Grocery Bike

On 2/4/2019 2:26 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Monday, February 4, 2019 at 11:28:16 AM UTC-5, Frank Krygowski wrote:


I don't bother to lock my bike at either place. Security is just a
little wedge thing jammed into my brake lever, to hold my front brake on
tightly.

--
- Frank Krygowski

"Lock it or lose it" is often touted hereabouts. There was a guy bicycling across Canada a couple of years ago. He was headed East from British Columbia and he stopped at a store in Montreal, Quebec. When he came out his bike and all his gear was gone. I don't know what happened after that. I loaned a friend of mine a very nice Fiori Modena 14 gears road bike. He phoned me new years eve to tell me that he stopped at a coffee shop and forgot to lock the bike. It was raining then. When he came out the bike was gone. All it takes is someone to see an unlocked bike and grab it. They usually only ride to near their destination and then dump it. Whatever, the chance of getting a stolen bike back these days is pretty slim.

I hope your luck holds for you when you leave your bike unlocked. Heck even if you see someone stealing your bike when you're in a store, by the time you run out of the store your bike is long gone.

I get groceries in two different towns. Both have made the top-10 list
for "safest communities in Ohio," so I don't worry very much.

But here's what I mean about the wedge thing:
https://randalputnam.files.wordpress...13/05/sb-1.jpg

I was using things like this long before Blackburn ever manufactured
them. A guy at a bike rally showed his to me back in the 1970s and I
copied it. I've made rubber ones that work with STI shifters, and other
designs for other lever types.

It's obviously not foolproof, but it's inconspicuous and would probably
flummox the typical grab-and-run thief enough that he would think better
of the idea. The guy who showed me the first one had that experience,
where he saw a guy try to grab his bike but almost fall over it when it
wouldn't move, then jog away.

For unfamiliar places and longer stops, I do use a cable lock, but even
that is lightweight and home made.

The worst problems I've ever had was to have cyclometers stolen. I guess
anything digital looks cool to a young teenager.

--
- Frank Krygowski