Megan McArdle, a prominent blogger with the Atlantic and a DC resident, recently had her fourth bike stolen. She keeps her bike locked in her back yard, which has a seven foot stockade fence around it. She doesn't appear to ride expensive bikes (one was a rusted out $50 beater) and uses a good lock. Some of the commenters asked her why she didn't carry her bike inside or keep it in the basement.
1) No basement--it was a converted row house. 2) Landlords get pissy when you start sinking major fasteners into their expensive plaster ceiling 3) I was not strong enough to carry a steel-frame bike up three flights of stairs every day.
It sucks. I'd say that I hope she filled out all the Kryptonite paperwork but for a $50 bike it's probably not worth it. I would still suggest contacting Kryptonite, a rep from their company once told me that if you have a bike stolen with one of their locks and the lock failed they will "try to help you." I don't know if that means a free bike, free lock or free hug, but it's probably better than a sharp stick in the eye. BTW, Kryptonite hasn't released its list of 10 worst cities for bike theft yet. Usually it comes out in May or June.
This does point to the need for more in-building bike storage. If you live in a small efficiency where you can't install bike hardware, it makes it hard to store your bike inside. Several people suggested a folding bike - which may be a good choice. I sure she could manage to get a Tikit upstairs regularly (and find a place to store it).
It's also one of the things that SmartBike can do. Many people could own their own bike, but would prefer the reliability of SmartBike. If SmartBike were close to where Ms. McArdle lives and works, she wouldn't need to keep up the arms race with the neighborhood bike thieves.
Of course, what it really points to is that the MPD needs to do something more about bike crime than what they currently seem to think is adequate. Last year DC fell off of Kryptonite's 10 worst list, but that wasn't because theft has gone down. If people were getting four or eight cars stolen all hell would break lose. BTW, we're now up to 281 stolen bikes reported, compared with 2508 stolen cars.
The whole experience has Ms. McArdle reconsidering her commute.
I think I'm done with bike commuting.
That would be too bad.
Photo by Moff
Where's the link to the blog/article?
Posted by: Scott | July 25, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Why the stripped ghost bike photo with this post? Seems a little out of place with the associated article.
Posted by: timothy | July 25, 2009 at 07:13 PM
The photo shows how low bike thieves will go. Stealing the wheel off a ghost bike is pretty shameless in my opinion. Also, it's hard to find a photo that says "bike theft".
The link is added. My bad.
Posted by: Washcycle | July 25, 2009 at 11:36 PM
Happy story. A friend recently had her bike stolen. A few days later, walking down the street, she saw a guy on her bike. She told him it was her bike -- and he gave it back to her. (Columbia Heights)
Posted by: old guy | July 26, 2009 at 12:14 PM
Also, it's hard to find a photo that says "bike theft".
True that. Perhaps a picture of an empty back yard... :-\
Posted by: Eric | July 27, 2009 at 09:35 AM
Ms. McArdle needs a Dahon.
(Read the comments. Jeez, I woulda killed for 700 sq. ft. when my wife and I lived in Manhattan, but we found a way to make it work.)
Posted by: chiggins | July 27, 2009 at 02:19 PM