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I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

cyclingtips.com

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Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#61

Post by b112 »

darkwater wrote: post #49
globular-toast wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erm.. my non-e-bike costs well over a thousand euros! But I guess e-bikes have made "normal" people consider spending that much money on a bike. People into biking have always been spending this much money on bikes although oddly it seems to surprise many people, even though they'll happily pay 10x that for a car that requires fossil fuel to do anything.

Yes and no. E-bikes start at 2-3k EUR and the norm is 5-6k. Obviously you can buy a road bike for 15k EUR as well but most will gravitate toward the 1-3K EUR range.

15k euro!!! What, is it made of carbon nanotubes or something?!

Clearly more of a fashion statement, than quality difference.

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#62

Post by ThunderSizzle »

claviska wrote: post #3

> And the irony, of course, is this: the pictured bike itself was never stolen, but the rushed magazine photo has been – by hundreds of people, perpetuating a fake crime over and over. At what point (if ever) would using a photo like this fall under fair use? The author doesn’t seem to care, but I’m curious if copyright is ever forfeited due to widespread use or inaction of the copyright holder.

My understanding is that copyright is only honored by the legal system if it's been enforced by the copyright holder.

If the copyright holder knows its being used, and doesn't attempt to enforce copyright rights, but after a decade or similar, changes mind and starts enforcing, the court might rule that copyright is no longer enforceable.

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#63

Post by [deleted] »

ThunderSizzle wrote: post #62
claviska wrote: post #3

> And the irony, of course, is this: the pictured bike itself was never stolen, but the rushed magazine photo has been – by hundreds of people, perpetuating a fake crime over and over. At what point (if ever) would using a photo like this fall under fair use? The author doesn’t seem to care, but I’m curious if copyright is ever forfeited due to widespread use or inaction of the copyright holder.

My understanding is that copyright is only honored by the legal system if it's been enforced by the copyright holder. If the copyright holder knows its being used, and doesn't attempt to enforce copyright rights, but after a decade or similar, changes mind and starts enforcing, the court might rule that copyright is no longer enforceable.

[deleted]

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#64

Post by globular-toast »

Panzer04 wrote: post #50
globular-toast wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erm.. my non-e-bike costs well over a thousand euros! But I guess e-bikes have made "normal" people consider spending that much money on a bike. People into biking have always been spending this much money on bikes although oddly it seems to surprise many people, even though they'll happily pay 10x that for a car that requires fossil fuel to do anything.

In fairness, a car represents more than 10x the manufacturing effort. A 10k fancy road bike is going to be much easier to manufacture than the equivalent small 10k hatchback.

High manufacturing cost does not mean high value. A business is just finding something where the value is higher than the manufacturing cost. A bicycle has higher margins because it is truly a marvel of technology, while a car is basically just "yeah it will work if we throw enough fossil fuel at it".

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#65

Post by dkdk8283 »

hutzlibu wrote: post #53
ThePhysicist wrote: post #26

Slightly off topic, but I think bike thieves are becoming more and more professional recently. Here in Berlin many now use small cordless screwdrivers with a custom gearing mechanism that operates a bolt-cutter. With that they can even cut through thick steel-bar type bike locks in a few seconds, without making any noise. I saw that in a police report lately but I can't find a link with a photo of the device now, unf…

"It seems the only way to protect against theft is to ride an old bicycle." Or move to the countryside, where you can usually leave your bike unlocked outside of the supermarket ... And reading all the bike theft horror stories here, I was wondering, why GPS tracking is not more of a thing? It seems to exist, but might be hard to make use of in reality? (because professionals jam them or remove them and the police is…

If you’re in the country just drive

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#66

Post by namdnay »

globular-toast wrote: post #64
Panzer04 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fairness, a car represents more than 10x the manufacturing effort. A 10k fancy road bike is going to be much easier to manufacture than the equivalent small 10k hatchback.

High manufacturing cost does not mean high value. A business is just finding something where the value is higher than the manufacturing cost. A bicycle has higher margins because it is truly a marvel of technology, while a car is basically just "yeah it will work if we throw enough fossil fuel at it".

A bicycle has higher margins because the volumes are much smaller. The engineering that goes into even the cheapest of Dacias is hundreds of times more complex

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#67

Post by adrianN »

phreeza wrote: post #42
ThePhysicist wrote: post #26

Slightly off topic, but I think bike thieves are becoming more and more professional recently. Here in Berlin many now use small cordless screwdrivers with a custom gearing mechanism that operates a bolt-cutter. With that they can even cut through thick steel-bar type bike locks in a few seconds, without making any noise. I saw that in a police report lately but I can't find a link with a photo of the device now, unf…

Something like this i guess? https://youtu.be/BXY_fqDBg5E

At least some bike locks are resistant to this attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXoS_HB1I3o

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#68

Post by namdnay »

darkwater wrote: post #49
globular-toast wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erm.. my non-e-bike costs well over a thousand euros! But I guess e-bikes have made "normal" people consider spending that much money on a bike. People into biking have always been spending this much money on bikes although oddly it seems to surprise many people, even though they'll happily pay 10x that for a car that requires fossil fuel to do anything.

Yes and no. E-bikes start at 2-3k EUR and the norm is 5-6k. Obviously you can buy a road bike for 15k EUR as well but most will gravitate toward the 1-3K EUR range.

Nah… 2k is already a good ebike with a central motor and big shocks. Your entry level commuter ebike is around 1k

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#69

Post by namdnay »

executesorder66 wrote: post #52
ThePhysicist wrote: post #26

Slightly off topic, but I think bike thieves are becoming more and more professional recently. Here in Berlin many now use small cordless screwdrivers with a custom gearing mechanism that operates a bolt-cutter. With that they can even cut through thick steel-bar type bike locks in a few seconds, without making any noise. I saw that in a police report lately but I can't find a link with a photo of the device now, unf…

> cordless screwdrivers Do screwdrivers typically have cords? And if so, what for?

Probably not a native English speaker. They mean a cordless driver/drill

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#70

Post by mrsuprawsm »

ThePhysicist wrote: post #26

Slightly off topic, but I think bike thieves are becoming more and more professional recently. Here in Berlin many now use small cordless screwdrivers with a custom gearing mechanism that operates a bolt-cutter. With that they can even cut through thick steel-bar type bike locks in a few seconds, without making any noise. I saw that in a police report lately but I can't find a link with a photo of the device now, unf…

Rental bikes such as "Swapfiets" (swap bike, https://swapfiets.nl/) are fairly popular in NL these days. Since they're owned by a company, there seems to be less incentive to steal them (since I suppose you can't sell them to unsuspecting buyers in the service area), and if you as a renter get the bike nicked, then you only pay a token sum (€40-60) for a replacement. They also fix your bike for you when it breaks or you get a flat tyre.

The economics seem to work out fairly well, the bikes are good, you always have a solid working bike. If you buy a bike yourself, it might run you 200-300 for an okay one, 500ish for a decent one, but you never know if it will get stolen or not. And obviously the company prints money too.

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