Both of my roommates bikes were stolen.

[Junket]

Since we moved to this part of the city, none of us have been riding as much. We're farther from many things, and there's a lot of busy roads.

So we put our bikes on a screened in front porch. There's a large banana tree and bushes in front of it so you wouldn't see the bikes unless you came in or were walking towards the door (on the side), on the side walk.

My roommate has been talking about building a rack or mounting something to the floor to secure our bikes to, but he's doing school, and working full time and so it wasn't top on his list of things to do.

My g/f goes to leave and she said her bike was gone, and that she's noticed our roomie's hasn't been around either, but she thought he lent it out to somebody and it never crossed her mind to bring it up when she saw him.

Her bike was there when we came in, so somebody literally snuck onto the porch while we were there eating and swiped it. The porch door was left open, too.

So they actually came back twice.

At this point, I believe the grand or so is totally worth the loss of their lives, by means of bullet to the head.

[misombra]

yeah. that sucks.

i've had my bike stolen twice. the last time they took it right out of my back yard and i was home! i cried.

people come over to my house on their bikes and think it's okay to leave it on our enclosed porch. i tell them to bring it inside the house. peoples prey on that shit. especially crack heads.

[Junket]

Let New Orleans drown, that's what I say.

Too many poor people here, they're not worth it.

[IndiReloaded]

You need to move, Fras. Lots of jobs for electricians all over.

Will your content insurance cover the loss? Hope so. Mbe you should set them up deliberately, seeing how they seem to have targetted your place:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSyI4J-7Hcs"]YouTube - Bike Thief Busted by Cam McCaul[/ame]

[Junket]

Insurance?

On a bicycle?

Indie, this is the United States.

[IndiReloaded]

Not on a bicycle, Fras. Content insurance, which includes a bicycle (stereo, computer, etc). For your belongings when you rent? If there's a fire, theft, etc. I know you live in the states. We lived there for 8 years, some of that time as starving students. We had content insurance in Boston. It exists & its not that expensive. Ask at AAA or your insurance co. You might have to pay a couple hundred bucks in deductable, but that's nothing for a bike that usually costs 3-4X that.

[Junket]

Oh, renter's insurance?

Our roommate has that, but not us.

Her bike was 450 bucks, mine was only 150.

His was 1200 when he got it back in the day.

They clearly stole the nicer bikes.

[IndiReloaded]

Well, that sucks, all same. Sorry Fras.

[misombra]

having insurance pay for stolen bikes is just contributing to the crack economy. best thing is to keep the bikes inside your house and not get them stolen.

[DoesntMatter]

Next time coat the bike in a layer of some kind of nasty chemical irritant

[ecojeanne]

have a look online and see if they are trying to sell the bikes, ebay or sites like that. otherwise you should be able to get a cheapo bike on those kind of sites. i've picked up 2 free bikes and 1 cheap bike from the internet. really good bikes too. people throw out the most stupid things other people could be using. does your council have the same thing we have here? we have a site that people go onto to advertise stuff they are going to dump and if anyone wants it; to pick it up. this prevents extra waste.

[Junket]

Yeah we have craigslist.

We checked it last night.

[Lipp]

Left my bike at uni over a weekend about two months ago and found that the entire lock mechanism had been torn up by what looked like a screwdriver or something.

But the buggers didn't get through the good-quality D-lock. Suckers.

[vashti]

I hate thieves. Sorry Fras, that sucks. I remember when misombra had her bike stolen.

On another note, this thread reminds me of one of my favorite foreign films, "The Bicycle Thief".

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8hDYKOQ-FE[/url]

[DoesntMatter]

This reminds me of the even better American film about a stolen bike, "Pee Wee's Big Adventure"