Some mook stole my bike the other night while I was in the lab. I don't know if there's an actual rule but when I tried to chain my bike to the bike hutch outside my dorm the concierge took issue and told me not to do that (at least, that was my impression given that I only understood the words 'no' and 'bicycle'). Of course it wouldn't be worth supplying enough hitching posts to accommodate the tens of thousands of bicycles there must be on campus so people make do by tying their back wheel up and mostly not buying a ride they'll grow attached to. This also allows the groundskeepers to sort stacks of bikes that become tangled or in people's way but of course it also allows mooks to carry them off. Zhang told me that two of his bikes have been stolen on this campus and there was little that one could do about it.
But I was very lucky. Early the next morning as I returned to the lab to scour the area I found my abandoned bike behind a garden wall. The thief had unsuccessfully tried to smash the lock with a nearby brick and though the housing had smushed, the inner cable had held.
Nearby there was a more unfortunate cable lock of a similar design only this one had had a plastic housing inside a thin metal shell. It had been smashed thoroughly and whatever it had protected had vanished.
While I'm pleased that my lock was sufficient to fend off the cro-magnon raiders it was not going to pose a challenge to those tribes that have discovered fire or simple metal tools. I bought a sturdier lock with a thicker braided cable to deter the more advanced homo erectus.
6 comments:
We used to "lock" the back wheel of our bikes with a factory installed lock of some sort. It was a piece of metal that slid between the spokes, which I'm sure anyone could get around easily enough. I guess in resent years they've had to move toward more sturdy locks.
My big was a "Flying Pigeon" as I recall. I'm curious as to whether they're still in business. I thought it was a fairly good bike for a single speed, though I wonder whether the more modern 18-speed hybrids have made their way to China yet. I suppose something like that might be viewed as the Cadillac of Flying Pigeons.
Opps... that would be "My bike was a 'Flying Pigeon'"...
wow --- your experience is not unlike heidi's -- remember after her suitcase was stolen from her hostel in marseilles, a cop found it THAT DAY!!!! and brought it in. only stolen stuff was her sketch book, cd player and cds.
under the circumstances, i am amazed you recovered the bike. the thief could have just as easily smashed the bike to bits in his annoyance of not getting the chain off. good going on getting a new chain, etc!!!!
Looks like you're acquiring the raw material for many good stories. Hope you're having fun, too.
I say just cover the bike top-to-bottom with locks. Just the sight of it would deter would-be thieves, even though only one or two is actually locked in place (with all the others locked to those).
Hullo Rick,
Sorry, it took me a bit to realize that Yahoo decided that your email was spam and wouldn't let me unspam it. Glad to see that you are well and good. I'll catch up, now I have to find where I tossed those cookies before they get completely lost in the house.
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