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SPACING POLL: how many bikes have been stolen from you?

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About this time every year a friend tells me they’ve had their bike stolen. Three years ago I had my bike of 10 years stolen from me while I manned a Spacing table only 20 feet away at P.S. Kensington. The following year I had another bike stolen — the thieves wanted it so much they pulled the ring-and-post out of the ground that the bike was still locked up to.

Take our poll and let us know how many times you’ve been victimized by bike thieves. Also feel free to leave your bike theft story in the comments section.

photo by Sam Javanrouh

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22 comments

  1. There is some art to locking a bike up. I use a small U-lock and lock the back wheel and frame to something solid (I try to avoid post and rings). Use one of those snake things to get your front wheel in too.

    I also use a padlock to lock the chain to the chainring.

    I also have my bike covered in stickers so that it is easily recognizable, as a deterrent. Another thing I do to deter thieves (which most people can’t do) is put the seat really high, so that most people couldn’t ride it away.

    I currently have had no bikes stolen. That could always change though.

  2. I have had, at best guess, 10 bikes stolen over the course of my life. The caveat here is that I grew up in Windsor (*not* the known stolen bike capital of the world, as TO may well be), and all of those thefts occurred there. I also admit to being considerably at fault for many of them, for being insufficiently cautious in locking my bike.

    What was the last straw (as in I gave up buying a replacement) for me was when someone broke into my apartment building (a secure building), went down the basement to the laundry room where there is a bike rack, and stole all the bikes there – even though most, including mine, were locked to the bike rack.

    That was 4 years ago, and it is only in the last month that I have brought myself to tempt fate and buy another bike…

  3. mine was stolen from a forest in the middle of long island

    i didn’t lock it up because it was in the middle of nowhere on a friend’s property, and a few hours later it was gone!

    but not since then

  4. the UofT police have had a lot of success in cutting back the bike theft rate by using bait bikes with GPS in them. It’s too bad we can’t have some of the same with the nearly a billion buck TO cops – and the sale of the unclaimed bikes etc. may still be going to a special police fund, not the funerals of cyclists that are killed on our roads.

  5. What bikes are theft magnets? What bikes are unpopular among thieves? Do they go for the interchangeable mountain bikes? The posh street cruisers? Is uniqueness a true deterrent? Is beat-upness a deterrent?

  6. A few weeks ago I had my cheapy Cruiser style Canadian Tire special stolen from Bay & Yonge. It was a Wednesday Night and I was out with friends. The “5 Star Cruiser” was my first city bike. I was walking back towards where I had parked my bike and saying “Some people from outside Toronto talk about how violent it is, but almost no one I know has ever been assualted or mugged. But almost everyone I know has had a bike stolen or been hit by a car while riding a bike. That’s what I worry about. It’s kind of like a nice bonus that when you return to your bike and it’s still there.” Just to make it extra ironic.

    Luckily the bike went on special again two weeks later and I replaced it for the same $150 which is cheaper than a year of metropasses by a long shot. (almost a year was how long my last bike lasted)

  7. I have had two bikes stolen in the past year from our garage. The first time the garage was unlocked, but the thief/thieves didn’t know this, and forced the window. The second time s/he/they broke the lock on the door. My first stolen bike was an aging, mechanically untrustworthy purple women’s bike; the second was a fourth-hand gift. Now I u-lock my (also used) replacement bike to a 34-foot aluminum extension ladder. It’s not that this is a foolproof security solution, but any would-be thief would make so much noise in the attempt that it would alert the whole neighbourhood. We’ve also installed a series of deadbolts on the garage door and window.

    I have never had a bike stolen from the street, but I’m a pretty conscientious lock-user, and often combine a high-quality u-lock with a thick cable and padlock.

    Does anyone know of a method/source for customizable, personalized stickers you can design for your bike? Do any local bike shops produce this kind of thing? Or is there weather-proof sticker paper you can shove into a laser printer?

  9. Never had a bike stolen but some asshole took my wheel. I know I should have been more dilligent in locking the wheel along with the rest of my bike but, seriously, who steals one wheel? I’m especially bitter because it was a real pain in the butt to walk my unicycle to the bike shop.

  10. I answered two for the two bikes that have been stolen in the time I lived in Toronto (both in the summer of 2005), but my life time total is 3. The other bike was stolen in 1992 in Holland (though not in Amsterdam – I managed to live in the bike theft capital of the world WITHOUT having my bike stolen!)

  11. I work in a big govt office bldg downtown where (in the summer at least) there are lots of bikes locked up outside. I always bring mine in though, since I’ve heard of lots of thefts, and the security at our bldg, though highly visible and police-like, is pretty much useless. I also ride a fixed gear, which is allegedly not a big target for your basic crack-head bike thief because a) there aren’t enough parts to strip off & resell, and b) they are too f***ed up to ride a fixie without falling off. Fixed gear + big lock when not at work = no problem so far.

  13. I had a bike stolen 2 weeks after I moved to downtown Toronto from the 905. I guess it was a welcome to Toronto initiation.

    I currently have a new Norco bike, I love it, it wasnt too expensive, I use two locks…1 moderately expensive D lock, and another $40 coil chain thing. I’ve found a method of locking the bike up that I call the “Fuck You” method. Front wheel and frame locks to the city lock with the D, the chair comes off, the coil lock goes through the front D lock, through the chair, through the city lock, through the back wheel, through the hole in a pedal and then it locked. I like to give the impression to any bike thieves that….trying to steal this bike, is not worth your trouble. Although usually the only place outdoors I leave my bike for an extended time is at work.

    Does anyone else feel absolutely rage against bike thieves? One night I was chilling with a friend who saw from a park near his house by Christie Pits a guy with a pickup truck, at like 2am, stopping by the curb, jump out with a 2×4 of wood, sticking it in the locks trying to break the city locks and snap off bikes. The best part is we ran up to the guy trying to steal his bike, and proceeded to beat the living shit out of this clown, snapped the 2×4 over his car windshield, and left the bike thief lying on the street, my friend unlocked his bike and rode away, lol. Bike thieves are scum, and should be dealt with that way.

  14. I’ve only been riding for two years in the city, and for 23 of those months I was using a lock similar to this http://www.bikesomewhere.com/bikesomewhere.cfm/product/265/2295/14549 with the interlocking chains leading to the padlock. My bike was secure and safe even when I parked it outside Innis College for a summer when we had over 10 u-locks cracked and cables snapped, they didn’t so much glance at my bike. (A new, roughly 250$ mountain bike) However, I hated the heft of the chain, it weighs about 10lbs.

    But in the spring of this year I got a new hybrid Trek and was cocky about locking it up since I really had no run-ins with bike theft before (Stupid me). I used a Planet Bike u-lock from MEC after the spiel that locking it smartly (adhering to all the recommended bike safety rules) it was no less safe than my chain lock. (http://ecom1.planetbike.com/2003.html) Within THREE WEEKS of purchasing that u-lock, after leaving it in a busy area with people around constantly, I came back from shopping to find that my u-lock had been jammed. Clearly somebody wanted to either get my bike, or force me to leave it stranded overnight to nab it themselves. I desperately called a locksmith and they informed me that very few guys will TOUCH bike locks, EVEN if I showed them proof I owned the bike (my receipt/signature from the bike store) and would charge $100! That was only a third of my bike but I don’t have that kinda money. So after finding a power drill and drilling the shit out of the mechanism…to no avail, an hour later another friend suggested getting a steel rod and wrenching it apart. Voila, in 15 minutes I had my bike back and went back to my mammoth lock. As heavy as it is, I attach it to the frame while biking and feel as secure as I did before.

    May I add, in the 2 hours I spent attempting to drill my bike, kick the damn lock in frustration and eventually wrench it apart, only TWO people asked what I was doing. One guy just kinda mumbled at me and my friend, and the other worked at a bike shop somewhere in the city, trusted that it was my bike, and offered tips to pop it out.

  15. I’ve had my $1200 Specialized Stumpjumper for over a decade now, and it’s been used day-in and day-out all year round since then.

    (watch, now it’s gonna get jacked)

    I’ve never had a bike stolen, but have had seats, wheels, bells and axles taken at various times. It’s the seats I hated most: how do you bike three or four kilometers with nowhere to sit?!?

    I use a very thick, beefy, $100 cable lock around the back wheel (going through the frame) and a current-model orange u-lock with a cable running around it and the seat. I go for the “it just ain’t worth your time, even though you want to steal it (or at part of it) to spite me for being so paranoid” school of locking.

    BUT… I have had… wait for it… TWO child bicycle trailers stolen, from right in front of our house. The first (a $700 Chariot) was locked, but just with a semi-cheap cable lock. It got bolt-snipped. The second (also a chariot, but used and kind of beat-up) was well locked, but they busted both locks to pull it away. Not only that, but the second one was bright yellow and had the name “SPINNEY” written in very large, permanent black marker on three different locations on the canvas. Let me know if you find it 🙂

    Yes, of course I have ‘catch the bike thief’ fantasies. Especially after our children’s conveyances were stolen. But I take some small comfort in the thought that there are few things that use up your karma more than ripping off kids bike trailers. That’s super, super, super-duper low.

    alan

  16. I have had a beef with bike thieves, having had three bikes stolen in the past 5 years.

    It just really upsets me that I often have to think twice about using a mode of transport that I love the most. I just wish there was more we can do to help stop these thieves.

    Thanks Matthew Blackett for starting this entry thread, and spreading the word!

  18. I had mine stolen out of my garage believe it or not i usually leave my garage unlocked but closed so yea

  19. Adam, the people who steal one wheel are the same people who steal the bike of another idiot who only locks up their front wheel. Two thefts and one bike, not bad.

  20. I had my bike stolen from underneath a cctv camera at the place where i work!
    The police caught the lil bastards who stole it but they had already passed the bike on to some older guys.
    Even though the police knew who stole it and knew where the bike was they did nothing and i ended up losing a £1000 bike!

    Devastated is the word.

  21. Hi
    I have two sons, both now with university degrees and both victims of bike theft. We live in Perth Australia, so you see the problem is universal!

    One son, having been raised in a small country town, trusted everyone and looped his bike lock over a bollard at his uni. He figured that it looked locked and should be ok. I might add that he had saved all his money and opted not to have a car because he couldn’t really afford to run one and thought the health benefits of riding to uni out-weighed any inconvenience or lack of “cool”! Well that one disappeared without trace and I really felt for him. I think, sadly, he developed a new cynical facet to his personality that day.

    My other son, having graduated from university and found a job which provide a car, had his bike inside his apartment in a “secure” block. Not only was it stolen, but along with it went his XBox and a diamond tie pin which I had given him as a graduation gift. Anything else that would fit into his back-pack also went and the thief rode off down the street….that day, I felt great sadness again, and I too became cynical.