Bikes prove to be easy target for thieves; six reported stolen

I could steal your bike.

I won’t, but I could.

The cycling boom of the last few years has finally reached our microcosm here in Milledgeville, resulting in an increased number of students that ride to class or ride recreationally, or both. It has also resulted in lots of relatively nice rides at the racks all over campus, most of them easy targets for any less-than- honest passerby.

The other morning I was my usual four minutes late to class, and I took one of the last available spots at the bike rack. As I was locking up my bike, I noticed that every one of the other bikes was improperly secured. None of them were locked through the frame as they should have been. In fact, several were not locked at all and the remaining ones were only locked through the front wheel.

So what? If the wheel is locked up and the wheel is attached to the frame, it’s not going anywhere, right?

Wrong.

While many older and low- end bikes require a wrench to remove the front wheel -which is still pretty darn easy and unlikely to deter a thief- newer bikes from reputable companies and even those from department stores now come with quick release wheels.

That’s right, I said quick release.

That means that anyone with mechanical comprehension of simple devices like the lever and the wing nut is going to be able to remove your wheel from the rest of your bike. So you’ll come out of class to find your front wheel- and only your front wheel- locked up right where you left it. And the unscrupulous cyclist now only has to get a new front wheel and tire to enjoy what was your bike.

” I really don’t mind people either leaving their bikes unlocked or not locked properly,” said Noah Fouts, a senior nursing major. “It just means that theirs will get stolen before mine will.”

So how can you make sure that your bike, in it’s entirety, will await you after class? It’s simple.

Always pass your lock -cable, chain, whatever- through the frame of your bike. In case you’re unable to locate the frame, it’s the part with paint on it. There are several ways to route the lock through the frame; you should experiment with your bike to find out what works for you.

If you want to be extra cautious, get a lock with an extra long cable that you can pass through the frame and both of your wheels.

Taylor Sellers, a junior political science major, recently began riding his bike to class and noticed that most people were only locking their front wheel.

“I realized how quickly I could take the wheel off, so I always lock mine through the frame,” Sellers said. “You could walk out (to the bike rack) and get one of these bikes. If you saw someone fiddling with one, you’d just assume it was their bike.”

Director of Public Safety Ken Vance agrees that most students use their bike locks improperly, making a thief’s job that much easier.

“Most students put a lock on (their bikes), but they put it on the wrong place- through the wheel and not the frame,” Vance said.

Vance, an avid cyclist himself, says that six bicycle thefts have already been reported to campus police this semester. Two of them have been recovered.

As the adage goes, locks serve to keep honest people honest. If someone really wants your bike, they’re going to get it if they can get to it. Junior Psychology major John Ballard knows this first hand. His bike was chained to his truck when someone decided they wanted it badly enough to cut through the chain. Ballard’s bike was in his truck because he didn’t want to haul it up to his dorm room.

“It was the very first night it was in my truck,” Ballard said. “Someone just cut the chain with bolt cutters and that was that.”

To avoid a situation like Ballard’s, take your bike indoors at night. A variety of storage racks exist for your convenience. Think of bikes in the living room as modern art. And if you see someone lurking around the bike rack with a hacksaw or bolt cutters, alert campus security.

Start locking up your bikes the right way, because now, every student knows they can steal it if you don’t.

Or I might assume you really don’t want it and open up a business of my own on E-bay. Don’t worry. I’ll cut you a sweet deal.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 3 2006. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry