“Sleep on it, calm down, and then decide if you still need to comment.” This seems to be an accepted rule for thoughtful online commenting and service industry reviews. Angry and excited comments rarely reflect the person we want to be, and a good night’s rest can dull the shark-sharp teeth that glisten ugly in the moment. I took a similarly paused tact regarding my recently stolen bikepacking ride and now I want to dust off the topic and commiserate with readers who have come back to a bike rack or parking lot to find their steed stolen. In this instance alone, I hope not everyone can relate.
In my early twenties, I worked as a 3am bagel baker in the other Emerald City of Eugene, Oregon. My housemate and dearest companion had two of my bikes stolen while borrowing them to commute to work. Both were locked to staple-racks on the sidewalk. One was a Diamondback hardtail that I had spray painted black, with a sweet forged alloy crank. The other commuter was a GT Predator that I purchased as a replacement. Both were swiped off the street whilst my housemate was working long hours in a crowded call-center downtown. Anyone who’s had the pleasure of cold-calling people all across the country while the interrupted responder is busily working or sitting down to supper knows that the work itself feels quite terrible on a daily basis. Losing your ride home is stepping in different piles of shit with both feet.
My roomy told me of these thefts in the same way either time: over a beer on our tiny concrete stoop. He felt terrible that my bike had been stolen, and I felt terrible that he would now be stuck sitting on the bus, doubling his commute time. He offered to replace the bikes, but he was riding mine because he couldn’t afford one of his own. We were both hangin’ below the poverty line, the health insurance affording line, and the sit-down restaurant line, but I wasn’t above the “ask my parents for a little help” line. I would find a way to get another commuter. We drank a couple more cans and talked trash about bike thieves and the trusted inefficacy of reporting stolen bikes to the police.
A few years later another one of my bikes was stolen from a chain-link cage outside the grocery store where I worked. This particular bike had additional value for me. It was my first full suspension mountain bike, and the first bike I had raced many years prior. The person who took it was clearly agile and equally sly, as the eight-foot cage remained uncut, and my lock lay split open in the bright light of day. This was the saddest stolen bike incident. I felt pretty cool on that bike. I seldom grow attached to things, but that thing was special. Now I was relegated to the bus route. Again, the police report that my employer insisted on wasn’t worth its paper.
This most recent bike theft was about as straightforward as they come, or go as it were. My simple Surly Karate Monkey was locked to a bike rack behind the apartment building, behind a locked six-foot-high pointy gate and some equally unfriendly shrubs. Just the rear wheel was captured by the lock, as that’s all the lock and rack combo allowed. I figured that the bolt-on rear hub would turn any would-be thieves toward my neighbors’ unlocked whips. That rear wheel was the only piece left when I returned to find my parking space otherwise empty.
That little minty pile of steel pipes was my adventure bike, trails-are-too-wet-so-I-gotta-ride-dirt-roads-bike, and faithful grocery getter. It certainly saw more miles than my favorite high-tech trail machines, along with a requisite amount of neglect and scratchy character. It was wrapped in beautifully constructed bags from Oveja Negra and a host of cool components that I hope are serving someone well today.
Like a lot of defiant young people, I swiped some stuff when I was a kid. Having tasted the other side of thievery and perceived-need has framed my feelings around my bikes being boosted. Once I even pocketed a shiny orange brake lever from a friend’s porch while we were working on our BMX rigs. That poor choice sours my gut to this day and gives me a sliver of empathy for the folks who risked their freedom to take a shiny thing that they could use and easily sell. It still doesn’t feel great, but I get it.
With a rested and cool head, I’m able to remember that most bike thieves are not evil, or even inherently bad people. Like folks who sell illegal drugs or create counterfeit cash, most bike thieves are seizing an opportunity in a cutthroat capitalist system that likely feels void of plausible alternatives. We all gotta eat and based on the social structures that we currently live under some folks have to steal their supper. Several of my neighbors work as bicycle couriers, and It’s better my bike was stolen than theirs.
Have you had a bike stolen? How did it make you feel? Did you get it back? Please share your story with us in the comments below.
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29 Comments
This article rubs me the wrong way. Forgive me if I don’t feel sorry for bike thieves. Gotta eat? Oh brother.
Login to replyI have had three bikes stolen over my lifetime. It definitely sucks! Especially if you depend on it for daily transportation and have customized it to fit just the way you want it. Even if you have the serial number and a chip on it, the chances of recovering it are almost zero. It makes me angry just thinking about it.
Login to replyAll of my bikes, these days, never leave my sight, except when they are locked inside the house or basement. I had bikes stolen when at university, where even having them inside was not enough for one gang of thieves who broken and and took a whole ton of stuff over a long weekend while we were away. One bike turned up outside one of the building on Campus, so I used my lock to secure it to my new one, and told the porters to hold whoever came to complain that someone had double locked them. Turned out this punter had bought it second hand for almost nothing. We did a deal that I would buy it back at the end of term for what he paid for it. Sadly the bike was written off in an accident, but the rider was OK. Nothing much to salvage as it was crushed by a truck seconds after the guy picked himself off the road.
Login to reply“Like folks who sell illegal drugs or create counterfeit cash, most bike thieves are seizing an opportunity in a cutthroat capitalist system that likely feels void of plausible alternatives. We all gotta eat and based on the social structures that we currently live under some folks have to steal their supper.”
Wow, you’re way too gracious Gerow. IMO, those fuckers are assholes, and they can rot in one place or another. Some of us struggle under the same capitalist system and have been at the point where we couldn’t afford to repair said commuter bicycle when it breaks, and yet never stole someone else’s bike as a result of that system.
Yes, the system is fucked, but we still get to choose how we respond to it.
Login to replyI fully understand why you feel that way, Greg. I have had a similar outlook when my first bike was stolen. It was infuriating. It doesn’t feel much better now, which is why I waited to chill out before writing this.
Also, we all have had to make questionable or regrettable decisions to get through, but those behaviors don’t define us for life. If we can’t have the grace to move on and grow at some point, becoming more than our poor choices/behaviors, every last one of us is screwed.
My point isn’t to sympathize with bike thieves specifically but to have empathy for the fact that we all screw up and deserve space to change. I haven’t made the choice to steal someone else’s bike, but I can imagine a level of deeply-shitty living that might make me consider a lot of things that I currently find abhorrent.
Bikes are stolen because they’re easy money. The question is, what can we as a cycling community do to prevent bikes from being stolen and to get them back when they are. For those of us who commute, keeping the bike within view 100% of the time isn’t a reasonable solution. The police are clearly not the answer, but I bet someone out there has a plausible suggestion.
I don’t know about you but I didn’t have to be exceptional to get to a very cushy life. I wasn’t exceptional for avoiding things like theft, I had so many other choices, but for many people society demands they be exceptional to get out from under their situation. Do you think it’s fair to require exceptionalism to see improvement? Do you think we’re going to see many improvements if we’re waiting for exceptionalism to become the norm for oppressed people?
I think everyone understands the anger side of this, and getting beyond that takes some serious cooling off and introspection. Part of it surely comes down to perspective and worldview, and all of us are different. Personally I have a hard time imagining even the thief feeling good about stealing, while others may believe that some folks just don’t have a conscience. None of us can ever know for sure what’s going on in another person’s head, but that doesn’t stop us from trying, so we can at least make sense of the world or find a little peace.
Login to replyI am totally at a loss to understand the point of view expressed in this article. For me, it is hard to feel empathy for a thief in an absence of their remorse. An individual does not change without remorse, and being sad about getting caught is not the same thing. So imagining the thief might feel bad later might make you feel less pissed off, it is unlikely that imagination is reality. Civil society requires morality. Essentially you exchange time of your life for the money to buy things, and that person essentially forced you to work for them for nothing. Their disregard for someone else is truly grotesque.
Login to replyRamification and consequence is outlawed in Riotcity USA, Tex!
There is some responsibility on the bicycle owner to secure their bike however, the thief needs to pay restitution before forgiveness is applied. Forgiveness is earned by one’s actions to right their wrongs, simply put. To blame capitalism for piss poor choice on ones part is a crutch. Folks have agency, how they choose to use that tool is on them and has consequence and ramifications as well. If you choose to not earn a living, so be it. If you choose to work hard and make a good living, so be it. A choice to be a leach will never entitle anyone to latch their hooks on my bike and I will protect my bike with all my ability.
hmm. yea. I have on good authority that a large part of bike theft isn’t headquartered out of homeless encampments. They’re organized theft rings operating in your city and state right now. Is there systemic homlessness? No. Do people make choices to be bad or good? Yes. Bike theft is bad. The people doing it are bad and to say anything less than that is just…well…not good!
Login to replyA friend had his custom-painted mountain bike stolen in college. A year or two later he’s driving around and he sees a kid (teenager, maybe a little younger) riding it down the street. My friend stops the car, and takes the bike back without any resistance. No idea where the kid got the bike; maybe he was the one who stole it, maybe he bought it from the thief, maybe his dad gave it to him. Who knows?
If you talked to 100 thieves, I bet you’d hear 100 different stories about why they did it. Still, 100% of them broke the law, and there are consequences for doing so.
A lot of comments here (and now 3 from me) but I wanted to mention that I’m pleasantly surprised that so far no one is blaming the victim. “You shoulda locked your bike better” is a somewhat common refrain that’s clearly not helpful. Having a bike stolen is an emotional experience that can be made easier or more difficult depending on how we or others around us react.
Login to replyRight Jeff, no victim blaming. Definitely the person to be disgusted with is the thief. You can lock it, hide it, whatever, a determined thief will get it. They are scumbags.
You must have read, and swallowed, the rationale presented in the book “In Defense of Looting”, recently profiled with softball questions by NPR. I suspect there are people out there who are forced to crime to put food on the table, but seriously doubt your bike thieves are in that category. I cannot believe this web site is putting forth any justification for bike thievery.
It’s also hypocritical to disparage the “cutthroat capitalist system” as you do. That system is responsible for creating the businesses which make quality bikes and other gear (which this site endlessly promotes in articles and reviews), and for the bikes shops which we patronize and a few of us work at. It reminds me a little of some books by bike packers and bike tourists where the author repeatedly disparages folks who work steady jobs, while depending on those very people who operate the motels, laundries, restaurants, bike shops, grocery stores and some campgrounds, to enable the authors to complete their adventure. Capitalism without regulation is problematic and can be abused but the flip side is that system has elevated the standard of living for lots of people and without it this website would cease to function. Without some standards of behavior (such as “Don’t steal other people’s property”) society is damaged – hence the laws forbidding it.
An eye-opener would be to read Tim Moore’s book about his bicycle journey through the iron curtain countries after the curtain came down, using a crap bicycle produced in the Soviet Union. There’s quite a lot about the lives of folks in the non-capitalist countries he passed through (including the tale of one 14 year old girl who as a prank painted lipstick on Stalin’s picture in her school, and for this offense spent 8 years in prison). I could say a lot more but will refrain.
Login to replybreathinghard, you make a lot of unfounded assumptions about me with that comment which are not helpful for anyone — so I’ll refrain from addressing them.
My question to you is, “what can we as a cycling community do to prevent bikes from being stolen and to get them back when they are?”
One, keep a record of the bike’s serial number. Two, do report it to police. A friend of mine had his bike stolen and retrieved it when his bike was discovered in another town. Three, get adequate locks. Four, be cautious about where you buy your bike from – the pawn shop bike might be hot. A purchase from a bike store will not be.
Apparently from reading the other comments I’m not the only one who does not feel too much sympathy for bike thieves. I’m sorry you had your bikes stolen, but I wouldn’t blame capitalism for that.
I don’t have a solution to Brian’s question, but I appreciate his nuanced thinking about this. Any of us may be closer than we think to needing to make tough decisions about our own survival. Empathy and law need not be mutually exclusive.
Login to replyReading into this more, I’m also getting that it’s not that useful for anyone if the victim focuses emotions like hate toward the thief. That comes naturally. It’s also a reality that people are forced into theft by a number of ways, and there are a number of arguments as to how that happened and what to do about it. I like how you ended it, looking toward the positive side. At least your living doesn’t rely on using a bicycle as a tool, and though it might be tough, you don’t have to spend more money on a bike to keep making money.
Login to replyPeople are forced into theft through something called agency. Agency give all choice. Choice can be dangerous since it can lead to good or bad outcomes.
Making a piss poor choice has ramifications and consequence on many levels.
Justifying theft is pathetic at best…
I think like the car industry did, the bike industry needs to get more serious about security and the tracking and tracing of bikes and components. If manufacturers used a consistent scheme for serializing bike frames (like a VIN number in cars) and it was not hidden away, or at least was in the same place on each bike, and there was a central register of stolen bikes that could be accessed from a Phone app, then buyers could at least choose to check if the bike that was offered was previously stolen. Just like for cars, all new owners would register there purchase and provide contact information. Many times stolen bikes are recovered but the police have no way of tracing the owners, and don’t have the time to look for the chip or the other random security measures that people can apply adhoc themselves. It would not stop determined thieves, but it would make some of them think twice if they knew it was difficult to sell on a bike that could be quickly and easily identified as stolen. I wonder if the current surge in popularity of cycling during this pandemic is feeding demand for these stolen bikes. I know my LBS had a backlog of 1300+ bikes that they have deposits for, but no shipments from the suppliers, and these were not the cheapest bikes either. This pushes the people who would normally buy new, or at least refurbished from a store, to go and seek a second hand bargain online.
Login to replySome good ideas worth trying for sure. Some of these tools and systems exist, but your point about a standardized identifying and tracking structure like the one we use for automobiles would be a big step forward.
Interesting perspective Brian. I have been very fortunate in that I have never had a bike stolen but know plenty of people that have. Any time I hear that a bike is stolen my first reaction is always – was the bike (both frame and tires) fully secured to a immovable object with an appropriate lock? While I realize that a good thief can get around just about any lock a high quality chain/lock will thwart the vast majority of would-be thieves. (NB: not judging, just curious)
I applaud your ability to take the high-road and be empathetic toward the thief(ves) that caused you such grief. To me, it would be honorable to do so purely out of the goodness of your heart or – as you reference – to consider it within the context of similar things you may have done yourself. (As they say karma is a bitch). However, by rationalizing such illegal – and unethical – behavior and attributing it to a “cutthroat capitalist system” is, IMHO, misguided. We must all take accountability for our actions regardless of our circumstances and to assume – even in the case of someone downtrodden – that illegal acts are the only courses of actions one could take to put food on the table seems a bit shortsighted.
Login to replyTotally agree and think this view point is what we need way more of to really improve as a whole. People aren’t inherently bad, it’s the system (which includes all of us who have the spare time to ride bikes). The fact that you can’t understand their view point doesn’t mean they are bad, it means your ability to empathize and understand is bad. Just like you probably don’t empathize much when a super fancy car gets in a fender bender, I’d guess plenty of thieves feel the same about taking some of your obvious wealth. Do you feel it’s “right” and “deserved” to have the marketable skills, schooling (and likely race and gender if you’re a mtn biker) to make enough money to afford these luxuries and that it’s not an injustice that others don’t? Aren’t you also to blame for not fixing the system the causes these disparities, especially because you likely have way more power(money, time, etc) to push for change? Sadly until it affects your life more than having to replace a stolen item you’re probably going to make decisions to protect your situation instead of make it accessible to all, especially when the general reaction to this idea of empathizing with “criminals” gets mostly resistance and act like it’s a far out idea. We all benefit when we push ourselves to step outside of our cushy lives and try to understand other peoples realities.
Login to replyMy cushy life came after graduation from an inner city school, getting beat up on a regular basis, and breaking my ass to make sure I had a better life. I didn’t steal from anyone in the process. The idea that poverty and immorality are equivalent is a bias on your part.
Brian, being able to look at situations like this from a place of empathy is something all of us could benefit from. I’ve had a bike and numerous other things stolen, and the gut reaction of anger and frustration helps no one.
It doesn’t help in the hindsight, and it doesn’t help the overlying issues of theft in general, but it is easy to add things like bikes to homeowner’s and renter’s policies. It is usually inexpensive to add “scheduled items” to your policy. While it won’t help with the emotional toll of losing your favorite bike you’ve had for years, at least you get reimbursed financially regardless of where it was stolen.
Login to replyI recently visited a bike shop in Laramie, WY. I happened to be there for a wedding. Turns It was the only place I could find a 24in wheel upgrade for my son for a birthday. Pandemic had made CO, CA and everywhere else in-between devoid of this size of mountain bike. So, I got lucky in WY so to speak. The shops motto was something to the effect of “WY, Where we still hang bike thieves”. Having head 10k of carbon frames stolen off my truck in Grand Junction 2 months ago … That’s where I’m at. They cut through 2 U locks and multi cables, not to mention thrashing my Lolo rack in the 4 hours I slept before going back to truck that night. I’m still angry, my wife’s bike was new, one ride deep, and had been saved up to buy for years. Life circumstances aside. I agree with WY. Bike thieves of this kind should burn
By some coincidence the Global Cycling Network is addressing bicycle theft in it’s Tech show this week. By contrast, the presentation actually gives some useful advice about how to prevent your bike from being stolen, as it deals with the types of locks available, their security ratings, and how best to use them. Here is a link: https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/video/how-to-lock-your-bike-securely-urban-cycle-security-tips
Those who are not familiar with the Global Cycling Network and its sister channel, the Global Mountain Bike Network, might want to check them out. They both take an enthusiastic, lighthearted, and often very humorous approach to the various topics around cycling and seem to realize that most people tune in for fun and entertainment about the hobby they enjoy.
Login to replyThanks for sharing that. We love what GCN/GMBN do and certainly won’t match their high-budget production level anytime soon. A lot of people tune into GMBN because they want to zone out and enjoy a humorous take or solution on a bike issue. A lot of people tune into other media outlets though (hopefully including ours) because they find writing relatable and expressive. in other words, you’re not going to find a deeply personal essay or expression, or something that strikes your feelings just right on GMBN. Every media outlet has their own flavor and that’s why we have so many choices – in the world of MTB media there is something for everyone, including those who need to vent and express about past bikes, not just provide a topic for SEO results.
I had a Specialized Pitch stolen from my garage. It was a devastating experience for me and my family. Every one of us lost something of value that day: jewelry, gaming systems, family photos (stored on backup drives). Police recovered our computer with some of our family photos, much to our surprise and relief almost a year later. My bike was gone.
I was fortunate to have home owner’s insurance cover a portion of the cost to afford me a new used bike. The theft stung though. Invasion of privacy hurt the most. When we recovered our computer there were photos of what I assume were the thief’s family saved on the desktop. I flipped through them first with hate then strangely with relief. This family was depicted camping amongst friends in these photos, just like our family had done several times before.
We moved on from that event forever changed. I always think about where I lock up my bike, usually keeping it in a conspicuous place where I can maintain visual contact, which is not possible everywhere. I know it could happen again. And I can’t dwell on the probability of the occurrence either. I don’t wish harm or ill to those who steal. Some justice would suffice though and in my experience the perpetrator was caught and convicted. I was fortunate to have some closure.
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