MetroMan
Senior Member
^ although I heard that somebody tried to burn down his place once.
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How to stop bicycle thieves in Toronto?
- Thread starter Arob
- Start date
theowne
Active Member
Ah...how could that guy sleep at night...
tkip
Active Member
The solution is simple....
Hire a security person to guard your bike where you park it, get a folding bike and take it inside with you or pray to your god to look over it since you've been on good behaviour lately.
Hire a security person to guard your bike where you park it, get a folding bike and take it inside with you or pray to your god to look over it since you've been on good behaviour lately.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
People need to start rethinking how they use their bicycles. First of all, folks must consider that whenever they leave their bikes, they are leaving them for others to steal, lock or no lock. People wouldn't leave an expensive camera, television, stroller or other valuable goods unattended in public for hours on end, but we somehow think we can do this with bicycles.
If you value your bicycle and do not want it stolen, then the answer is obvious, take it with you, or leave it at home. If you're a commuter and your destination will not allow you to bring your bicycle into the building with you, then leave the bike at home and take the bus or your own car. It's not up to the city or your office/destination to ensure that secure bike lockers or whatever are available.
This is where someone responds that "if the city wants to encourage bike use as part of its green plan, then it must address bike theft...blaa, blaa, blaa....". But in the end only one person can stop bike theft, and that's the person with the bike. The thief will always be there, but if your bike is not there, or if it's with you, then your bike is safe.
When I park my vintage motorcycle in public it is ALWAYS within my line of sight. If I'm stopping for coffee, I'm on the patio next to the bike. If I'm riding to work, I park it right outside my ground floor office window. If I park at a friends, I park it in his backyard where we're sitting. If my work or travels did not allow me to always see the bike, then I would leave it at home and take my car instead.
Cyclists must take responsibility for their bicycles. Only they can stop bike theft.
If you value your bicycle and do not want it stolen, then the answer is obvious, take it with you, or leave it at home. If you're a commuter and your destination will not allow you to bring your bicycle into the building with you, then leave the bike at home and take the bus or your own car. It's not up to the city or your office/destination to ensure that secure bike lockers or whatever are available.
This is where someone responds that "if the city wants to encourage bike use as part of its green plan, then it must address bike theft...blaa, blaa, blaa....". But in the end only one person can stop bike theft, and that's the person with the bike. The thief will always be there, but if your bike is not there, or if it's with you, then your bike is safe.
When I park my vintage motorcycle in public it is ALWAYS within my line of sight. If I'm stopping for coffee, I'm on the patio next to the bike. If I'm riding to work, I park it right outside my ground floor office window. If I park at a friends, I park it in his backyard where we're sitting. If my work or travels did not allow me to always see the bike, then I would leave it at home and take my car instead.
Cyclists must take responsibility for their bicycles. Only they can stop bike theft.
Observer Walt
Senior Member
True, although many of the newer condos do include bike rooms, and there seems to be demand at some offices to provide bike storage facilities. I predict that this will become more and more common. Forward-thinking companies will do it as an employee perk and as part of the larger picture of being socially responsible.
H
Hydrogen
Guest
But following such thinking to its logical conclusion means that one should bring their car with them, as well as their home. My car was broken into - twice - and my apartment was robbed years ago (the door was locked). I left them, so am I to assume that I left them for someone else to steal (from) them?
Cyclists who lock their bikes do take responsibility for them. The irresponsibility in every one of these instances of theft lies with the thief.
TOinTO
Active Member
That may be a useful attitude to adopt to protect your bike, but the moralizing tone you put over top of it is obnoxious. You're saying, "You can expect to be victimized, so if you fail to make the sacrifices necessary to protect yourself, it's your own fault."
Applied to other situations...
"What? You left your car at the GO station all day and you're surprised that the engine was stolen? What were you thinking? There is no one watching those parking lots for 8 hours a day. You should have left your car at home."
"Your house was broken into? Well what do you expect, there was no one there! Locks or no locks, you left it empty for thieves to explore."
There will always be thieves, but the number of bicycle thieves (and car part thieves) is so high because no attempt is made to investigate and prosecute these crimes. (Present public relations show with Igor's stash aside). The police force is too lazy to pursue these crimes and there's more money in catching speeders at the bottom of hills. So large numbers of these criminals operate with impunity. Greater than 4000 bike thefts in this city per year!
That's not the cyclist, or the car owners, fault.
It's a failure of police enforcement.
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
I've lost 5 bikes in the past 20 odd years, one from the locked bicycle room in my building! Now I use the highest rated Kryptonite U lock ($50) and a Kryptonite cable ($39) which easily stores in my knapsack when I'm in transit. It takes 30 seconds to run the cable through my tires, slip it into the U lock and latch it to a bike post. 30 seconds.
My theory is that a bicycle thief will take a look at my setup and move on to a much easier lock to remove. It's worked so far.
My theory is that a bicycle thief will take a look at my setup and move on to a much easier lock to remove. It's worked so far.
confusion
Active Member
I heard rumours that Kenk even used blowtorches to cut some of the locks/frames. (Just rumours though, so who knows).
No U-Lock is safe from a blow torch. If a thief has enough private time with your bike, it's history if they want it.
My recommendation on the bike theft problem is more bait bikes with police watching or with a GPS transmitter attached (I heard U of T does this).
Oh, and perhaps better sentencing by judges. If bike thiefs are getting a warning in court, then they are likely going to do it again. I'm interested to see what Igor Kenk will actually get charged with, and what his bicycle related sentencing length turns out to be. For the number of bikes he has stolen, I personally feel he deserves a harsh sentence for all of the lives he has affected. People depend on bikes. Some people have trouble affording a new one.
No U-Lock is safe from a blow torch. If a thief has enough private time with your bike, it's history if they want it.
My recommendation on the bike theft problem is more bait bikes with police watching or with a GPS transmitter attached (I heard U of T does this).
Oh, and perhaps better sentencing by judges. If bike thiefs are getting a warning in court, then they are likely going to do it again. I'm interested to see what Igor Kenk will actually get charged with, and what his bicycle related sentencing length turns out to be. For the number of bikes he has stolen, I personally feel he deserves a harsh sentence for all of the lives he has affected. People depend on bikes. Some people have trouble affording a new one.
H
Hydrogen
Guest
While living in Montreal, I had two bikes stolen. In Ottawa, another bike was stolen and my car was broken into twice. I guess that according to your standards it is a universal quality of Canadian police to be lazy and failures to be at the scene of the crime before it happens.
I've reported every bike theft to the police. In turn, I was told that many people actually don't report their bikes stolen. They don't even record the serial number.
Funny thing is that, like the police, I've also failed to guard my property twenty-four hours a day. I guess this happened because it is impossible. But hey, I wouldn't want to let an excuse like that to get in the way of the blame game.
The fault for bike thefts lies entirely with those who steal them. Period.
Dichotomy
Banned
The cops are hopelessly outgunned by the criminals in this city. Anyone who has had their car broken into or bicycle stolen will attest to this. The best you can hope for is a bored clerk to call you back from the local police station and take your name and number.
With bicycles, even if a cop stops some punk riding a stolen bike, all he has to say is that he bought it from so-and-so on a corner for $30. What can the cops do? It's not like a stolen car that has been registered and insured.
The courts don't seem to care either. The only defense is to buy a $100 Canadian Tire special and hope you don't have to replace it more than a couple times a year.
With bicycles, even if a cop stops some punk riding a stolen bike, all he has to say is that he bought it from so-and-so on a corner for $30. What can the cops do? It's not like a stolen car that has been registered and insured.
The courts don't seem to care either. The only defense is to buy a $100 Canadian Tire special and hope you don't have to replace it more than a couple times a year.
trnstn
New Member
The protection of property should be a two way responsibility (possibly three). Yes, cyclists need to buy ample protection and locks for thier bicycles, such as heavy dutylocks that lock all removable parts of the bike. But, the place that they are going to must also provide ample locking facilities for the bicycle. How much money goes into Parking lot maintenance? You pay for the parking because your car is being watched and you are povided the space, so you feel safe leaving your car there. I've been to subway stations where the bike lock itself is on the verge of simply being pulled out and moved away. What kind of system is that? How about designing bike racks that actually make sense. Most racks I've seen simply prevent me from locking my bike properly becuase they don't even fit well, yet a simple pole would do.. a strong pole at that.
I'm sure you all know about the 4x4 trick with the majority of bike racks in the city and how easily they can be broken. What kind of forward thinking politician bought thousands of these and sprinkled them across the city? All it would take to secure these would be to weld all the parts together, or simply mold the entire thing out of solid steel and fill it with concrete. The city should commit to ensuring they provide safe locking facilities for all types of transportation. We have an entire system for protecting cars, the TTC protects its passengers, and the city should protect our bikes.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
Rubbish. No property owner is going to take responsibility for your bicycle. If I leave a camera in a food court chained to a table and somebody steals it, is the food court responsible? Of course not, but somehow we feel we can leave our bicycles all over the city under similar circumstances, and now we expect our destination to provide facilities for the bikes? When I rode my bike to work I always took it into the office, and if I couldn't, I left the bike at home and took the bus.
Not true at all. Every parking lot for cars has a sign saying that they're not responsible for any damage, break-ins or theft. Parking lot maintenance money goes for paving, lights and general care, and public safety (from a liability point of view), not vehicle protection or oversight.
urbandreamer
recession proof
Igor's old place has sold: 24 Feb 2010:
MetroMan
Senior Member
Awesome news. I live just around the corner and hadn't noticed. Somebody will finally erase this scar from West Queen West.