I took the Guv out for lunch this weekend and left it chained to some railings in a busy street in a respectible part of town.
I was upset to find on my return that some rotter had made off with the saddle and seat post, and tried to take the rear wheel — I don’t know what they planned to do with a black and gold 28 inch drum braked wheel!…
They had undone the wheel nuts and cut through the brake cable (obviously they couldn’t have just unclipped it from the lever!). The felon was foiled by the bolt holding the torque arm on, and fortunately left it in place/
I manged to make it home minus saddle, rear brakes and one rear wheel nut, feeling pretty miffed.
I very rarely leave the Guv out of sight - it lives in a locked bike store and is kept indoors in the office, but sometimes it is unavoidable. I have ordered a new saddle and seatpost, and am planning to try and stop the same thing happening again. I don’t want to chain the saddle on as I think that would be ugly and probably cut through in an instant anyway. My suggestion is to replace the seat tube pinch bolt and saddle clamp bolt with “torx” head bolts, and possible add a security nut to the seat tube for good measure.
Has anyone else tried this? Obviously nothing will stop a determined thief with a full set of tools, but if I can make the saddle harder to steal without adding too many unsightly bits then it seems a good idea. And next time I’ll put the lock through the rear wheel too!
Close shave there. I’ve heard that they often take the seat or wheel, so that you have to go home via other means, then return to pick up the bike. In that time, said thief returns with the correct tools.
I’ve got one of those thick security cables which I use purely for the saddle and two wheels, then thread it into the hefty D-lock which is my main one.
tomcortez.….….commiserations, ’tis a sad world we live in where even the simple pleasure of cycling is blighted by some ne’edowell on the look out for something to filch and spoil your day!
Other than venturing out loaded down with various pieces of security hardware, I don’t have any other suggestions.
Absolutely despicable, unfortunately I can not add anything constructive advice.
I did read an article regarding a San Francisco courier who caught someone trying to steal his bike in the Tenderloin district (not one of the nicest areas). He called his colleagues up who then proceeded to strip him, put a D-Lock around his neck and a parking meter before leaving him to his fete.
That is the perfect punishment for such a crime. Like modern day stocks.
My stepdaughter’s boyfriend has a summer job working for a well known restaurant chain in the New Forest. Yesterday, 5 teenagers stopped in for a bite. They locked each bike up together as one unit, using multiple locks then chained one of the bikes to a post. They had locked them up behind the restaurant, out of sight. Alas, when they returned to continue on their way they discovered that an enterprising low life thief had managed to break the lock fastening the bike collection to the post, and probably with the aid of an accomplice lift the whole collection onto the back of their vehicle, and drive away. No Guv’nors were involved as far as I know, but apparently they were expensive bikes, and it also cut short the poor lads New Forest cycle camping trip.
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