// Bike Safety
Posted on Monday, January 9th, 2012
Today I’m not talking about your safety on the bike; I’m talking about the safety of the bicycle itself. We often must leave our bike locked out in the elements, subject to the will of nature and/or people. It took me a few lessons to learn the proper way of securing my bike. I often left it locked outside in San Diego, sometimes overnight. Many times I left my rear red light attached. One day, after spending the night at a friends house, I came back to find the red light missing. This was the first time I had a part of my bike stolen, and I felt very violated.
So I learned to take my lights off every time I parked my bike. Looking back, I realize I was very lucky my years in San Diego. The only lock I had was a thin rope lock, which could barely fit through one tire and the frame, and could easily be cut with a pair of hedge shears.
Last year I was in a rush to get to San Francisco for work and hastily locked my bike at the El Cerrito Plaza BART station. I came back to the East Bay that night to find that my back tire had been stolen. I was furious. I had locked the front tire and the frame, figuring it would be too much of a hassle for a thief to steal the back tire. Besides, wouldn’t it be obvious to other people at the station? Apparently not. I have heard since that EC Plaza is actually a hotspot for bicycle thefts. I reported a case with the BART police, knowing deep inside that it was a futile gesture.
One day in San Francisco, I saw a bicycle locked up in an ingenious fashion which I now utilize every time I leave my bike out. It requires a rope lock and a U lock. I hook the U lock through the back spokes and over the frame securely onto the bike spot, or pole, then thread the rope lock through itself and back onto the U lock. It is hard to describe, here is a diagram.
So now my bike is completely secure, or so you would think. There is still the matter of the seat, which always kind of worries me. In fact, upon returning to EC Plaza BART station again one time recently, I was distraught to see my seat was removed. Luckily, someone had simply taken it off and put it on a bench. Either someone was just playing a little prank, or perhaps they were issuing me a warning. Another time at the Plaza (like I said: bicycle theft hotspot), I got off BART and saw someone riding away fast on a bike, with a bike rim in his hand. I yelled at him but he was too far gone. I then saw the bike which he had stolen it from. Moments later the bike’s owner came down and I told him the story of getting mine stolen and how I had just seen the person riding off. He took it a lot better than I had. I recently read that in 2011, more than one bike a day was stolen in Santa Cruz. Check out the article here. You can never be too cautious with your bicycle security, even if you feel you are in a safe neighborhood or will only be away from it momentarily. People seem to be willing to go to extreme measures for bike theft nowadays. “How far,” you may ask. Well, check out this video: