My 18 year old daughter got a brand new mountain bike a few months ago for her birthday, and she took it with her when she left for college last week. She was so excited to have it to ride to school and around town. She kept it securely locked to the bike rack at her apartment. Today, it's gone. My daughter is absolutely crushed.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 4x5, May 22, 2018 11:10 PM

It's very sad, but anymore a bike left on a rack overnight will either be damaged or stolen in short order. While I don't condone it, I get stealing a bike. What I don't get though is damaging (bending rims, ripping pieces off, slashing tires, etc.) a bike. Why?

Only time I ever left my bike out while in grad school was when I'd ride over to the gym (during the day) to workout.

Colleges have lots of bikes, and therefore are a hotbed of thieves. Hate them.

I rode a used stiff mountain bike, beat up, stickers all over it, worn saddle. It was in good condition, just didn't look it. Add a u-lock, it wasn't worth the effort to get.

But it was a hoot on campus. Sprinting around between classes, taking paths with no pedestrians and finding some technical bits on a bike I totally wasn't worried about....great fun.

Funny thing... a few years after graduation, I was having it checked out in a bike shop (frame bent... sigh), and another customer recognized it from campus.

Two years ago, my Daughter had her biked locked up, in front of her dorm. Someone stole the seats from all of the bikes one evening.

Really????

Yes, thieves suck!

I had two bikes stolen when I was a kid. The first one when I was no older than ten it was physically taken from me by a group of black thugs. I actually got that bike back a few months later when a local cop recovered it from the thief when he saw it on his property. Ended up going to court with my dad to hopefully see the piece of crap face some punishment. I wore a suit and everything. Waited all day in the courthouse. All day. In the end the case never even went in front of a judge and nothing happened to the thugs. I got a pretty good lesson about justice at an early age.

The second bike was stolen outside of the local library along with my buddy's bike. We had chained them together to a light pole. Came out of the library and found the bikes gone and the chain lying in the grass. Bummer. That was a pretty sweet $300 Dyno GT BMX bike too. I was 11 or 12. Dang hood boogers.

My wife took her bike to the Michigan State campus. The bike disappeared 2 weeks later. Six months later it showed up in the same spot on the same bike rack. Go figger.

quote:

Originally posted by greco:
My wife took her bike to the Michigan State campus. The bike disappeared 2 weeks later. Six months later it showed up in the same spot on the same bike rack. Go figger.

So the person was just borrowing it.

quote:

Originally posted by 4x5:
My 18 year old daughter got a brand new mountain bike a few months ago for her birthday, and she took it with her when she left for college last week. She was so excited to have it to ride to school and around town. She kept it securely locked to the bike rack at her apartment. Today, it's gone. My daughter is absolutely crushed.

The same thing happened to my daughter.
The only way to keep a bike on a college campus is to take it inside with you every night. Don't leave it in a bike rack outside.

Way back in the stone age, I was delivering the traditional end of year gifts to the nuns at our grammar school.

I had my brand new Schwinn Varsity, it was a beautiful blue.

The nuns insisted I come inside and closed the door. I objected, but they were adamant.

I told them I had no lock but they pushed it.

Minutes later I went outside to... no bike.

They told me I should have locked it, I rejected their pathetic lack of responsibility and told them they did me wrong.

Of course I was the one that caught hell when I got home for impugning the nuns, but dammit, they screwed me and took no responsibility.

Probably knew who stole it and covered for them.

That was the moment I changed forever and no longer blindly trusted authority figures.

Thieves need to be hammered!

quote:

Originally posted by Snapping Twig:
Thieves need to be hammered!

This.

I see it as narcissism when liberals downplay theft. I remember one particularly stupid libtard who said, "A thing can be replaced, but a life can not."

I retorted, "What does it take to obtain a 'thing?' You have to spend TIME at work, and what is your life other than the time you are granted here on earth?"

Commies/liberals are lawless. Seriously, when ever liberals are in charge, penalties for breaking laws are virtually ignored. Thus, Liberalism encourages lawlessness, which includes theft.

Thieves need to be hammered.

Bikes have serial numbers. Do you happen to have it written down to add to the police report? What state is her school in?

Hard lesson.
But all cyclists know that you take your bike inside with you and never let it out of your sight.
Especially near college campuses, bands of thieves roam with cable-cutters in a van. Jump out, cut, throw it in the van, gone in less than a minute.


{But don't call them "thieves; that is demeaning. They are "undocumented ownership transfer agents."}

quote:

Originally posted by synthplayer:

quote:

Originally posted by Snapping Twig:
Thieves need to be hammered!

This.

I see it as narcissism when liberals downplay theft. I remember one particularly stupid libtard who said, "A thing can be replaced, but a life can not."

I retorted, "What does it take to obtain a 'thing?' You have to spend TIME at work, and what is your life other than the time you are granted here on earth?"

Commies/liberals are lawless. Seriously, when ever liberals are in charge, penalties for breaking laws are virtually ignored. Thus, Liberalism encourages lawlessness, which includes theft.

Thieves need to be hammered.

Things are bought with money, money represents time I spent doing a thing I'd rather not do, go to work, so that I can have the things I want. Stealing things is stealing little parts of my life. So when some moonbat bleeding heart fuckhead says, "is it really worth killing something for?" Yes. Yes it is. Don't wanna get shot? Then keep your dickbeaters off things that don't belong to you, because it's not worth dying for, but that doesn't mean it's not worth killing for.

I feel your pain. If someone steals from my kids, it is much worse. I am curious as to whether they make a GPS for bikes or not. The chains and locks seem easily defeated.

Since I am not in law enforcement, I do not know if bikes are resold on Craigs list or just stripped for parts. I am guessing there is no surveillance video. I have lived in areas where you bring your bike into the apartment for the night. The video below may make you feel better:

quote:

Originally posted by PorterN:
Bikes have serial numbers. Do you happen to have it written down to add to the police report? What state is her school in?

Yeah, she filed a police report with Cedar City police. SUU Campus police was closed today. She gave the officer the bike serial number, but he didn't seem too interested in seeing or taking any of the pictures my daughter offered. She said the officer didn't offer much hope of her ever getting it back.

What really sucks is the bike was on sale when we bought it. To replace it now would cost an extra $150.

Unless a total beater, bikes have to be taken inside into the dorm room.

I've been tempted many times to create a bike with a 12 ga. seat tube and a pressure switch in the seat.

I really hate thieves.

Watching tat video makes me think "tazer ? ..."high voltage across handlebar grips" ?
Lots of variations.

Lots of GPS trackers on Amazon. I don't have any idea which is best:
https://www.amazon.com/Portabl..._product_top?ie=UTF8

quote:

Originally posted by airsoft guy:

quote:

Originally posted by synthplayer:

quote:

Originally posted by Snapping Twig:
Thieves need to be hammered!

This.

I see it as narcissism when liberals downplay theft. I remember one particularly stupid libtard who said, "A thing can be replaced, but a life can not."

I retorted, "What does it take to obtain a 'thing?' You have to spend TIME at work, and what is your life other than the time you are granted here on earth?"

Commies/liberals are lawless. Seriously, when ever liberals are in charge, penalties for breaking laws are virtually ignored. Thus, Liberalism encourages lawlessness, which includes theft.

Thieves need to be hammered.

Things are bought with money, money represents time I spent doing a thing I'd rather not do, go to work, so that I can have the things I want. Stealing things is stealing little parts of my life. So when some moonbat bleeding heart fuckhead says, "is it really worth killing something for?" Yes. Yes it is. Don't wanna get shot? Then keep your dickbeaters off things that don't belong to you, because it's not worth dying for, but that doesn't mean it's not worth killing for.

Everything you said, just the way you said it!