France offers each cyclist €50 for bike repairs once lockdown ends

Post by zwieback » Fri, May 01, 2020, 7:33 PM UTC

Fricken wrote: post #172

com2kid wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing confused me about this. In major American cities bike theft is incredibly common, to the point that the police won't help at all. I've had bikes repeatedly stolen out of locked garages at home! I'd never buy a bike that was worth any reasonable amount of money, my commute pre-covid was a good candidate for an electric bike, but no way would I spend more than a 2 or 3 hundred dollars on something that will g…

I've been commuting by bike my whole adult life and I get a bike stolen once every 3 years on average. I typically spend around $1000 on my bikes, and the cost is still dick-all compared to transit or driving.

Post by zachrose » Fri, May 01, 2020, 7:35 PM UTC

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #174

input_sh wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I've learned while I lived in Amsterdam is that you want to invest ~30% of the value of your bike to purchase a bike lock. Basically make it not worth the effort to break the lock. Also second-hand and rusty ones are better than new ones. Some Dutch cities have a free-of-charge engraving mechanism where you basically engrave a serial number on a bike to make it easier to track down stolen bikes, as well as to kn…

> What I've learned while I lived in Amsterdam is that you want to invest ~30% of the value of your bike to purchase a bike lock. That advice predates the battery-powered angle grinder, which many bike thieves in Western Europe now use. Even the toughest, most expensive U-lock can be broken in about a minute with an angle grinder.

Post by Ma8ee » Fri, May 01, 2020, 7:38 PM UTC

nie100sowny wrote: post #175

Instead of €50. The government could make €70 tax relief. Then there would be no need to transfer (€50 x millions of bike owners) through the government's hands and to waste peoples effort on serving the whole operation. The only reason why it is not like that is because politicians like to have our money which gives them power and makes the state bigger and bigger.

Post by alias_neo » Fri, May 01, 2020, 7:40 PM UTC

testing312 wrote: post #105

alias_neo wrote: post #17

It's a nice gesture but hardly solves a problem. If the payment is for a mechanic to perform some "service" on your bicycle to make it roadworthy again, and from it you gain neither the tools nor the knowledge to perform two simple, necessary tasks for a cyclist; replace a tyre/inner tube, or replace a chain; what's the long term benefit? How about put 50 euros per cyclist into a tool kit, a dozen inner tubes and som…

> to perform two simple, necessary tasks for a cyclist; replace a tyre/inner tube, or replace a chain Never had to do either of those things, driving a bike almost daily throughout the city to school, hobbies, friends,... The few times my tire went flat, a short visit to a mechanic cost alsmost nothing

Post by nullc » Fri, May 01, 2020, 7:43 PM UTC

zachrose wrote: post #183

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What I've learned while I lived in Amsterdam is that you want to invest ~30% of the value of your bike to purchase a bike lock. That advice predates the battery-powered angle grinder, which many bike thieves in Western Europe now use. Even the toughest, most expensive U-lock can be broken in about a minute with an angle grinder.

I saw a guy outside a grocery store taking one of those to a U-lock. He said it was his own bike. Wasn’t sure what to do after that.