Has anyone not had their bike robbed?

pete4130

10 years of cycling in the city and never a bike stolen, some REALLY close calls though. I've had a saddle and front wheel taken but I did leave my bike at Connolly station overnight (I ended up staying far out of the city that night and knew something would be gone).

-One time I came out of a bar on Fishamble street, saw some kid on a bike and thought "that bikes just like mine!" with a few drinks on me, then realised it WAS my bike. I grabbed him off it as it was moving and roughed him up a little, made him cry after I pretended to call the cops. My sisters frined was so hysterical at the time she ended up giving him a few thumps after I let him go and had my fun with him!

-Another time I went to unlock my singlespeed from Temple Bar at about 1am after shooting a gig and found that somebody had the decency to put an EXTRA lock onto my bike, so I couldn't bring it home with me. Maybe it was to deter me from taking it and allow them to steal it at a later time. Luckily I live close to won so got my dad to bring in a hacksaw and cut this rogue lock off at 2am in the morning...nobody said a word as I hacked through the lock?

-Yet another time I was coming out of work (the Civic Offices at fishamble street) and a thought popped into my head "What would I do if I saw my bike being stoel from Fishamble street again?".
I turn the corner and see that literally minutes before someone had tried to steal my singlespeed again....their method was to use a breezeblock to try to smash the lock open which failed. It did manage to screw my lock up that it couldnt be opened by the key. Again a quick call to my dad to bring the hacksaw and hammer to cut through my own lock at 5:30 in the evening during the bright summer evening and again, nobody said a word to me that walked by....unfortunately the would be thieves decided to give my front wheel a good kicking seeing as they couldn't get the bike.

The biggest rule is to lock it to something solid obviously and to get the seatstays and back wheel with one lock (locks both frame and wheel in one go and is locked in such a way the bike cannot slide down the lampost and fall flat on the street to be trampled on). If possible a cable to loop through the first lock to secure the front wheel.

Persius

Probably tempting fate by saying this, but in the 10 years or so I've been living in and cycling around Dublin, haven't had a bike robbed yet. Worst that's happened has been a light or a bungee cord taken off it.

I'm surprised by the amount of bikes that are still getting robbed by professionals - i.e. people with proper lock cutters etc. What do they do with them? Considering the number of people who commute with bikes has seriously decreased over the last 10 years or so, not to mention the extra money in the country now, I'd have thought their potential resale market would be much smaller.

Danbo!

£700 (in old money!) BMX stolen. Found by a friend with some kid riding it. he had painted it green. and i mean he had painted it GREEN. tyres, chain, handlebars, seat, grips, all green. Turns out someone robbed it, left it in a field. some kid found it, brought it to school and sold it (ever the young entrepeneur (sp?)) for €50 to another kid. a kid who liked green.

and a few close calls....
one of which was when i was in DIT bolton street i used a cable lock and a U lock. came out of college one day and the cable lock was gone, so thought id mention it to the "security" guard.
"one of my locks is gone, im asuming someone tried tried to rob my bike"
"ha, yeah, bikes go walking out of here every day pal"

Nice to see he was doing a good job....

daymobrew

chillyspoon wrote: »

It was the 4th one to go in our company in the last year and a half.

This should be grounds for asking your company to make some secure space available. Hopefully there is some store room somewhere in the building.

gimmeaminute

Bike stolen about eight weeks ago. And then on Hallowe'en night....

Lands Leaving

gimmeaminute wrote: »

Bike stolen about eight weeks ago. And then on Hallowe'en night....

Hero! great story!

Ryder

Had my Giant Hybrid stolen from apartment garage 2 months ago. First month in Dublin and was using a cable lock (Like I had used for years in Cork and Galway). Scumbags snipped the lock.
Got a Trek 7.1Fx to replace it (hate this bike). Locked it with a D lock and within the first week 2 failed attemts to steal it. Second time they were banging the lock with rocks and manage to dent and scrape the frame.
Now have new Kona PW.....Dont know what to do......

SuperSean11

gimmeaminute wrote: »

Bike stolen about eight weeks ago. And then on Hallowe'en night....

Jesus that is fcuking brilliant

fish-head

Ryder wrote: »

Had my Giant Hybrid stolen from apartment garage 2 months ago. First month in Dublin and was using a cable lock (Like I had used for years in Cork and Galway). Scumbags snipped the lock.
Got a Trek 7.1Fx to replace it (hate this bike). Locked it with a D lock and within the first week 2 failed attemts to steal it. Second time they were banging the lock with rocks and manage to dent and scrape the frame.
Now have new Kona PW.....Dont know what to do......

Paddy Wagon's a sweet bike, get two locks. Two U locks or a chainlock and u lock.

Ryder

"Paddy Wagon's a sweet bike, get two locks. Two U locks or a chainlock and u lock".

flippythewarvet

Hope the people who never had theirs robbed arent tempting fate here! I just wish i was one of them!! Was just wondering if it would be worth getting an old p.o.s. just for going to town or somewhere you would fear your bike being robbed. I was thinking about this when frantically waiting in line in easons and my brand new cube was locked outside.

zorkmundsson

haven't had bike lifted, but some entrepreneur did make off with front wheel, saddle bag and pump once.

on that note, i've heard it said that it's best if you quick-release your front wheel as little as possible, given that things shift around and it won't run as true after a while. is this true? i hope not, given that i've taken to removing it every time i leave it outside.

blorg

It may depend on the quality of the quick release but on a properly made one you can take it off and put it back as much as you like without incident. The only thing you might need to watch is your fork when the wheel is out, it would be more subject to compression.

fish-head

Ryder wrote: »

"Paddy Wagon's a sweet bike, get two locks. Two U locks or a chainlock and u lock".

Two D locks, provided they're of good quality like Kryptonite etc, will have you sorted I'd say.

doozerie

No successful attempts at robbing my bikes, but some close calls. I had a (decent) MTB locked up several years ago with a coil lock on the front wheel and a very basic U-lock through the back wheel and around the seat stays. The U-lock held the bike to a railing. When I came back to the bike later that night I found that someone had tried to break the lock by swinging out of the front of it to break the U-lock. The U-lock held but the seat stay didn't (it crumpled) - clearly you don't need any brain cells to be a thieving gob****e, even a useless thieving gob****e. Ever since then I avoid locking my bike in a way that allows the whole bike to be used as a lever against the lock (not always possible to avoid though).

Another time I had my bike saddle and seat post nicked (quick release seat post). Took to passing a coil lock through the saddle after that but eventually just replaced the quick release bolt with an allen key.

I also had another MTB nicked from within feet of my workplace. I had a relatively crap U-lock on the front wheel (the same U-lock as above actually - hmm, not exactly a lucky rabbit's foot of a lock!), and what I thought was a good coil lock (Oxford Revolver) through the frame and rear wheel onto something solid. Turns out that that particular coil lock is ****e - they cut through it with no problem whatsoever (the lock had one very clean cut so they didn't even have to hack at it). They ran off with the bike with the U-lock still in place. Luckily I heard them and ran in the direction I thought they had gone. I found the bike hidden and took it back. I then bought what has proved to be a decent replacement for the coil lock and thankfully have not had a problem since.

Aquafresh

Had a Trek 1200 stolen (in the middle of the day) from across the road from Pearse Dart station in August. Had a good eight months of leaving it locked in the city center before that.

It seems to me there's a demand for someplace safe in the city where you could leave your bike. I reckon the area near Pearse Garda station might be good - near the Gardai? Are there any bike shops around that you could drop your bike into and have them look after it? (for a small fee)

Andrew 83

3 stolen in 6 years cycling around Dublin. 2 from Trinity and 1 from Stephen's Green.

davyjose

fish-head wrote: »

Two D locks, provided they're of good quality like Kryptonite etc, will have you sorted I'd say.

That's why Clark Kent's bikes always got stolen :D

mags16

My new Giant bike was only a few weeks old and I went to meet friends in the Savoy on O'Connell Street. After the film and a pint, I unlocked the bike and started to ride it when I noticed that the saddle was loose. On closer inspection, it wasn't my saddle at all. Some f****r had stolen my saddle and replaced it with an ill fitting old one. It made for a wobbly ride on the way home!!!!!!

I then learned an important lesson. Remove the quick release lever from your saddle and replace it with the old fashioned nut.

Frog Brother

Aquafresh wrote: »

Had a Trek 1200 stolen (in the middle of the day) from across the road from Pearse Dart station in August. Had a good eight months of leaving it locked in the city center before that.

It seems to me there's a demand for someplace safe in the city where you could leave your bike. I reckon the area near Pearse Garda station might be good - near the Gardai? Are there any bike shops around that you could drop your bike into and have them look after it? (for a small fee)

Used to be that place in temple bar, on crowe st. (?) if I'm not mistaken, i dunno, i think this was mentioed on another thread. anyone know if that place still open?

ronbyrne2005

Had been occasionally locking my trek mountain bike to the handle of the black council rubbish bin that is in my front garden but at side of house.Was locked with a heavy duty lock. I went out this morning and the bike and bin(full to top with rubbish) were both gone! Initially thought someone had lifted bike locked to bin into a van or something but discovered the bin abandonded in a lane a hundred metres up road with the handle of bin smashed and a big rock beside the bin. The thieves had left a smaller adolescents mountain bike in lane as wheel was completely bent in half. Anyone recommend a decent mountain bike i can buy for around 500 for commuting.wheres best to buy such a bike.

kona

ronbyrne2005 wrote: »

Had been occasionally locking my trek mountain bike to the handle of the black council rubbish bin that is in my front garden but at side of house.Was locked with a heavy duty lock. I went out this morning and the bike and bin(full to top with rubbish) were both gone! Initially thought someone had lifted bike locked to bin into a van or something but discovered the bin abandonded in a lane a hundred metres up road with the handle of bin smashed and a big rock beside the bin. The thieves had left a smaller adolescents mountain bike in lane as wheel was completely bent in half. Anyone recommend a decent mountain bike i can buy for around 500 for commuting.wheres best to buy such a bike.

kona Hoss
Gt agressor/avalanche2
carrera kraken
carrera subway 1 and 2
kona smoke

stolenwine

I leave my bike in a thieves paradise everyday ucd. My bike is a second hand crap bike though. I was thinking or upgrading to something 3 times more expensive but would it be safe? probably not.

kona

if you are smart and lock your bike somwhere proper, in full view of human traffic, locked to a immovable object(not a plastic bin;)) with a gold rated lock witha anti theft guaratee then yes you will be fine.
my bikes have never been robben, the cheapest is €1100 and locked in dcu alot!

niceonetom

kona wrote: »

if you are smart and lock your bike somwhere proper, in full view of human traffic, locked to a immovable object(not a plastic bin;)) with a gold rated lock witha anti theft guaratee then yes you will be fine.
my bikes have never been robben, the cheapest is €1100 and locked in dcu alot!

dude, i really don't want to put a hex on you or shizzle, but those sound like famous last words. remember: pride -> fall.

touch some wood or something.

kona

niceonetom wrote: »

dude, i really don't want to put a hex on you or shizzle, but those sound like famous last words. remember: pride -> fall.

touch some wood or something.

i know i know, but,ive touched wood so, hopefully nobody robs in, i just lock it beside a bike that looks okay, locked bad.....not too hard to find, then stick my 2 kryptonite locks on, chances of a thief going for mine over the easier target are small.
but ye i can see it coming:(:( i love the bike!:D

Gavin

In DCU eh ! I'll have to keep an eye out for Kona bikes ! hehe

ronbyrne2005

kona wrote: »

kona Hoss
Gt agressor/avalanche2
carrera kraken
carrera subway 1 and 2
kona smoke

best place to buy above bikes? city centre or northside preferably

penexpers

Halfords sell Kona and Carrera and probably GT too?

kona

Verb wrote: »

In DCU eh ! I'll have to keep an eye out for Kona bikes ! hehe

if you rob it you get €200:D:D:D

im digging a hole here!!!