On 3/9/2017 8:34 PM, John B. wrote:
On Thu, 9 Mar 2017 11:10:03 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 3/9/2017 9:45 AM, Radey Shouman wrote:
John B. writes:

On Wed, 08 Mar 2017 23:55:23 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote:

On Wed, 8 Mar 2017 14:51:14 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

when
parking it at the mall, it's in a place where it's out of sight and
cable locked to secure pipes.

I, on the other hand, look for a place where dozens of people have a
clear view of anyone who might feel like messing with my bike.

I've never had a bike part stolen. Well, not that I remember -- I was
born with chronic amnesia -- but once I came out of Aldi to find that
someone had affixed a five-dollar bill to my handlebars. Since this
was shortly before I gave up trying to find a replacement for my
worn-out Avocet WII and bought the only women's saddle at the
Trailhouse, I suspected that the donor thought that I needed the
money, so I passed it on to someone who did.


I locked my keys in the pickup one day. Parked on a fairly busy street
and was sort of peering in the window trying to figure out if breaking
the window was the only option. A guy walking down the sidewalk says,
"Locked your keys in the car, huh?" I said yes and he popped into a
hardware shop (apparently knew the shop owner) came back with an 18"
steel ruler and popped the lock. I thanked him profusely and got in
and drove away wondering, "could I get a new pickup that way?"

I'm not sure whether being in a crowd is really any protection for a
bicycle :-)

Sometimes it is. Years ago, when I was a gradual student, I was walking
across campus with my girlfriend. She told me to go back the way we had
come -- she had seen someone stealing a bicycle. At first I did not
believe her, because I had noticed nothing. It was the middle of the
day, and there were many people around. She said she had seen him
trying to cut the cable with a pair of dikes, so we turned around, just
in time to see a small and bedraggled looking guy being frogmarched
authority-ward by two burly students.

I assume justice was served.

While one can't rely on bystanders protecting your bicycle, it's a
better bet than imagining that some secluded spot is unpatrolled by
thieves.

Depends on the spot. My parking place at the mall is not even
recognized as a "place" by most people. It's completely inconspicuous.
And if a thief decided to start checking it - what? daily? hourly? - for
parked bicycles, he'd starve before he found one parked there. AFAIK
I'm the only one who ever uses that spot, and I don't go to the mall
very often.

About protection by passers-by: One bike shop employee once told me
about having to "steal" his own bike. He'd locked it in place behind
the library using a thick cable or chain lock (I forget which), but
somehow lost the key. He walked to the bike shop, returned with tools,
and hacked away for quite a while before getting it cut.

He mentioned that several people passed by saying nothing. One young
kid told his mom "He's trying to steal that bike!" The mother said
"SSSHHH!" and kept on walking.

But as I say, I've had no problems. My most frequent longish-term
parking places are the library and the grocery store. I don't even
bother with a cable lock there. I jam a little wedge into the front
brake lever to lock that brake on. In some other places, I use a thin,
homemade cable lock. It all depends on the environment.

I think it also depends. probably to a large extent, what the bicycle
in question looks like. Traveling around Bangkok I see a large number
of bicycles parked at bus stops, MRT stations, etc. Some I have been
seeing for months and some aren't even locked. Universally they are
NOT the latest Carbon Fiber $3,000 model. :-)

I have thought about that. There are four bikes I use for at least
occasional utility work. None of them look the least bit fashionable.

Although I remember one time my car needed new tires. As usual in such
cases, I threw my bike in the back, dropped the car off, and rode away
on the bike. I hate sitting in those waiting rooms.

When I returned, one young guy came out to look over the bike and remark
how cool it was. This is the one with the huge blue handlebar bag, hub
dyno & headlight, rear rack, fenders, and old steel frame. No
accounting for some people's taste!

And as long as I'm on the subject, the three speed I built out of a good
Reynolds frame plus my junk box parts once got the same attention. I
was in the post office after hours when someone came in and asked if
that was my bike outside. When I said yes, he plied me with questions
and gushed over the bike for at least five minutes. Turns out that, for
whatever reason, he just loves three speeds!

I don't think either of those guys would steal my bike, though.

--
- Frank Krygowski