As The Year Comes To a Close, Resolve To Keep Your Precious Bike Safe and Sound
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 12.31.07
For bicycle commuters, keeping our prized steed safe and sound is always a key concern, but the holidays present two unique challenges: bad weather, and an increased crime rate. Two years ago today, I learned the hard way that though cyclists are on friendly terms with the atmosphere, that alone does not grant them immunity from theft. Yes, my beloved Surly Pacer, the very one that I had recently ridden across the U.S. on the TransAmerica Trail, was stolen from a bike rack in Los Angeles. I was watching Syriana (and feeling pretty self-righteous about the fact that I do not own a car) when the theft occurred, but what irked me most was that had I locked the bike using something stronger than a cheap, thin cable lock, I could probably have prevented the theft. Luckily, the same fate doesn't have to befall you. During the last year we covered numerous methods for protecting your bike. Here are links to some of the best:
1) Designing Bikes to be Theft-proof
2) The Bike Thief: Video Exposes Cyclist's Vulnerability and Public's Complicity
3) How to Prevent Bike Theft
4) The Perfect Winter Bike
5) Rust Never Sleeps, But Your Bike Might
6) Bike Vending Machine
7) TreeHugger Picks: Bicycle Storage Options
Via: Personal Experience
See Also: ::In-Lock: Bike Parking When There is None, ::Cycloc--Bicycle Storage That's Recycled, ::Reinventing the Bike Shed, and ::Solar Powered Electric Bicycle. Now We're Talking.
Wauw, that bike is finished :-) It must be totally destroyed with all that frost/ice all over it.
All that ice must have destroyed that bike totally...Poor owner :-)
All that ice must have destroyed that bike totally...Poor owner :-)
The bike pictured is not frozen toast... it can be ridden after a thawing out... as long as all the parts are protected with some lubricant (notice I didn't say OIL as a nod to those using earth friendly lubes!).
I am suprised every day I see intrepid restaurant delivery guys out in stuff I'd be afraid to walk in!!
Check out www.icebike.com for some extreme winter scenes and riding tips.
Happy New Year!!
vsk
A bunch of those numbered links are broken--please check when you get a chance.
I think the pictured bike will be fine when it thaws. Ice won't rust a bike as fast as water, and lots of bikes are parked outside in the rain daily and survive for decades.