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What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

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Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#341

Post by DenisM »

stbtrax wrote: post #209
DenisM wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That argument applies to any effective antitheft device. Shall we take it you're against all effective antitheft devices in general?

If you lose your key to your U-Lock, you cut it off. If you lose the key to your frame... saw your bike in half?

You plan ahead. I made duplicate keys to my condo and my car and gave them to a couple friends who can be relied on.

In a system with electronic lock you could have unique factory key stored at the manufacturer, and recovered for a $30 fee upon inspection of id/receipt/etc.

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#342

Post by 001sky »

nl wrote: post #286
zurn wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> More expensive bikes are built from lighter and stronger materials (such as carbon fiber) I would recommend anyone thinking carbon fiber makes stronger bikes to visit a topical image blog at http://www.bustedcarbon.com/ :) The weight issue is addressed elsewhere in comments...

I hate, hate, hate the anti-scientific view that busted carbon promotes. Carbon fiber's failure mode is different to metal - it breaks rather than bends. In most cases crashes that destroyed carbon frames would have also destroyed metal frames - but a frame bent out of alignment doesn't look as spectacular. It is possible to build a bike from carbon fiber that fails in surprising ways (eg, clamping it in a bike carri…

I hate, hate, hate the anti-scientific view that busted carbon promotes

WAT? Are you a materials engineer? Its CRP - carbon reinforce PLASTIC. The resin is prone to degradation from fatigue cycles. Raw carbon fiber without resin is brittle, think pencil leads. Bike racers (not sponsered) commonly race aluminum frame because a single "drop" if it doesn't render the fram unusable from catastrophic damage, can render it structurally unsound. That's the nature of carbon fiber. If my CF (CRP) motorcycle helmet so much as drops on the ground, it has to be X-rayed by by SHOEI to test for unseen damage that would render it unfit to work in an accident.

Strength is misleading for a material that is not tough. Steel frames and Titanium frames are far tougher than CF/CRP frames, they can survive crashes without catastrophic failure. Even the Pro-peleton used ALU drop bars for many years for two reasons (1) they bend, dont break in a crash; (2) CF bars don't reveal potentially catastrophic failure to the naked eye (like the moto Helmet example), so even A minor drop (if it looks ok and you keep going) is now a huge risk factor (when racing in close quarters - you bars break, you can take out alot of people).

Edit:

If you need more "scientific" evidence, for any reason, use Google compare shear/failure points of epoxy resin (vs steel vs titanium vs Alu etc). Yes you can overbuild anything, but you need to understand the materials you are working with. And also, as those pictures show, in the REAL WORLD the stuff that is for sale BREAKS.

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#343

Post by spacemanaki »

spacemanaki wrote: post #324
dmm wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't give a damn about statistics. I want to be able to live anywhere in the US safely. Would you allow your 6yo to walk alone at night through any city in the US? I think you should be able to. I think a person should be able to live anywhere in the US without encountering violence on a daily basis, without hearing gunshots every night. Because that isn't true, I think there is too much crime.

> I don't give a damn about statistics. This is a surprising stance to encounter on HN. The article I linked to asserted that although crime in NYC has gone drastically down, incarceration rates have not gone up. I found that interesting, do you? Elsewhere in this thread you suggest executing bike thieves as they commit theft, and although I'm not sure you were entirely serious, I'm afraid we're going to agree on muc…

we're not going to agree on much about this issue.

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#344

Post by illuminate »

troels wrote: post #299
evoxed wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. The only downside is that if a policeman is in a bad mood you may get stopped and checked to make sure you aren't a thief. Only heard of it happening to foreigners (not myself though) but it's a good idea to keep a card in your wallet or a photo of your registration (which is actually a really good idea for anyone traveling/living abroad: if you can keep them in a safe/encrypted place, carrying a photo of your p…

That sounds like a very minor inconvenience. Just keep proof of ownership with you and the problem is solved? After all, the only way the system can work, is if it's actually policed.

What "proof" is required? The original receipt?

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#345

Post by wheeldonkey »

kevinalexbrown wrote: post #77

It makes sense that large-scale operations are common in locations with a big bike scene. These will likely require a distribution network, so fighting bike theft might benefit from focusing on infiltrating those networks. I had a friend who bought a bike lock that was insured against any thefts (whether they were quick with the insurance, I don't know). When he went to register it, he saw that there were two excepti…

i just had my bike stolen on 8/3 in portland. the thief tried selling it on craigslist up in seattle, and i made a youtube video about it...

http://www.break.com/index/bike-thief-tracked-down-and-buste...

i've been looking into the thief... his usual m.o. is to take them down to eugene. he also picks up different ones while he's down there, and sells them here in portland and seattle. i think his theft ring has a couple of other people involved, but i haven't been able to confirm it. i am hoping to do a follow-up video about this.

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#346

Post by 001sky »

zurn wrote: post #297
nl wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what your point is? Yes, people get injured when they have bike crashes. Yes (as I noted), carbon can fail. Metal can too! [1] is a much better survey of random broken bikes than bustedcarbon. [2] is a good summary of the hysteria around breaking carbon frames and some of the facts. Here's a pic of a broken titanium (!) bottom bracket: http://www.pardo.net/bike/pic/fail-001/FAIL-143.html Assorted mostly…

I guess one point is that carbon fails catastrophically more often, your metal links point to breaks where the bike still stayed in one piece. Yeah, they're not unheard of with metal bikes, but much more rare. The injury quote was about her getting injured because the carbon frame just fell apart with no warning (no crash, except after the frame failure of course).

I guess one point is that carbon fails catastrophically more often

- There are "scientific" reasons why these things break for no apparent reason. b/c carbon is prone to developing "flaws", not all of which are visible (to naked eye). These happen either through previous impact damage or fatigue cycles.

- Carbon failure can cascade (snap...snap...snap...). Once the structure is compromised, the lack of sheer strength combined with different-from-design force vectors...are not good (a two-sided trianle = wishbone...) Look at how many carbon parts had multiple, complete failures.

- A metal frame will dent or bend if damaged; it doesn't hide flaws nearly to the same extent. You might get a hairline crack, but unlikely 3-4 snapped cross-sections.

-Obviously, getting hit by a truck or whatever doen't matter what you are riding.

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#347

Post by nl »

Retric wrote: post #332
nl wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unlike audiophile "benefits", weight loss to cyclists is directly quantifiable in theory[1] and measurable[2]. It's true that it is usually much cheaper to lose weight on the rider than on the bike, but for some people it is probably easier (and more fun!) to spend the money. [1] 1.5 kg makes ~8.5 second difference over 2000m on a 3% slope hill http://www.analyticcycling.com/ForcesLessWeight_Page.html [2] http://www.…

[1] that's assuming your vary light, climbing the whole trip, and have a terrible power output of 250w and uses 3lb which is a fair amount and even then 8.5 seconds after a 2km climb. A more realistic 400w + 120lb rider +3% grade for 2000km then a negative 3% grade for 2000km and a weight diffidence of .3lb for 300$. End result after 4,000km is less than 5 minutes wow that's worth 300$. [2] 1 trip using human riders…

When you are out riding with your friends, you typically want to beat them to the top of climb. A 2km climb is fairly reasonable for that type of climb.

You are right - 200w is low - I just used the default values. If you look on Strava, most middle-of-the-pack people post power in the low 300watts.

1.5 kg is easily the difference between a Personally, I think using ~$200 carbon fiber water bottle cages to save 30 grams is a waste of money. But the truth is that the grams they save do add up, and the weight does make a difference on hills. If you don't care about money (!) then why not spend the money....

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#348

Post by 001sky »

001sky wrote: post #236
zurn wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> More expensive bikes are built from lighter and stronger materials (such as carbon fiber) I would recommend anyone thinking carbon fiber makes stronger bikes to visit a topical image blog at http://www.bustedcarbon.com/ :) The weight issue is addressed elsewhere in comments...

That is a cool link. Carbon has tensile but not shear strength. As the evidence shows.

In absolute terms, Tenstile (psi x1,000) for Ti Vs CFRP Tensile = 145 vs 215 Shear= 135 vs 1.5 Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) Composition: 70% carbon fibers in epoxy matrix Property Value in metric unit Value in US unit Density 1.6 10³ kg/m³ 101 lb/ft³ Tensile modulus (LW) 181 GPa 26300 ksi Tensile modulus (CW) 10.3 GPa 1500 ksi Tensile strength (LW) 1500 MPa 215000 psi Tensile strength (CW) 40 MPa 5800 psi Thermal expansion (20 ºC, LW) 0.0210-6 ºCˉ¹ 0.0110-6 in/(in ºF) Thermal expansion (20 ºC, CW) 22.510-6 ºCˉ¹ 12.510-6 in/(in* ºF)

LW- Lengthwise direction, CW- Crosswise direction

[1] http://www.substech.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=epoxy_matrix_co...

[2] http://www.substech.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=titanium_near-a....

These are directinally correct for raw materials; the actual alloys and engineered structures will take into account obvious characteristics of the material.

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#349

Post by jac_no_k »

fchollet wrote: post #284
evoxed wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. The only downside is that if a policeman is in a bad mood you may get stopped and checked to make sure you aren't a thief. Only heard of it happening to foreigners (not myself though) but it's a good idea to keep a card in your wallet or a photo of your registration (which is actually a really good idea for anyone traveling/living abroad: if you can keep them in a safe/encrypted place, carrying a photo of your p…

I'm in Tokyo and I got stopped twice by police officers wanting to check my bike, on a 3 month period (I do 2 rides of 30 mins a day). For basically no reason (other than being a foreigner in a country where the police is racist?)

I've been stopped numerous times as well. I am ethnically Japanese and speak Japanese as well. Usually this happens to me after the trains have stopped running and while I'm stopped at a light anyways.

This has stopped recently though... I am wearing a cycling kit, switched to a road bicycle, and riding in traffic. So likely I've dropped out casual thief profile.

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#350

Post by kiterow »

I know of someone who would steal bikes just to get back home from the bar. He was too cheap for a taxi. He had a huge stash of them in his basement because he didn't know what to do with them. So when he had parties at his house he started giving them to people so they could get home.
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