[post note; we've had Marie's Rockhopper and my Surly nicked in Nice, France one day while we were out shopping, in addition to the junk bike below. We had an old BMX taken once but that hardly counts :)]
Posted by Edward Re on November 8, 2010 at 11:46am
With all the theft stories recently, I thought I'd put write up a couple.
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I've only ever had one bike stolen. It was a dual suspension Diamond back which I'd bought for $600. It was the most I'd spent on a bike (ha ha I know). It being an off road unit, it had kind of mudguards, and it got to see a lot of mud.
I was looking at the space in the garage where it usually sits trying to work it out. We never bothered locking our bikes, and I thought some resident must have borrowed it. Eventually it dawned on me that someone must have actually stolen it, while number 3 was moving in, with the garage door left open.
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My boss at work was a former US Olympian. For the job interview, I turned up in shorts and t-shirt, and covered in mud and filth. I'd gotten a lift. Due to traffic etc, I simply had no chance of getting home, and getting there on time. If it was anyone else, I would not get in the front door. But him being him, it was actually a positive sign. I made an impression on the rest of the staff.
Being influential in bike circles, the old sponsors still gave him bikes to use. I think it was Trek. They'd give him these $10,000 carbon fibre units. There was also a nice black Serotta in his collection. The parking at work was a rack right next door to the parking superintendent. This was a result of the theft of his $8,000 bike, which would be very painful, if you didn't get them for free. I think he was still stung, and anyway, the rack got moved from the wall, and right next to the super's little office. Nothing beats rolling out your front door, and arriving as close to the lift as you can get, without being inside the lift.
(image left of Market St from
So he used to park his bike inside the office there, where it should be safe. One day he noticed someone, and then the lift doors closing. He looked to where his bike was, and it was gone. So he bolts down the stairs to catch him at the bottom, but is too late. Wandering out onto Market, he caught site of his bike, and the chase was on. Our thief should have had the upper hand with his high tech racer, but when he jumped on to get away, he couldn't get it into gear cleanly. As he sat there trying, the boss bolted some distance. He was still in great shape, so got there, and grabbed him. The thief said, "Oh sorry, I didn't know it was yours!". The owner was very happy to get his bike back. As he walked up Market St, the crowd around there gave him a round of applause!
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I have had one other bike, and the pole it was attached to, go missing. But it was taken by a govt. department, so not stolen. It's another (long) story.
(so here it is as posted to Yelp.com)
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Government & Public Services, Bike Parking
11 S Van Ness Ave
San Francisco, CA 94103
United States
1.0 star rating 29/8/2006
I locked my bicycle to a parking pole at 8am on a Thursday. By 3pm, there was no pole, no bike and no explanations or notes! In the pole's place, was a new shiny one. Parking poles are installed by the government, yeah?
Skip a few paragraphs if you've dealt with government departments. They're the same all over the world, and some of these people really made me feel at home.
First call was to get the number of the City of San Francisco. Calling the receptionist there, she kind of listened, and said she will transfer me to the bicycle parking section. I told her that I don't think this is the right area. She replied, you can leave a message with me, or get put through, it's up to you.
It's clear she has no plans to help, so I take my chances getting put through. The next lady said, this is not the right area. You're telling me! Then, she gave me the number of the Department of Public Works. The Department of Public Works gave me the number of the Department of Parking and Traffic. And the Department of Parking and Traffic gave me the number of the Sign Shop of the San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic.
Maybe the receptionist of the Sign Shop gets asked about missing bicycles all the time, but after asking around the office she sounded angry. No-one here has any bicycle, and nobody did any work in that street. Who else replaces parking poles? Lots of people, subcontractors, builders, sidewalk contractors. Who can I call? You should call the police. Maybe the police moved the pole, and anything found would get handed to the police.
The local cop is very kind, and listens carefully. They haven't been removing any poles, and haven't received any bikes. You can try the City's lost property. So, I left a message.
The only suspect is the Sign Shop. So I call again, this time asking for the manager. She's away they say, call back in a couple of days. I call back in a couple of days. She listens to me politely, asks me to wait a minute. I understand that someone here already spoke with you. What she is *trying* to tell you is that we don't have any bicycles, and didn't do any work in Clayton St. Well, who replaces parking signs, if not the Sign Shop? Lots of people, depends on the circumstances. But, there was no construction, no work on the sidewalk. It was a regular replacement, and another sign has been replaced recently in Clayton St. Ok, well that sounds like certainly, we would be the people normally undertaking that kind of replacement. Could you please fax/email me the details, and I will check in the database to see if anyone here was working there. At last, we're getting somewhere!
I got a phone call from Raymond (I think), asking for information I thought was in the email already. Then nothing, then ....
On Saturday, the bicycle re-appears leaning against the new parking pole, 9 days after it left. No notes, no explanations, and it's not locked up to it (although my lock was still on the wheels). It could have easily been taken again. Obviously the Sign Shop they had the bike all along. Someone was trying to score a free bike, hoping nobody would bother chasing the complaint all the way through the system. So, thanks to Toni and Raymond, I got my bike back.
What really made me mad was that the receptionist's attitude. It was sheer laziness on her part. Her one aim was to get me off the phone. At least she could have checked the database to see if they did the work, instead of flat denying it, especially when they must have done it.
I'd like to drop the bicycle on her desk, and say: here it is! The bike I was talking about! Your department did it! Yours! Yours! I bet she'd deny I'd spoken to her. What? We don't even have a phone. Honest, some people are a f***ing waste of rations.
Oh no, there was no work in Clayton St.
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