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Like many college students at USC's campus, my main mode of transportation is a bicycle. For the summer I got myself a nice Trek for $400 and started riding upwards of 15 miles a day.
This morning, I rode to campus at 6:30AM to work sound for a show. I locked my bike (via back tire) to a rack, went inside, set up the mics and lights, and went outside to get some breakfast. Except my bike wasn't there. Stolen.
Let's not kid ourselves: there's a lot of bike theft on USC's campus, mostly caused by people not locking them to a solid object or at all. But who the hell lurks around campus at 7:00AM with bolt cutters?
In the Netherlands, over 5,000 bikes are stolen per day. But the citizens don't get angry: it's understood that if your ride is ganked you can go ahead and steal one from someone else. It's a very novel concept: the citizens don't care if it's their bike. They just want a bike. So am I now morally entitled to a ride? Should I go ahead and steal one for myself, assuming my victim will go out and take one just as I did?
With any luck, i'll just catch the idiot riding it around campus and won't have to answer such deep moral quandaries.
Photo by caribb via Flickr
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A good friend of mine lived in Japan teaching ESL and said it was the same thing there. Most people didn't even lock their bikes and so if it wasn't there after they just took another.
That being said - this is America - and stealing will give you bad karma. Which sucks and is an awful way to start the school year. But lock the frame - I've had bikes stolen the same way yours was - and the most valuable lesson is lock the frame and that early morning and late night - when few people are around is when most thefts occur.
Get a cheap bike next time, or a good used one. Not worth an expensive anything parked on the street. Especially around USC. Didn't know so many people in Holland consider bikes interchangeable, but they must have cheap ones, too. In Japan people don't usually steal, and cops take even bike theft seriously, so I'm surprised by the first comment.
I feel your pain.
But Sloane is right about the bad karma issue. Better to think and act positive, e.g. petition USC for an actual secure bike parking facility. As another USC bike rider, I would pay something per semester for this. It is time bikes were treated better than 2nd class transportation.
I hear that on the UC Berkeley campus, it's several each minute!
The police recommend getting both a U-lock and cable lock. It's not that you'll be all that safe, but that thieves require two sets of tools to get your bike, and would probably go after somebody else's first....
leave it to a USC student to shrug their shoulders and move on so quickly after having their brand new $400 bike stolen
Karma's not real, just take another bike comrade.
Um, it doesn't really look like they needed a bolt cutter to get your bike. They didn't even need to compromise your lock.
If you're going to spend the time to lock your bike, you might as well attach it correctly (i.e. to the frame)
Hi guest, thanks for commenting.
Not every student at USC has an unlimited source of funds. I invested in the bike because I don't own a car. And ultimately, what more can I do than file a report and move on? Money lost, lesson learned.
RideAbike,
The photo isn't mine, nor is it of my bike. I simply pulled an image off of Flickr. I thought it was comedic. Thanks for commenting!
for what he lacks in street smarts he makes up for in mom & pop's dollars and blog entries - i can totally sympathize with a fellow trojan, but i'm not dutch. you can have my old get-to-class bike that lasted me 4 student loan-filled years there. it is a beat up huffy and the asking price is $400.
to #5: how is he moving on "too quickly"? So Guest, how long is the preferred mourning period for a stolen bike?
I don't know man. Your bike could be in TJ by now. Good luck repossessing it.
About as long as it takes to read one of your posts, Ant.
The bike racks at USC make it darn-near impossible to lock more than a wheel. I've had 4 1/2 bikes stolen here, so I sympathize with Maxwell, and wonder what provoked certain guests to abuse him. USC students aren't all even remotely wealthy, and $400 -- that's what a decent bike costs, is it not? We all deal with theft in different ways, I'm glad Maxwell posted here. Last time, I just started running home, and continued running ten miles each way every day for several months before the mourning period ended and I could bike again.
I get sentimentally attached to my bikes, whether it's the cheap 30-year-old bike I use in bad weather or my $400 Trek (which I actually paid 30 bucks for at a garage sale ... guy wasn't there, his girlfriend wasn't sure what he was asking, but she thought it was around 30 dollars. Karma just might bite me for that one.)
As such, I can't endorse the whole cummunal bike thing. I work hard to take care of my bikes, and I care what happens to them. It's not the money ... I have around a hundred bucks invested in three bikes. It's the time I put into them, the feel of the way they interact with the road, the things we've seen together ...
Yeah, I know, it's stupid. Just don't take my bike, dude.
If you need to get around campus, you don't need a $400 Trek. Take cue from the kids at UCSB who use beach cruisers that usually cost, at most, $150 (many more used ones for much cheaper). You should've bought a used one off craigslist.
As for the Netherlands, have you been there to see why taking each other's bike is okay? First of all, almost all the bikes are pieces of shit (which is fine because they're just using it to get around, not practice for the Tour de France). Second, there seems to be more bikes than people and smoke shops combined. They have multi-level "bike parking lots" that look like jumbles of metal and rubber. I imagine one would have one helluva time finding their bike in those things so if they don't, they just take someone else's, either intentionally or accidentally but there will be no shortage for the original owner of that bike to choose from.
Just don't spend $400 on a nice bike to ride around campus. Get a piece of crap for $50 that works and I'm sure you'll have less of a problem with bike theft.
#1 - I used to live in Japan. What your friend told you is false. There is no collective understanding among bike users to steal a bike if theirs goes missing. Most Japanese people are too timid/respectful to steal a pack of gum, let alone a bicycle from the street.
Bikes do get stolen often in Japan, but usually the victim won't even report it to the police. They just buy another bike.
Hey, a friend sent this to us because we're in Amsterdam right now doing a longer film on bicycle culture in Holland. Funny blog.
Here is a short my husband did several years ago...it is a fun and quick little segment about this very subject you write about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk6YxhKH590
I had two of my bikes stolen at USC, both in the same semester. I was so fed up that I just ended up driving to campus (like 4 blocks) and walking from PSA. Then I found out my friend did just fine with his crummy old bike. His lock didn't even work, he would just slip it on and off without the key. I guess if your bike is a piece of crap no one will want to steal it.
I believe its a rite of passage to get at least 2 bikes stolen throughout your undergrad tenure at USC. An anonymous source (oh lets face it, I can't remember) told me that the water polo team steals them from time to time (I graduated last year, I dont know how relevant that still is, however)
Yes, I have been to the Netherlands. I agree that there is more of a "sea of bikes" there than in LA. It's actually quite inspiring to behold.
everydaybikefilms, thanks for commenting! I really enjoyed that video.
I agree, beach cruisers are definitely much more convenient for campus riding. This bike was used to get around the city (except for the occassional work on campus.)
I had a POS children's Huffy that I got from the DPS bike sale freshman year. It had four gears, no kickstand, and one petal. Used it to get from class to my residence hall. I could have left that thing in the middle of the road and no one would have touched it. Eventually it too got stolen after being locked to a USC bike rack.
I've heard the water polo fact as well, Ali. And by my count, I guess i've completed the Undergrad Trail by Fire.
where IS a good place to buy some solid used bikes....for about 50-100 bucks???
:)
You can get an affordable used bike at the St. Vincent de Paul Center, downtown. All their bikes are the same price, no matter what kind: $35. i really scored when i picked up a Schwinn 10-spd Continental racing bike with it's orig. paint on sale for $31.50!! It's in good repair and will only need some basic tune-up maintenance, wh. i intend to do myself at Bicycle Kitchen.
My sympathies, but the bottom line is that expecting a $400 bike to last around any urban campus, not just USC, is unrealistic. In fact, I could show you the same picture (bike wheel locked to object) at UMass Amherst in the countryside of western Massachusetts. People anywhere steal bikes.
I just graduated and I went through two beach cruiser type bikes at USC (apparently they aren't limited to Santa Barbara). Both were under $100. I painted the second one flat splotch blotchy black with chipped paint accents. No matter - either the water polo team or someone wanted it this last spring. On the bright side, for less than $200 bucks I had a bike during my undergrad years and while I miss the Black Bomber, it and its predecessor saved a lot of time. Considering how much SC cost in other areas, the bikes were a bargain.
There are, by the way, many hundreds of student bikes stashed across Figueroa in the USC parking garage. The SC police policy is that any unregistered bike, or any bike locked to something other than an OFFICIAL bike rack, or any unlocked bike, has to be confiscated and hauled off by them to the garage for safe keeping. Was your bike registered on campus? Depending on how nice a bike it was and who was on duty in the early AM, it may be at the garage, being kept safe from banditos. I think there's either a big auction of them every now and then, or maybe they go to the St. Vincent de Paul Center.