71–80 of 144 posts
This is reminiscent of another story about images: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/there-is-only-one-cloud-icon-... If an image works then people will copy it at nauseam.
Maybe it provided some evolutionary advantage already at a really primitive form. For example maybe people were drawing hunting plans on sand?
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…
These days not having an e-bike is probably one of the easiest deterrents. Next step seems to be to avoid design bikes like Van Moof. And finally, have your bike look used. Then again, my bike is probably not the first one they'll consider, given that it has a 70cm frame making it all but impossible to ride for anyone under 195cm (being 200cm myself). If you steal a bicycle you have to be able to sell it, and given t…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It seems the only way to protect against theft is to ride an old bicycle. I like this blog on that topic: https://calpaterson.com/bicycle-threat-model.html > One father I know had his primary-school-age daughter "decorate" his commuting bicycle with girly stickers and pink glitter. If anyone examines his bicycle closely he looks like a complete loon but I think his motivation is right: it's going to be much less ap…
I knew a guy with a similar philosophy. He spray painted his bike ugly color.
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…
We inherited a bike with a cable bike lock around the handlebars. The local bike shop was able to cut through it easily with bolt cutters.
My truck came with a locking hitch. I recently forgot my keys and a family member pried it off with a crowbar in 10 seconds.
Security theater.
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With e-bike costing over thousand euros, bike stealing has become way more lucrative, attracting more and better thief ...
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.
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…
> 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.
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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
Are you sure? There are more bicycles in the world than cars.
> The engineering that goes into even the cheapest of Dacias is hundreds of times more complex
Again, that does not make something more valuable. The engineering that would go into a lunar orbiting plant pot would be very complex, but has no value.
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…
Two (lame) lock stories below: We inherited a bike with a cable bike lock around the handlebars. The local bike shop was able to cut through it easily with bolt cutters. My truck came with a locking hitch. I recently forgot my keys and a family member pried it off with a crowbar in 10 seconds. Security theater.