Some idiot has just chained his bike to mine

suffolk rider
suffolk rider Posts: 103
edited September 2010 in Commuting general
It is Friday afternoon and I was hoping for an early departure, but as I came to unlock my bike I realised that another bike's lock had gone through my brake cable. I spent some time trying to undo the cable, but was unable to (i am not the best mechanic), so short of cutting through it (and then having to fix it) I was unable to move it. So I went to a nearby police station, thinking they might come to my aid. They were friendly, but said they couldn't help, as if they broke the other guy's lock he could sue them for criminal damage! So here I am, back at my desk, hoping that the other rider will come soon and respond to the surprisingly polite note I have left asking him to call me...

Anyone else ever have this problem?

Comments

  • jairaj
    jairaj Posts: 3,009
    yeah I've had it done to me when I was at school so didn't have to wait long before the guy turned up to unlock my bike.

    maybe start a new thread on the workshop area on how to remove a brake cable :wink:

    it shouldn't be hard though, just a few allen bolts usually?
  • Oddjob62
    Oddjob62 Posts: 1,056
    suffolk rider wrote:
    It is Friday afternoon and I was hoping for an early departure, but as I came to unlock my bike I realised that another bike's lock had gone through my brake cable. I spent some time trying to undo the cable, but was unable to (i am not the best mechanic), so short of cutting through it (and then having to fix it) I was unable to move it. So I went to a nearby police station, thinking they might come to my aid. They were friendly, but said they couldn't help, as if they broke the other guy's lock he could sue them for criminal damage! So here I am, back at my desk, hoping that the other rider will come soon and respond to the surprisingly polite note I have left asking him to call me...

    Anyone else ever have this problem?

    I had someone stick a d-lock on my bike on a friday, obvioulsy hoping that i would leave it over the weekend. Couple of PCSO's came to my rescue by tracking down a saw from a nearby club and helping me hack it off :D
    As yet unnamed (Dolan Seta)
    Joelle (Focus Expert SRAM)
  • sc999cs
    sc999cs Posts: 596
    I have heard that this is a technique used by thieves. They lock your bike so you can't move it and come back to remove it at leisure. Hope this is innocent.
    Steve C
  • SmellTheGlove
    SmellTheGlove Posts: 697
    sc999cs wrote:
    I have heard that this is a technique used by thieves. They lock your bike so you can't move it and come back to remove it at leisure. Hope this is innocent.
    I hadn't heard of it as a common tea-leaf tactic, but it definitely (to my minimal criminal mind) makes sense. Give it the chop if poss?
    "Consider the grebe..."
  • acidstrato
    acidstrato Posts: 945
    someone in the local area will have access to some sort of heavy duty tool. break his lock and take their bike a compensation. time is money
    Crafted in Italy apparantly
  • sc999cs
    sc999cs Posts: 596
    SmellTheGlove wrote:
    sc999cs wrote:
    I have heard that this is a technique used by thieves. They lock your bike so you can't move it and come back to remove it at leisure. Hope this is innocent.
    I hadn't heard of it as a common tea-leaf tactic, but it definitely (to my minimal criminal mind) makes sense. Give it the chop if poss?

    It's a variation of putting glue in the lock so that the owner can't remove the bike or letting air out of the tyres / puncturing the tyres. Some other postings about this technique here from last week, here from 2007 and here from 2009.
    Steve C
  • shouldbeinbed
    shouldbeinbed Posts: 2,660
    sc999cs wrote:
    SmellTheGlove wrote:
    sc999cs wrote:
    I have heard that this is a technique used by thieves. They lock your bike so you can't move it and come back to remove it at leisure. Hope this is innocent.
    I hadn't heard of it as a common tea-leaf tactic, but it definitely (to my minimal criminal mind) makes sense. Give it the chop if poss?

    It's a variation of putting glue in the lock so that the owner can't remove the bike or letting air out of the tyres / puncturing the tyres. Some other postings about this technique here from last week, here from 2007 and here from 2009.

    yeah, even less labour intensive and easier to sell on than puncturing a tyre and ppl are getting wiser to that now and not leaving damaged bikes as readily to be taken at leisure overnight.


    OP, I hope you left your lock round your bike too so if it is a scam yours is still secure.
  • PBo
    PBo Posts: 2,493
    Pretty certain this case is innocent but stooooopid - you wouldn't just catch the brake cable if deliberate.
  • tlw1
    tlw1 Posts: 22,164
    is the OP still at work waiting???? :)
  • acidstrato
    acidstrato Posts: 945
    PBo wrote:
    Pretty certain this case is innocent but stooooopid - you wouldn't just catch the brake cable if deliberate.

    or they were trying to make it look a little less obvious...hmmmmm
    Crafted in Italy apparantly
  • lae
    lae Posts: 555
    If there's a friendly bike shop in the vicinity they'll probably lend you a spanner and some advice on how to remove your brake cable.

    Although it's now saturday afternoon so I suppose you must have removed it by now.
  • shouldbeinbed
    shouldbeinbed Posts: 2,660
    acidstrato wrote:
    PBo wrote:
    Pretty certain this case is innocent but stooooopid - you wouldn't just catch the brake cable if deliberate.

    or they were trying to make it look a little less obvious...hmmmmm

    +1 maybe I'm too cynical but OP is enough of an interested rider to be on a bike forum and didn't have the tools / couldn't fettle a brake cable. (no offence meant - front mechs are the devils work to me however hard I try/study Sheldon Brown and similar)

    how many of the 99.99% of the rest of the cycling population that see a bike only as a thing to sit on and pedal, without so much as a puncture kit and a pump with them would be any better at removing what is still a twisted tensile steel cable.
  • Initialised
    Initialised Posts: 3,047
    Simples, unclip it from the V/caliper, loosen the front grub and screws and slip it out.

    @Shouldbeinbed: isn't everything that isn't a blackbox just the same I certainly get the same basic Qs all the time in my field.?
    I used to just ride my bike to work but now I find myself going out looking for bigger and bigger hills.
  • suffolk rider
    suffolk rider Posts: 103
    In fact, it was as innocent as I expected: the other rider (you can guess which sex) duly called me not only to apologise profusely but also to tell me that my bike was now good to go.

    In all, it meant I lost just over an hour. But of course it might have been alot worse, and thanks for the warnings about deliberate locking. I have to say I was disappointed by the limp-wristed response from the police...
  • Zachariah
    Zachariah Posts: 782
    The police response in this case is clearly justified - after all, short of turning up with the receipt and a sworn affidavit from the bike shop, how are they to know it's your bike at all? And since it was, in this case, innocent, who is going to be responsible for reimbursing the owner of the lock? You? The taxpayer? Or do you think they should be punished for their absent-mindedness?

    Having said that, if it happened to me, I would instantly assume it to be a thief and do whatever I could to break the offending lock...
  • fnegroni
    fnegroni Posts: 794
    Zachariah wrote:
    Or do you think they should be punished for their absent-mindedness?

    Yes.
    I depend on my bike: if mine had been locked by someone else, even innocently, they might have cost me a lot of money: late pick up fees from school etc...
    Having said that, if it happened to me, I would instantly assume it to be a thief and do whatever I could to break the offending lock...
    +1
    http://wokinghamcyclist.blogspot.com

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