Thought it would be kind of interesting to share these strangely fortunate events which happened yesterday while visiting the gym. Rode my new blue Fuji south those half dozen miles, parked in the font bike rack, and went upstairs to do my ‘arms and core’ routine. After about an hour I packed up, and helmet on, headed downstairs towards the door, and heard this shrill alarm sound.
Walked outside to find my bike parked in the rack, but the cable had been cut clean through, alarm blaring away, a YMCA staff member calmly sitting beside it. I stepped up, quickly pulled out the key to turn off the alarm, and asked this guy how long had he been sitting there with that all that racket going on? About eight minutes, so he said. He came out front to see what that noise was about, and found my bike… Still sitting there.
Apparently, this damn fancy bike lock actually did its job! As reviewed by YMCA staff (they actually caught them in the act on CCTV camera) two guys sort of first cased around the entrance to the gym, looking around to see if the coast was clear. They then moved in on my poor, waiting bike, and using some big sheers, sliced through that cable in all of a couple seconds. But clearly, they were totally unprepared for what happened next.
The video shows this pair of would be thieves cutting through the cable, only to stumbling back in complete terror when the bike lock suddenly began shrieking out a painful 110db high pitched wail. Guess these two losers were so freaked out by the alarm that once they jumped up, they didn’t stopped running until they were completely gone and out of sight.
By the time I showed up and turned off the alarm, YMCA staff had already properly escalated the situation to the authorities. In a couple minutes a Shoreline police car drives up, and out pops the same office who took the report on my black GT bike stolen back in September. Personal information and details about this new bike are again written down, but included is also a quick photo of my nifty bike lock alarm which saved the day!
My sense of amazement was shared by the group, as we stood there looking at my bike and cut cable lock. The fact is, if these idiots had regained possession of their facilities more quickly, they could have simply tossed the cut alarm cable aside, and walked off with my bike, nothing was stopping them at that point. Yet it seems this alarm did exactly what it was designed for: Scaring away bike thieves using only a very loud noise. Now the question is will this diversion work again?
As details are discussed by those gathered around, one of the ‘nepotites’ (this Dale Turner YMCA facility is run by his family descendants) lets slip that another bicycle was stolen from the same bike rack just last week, sounding like this was a somewhat regular occurrence. Not unreasonably, I ask if a more secure location could be made available to lessen vulnerability to bike thieves. Nope – I am told the YMCA is not liable for lost or stolen property, thus with no responsibility for theft prevention, providing additional resources for improved bicycle security is not an option. Like… Wow!
So what’s a biker guy left to do under such circumstances? Knowing how the YMCA has no intention of improving bicycle rack security, seems rather foolhardy leaving my expensive Fuji at the risk of all too frequent bike theft. Yet my preferred exercise routine during summer months is taking the bike down the trial to the gym, doing an hour workout, and riding back home again. What am I to do, indeed…?
After some serious consideration, seems the only rational thing to do is remove both opportunity and incentive from those attempting bicycle theft. Certainly I don’t want to leave a highly desirable, new Fuji bike outside in a vulnerable situation, so what other option is available?
Gathering cobwebs in our backyard shed, I found my 20+ year old GT Avalanche, waiting to be dusted off, and returned back into regular service. This trusted road warrior needs only a few parts and a bit of good maintenance, and its ready to roll more miles on down the road. More importantly, imagine this beat-up old GT bike will not draw nearly the kind of attention from thieves that my new Fuji obviously does.
Read this amusing article after my other GT was stolen back in September, sharing Creative Ways to Protect Your Bike from Theft. While some are obviously rather silly and just for fun, the main idea comes through loud and clear: Make Your Bike As Unattractive To Thieves As Possible! Have decided to do only essential upkeep on my old GT Avalanche, just lube or replace truly worn out parts (like the bottom bracket, which is shot!) but don’t clean it up in any real way. If this old GT bike is kept looking like a total street beater, then hopefully future thieves won’t even bother stealing it!
Anyway… We shall see what happens in this battle of criminal attrition, but not for a few weeks, at least for me. Have ordered new replacement cable alarm lock, but it’s not scheduled to arrive for about a month. In the mean time, fixing up the “clunker bike” and getting used to rolling on that again. The riding position is completely different, tires comparatively narrow, and of course, there’s no disc brakes. Yet I feel genuine pleasure in both rejuvenating my trusty old GT bike, while reflecting upon how very close I came to losing my new Fuji to those thieves. Maybe with a bit of luck, and a little resourcefulness, I’ll hang on to both these bikes hopefully for many years to come.
