Good places to leave a bike

memorex

Is there anywhere in particular in UCD where you shouldn't lock your bike, places where it would be more likely to be stolen? I know that the common sense applies when finding a good spot - well lit, people about, use good locks etc. I am heading out to the student centre in UCD (evening time) by bike and not knowing UCD was looking for some advice.
Cheers,
-mem

larryone

Theres a good enough place to lock up beside the student centre.
But generally theres nowhere totally safe to park a bike in UCD...
what you up to out belfield way?

uberwolf

I used always lock my bike outside comp sci in the covered shelter - but thats been removed. There is no where genuinely safe IMO. The stu centre ones have good traffic going past during the week, but i know people who've had bikes lifted from there as well.

memorex

Thanks for the pointers. FYI, the Banff Mountain Film Festival is screening in the student centre on Wed and Thurs nights. (http://www.irishmountainfilmfestival.com/).

breadmonkey

The belfield campus is basically a bicycle megastore for thieving scumbags!

funktastic

Just cycle a bike that no-one would be arsed robbing you poser! i got my rusted piece of crap and can leg it into the shop without locking it up.
If you've a decent bike, just lock the frame onto the bike holding thing, and if its a particularly nice one use a second lock on one of the wheels. I think bike theft in UCD is a bit exaggerated myself, only heard of 1 person who got their's nicked.

larryone

I'd love to go to the film thingy, what with being a climber/hiker/caver, but I havenae the monae. bah!

The handlebars were stolen from my bike a few months ago. I was well pissed off. They cut the cables and took out two bolts, and walked away witbh the bars. I had to get new bars and the whole gear and brake system recabled. Pain in the ass.

So I went and reported it to services. Just coz... I noticed something.
When you're filing a theft report for services, the first section on the report form is for name and contact info. The SECOND section is titled BICYCLES!!!!!!!
Kinda says alot doesnt it..... third section is cars, and then miscelaneous.

The services guy that was there told me he went to uni somewhere in England... On their campus there were a few places that were fenced off, floodlit at night, and covered with cameras, all for parking and locking bicycles. You paid a small annual fee to get a key for the gate to the bike park, some of which you got back at the end of the year in return for the key....

Thousands of students cycle to Belfield every day, I'd say hundreds of bicycles get stolen every month. I for one wouldnt mind paying a little bit for a secure bike park. I know it's not easy to find the space, etc, etc. But still. Something should be done about it. I'm going to bug the students union officers about it for the next year.

larryone

funktastic wrote:

Just cycle a bike that no-one would be arsed robbing you poser! i got my rusted piece of crap and can leg it into the shop without locking it up.
If you've a decent bike, just lock the frame onto the bike holding thing, and if its a particularly nice one use a second lock on one of the wheels. I think bike theft in UCD is a bit exaggerated myself, only heard of 1 person who got their's nicked.

I've had two bicycled nicked since starting college. I could easily count ten people I know who have had bicycles stolen from them... It may be exaggerated, but it is by far the most common theft report to services.

Syth

I had a bike nicked on campus. I blame myself a bit though as I only locked the front wheel on and the bike had quick release wheels. 5 minute job to seperate the bike from the front wheel. Still have the wheel. Tells you a lot about the state of bike thiefery in UCD though. You couldn't walk a decent bike with no front wheel out of campus, so it must have been a thrown in a van. I locked it amoung a lot of other bikes (between the chemistry building and the science block), so they must have been close to it to see that the front lock only went throught the front wheel. In other worlds a throughly professional job.

I agree with your larryone about the bike shelter. Not about lack of space. There's billions of green fields! It's something the SU should campaign for.

Bri

Syth wrote:

You couldn't walk a decent bike with no front wheel out of campus, so it must have been a thrown in a van.

Dunno about that now. I see so little of services night and day it makes me laugh. Although I did get pulled over when walking home to Glenomena during a friday afternoon.

Bikes are stolen all the time.

Re: The student centre locking...I heard recently that someone dug up one of those iron bar things along the way to the sports centre!

Sangre

Roebuck seems to be secure enough because its out of the way. I've left my bike overnight there a few times but would stay away from the main campus.

Tayto2000

Bikes get stolen all the time in UCD, it was running at about one a day for a while last year. I've been cycling in here for a few years now, but never had one stolen (from belfield anyway). Three things you can do:

1. Buy a U-lock. In fact buy two if you can. A quick walk around the bike racks usually reveals lots of nice bikes locked with a cable lock the thickness of a shoelace. A good quality hardened U-lock can't be cut with bolt cutters and must be drilled or sawed, so you're proof against casual thieves.

2. As stated above already, lock the frame to something immobile, preferably a bike rack. You can use a cable lock to hold on the bits like wheels and saddle.

3. Put it somewhere visible with lots of people passing. This is going to be a problem in places like Roebuck etc of course...

I remember about three years ago, a guy got caught drilling out the barrels of locks on bikes outside engineering with a drill hidden up his sleeve. Wouldn't have been caught but passers by noticed him and called the Gardai.

themole

had a bike of mine stolen from the end of the physics building, the white railing near the student center end.

my friend had his stolen from outside computer science a few days ago, in broad day light, he locked it at 10am and went out at 8.30pm and no bike.

there are also lots of bikes around that area missing wheels and handlebars, so don't lock a bike anywhere near physics/compsci.

obviously you should park in a busy lit area, as said already. but noplace is busy enough late at night/over night.

as far a lock goes, well it depends on the value of the bike. if your bike is worth over €300 you should spend at least €50 on a good u-lock,a lot at this price come with guarantees, and also a cable lock for the wheels

the idea of having a enclosed area is a good one, preferably near the security shed at the entrance so they would be close by if someone tried to break in.

larryone

For a campus of this size you'd need a few of them....

Larry's guide to "how to break a U-lock": get a car jack, place inside the u-lock, widen car jack until lock breaks. Hey presto.

My brother did this once on his own bike when he lost his keys. Said it was really easy.
So if you're using a U-lock, use it on the widest part of the frame, down near the back wheel, and dont leave enough space to fit in a car jack. Just locking across the crossbar is way too insecure, and can be broken easily with this method.

Stabshauptmann

i think the gym area is particularly bad, but Ive not much to base that on

Tayto2000

I've seen the old car jack thing done on a good lock, by a friend who had lost his keys. He managed to break the jack. If it's hardened steel with hooked ends, the jack will generally strip its thread before you get enough force to break it. Hardened steel doesn't really bend, so you have to snap it which takes a lot of force - if it does bend the ends are hooked, the lock will deform but not open. Jacks do definitely work on the cheaper U-locks though. I recommend the Kryptonite brand U-Lock, it's E50, can't be jacked or bolt cut and has an anti theft guarantee. Cyclogical on the quays sometimes have them on discount.

Bri

Kryptonite are a great brand...

Try this

Lock-Up Tips: http://www.kryptonitelock.com/inetisscripts/abtinetis.exe/templateform@public?tn=products_how_to

rain on

I cycled to UCD for a year and parked my bike outside the Arts block, it seems like a safe spot because there's always people passing by, within a few inches of the bikes, so any funny business is (hopefully) likely to be noticed. There's not a lot of space on the railing there though, have to get there early. Also covered my bike in stickers so it's distinctive looking, which i hope would also put off thieves. Finally, I've heard that there's less of a market for women's bikes, so they're less likely to be stolen. Mine's a women's one anyway, and I'm one of the only people I know who's never had a bike stolen. q.e.d. or something.

Bri

I don't really buy into this large busy area thing being such a great help - although there's no point in finding a deserted spot either! All that bikes I've known of getting stolen were 90% in these areas like the arts block during the day. I'd guess the truth is no-one is gonna notice a professional their who's kneeling beside a bike. I was told in Trintity it's done by pouring a chemical into the lock and coming back 1/2 hour later