Feeling like my bike is telling me something about SJC crime rates
Sigh.
I liked that bike.
Is it just me, or has the crime rate in San Jose been getting worse over the past year or two?
Posted Feb 5, 2016, 12:51 AM UTC
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The simple answer: make your bike disposal so you can't miss it if it goes missing. Don't invest enough to make it a target or to make the loss painful. It's that simple for pretty much anything (e.g. cars, whatever).
If you are a true nerd/warrior, you outfit your ride with tracking tech, you hunt them down like the animals they are and then make sure the "never" can steal anything from anyone else ever again. Honestly it's less trouble (financially, emotionally and legally) to do the first option.
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The simple answer: make your bike disposal
Yeah, the replacement value of that bike was low, > $200.
But it's still irritating to have lost it.
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Have a pic of your bike? I'd be happy to look on Craigslist for you.
We can do something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhIBWnUHrfw
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Thanks!
I have a image of part of it:
It's a older red 10 speed, with a bunch of custom 3d-printed stuff on it.
I'll happily pay a reward for info leading to it's location.
If it matters, the printed bottle holders are here:
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I doubt he'll leave the cup holder on, but we can start looking.
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wow!
I think you are correct.
Dang.
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I THINK I FOUND IT!
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Petty crime is up all over California. Because of overcrowding they are not prosecuting minor crimes these days.
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Prisons full of all of those petty drug addicts I suppose.
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Nope. Even before prop 47 the number of people in prison for mere possession of a narcotic was extremely small. IIRC about 3%.
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Was watching Drugs Inc. the other day. "San Francisco Meth Zombies." The show discussed how meth has become super cheap, and has displaced crack. So, more tweakers.
Do you agree, and if so, do you think this shift correlates with an increase in thefts?
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Meth is the primary drug of choice now in my experience (not counting weed because who does). I would agree that drug addiction does correlate with theft but I have no empirical data to back that up. Just that finding stolen property in a doper's car is an every day occurrence.
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Yes, bay area property crime has been increasing ever since Prop 47 passed.
0†
Perhaps.
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That sucks man, I'm really sorry.
And I don't mean to rub salt in the wound, but this is a tough lesson to never use a cable lock to lock your bike up. They can be cut really easily, often with something like garden shears.
Always use a U-lock -something like this. And you can learn the best ways to lock it up here.
Never knew they were a problem.
But I guess you are correct.
Hardened chain from now on?
I do not have a nice ground mounted thing to lock the bike to. I was locking it up to some stairs located 1-2 feet above the bike. The u-lock wouldn't help me here. Maybe a thick chain would.
If you get a chain, get something like this:
http://www.kryptonitelock.com/content/kryt-us/en/products/product-information/current-key/999492.html
It's hardened, so it's exceptionally difficult to cut through, and might be more flexible (ha) than a U-lock.
Regardless of what you pick, you might look for a lock with an insurance program attached. Kryptonite will insure your bike against theft up to a certain value if you use their locks. I believe some other manufacturers have similar programs.
There's usually some requirements, like registering your product, and I think some of those programs require you to send in the a picture of the pieces of the broken lock to prove you used it.
I was just sitting down to look for something better.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be keeping this post in mind.
Even chains are easily cut, the Kryptonite U-lock he linked is what I use in an area where bike theft is very common (not in the bay area) and I've never had any issues.
If there is nothing to lock the U-lock to, then what?
I've never come across anything that a U-lock couldn't get as long as a chain could, but I could think of a few cases in which it could be a problem...
I guess in those instances, you either could look for somewhere else to lock to, or if it's bad enough, move down to a less safe chain lock.