LOCKING UP A BIKE IN PUBLIC

[Rat Rod]

Just curious if anyone has had any trouble when locking their bike up to a sign post or other public fixture.

I have no idea what the laws are here in Dallas on this stuff.

I know that I take mine out at lunch and cruise over to the local eating spot and the only things to lock a bike to are traffic signs and light posts.

There are usually parking police wandering around and I wonder if they have the ability to do anything about it.

 

[user 135]

I lock up to street signs but never to parking meters. Sometimes to trees if brought my cable lock. The best thing to do is mention it to the business. Many businesses are installing new bike racks because of demand. Even the local auto parts store now has racks :shock:

 

[CCR]

not a huge concern around my town, most dont bother to lock their bikes up, most of the bikes arent worth someone taking.

lock it up any where you want around here though, trees and sign posts are the norm. i had bought a cannondale that was locked to a stop sign on main st. with a posterboard on it that said $/phone #. it had been there for 2 weeks and never moved.

it seems the police would rather not add to the "found" bicycle pile in their storage shed at the moment either, if you call them with an abandoned bike, you tell them what it is, they take your phone # in case someone calls looking for one. :|

 

[StephenH]

I lock my low-gravity bicycle to a stop sign on the Walmart parking lot when I ride it there. It's not a public stop sign, so police aren't going to care, and it's not in anyones way.

I lock my Worksman 3-wheeler to the backside of one of the cart corrals when I take it to the big Walmart. I use one of the cart corrals that's far enough out that I'm not blocking any body from parking.

I once took my bike in that downtown McDonalds. A guy walks up to me and says I can't bring it in there, etc., and offers to watch it for me. I assume he was their security guy, but he didn't have any kind of obvious badge or anything, either, and that's not the place to be handing your bike over to a stranger to "watch", so I just hung on to it until I got out of there. If they don't like it, they can put some decent bike racks in.

 

[SkidMark]

Usually they are only sticky about that if there are bike racks available. There's a lot of bike racks in Portland, but sometimes there are enough bikes at show venues that they get locked to everything, locked up to signs and sitting on top of newspaper boxes, and the Police and city just ignore it. After all, it's Portland. Not exactly paradise though because they will pop you for moving violations and give you a $242 ticket. Oddly enough the only place that will remove a bike from a railing is the Rose Quarter, and the only time there are bikes there is for a bike-related event like Dew Tour or the North American Handmade Bike Show, where you would think they'd be a bit more tolerant considering they are making $$$$$$ of bicyclists being there.

You could always ask a cop, but get his business card too in case the city or the Police decide to take it.

 

[Slick Rick]

I'm not skidish at all about locking mine to anything thats secured well! In fact, the more "in the public eye" the better! I figure the best place is where evrybody can see it. I wll always use a bike rack if one is available, but that does'nt seem to happen very often. :wink: Later & PEACE!!

 

[GodHatesCleveland]

In Cleveland it's technically illegal to lock them up to a street sign, but nobody cares unless it's by the Progressive Field (the baseball arena) or Quicken Loans Arena (aka The Q, the basketball stadium). The have special easily removed street signs in those places so they can impound your bike. Anywhere else and they don't care. I see bikes locked up to street signs next to a couple of bars where I live, which also happens to be close to a big police station, and the cops drive by those bikes every day and night yet pay them no attention at all.

Personally, I have a rule to NEVER lock up my bike to a street sign. All a thief would have to do is grab both sides of the sign, bend it inwards, and then just slide the bike and the lock up and over the sign. That or quickly unscrew two bolts, remove the sign, and slide everything up over the pole. Heck, if the economy gets much worse, I might start doing that to other people's bikes myself.......

 

[Korporal]

I've biked around Boston, Colorado Springs, San Fransisco, Denver, and suburbs of them all. I have never had a problem with where my bike was locked. Traffic signs, parking meters, fences, telephone poles, trees, railings, and lightposts. If it is secure and my lock fits around it, it's game on. That said, I try to keep my bike out of the way and use racks if they're available. Then I move to things near buildings, trashcans, other low pedestrian traffic areas. If it is just a busy spot and the only thing is a tree in the middle of the sidewalk, I'll use it.

As for overnight bike locking, use something that won't make somebody angry and secure anything quickrelease.

 

[FaceOFFbikes]

You guys leave your bikes outside.??.. lol

 

[BadWolf]

Well, when my partner and I bicycle around town, we usually just lock our bikes together for a short run. If something will be a longer trip, lightposts are wonderful things. As far as street signs and parking meters are concerned, I stick to parking meters, since they're a bit more unobtrusive.

The conclusion I've reached about bicycle theft is as follows: locks will only deter the mostly honest folks (i.e. if it looks like the bicycle is used, they'll leave it alone). No lock could forever prevent theft by more dedicated thieves; point and case is when I had to use a bolt cutter to chop off a lock from a bicycle I bought. It was a Kryptonite lock, I believe (or something like it), and the bolt cutters when through it like butter. If I were out to steal bicycles, it would take me all of five seconds to chop a lock and be merrily on my way with a shiny new pair of wheels.

In my personal opinion, there''s no protection quite like a bicycle that's obviously well loved.

 

[ygolohcysp]

i agree with bad wolf the best protection is a bike that looks like the owner is coming back soon, secondly i go out of my way to make my bike unique (i suppose this is easy in saskatoon, as opposed to a larger area) this way if it does get ripped off i got a good chance of finding it i also have a sticker that says" if you take my bike i will take your life." and i mean it i will...............as for actually locking it up anything is fair game, i got a ticket for locking it to a cast iron gate downtown and when i went to court to deal with it i just explained that i was not willing to risk my $1500 bike to the flimsy peice of decorative chain they provide as locking spot the judge agreed and tossed out my ticket.

 

[schwinnmesa]

I am very paranoid while leaving my bike in public. One time I rode my mountain bike to Taco Bell, I derailed the chain so nobody would want to steal it and take off lol.

 

[BadWolf]

i agree with bad wolf the best protection is a bike that looks like the owner is coming back soon, secondly i go out of my way to make my bike unique (i suppose this is easy in saskatoon, as opposed to a larger area) this way if it does get ripped off i got a good chance of finding it i also have a sticker that says" if you take my bike i will take your life." and i mean it i will...............as for actually locking it up anything is fair game, i got a ticket for locking it to a cast iron gate downtown and when i went to court to deal with it i just explained that i was not willing to risk my $1500 bike to the flimsy peice of decorative chain they provide as locking spot the judge agreed and tossed out my ticket.

Good point! The more idiosyncratic a bicycle appears, the less attractive it is as a target for theft. Stickers, weird-coloured grips, funky attachments, unusual colour scheme... all are good.

In that vein, on my Sekine SHC I have a Pletscher book carrier, suede leather wrap on the handlebars, and an extra-super-long seatpost set waaaaay high. Not exactly eye-catching, but it has a certain customised look about it. Plus someone whose legs are shorter than mine would bust themselves trying to get their butt on the seat.

I think I need to get myself one of those stickers...

 

[SkidMark]

Still, somehow tallbikes and chopper actually get stolen every now and again in Portland. Fairly unique bikes get jack all the time here, they usually get recovered. The community looks out for them, all the co-ops won't sell until after they've been cleared by the Police. The theives make the mistake of advertising the bikes on Craigslist, and people either recobver them themselves or get the Police involved.

 

[GodHatesCleveland]

In the tank of a '57 Roadmaster I've never quite completed for my sister, I used a dremel tool to engrave her name, address, and phone number on the inside and upper portion of the tank. Then if it was stolen and she ever ran across it again, even if it was repainted, all she would have to do is call the cops and open the tank.

I've heard two things about bike security which seem to be appropriate here:

• *What you use to lock your bike with is only as good as what you lock it to.
  *You only have to lock your bike up better than the other guy's bike. That might not count for some rat rods since they are occasionally built into the equivalent of a rolling parts store, but generally this rule seems to be the case.

Personally, I never leave a bike outside overnight. Just when running errands in the daytime. There's just too many bad guys out there, some may try to resell the bike, some may just scrap it for the metal. But most of those guys aren't going to knock on my door looking for a quick fix. Leaving a bike outside overnight, and for days on end, just makes it easy for them.

 

[dumpster_diver]

I just dont invest alot into a bike so that way if it is stolen, I can say ''Oh well, there goes $10''

Now my nice ones in my stable dont really get alot road time. Parades, and events where I dont leave my bike.

 

[blink]

in downtown atlanta, on GSU property, GSU police will cut your lock off if you are locked to anything thats not a bike rack.

 

[muddywater04]

cool video if you havent already seen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TNTq3nhuh0

 

[StephenH]

I disagree about the distinctive looking bikes. Face it, some of these guys doing the thieving are just absolute morons. In the last year, I've seen two different posts about people having pedicabs stolen. Are they not distinctive enough?

On the cutting the lock with the bolt-cutters- I wouldn't make assumptions there. They sell U-locks at Walmart for less than $10 that have a shackle maybe 7/16" diameter. I would bet that's what you cut off with the bolt cutters. That's not to say other locks can't be cut, but as far as I know, the higher-quality U-locks require power tools to cut. (And that has been done, so such an extent that the warranty does not cover that.)

Anyway, I wouldn't leave a bike that had any value at all locked up outside full-time. I do lock bikes up when I ride my bike TO someplace, though, but that' s usually for less than an hour.