There’s nothing worse than waking up to find your fixed gear bike missing, especially if you need to be somewhere and were hoping to get there without the inconvenience of brakes. Sadly, bike theft plagues Seattle residents every day. It’s not just a conceit of neorealist Italian cinema, and it’s about time we admitted it, so that the healing can begin.
Luckily, help is on the way. SPD feels your pain, Seattle. And they’re doing their part to end the war on bicycles.
Captain Jim Dermody sends us another good news missive detailing the department’s latest efforts in this ongoing struggle for justice. Last Thursday, February 10, “an alert resident” on Capitol Hill saw a man prowling the neighborhood just after 5:00 a.m., and called 911. About an hour later, another resident reported seeing “a suspicious person” leaving a neighbor’s yard with a bicycle in tow. The suspicious person apparently had the audacity to return, at which point the alert resident yelled at him to go away. But the chain of alert people alerting the world about their suspicions of suspicious activity doesn’t stop there.
The good news missive states that:
This alert resident called next door and alerted her neighbor to what had happened and he immediately checked his garage, noticed he had property missing (including a particular brand of bike) and also called 911.
SPD officers were already in the area in response to the first 911 call, and at about 7 a.m., a First Watch Officer “came across a suspect matching the description who was riding a bike [of] the same make and color as the one stolen.”
The officer recognized the suspect, the victim recognized the bike, and the would-be bicycle thief was taken into custody, along with a collection of “stolen property to include a stolen laptop computer from a burglary yesterday morning two blocks away (belonging to that victim’s school-aged daughter) and suspected drugs” found on his person, the good news report states. The suspect also had several outstanding warrants for his arrest related to previous assault and theft incidents.
Dermody leaves us with three notable “Take Aways” from all this mayhem—Neighbors can be neighborly; SPD officers can rescue your bike and identify suspects; Calling 911 is the right thing to do. Basically, when everyone pitches in, theft might not have to be forever. Also, some people on Capitol Hill get up really early.
I’d like to add a “Take Away” of my own: Get a bike lock.
People who steal fixies are the bestest people in the world!
Happy VD Day!
Bike was in his garage. So, lock your garage. Then lock the bike. Then lock the lock to another lock.
Also, lock the BACK wheel up. I had a bike stolen and wheeled down the street with the U-lock still on the front wheel and frame. My neighbors didn’t say jack because it was 1990 and it was a ghetto.
Yes, because when I see someone walking around Capitol Hill at 5am, I immediatly assume its a theif and call 911. LOL What the hell!?
Whenever I see someone driving around Capitol Hill, I assume they’re in a bike thief gang, dropping off gang members to steal bikes.
Remember – cars enable bike thieves.
Hey, the writing on this is really funny.
You should add that people need to get a good bike lock, such as a U-Lock at the very least, and lock your bike up properly.
Locking just the frame leaves your expensive to replace wheels up for grabs, so lock the rear wheel and maybe the front wheel with another U-lock or a separate cable. Be sure to lock your bike to something secure — thieves can throw “free-locked” bikes into a truck, so as to defeat the lock at their leisure in the privacy of their home. Locking something that is itself not secure, like a chainlink fence, is also a bad idea. I’ve heard stories about entire bike racks being unbolted by a squad of thieves dressed up like city employees, with the rack and all the bikes attached thrown into a truck. Nothing you can do about that one.
Don’t leave your bike unlocked outside overnight. Think twice before locking it for more than a few hours anywhere.
Follow these rules religiously and the chances of your bike getting stolen are drastically lower. The idea is not to make your bike unstealable, which is impossible, but much more difficult to steal than the other guy’s bike.
Get a bike lock. That’s the best you got? And get a laptop lock. And lock down your TV and stereo and iPhone and every fucking thing in your house. Because this guy broke into the garage, and apparently broke into a house and stole the laptop. So yeah, you can invest in deadbolts and iron bars and all the rest, and this moronic Unpaid Intern will still blame you for not having enough locks.
@7 remember, living in Fear is the only option.
Or you could buy a used bike that costs $10 and not care instead.
Also, be sure to write down your serial number to include in a report on the chance your bike is stolen sometime. I wish I’d done that!
And, as others have said, getting any lock isn’t enough. Cable locks can be cut through easily.
Fixed gears are over…
@6 “You should add that people need to get a good bike lock, such as a U-Lock at the very least, and lock your bike up properly.”
I would avoid U-Locks, most can by opened using a bic pen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bosEh5PU…
Get a GOOD U-lock and at least lock the frame, rack, and front wheel together. This can be done but people always forget
Old news, #11. Those have been recalled and replaced. Don’t you read the papers?
The Bic Pen thing was about 5 years ago people. get with it. Also, what’s with the fixed-gear name dropping a-la Seattle Weakly? SO edgy! Everybody’s nephew in Nebraska has dropped the Playstation for a fixed gear by now, and also they fuck-up your knees in a serious way, so get over it.
…and yes, if you have a nice bike, you should lock it up even in your house. Bikes get stolen out of apartments and garages pretty regularly. Also, it keeps your roommates drunk cousin from taking it on a beer-run at midnight and leaving it unlocked in front of Harvard QFC.