track in college and my car was in the parking lot under a lamp. A truck pulled in and a kid got out and slashed all my tires. It was so horrible I cried so hard. I felt so violated and it was the first time I had ever experienced something like that. Coming from Aroostook County - you never lock your car or your home even when going away on vacation.......
that's awful! And right in front of you? So weird. I don't understand why someone would do that to a random car. Were they mad at you? Or is this just something some people do?
I'm sorry that happened to you.
 
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