Make: Bridgestone MB-5 w/ xtracycle
Model: [model]
Color: red
Serial # :
Purchased:
Where stolen: Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering Building on University of AZ campus
Time: between 6-9 pm
Date: 1-22-13
Type of lock: kryptonite chain
Report #: getting it
Unique traits: This bike has an Xtracycle attached to the rear of the bike. The Xtracycle has a kickstand and one wide loader extension (on the right side). The load deck of the Xtracycle has stickers, including an Urban Assault and Ride Clean sticker. The Bridgestone only has a front brake. The rear derailleur is not hooked up, so the bike is a single speed. The Bridgestone has Altera Cafe handlebars with a swooped back stance.
Theft description: The bike was locked up with a heavy-duty Kryptonite chain lock outside the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Building around 6pm on Tuesday, January 22, and it was gone when I returned at 9pm. The chain was cut and there were pieces of it around the bike. A police report was filed.
This is my main mode of transportation, so I’d really appreciate any information and will offer a $50 reward if found!
When society starts treating bicycle theft like the serious economic crime it actually is perhaps things will turn around. I do not know many people who have ridden a bicycle for any length of time who have’t had one stolen.
The gist of the linked to blog entry below is there’s little or no risk involved for the thief. As zz has pointed out previously the receivers of the stolen property, pawn shops etc have zero economic disincentive to refuse to buy bicycles with questionable provenance and the Tanque Verde swap meet remains one of the better places to go look for your stolen bike because of the concentration of product.
This is a lot like metal theft in that the damage done to the victim greatly outweighs any economic benefit for the thief. When someone’s bicycle is stolen it can change the course of their life. From not being able to get to work to just giving up on bicycling altogether. Why we as a society allow this to continue is baffling to me.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/09/07/160753071/the-economics-of-stealing-bikes
We’re the same, but not the same. Maybe true parity will be when pawn shops start selling cars.
The huge diversity in the view of bikes, as toys or lifestyle, nourishes the human tendency to have things all one way and fear the other.
All things that lead to the perspective that bikes have a *major* role in the overall transportation scheme need to be supported. Anything else vindicates motorists beeping at bikes being used as vehicles.
Anyone have any ideas how to raise the relevance of bikes without de-emphasis to the car, please step forward.
A great case could be made for an existing conspiracy to keep bikes irrelevant and the current legal status and enforcement policies fall right in.
I think that analogy stops at the disproportionate economic damage. People actually care about metal theft and the penalties for being caught have increased recently. You’re right about the laws and enforcement as they relate to bicycles and bicyclists. Maybe it is all one grand conspiracy? Stealing someone’s livelihood, education or lifestyle needs to be more vilified than it is currently. Like you I don’t have any great ideas about how this might actually be accomplished.
My condolences to the owners of this latest batch of stolen bicycles and thanks as always to Mike for keeping this on our radar.
Just wait until you read tomorrow’s post. It’s about a bike theft and it is almost unbelievable.