Zen And The Art Of Pedal Cycle Theft
dublin |
environment |
feature
Wednesday October 05, 2005 22:05
by put the pedal to the metal - in between a rock and a hard place...
somewhere at cyberspace dot ie
six six six
An odyssey into the heart of darkness where the stolen bikes go to mark 'Garda bike auction day'
I walked into the shed of my block one afternoon when I was on the late shift and - it wasnt there. For a minute, I racked my brain. Did I leave it in town last night? Is it back in the gaf? Is it somewhere else? No, it wasnt. It was here last night when I came in, locked it, and now its gone.
Heart pounding, I found the 'super' and we fast forwarded through the nights CCTV footage. There he was, a fucker in a black leather jacket, white pants, and a Coca-Cola sweatshirt. A decent shot of him too. So who was this guy? The super had no idea, nor the Garda, but I knew who he was. He was my Rollo Tomasi, my voodoo doll, my idée fixée - every dickhead, loser, psycho, paranoiac, backstabber, waster, pest, spoilt richkid, male or female piece of shit I'd ever had the miserable misfortune to encounter in my life to that very point encapsulated in this individual breaking in through the gate, cracking my lock open, and making off with my bike.
I wanted to find him. But more than anything, I wanted my bike. So off I went, on a mini adventure of sorts, to see if I could find the bike in the murkier parts of the city.
Full Story As Submitted
A public auction of bicycles will take place at Kevin Street Garda Station in Dublin at 11am on Thursday 6th October 2005.
The Kevin Street Garda bike auction is on tomorrow.
About six months ago, I decided to throw caution, and the little voice warning me in my head, to the wind - I went and spent a lot of money on a bike. Now, I dont know how many times I had said to people "You cant buy a decent bike in Dublin, it'll just get lifted somewhere along the line." And yet here I was, in need of a new bike, contemplating spending about 350 euros on a hybrid. It was a bit over a weeks wages, when you say it like that I guess it doesnt sound too much; but you can get a proper working bike for about a third of that, and at the time my finances were flickering back and forth from the red and black, so a huge investment was slightly risky. You know where this is going already dont you. But I said fuck it: the weather is getting better, I'm spending loads of money on the bus to work, I need the exercise to get rid of the belly, and if I have to spend one more hour lodged in traffic with wannabe wiggas smoking incessantly at the back of the top deck, I'll kill them all with a pen and then myself.
Within a month I felt like the investment had been worth it. Nice thin tyres, no more waiting at the bus stop, and hang on - how come I'm in work ten or fifteen minutes earlier? I think the buzz of just being on a bike with decent working cogs and gears had me adrenalised; its only when you get a new machine you realise how fucked your old one was.
I walked into the shed of my block one afternoon when I was on the late shift and - it wasnt there. For a minute, I racked my brain. Did I leave it in town last night? Is it back in the gaf? Is it somewhere else? No, it wasnt. It was here last night when I came in, locked it, and now its gone. Heart pounding, I found the 'super' and we fast forwarded through the nights CCTV footage. There he was, a fucker in a black leather jacket, white pants, and a Coca-Cola sweatshirt. A decent shot of him too. So who was this guy? The super had no idea, nor the Garda, but I knew who he was. He was my Rollo Tomasi, my voodoo doll, my idée fixée - every dickhead, loser, psycho, paranoiac, backstabber, waster, pest, spoilt richkid, male or female piece of shit I'd ever had the miserable misfortune to encounter in my life to that very point encapsulated in this individual breaking in through the gate, cracking my lock open, and making off with my bike.
I wanted to find him. But more than anything, I wanted my bike. So off I went, on a mini adventure of sorts, to see if I could find the bike in the murkier parts of the city. First stop was the bike shops around town. No, we dont buy bikes, all of them said. Unless you have a receipt, and even then its only from people we know. Otherwise, there'd be a queue of people out the door every day with knocked off stuff, looking for drug money. You're better off trying elsewhere.
So I got up early in the morning and went down to the Cumberland Street market. I had heard off one or two people that stolen gear ends up here, but I was there for about half an hour and it was a waste of my time. In case you dont know it, the market is a jumble sale which happens every Saturday morning just off Parnell Street. The merchandise is very low quality. Its mostly old clothes, CDs by people you've never heard of, old kitchen utensils, and odds and ends of worn down electrical equipment. I did see a bike for sale, but it was in bits. If my stolen bike had shown up here, it would have stuck out like a sore thumb.
The next place I looked was a private house at 296 North Circular Road, Phibsboro, next to St Peters Church. A woman called Eileen sells bikes which are parked in the front, locked up with a heavy chain. She sits in the sitting room and watches TV all day, occasionally glancing outside for customers. I asked her if she'd had any new bikes in, and after she said no, I told her I was on the lookout for a stolen bike. Later in the week, when I was talking to the owner of a bikeshop on the northside, he gave me some advice. "There's a place where this woman fences off bikes. Now dont mention anything to her about looking for a stolen bike, just tell her you want something really nice, and you're willing to spend a bit of cash on it." I knew exactly who he was talking about. Too late I told him, kicking myself for my stupidity, the cat is already out of the bag with her. "Oh well," he said, "you might have had some luck there. She's the biggest fence on the northside. All of the robbed bikes from Cabra, Phibsborough end up with her. The Garda raided her a couple of years back, found a load of stolen bikes out her back yard."
My search also led me to a scrap of derelict ground used as a carpark/valet service, right at the junction of Parnell Street and Capel Street where the road splits in two to form a delta. A handmade sign atop a very nice mountain bike announced there were bikes for sale here. I had a look around, inquiring about prices. Further casual enquiries by a friend about where the bikes came from were met with sudden deathly silence and stony glares - hinting get the fuck out of here right now. The bikes are still for sale there, nailed up onto the wall like hunt kills. Some (s)crap, but some very good models.
So no joy at Cumberland Street, Eileens, or the Parnell St lot. At the same time the trail with the video footage was running cold. I had a decent facial .jpeg image of the thief, and on my next day off I was going to visit Reads and run off a thousand or so A4 posters threatening all sorts of medieval torture on him, and promising a heavy financial reward to any snitches out there. These were going to be wheatpasted on every available surface between the two canals. I was going to get my man. I was even dreaming about him at night. I saw his face over and over again. At one point I even tailed someone who I thought looked like him back to his house, and staked it out for a while, looking in his letterbox. Of course I couldnt be sure if it was the right person, my eyes and ears were honed like a Vietcong in the thick of the jungle... everyone on a bike was a potential target.
I was also ringing up numbers in Buy and Sell, the trade magazine for second hand gear. I had gone through several numbers asking the voices at the other end what model bike they were selling. On the second or third issue I had bought, wasting my credit and work break times, I rang up a number in Crumlin. The woman on the line was cagey, hesitant, unsure - guilty in my book. But no, she just genuinely didnt know what kind of bike it was, it was her young son that was selling it, he got it for his birthday a couple of years ago. The conversation up to this point had my heart pounding at the possibility of a breakthrough, but as soon as she said this I laughed and admitted to her I wasnt interested in buying, I was only looking for a stolen bike.
And then, in the same way a stranger had stepped into my circle of existence and skewed my headspace a week previously, she dropped the tone of her voice and gave me some sage advice, sending me on a different path again. She talked to me for about fifteen minutes as if she knew me all her life. Let it go. It will drive you insane if you devote any more of your time to it. It isnt easy, but if you let it go, then it will be better for you. You cant let yourself be consumed with finding this person. It happens to everyone sometime. You'll get another bike. You'll cycle another road some time.
And almost like that, a weight suddenly vanished from my being... they say to err is human, to forgive is devine - but to forget about it and let it go was near transcendental, reincarnating, ecstasy, nirvana, enlightenment. OK maybe a slight exaggeration there but I put the receiver back down on its cradle and for the first time in a while I smiled. I guess I didnt let it go immediately but over the next day or two I let it slide from memory and focused on the future instead. I had another bike up and running, an abandoned frame rescued from scrub ground. I fixed the brake cable, got new pads, cleaned out the cogs and readjusted the derailler screws, got a new back tyre and a new entire front wheel. The journey to work seemed almost as light and easy as those first few brief weeks on my new, expensive, stolen bike.
I went to Kevin Street earlier in the week, just to have a look in case it did show up. So maybe I never really ever fully let it go. No sign of it of course, but I wasnt sad. I dont like to say bike theft in Dublin a grim reality of life, but I guess there are always people out there who just dont give a shit about others and the effects their actions have on them, more than you realise... There were a load of bikes there in a separate shed to where the auction takes place. Each one obviously has their own story behind it, as do all the others up for auction tomorrow morning. Earlier this year Michael McDowell promised a new unit to investigate the huge jump in the rate of "theft of a pedal cycle", no sign of anything materialising yet. Maybe when the city starts valuing bikes more and cars less, there'll be a greater collective respect to those out there braving the streets clogged with cars, trucks, buses, taxis and thieves.
Cumberland Street, not on market day. Bike not here though.
Eileen the fence's house.
Stolen bikes for sale on Parnell St West.
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Comments (70 of 70)
Jump To Comment: 70 69 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 52 51 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1"Bikes have to be registered and have a VIN or ID number that is not easily removed ....national database of bikes......makers of bikes should give a manufactures certificate of origin, ....registered to the first owner...... All bikes and wheels should have a unique serial number. ....rewards for recovery of stolen bikes.
All this is going to cost money to administer. Are you going to start charging bike owners for registering their bikes and make them pay an annual road tax ? Is there going to be different rates for different sizes/categories of bikes or people with more han one bike. What are you going to do with those who refuse to pay or comply with the rules ? How do you deal with the thousands of bikes already out there ? What about cyclist visiting from across the border or further afield ? Why not go the whole hog and introduce bike number plates and start going after those who ignore red lights/one way streets, illegally park or cycle on the pavement ?
Im not totally knocking your ideas. Some of them are great in theory but they have all sorts of practical and political implications that make them a non-runner
First thing you have to understand is you get a lot of bikes in the back of a truck. Most stolen bikes turn up miles away. It's just bad business when the customer gets jumped by the old owner. So this is how it works at the wholesale level:
1) Bike stolen and then fenced
2) Fence then collects enough to make collection worth while
3) Van or truck picks up bikes and moves them a couple of hundred miles
4) Sold in new city, not much chance of getting into trouble for selling stolen stuff
To fix this problem the first step is you. You MUST report your bike as stolen.
While there is little chance the police will get it back, it does happen some times, and more importantly the reports add up until they feel something must be done. In some cites the total money in bike thefts is larger than any other type of property crime, including car theft.
Always report the theft. It's like voting. Your individual report may not do much, but collectively they add up and change the world.
Bike theft solutions have to be national. Bikes have to be registered and have a VIN or ID number that is not easily removed and is in an easily viewed location, NOT under the bottom bracket.
There should be a national database of bikes, where users can update their details and the number and pictures of all bikes could be listed.
Makers of bikes should give a manufactures certificate of origin, (bike birth certificate) that is registered to the first owner. From then on there should be a chain of title. All bikes and wheels should have a unique serial number.
The government should issue rewards for recovery of stolen bikes. Lists of stolen bike numbers, with pictures should be available so that all the boys who might otherwise be train spotting are instead out looking for stolen bikes. This would have the following benefits:
1) People would be less inclined to purchase a stolen bike if they thought it would get picked up, and that they may get into trouble.
2) Young boys with time on their hands would be in the bike recovery business instead of the theft business.
3) The Police/Guardia only give the reward when the person either brings in the stolen bike or tells them where to find it.
4) The government would not be paying for un-productive investigations but instead making a direct payout for recovered property.
5) The Guardia/Police get brownie points and win harts and minds when they return the stolen bikes to their rightful owners.
For this to work, legitimate bike shops would have to do the paperwork, and register the bikes, both new and used. It could probably be setup so they do it at no charge to the public.
I use for example the a running store, who carries applications and registers users for up coming races as a free service. They do it to get the people to come into the store, where they often purchase other products.
See, once you have a national, or even better and international system of bike ID's in pace you can implement a national registration system. Which on it's own is useless unless you have some method for policing it, which is were the lists of stolen bikes and reward for young boys comes in.
If, as a kid, you could legitimately get a fiver for finding stolen bikes, and were equipped with the information to do it wouldn't you have been out looking?
It's no use doing it half way as you say.
Especially when all the surrounding countries don't do it too, use your country to export their problem, then point at you and say "see, look what happened in holland"
I thought it was clear from my comment that I was suggesting bulk high quality cheap govt made drugs distributed from pharmacies, taxed, and given free on perscription to addicts, thus putting the crimmos out of business.
People may consider this a cynical suggestion. To those people I suggest they examine why people turn to drugs (taxed or otherwise!!) in the first place. Is it because it looks better than the lot we offer them in society? or gets them away from their miserable lives for a while.
Also I would suggest they look at sales of legal drugs such as prozac / paxil etc, all of which have dodgy side effects, are often highly addictive and whose scientific basis is more than a little dubious.(and of course are all highly profitable!!)
I suggest that whatever society may say, your life is still your own and if you choose to piss it away in a room getting high, well thats still your choice and they should not make it harder for you and criminalise you, and in the process support the criminal drug networks and foster ridiculous levels of "petty"crime and prostitution as is the case in dublin.
And it's every bit as valid a life choice as enslaving yourself day in day out for money to buy shit you don't need so people will think you are a success and living in the imaginary world sold to you from TV and the media.
If we did the math it would probably save us tax money in many areas (hospitals/law/property damage/theft) while improving the quality of life of all concerned. Not to mention all the innocent bicycles it would save!
Obviously society doesn't like the lack of slave productivity, resents paying for it and prefers kicking junkies out on their asses to the tender mercies of the criminal underworld.
So blame the govt when junkies steal your stuff and mug you for the price of their next contaminated fix. And support full legalisation of class A drugs!! :)
oh, BTW, you don't need a car jack to open a kryptonite lock. A bic biro will suffice!!
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/09/64987
No actually Feudal, quite like your idea. If only drugs were legalized! However, from my scanty knowledge of such things that have happened already in the Netherlands (more to do with prostitution) the trade of previously illegal substances/services remains in the hands of gangsters, exploiters etc so unless drugs were actually legalized (and fully regulated) as opposed to simply decriminalized and a laissez faire attitude adopted, we would still have a lot of the associated problems. But its a great idea, maybe we will come a step closer to it with the Greens.
Legalise class A drugs and give 'em out free to junkies
That'll solve the petty crime problem in dublin.
Plus it will have the added advantages:
(a) that the drugs will be pure and of consistent concentration (less overdoses)
(b) that your kids will be dealing with the local pharmacist and not the local criminal for their drugs
(c) taking drugs will be less exciting so possibly higher remission rates (currently very low)
(d) you can tax 'em and use the money you get to fund better drug re-habilitation programs
(e) Less money needed for policing (not that they do much!), less excuse for heavy handed gardai activity
(f) safer streets, most gun crime is drug related
(g) insurance premiums should fall after a while (less drug related house / car break ins)
(h) junkies will be able to afford food as well as drugs so will be healthier
(i) junkies will not have to resort to prostitution to get a fix so the spread of AIDS will be slowed
(j) Green conscious Middle class expensive bike owners could rest easy in their beds
(k) wage slaves with huge mortgages and a bleak future can have an alternative choice in their lives which might briefly give them a few moments of pleasure in their miserable lives before they die
without the state threat of being imprisoned and buggered.
oops...went too far there. :).
No really modern life is great, honest! why would anyone want to turn to drugs.
CTV footage recording someone stealng bike wheels
Sympathy for your loss!While a horrible thing to have happen to you,at least there is some sort of logic behind it (thief steals bike= sells for money). what I cannot understand is the recent spate of rear wheel kicking that I witness every single day to some poor bike chained to a lampost around dublin city.Being the proud owner of a 70/s raleigh bought from a neighbour for £5,you can imagine my anger after getting off the train to cycle home, and finding some scumbag had bent the back wheel completely out of shape,causing 35 euro worth of damage,what possible reason is there to do that?Absolutely no logic behind it.
Mo thrua thú!
( Cé a lig na gadaithe rothar isteach sa tír ;-)? )
the boulevard of broken dreams throws opens its doors again tomorrow morning - viewing is today (wednesday).. or more accurately was today up until about 10 minutes ago. the auction starts tomorrow morning at 11am in Kevin St Garda Station sheds.
Once I parked my bike outside UGC cinema on parnell street. I locked it with one lock and a long threaded connector - to conect the front wheel to the bike - one threaded through the front wheel, and the back lock/frame/rear wheel.
I've never been robbed however this time, i locked the bike and walked off the watch a movie as normal. 2 hours later came back outside on the steps of the cinema, saw 3 young rough looking guys hovering beside my bike.
Walked over holding the saddle by the bar end in one hand, (always took my saddle everywhere) and they moved away. Then i looked at my bike, and directly in the lock was the key!!! the black plastic covering on the end of the key had come off - so for the 2 hours in the cinema my lovely shiny new specialized bike worth about 400eur (not including SPD pedals etc...) was sitting on parnell street with the key in it.
The black part of the key was attached to my keyring,this all happened at night time and it was an absolute miracle the bike wasn't stolen, I think there would have to have been some valiant warriors fighting off the scum bags at different stages - who knows
Ok Michael. You say that Capitalists and those who work for their income in a Capitalist society are "stealing" by working for their living. Now I may not be as well versed in socio-political theory as yourself however, I cannot help but feel that your statement is incorrect in all regards. In return for the money I earn, I give my time to my employer and my particualr expertise. I sell my "porduct" for money. This is not theft, it is barter. Capitalism is not a system based on theft in the sense that you describe. You have misconstrued what is actually a pretty debateable point of "ownership" in a wider sense, to obsurdity, and thus, render whatever you say utterly dissmisable.
Also, whats with the fella earlier on and the Yeats stuff. The "greasy till". Sorry mate but you sound like someone who has learned off a pretty phrase and continues to use it whenever anything "anti-capitalist" has to be said. I could well be wrong, just my impression. You *seem* fairly thick in your expression. Don't bite my feckin'head off though!! I said *seem* He he
Alright, as for the article I think its pretty well written although I was hoping that you would find the fella who knicked it!
On to my opinion. I ride a nice bike. Without trying to sound pompous, its bettert than most out there! Not the type of thing that would turn up in the Buy & Sell very often and, in fact, it would not be found regularly in many Irish bike shops due to the price on it. Anyway, I cant just go pick one up used if it gets knicked like I could in Amsterdam. You only have to walk down any street near the HBh to get one for peanuts. Its not a disposable comoditty for me. If it got knicked an I had to a stolen one for 15 quid I'd have a much shitter bike. Your system of buying off junkies and "re-cycling" (deadly pun!) doesn't really work. Its not like my bike is in any way comparable to one I could pick up for 15 quid in Amsterdam or here in Dublin as the case may be. People have the right to travel in as much comfort as they wish on a bike.
And whats all this its only a bike lark I hear.I'm not an idiot so I dont bring it into town. But my point is this, if I did bring it into town and it got knicked (my obvious follishness aside) would it be any more of a crime on behalf of the thief? Despite the fact that I'd literally have to save for a year to buy a new one. Is it less justified to steal an expensive bike? In my opinion: Of course bloody not. When is a bike not a bike. In other words, my bike is worth more than most mopeds and even some cars! Are we going to draw a line at 150 euro say or maybe 100? Let's not be silly.
I cannot, in principal, agree with the re-cycling system proported here. Even if every bike in the world was €15 (or some other low figure) and were all of exactly equal quaility and performed as well as a bike can (the zennith of possibility). Even if the used supply was plentiful and cheap I cannot understand how that makes it any better. Why should I have to pay for something I already bought. You speak of capitalism and greed? The thief is surely the most greedy of us all. Profiting of others and giving nothing in retun.
Hey mick! He's your archetypal "Capitalist"! Oh but forget him, lambast me for wanting to OWN my bike. He he he.
"...ÿou cant like.. OWN a potatoe man.."
(all of the above is in friendly debate.. please dont freak out)
>>True, but in lieu of nicking the entire bike, they'll nick bits off it.
True but it's a lot less expensive, especially if you can get bits off old bikes.
What's needed is for the guards to leave a few badly locked bikes with radio trackers around the city. See where the bikes end up.
and members of the public will even help you steal a bike according to these guys
http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/924/Stealing_bikes.html
cops drive right past when hes smashing bicycle lock outside the world trade centre and say nothing
cant pedal off on your bike very quickly , the bastards . People with bikes usually cant afford cars , much less getting their bike nicked . They would beat your mother or granny for a tenner just as quick . They are scum
The week you worked to earn the money for that flashy bike, you were stealing too. You probably didn't have to steal quite as directly as the guy who's photo you've published here. If you earn a living and make purchases within the capitalist system you're always stealing from somebody. You don't know the first thing about the guy who took your bike.
I think you should take down that photo. If not, I think you should have the guts to include a photo of yourself here too, and of your employer, who steals at least the amount it costs to buy a new bike once a month from you.
>P.S. I've been cycling in Dublin for about 10 >years now and have never had a bike >stolen. Just buy two good locks and you'll >be fine.
True, but in lieu of nicking the entire bike, they'll nick bits off it. My old bike at various points had its saddle, handlebars, front wheel and brakes (!) stolen before eventually they got the whole thing. Rather depressing. Now I have a fold-up bike, and would never let the f**ker out of my sight. I suppose you could get one long thin chain and thread it through the spokes/saddle, etc, but you'll still end up with general vandalism being done to it.
Great article this.
(abuse removed -ed)
http://oceanclub.blogspot.com
Cut the poor guy some slack
He was probably just hungry.
Fuckin' Bush
A thief once tried to nick my bike from outside the St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre at the top of Grafton St. He didn't get the bike but destroyed the mechanism of the lock so I couldn't open it either.
The following day I came back into town with a hacksaw and a bit over an hour later had freed my bike. In all that time not a single person said a word to me about hacksawing away at the bike and three lads even gave me a hand near the end.
P.S. I've been cycling in Dublin for about 10 years now and have never had a bike stolen. Just buy two good locks and you'll be fine.
60% in the last 3 months doesn't convey much information. Depending upon how you pick your start and end times you could probably end up with "300% in the last day!" (on Wed no bikes were stolen, but today 3 were stolen). There needs to be a longer period of time consider to get any idea of what "trend" there is.
"And in spite of the investigation set up to stop bicycles being stolen, the bicycle theft rate has continued to increase by nearly 60% in the last three months."
Some posters here seem to think bike theft or similar 'petty' crimes are unimportant, or in some way fair-game , ah sure its only a bike. Feck that, I (until recently) cycled my kid to school, then myself to work, then picked him up after school, dropped him off to after-chool, back to work, picked him up after work, and back home. All thanks to my lovely battered but dependable old mountain bike with crossbar-mounted child seat. (and the fact that its still possible to cycle reasonably safely in Galway)
That bike was NOT a toy. Santa didnt bring it for me to piss around doing wheelies on. It was my ONLY form transport, and it cost me money to purchase and maintain. When some BASTARD swiped it i was fecked, the loss of my transport added more than two hours to my commute every day and i had to forego lunch to run back and forth across town ferrying my son from school to afterchool. I couldnt (and wouldnt) buy some piece of shit bike off another piece of shit bike thief, because apart from the fact that i didnt want to perpetuate the theft by encouraging another, i needed a bike that was dependable and safe enough to carry a kid, you know lights, brakes, all that jazz - a REAL form of transport.
Now I SWORE that if i caught sight of that bastard i was going to yank him off that bike and kick seventy shades of shit out of him.
Anyway, i was angry, but the point is that the loss of that bike was no trivial matter to me, and to a lot of people the auld bike is the difference between being able to get to work and NOT being able. Its no different from having your car robbed, as far as the inconvenience is concerned, and people who rely on a bicycle to get around are unlikely to be able to shrug it off and just buy another one.
The only bike i ever had that wasnt eventually robbed, was vandalised beyond use. Presumably because the lock wouldnt give up.
Anyway these predatory little bastards are JUST as bad as those perpetrators of big crimes, its just their criminal abilities that differ. some steal countries, others steal bikes, but the selfish predatory twisted criminal mentality behind it is the same, underlined by the belief that they can take or destroy what you work hard for and have pride in, just cos they want to and they can, and you cant stop them.
If some of the Gardai that spend time not looking at the contents of planes flown through Shannon were put on the beat, or if some money were diverted towards public, guarded bike parking facilities then the bike theft problem would be reduced.
As regards people not caring about bikes being stolen check out the movie below (15 MB quicktime .mov), a guy steals his bike using 4 methods (hacksaw, angle-grinder, bolt-cutters and hammer/spike) in the centre of NYC. Very few people give a shit, even when he hooks up the angle-grinder to the base of a street lamp. Dermot's call above for cyclists to get together to do something practical is a useful one.
ASBOs are a fake "tough on crime" response that create more problems than they solve.
Agreed.
Thieves and people who commit anti social behaviour ARE a problem. Not for the millionaires who have limos parked in secure garages, but for average people who just want to get by.
I remember an old TV (Prime Time/Questions and Answers) debate on ASBOs Anti Social Behaviour Orders. Apparenlty some Youth Council wasn't too fond of the idea of applying an ASBO to an under-18 "Government has a duty to protect children" or something suchlike.
HELLO? The Government has a responsibility to protect society (of responsible, hard working people) against these dregs.
It's all well and fine to whine about "how few capitalists are named and shamed" but evil scumbags are evil scumbags whether they're wearing a 3-pc suit or a CCTV friendly-hoodie is irrelevant.
Couldn't have put it better myself. It's all very well rabbiting on about the social causes of crime and so on, and the crimes of the big corporations but for most working class people it is the mugger/pusher/joyrider/burglar/bike thief who is their immediate concern and often their immediate oppressor not Michael O'Leary or Haliburton.
About six months ago, I was walking along Dawson Street when I noticed someone sawing through the chain on a bike. He had a backpack on and I was so astonished I stared at the guy. Nobody else seemed to notice. Not wanting to confront someone with a hacksaw, I went to Fred Hannas and used their phone to call the Gardai. (I know, it's useless, but it's better than doing nothing.)
The guy seemed to be reasonably well-dressed, with a backpack.
Is it any wonder that someone could get away with stealing a bike if nobody even notices the thief stealing in broad daylight on a busy street?
Fair enough Bike theft is fairly anti social, and yeah yer man is probly not smashing the state in his spare time:
BUT
The whole manner in which this thread has developed has just freaked me out, there is way too much garda friendly vibes: and the naming and shaming of the alledged bike fence is dead wrong and should be removed:
How many totally wronged out businessmen and bosses have been named and shamed on this site in a similar way???
How many of their mugshots have been similarly posted?
Id hazard a guess none have been metted out the same treatment as these two 'characters' . . . . . . .
Probly cos the repercussions of publishing the home address of some powerful wrongd out suit would be swift and unpleasant?
Indymedia.ie certainly does have a lot of local issues and everyday stuff and this is commendable: but I think peeps should look over this thread theres a definite PD greasy Till trickle down effect going on here:
I would also confess I ve never bought a brand new expensive bike but I have bought a few off junkies for Fivers and tenners in Amsterdam, London and elsewhere . . . .(but shit dont put my mug shot up)
Like it or not anti-social crime can have a major impact on peoples lives - it can even dominate their thoughts to a greater extent than what the corporations are up to. Bike theft is a minor example - the consequences for the victim are economic without the psychological and physical damage that burglery, muggings and other anti-social crimes include. But all the same if you are a low wage workers or unwaged person then having you sole means of free transport knicked by some thief is more than annoying.
We wouldn't accept a boss knicking a weeks wages why accept a thief doing the equivalent? And why feel any sympathy for an alleged fence beyond the legtimate concern about 'trial by independant media'? A fence after all is no more than a petty capitalist who lives off the work of all the others (including the bike thieves) mentioned here.
As for the rest - far from the thread presenting the Gardai as the fine defenders of cyclists everywhere it raises some good reasons why they are not. Sometimes this is more convincing for not being steeped in ideology. In this case we have everything from the Gardai disinterest in this sort of crime down to the apparent blind eye turned to not just one but two quite public alleged fencing operations. If I'd come to the thread under the illusion that the Gardai existed to prevent theft I'd at least be wondering about rotten apples if not having second thoughts all together.
Lastly you may applaud the other indymedias to restricting themselves to the usual causes of revolutionary politics. I'd be inclined to applaud indymedia.ie for allowing the space to step outside of these. Not everything about the original story or the comments makes me comfortable but - like it or not - anti-social crime is something we need to address.
Yeh man, bike thieves are actually cool dudes taking on the corrupt capitalist system.
Getting serious my friend, ever notice you won't see many millionares cycling the rainy streets of Irish cities?
Ive read this whole thread and it just makes me feel glad to have left Dublin:
Almost all of you sound like a bunch of young PDs:
McDowell would read this thread and snigger:
The author wondering when the states crack anti bike theft unit will hit the streets: (???)
IMC being used vigilante style to put up peoples pictures and name and shame alledged 'fences':
yeah right: people steal bikes, the companies who make bikes are massive corporations who r fuking the planet wrong ways:
sorry but I recylcle all my bikes: and bike theft is the least of our worries:
maybe have a glance around what other IMCs have as their most popular news stories, check out Euskadi, Greece and Holland . . . . . .
does this not make you wonder????
coming from corporation flats all my life,in the north east inner city,it happened all the time,every one knew every one in the place,from flats complex to flats complex and the scattered dodgy looking lego corpo houses in between,it wasa mix of kids and mainly junkies who would steal them for their next hit,this was early to mid nineties so the heroin problem was of mega proportions,stealing usually lead to big family feuds and voilence that lingered on for quite a while,which i found very entertaining as a kid,but between me and my three younger broyhers we must have had about 7 bikes stolen between us growing up in monto.sorry to hear about your bike,though i do think the posters are an extremely bad idea,up to you though..
Eileen probably has the same arrangement with the Gardai as other criminals in the city. They tout on those lower down the pecking order and occassionally the odd morsel from above in return for immunity. Or it might be a straight forward commercial arrangement.
As Pedal pusher said that he/she pass that place on the North Circular Road every working day and see so much coming and going they assumed it was a bicycle shop or a guest house aimed at cyclists. As it has the look of this type of house.
I too am the same going to work and have gone up and down this road for years via this road god must keep and eye out for her the too faced person
As for the exposure on indymedia I kinda feel it may frighten off a few of the punters. But no it won’t and douth it as they would not be in to this sort of site its far too much information for those heads
You should have got a friend to call over to her house and tried it that way
I know it’s only a bike but it incense me to think you saved hard for some thing and a scumbag just stole it
Maybe now that the guards have can turn some of their attention to this "nice lady", "Eileen", and her little sideline
But I have to say may be she could be totally innocent in all this and she did not have your bike , now I not taking sides but this a big city and there is other dodge dealers of this type
Not quite sure why you had to crowbar in a reference to "spoilt rich-kids"?
I'm not aware of many spoilt rich-kids out cracking kryptonites at the weekend.
I feel your pain though. Bike thieves are scum of the earth.
From now on im gonna connect a 36 joule, electric elphant fence to my bike.... Not that hard to do just make sure that the bits of the bike that are leaning against anything metal are insulated, impossible to remove unless you turn off, non-lethal(ish).... Then BOOM !!! hehheheheheee..etc
Was over at the Edinburgh fringe in the summer . Was sitting in a very trendy little venezuelan restaurant , sipping Margharitas and feeling a little out of place . Everyone including the brother were all speaking fluent accented spanish (thpanish) and I felt like yer man out of the fast show ( Ill get my coat) .
All of a sudden one of the spanish speakers at the table next to me leapt from his seat and in an accent like Rab C Nesbitt screamed " come back with my f##### bike ye dirty wee f##### ####" and dashed outside . A minute later Senor Rab walked back in and announced in Espanol that hed recovered his bike from the thief , whom hed soundly biffed , but that his bicycle lock was broken and he had to leave .
An amazing skill that , being fluent in threats and obscenities in 2 languages
I have also experienced that sinking feeling the original poster had when he discovered the theft of his beloved traveling companion. likewise I returned to find an empty space where my bike should have been.
(Outside the cinema on Parnell St.)
Around a year later, returning from an anti war rally at the american embassy, I spotted my stolen bike outsde the Chinese takeaway on Baggott St. They hadn't even removed the dead giveaway black & orange saddle.Eventually, after much arguing involving the gardai, my bro and his mate and a car jack, I got my bike back.
By the way, I originally bought it off the lovely Eileen! Sorry.
I enjoyed reading the piece on bike theft and can empathise with the author for his loss.
While interested in the range of readers' responses, I was disappointed by the absence of practical suggestions to counter the problem.
Bicycle theft occurs in many countries and many responses have been developed by campaign groups, local authorities and police departments. These include: producing simple literature explaining to (the slightly more naieve) cyclists (i) where one should and should not lock bicycles, (ii) what locks to use and not to use and (iii) how to lock the bicycle (ie. not just through the front wheel); campaigning for the provision of more guarded public bicycle parks (such as one sees on the Continent); lobbying bicycle shops not to sell completely useless locks etc etc.
I am proposing to form a working group within the Dublin Cycling Campaign (www.connect.ie/dcc) specifically aiming to figure out what the citizens of Dublin can do to stop bicycle theft. If anyone is interested, please contact me directly on damien.otuama@cbpirl.com or come to a Dublin Cycling Campaign (DCC) meeting with your ideas and energy. The DCC is one of the most vibrant campaigning groups in the city with the overall aim of "Making Dublin a Truely Bicycle Friendly City". This aim includes tackling bicycle theft. We meet on the second Monday of each month - the next meeting is on the coming Monday at 7pm in the Carmelite Centre on Aungier Street (location details on the DCC website). All are welcome. Please tell your friends if they are keen to respond in a practical manner to the problem of bicycle theft.
Damien Ó Tuama
Social Events Secretary
Dublin Cycling Campaign
An-scríobhneoireach is an-iriseoireacht é seo. Molaim an t-iriseoir is a fhiosrúchán is an nochtadh a ndearna sé.
Coinnigh ort, a mhic!!
( thug sé James Ellroy i gcuimhne dom)
There's a phenomenal selection of stolen bikes for sale every Sunday morning at the Brick Lane market near Liverpool Street in east London. It seems that every bike thief / junkie in London goes there to make a few bucks. There are £500 bikes on offer which can be bargained for £50. A lot of Londoners who’ve had their expensive bikes stolen go there to buy a stolen bike, figuring that if theirs was stolen then it’s morally all right to buy a stolen bike. I went one Sunday morning and was shocked by the troupe of zombie-like junkie’s brandishing gleaming Giants and Specialized’s and I couldn’t bring myself to haggle with them…
Interesting to see Indymedia contributors cracking down on junkies, petty thieves and others who make misery in peoples daily lives.
When your average petty thief robs a bike, does anyone here know if there is a local hoody higher up the chain who he contacts so that he can sell it quickly.
I am guessing here and assuming a handfull of criminal people at the top deal with most of the sales and distribution of stolen bikes and in every area there is always at least one person who most of the petty thieves know to contact.
Otherwise they have the hassel of trying to sell the bike themselves. And with things like mountain bikes selling for 100s of euro in the shops, it would make sense.
Are the more expensive bikes shipped to the UK or somewhere?
When's the an auction of stolen Garda uniforms?
the local bike man atround Store Street area is well known and sticks out a mile. He lives on Parnell Street but Im afraid this is not him.
Dont recognise this guy.
Good story dude, you know what the really pissie thing about it is the bastard probaly sold it for feck all just to pass it on quickly. I think the posters is a good idea let him know he's on the web as well.
BK.
"Property is theft, but theft is the beginning of property!"
I dont know how many people he's canvassed on the opinion, but its not really much of a 'puzzle' anyway. Some people might agree with the invasion of Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein (or whatever), but they dont agree with bicycle thefts from private residences. I think even a schoolkid could get their head around the concept of agreeing with some things but not others.
Talk about derailing a thread... do all leftie sties with open debate eventually lead back to the war in Iraq? Sheesh...
I have read some nonsense on this site in my time, but you are right up there with the worst.
The invasion of Iraq somehow excuses the stealing of a bicycle in Dublin by some piece of scum. Who, judging by my experience of squaddies in the north, are exactly the type of people who end up in imperialist armies annoying the natives.
Please tell me that you were taking the piss??
Commenters here are being very hard on the poor bike thieves of Dublin. They've probably got a far better excuse to be taking your bike (which is easily replaced, to be fair) than those murderous western invaders in Iraq have of doing what they're doing (there's no easy way to bring people back to life).
It's a real puzzle: People who'll be all respectful, friendly, and even sympathetic with the American soldiers passing through Ireland for the war in Iraq -- the same people have nothing but venom for a couple of petty thieves in Dublin.
.
The concept of the joke has obviously passed you by. Also, have you read/understood the article fully? A good part of it was devoted to the issue of dealing with the anger that results from having your bike stolen, from knowing who did it and from not being able to do anything effective about it. That is the element of the article to which the joke was addressed. Now, if you had actually read the rest of the thread you would know that I was the victim of bike theft myself - along with, it seems, most people commenting here. So, no pet, I am not seriously advocating the stealing of bycycles. How long before you finally work yourself out of your angry young-man phase, I wonder?
Yeah, the new thing among bike thieves is to loosen your front tyre to punish you for locking your bke properly - right bloody psychotic behaviour if you ask me. It happened me last week, I cycled down Dame St happy as Larry before getting off my bike and lifting it on to the kerb only to watch the wheel fall off - I nearly said a novena in appreciation of the fact I didn't die.
I really enjoyed this piece, well written, entertaining, and thoughtful. If you or anyone would like to contribute to our site please do!
Cyclist Inciting Change thru Live Exchange
I think they are taking the piss. I hope so. I dont think anyone could be serious in saying that people should work for a week like the author above to pay for a bike as a means of transport to work, and its somehow ok for anyone to walk into their shed and take it out of some bizarre notion the commenter has of 'common property'. Just childish, rambling, pseudo-intellectual cod-intelligent bullshit to my ears.
Am I reading you correctly? What you seem to be saying is that you just want us to abandon our right to the property we have paid for, and then to go out and steal a bike ourselves. That sounds to me like the law of the jungle.
The Dutch white bike experiment failed cos people took them and sold them or threw them into canals. Stealing someones transport that they depend on is one of the lowest acts.
Land law nowhere includes the concept of absolute ownership in. The closest you come to that is being able to leave property to your descendants but even there the possibilites are strictly reined in. Instead the doctrine of 'tenure' is applied. Beneficiary and legal title holders are a useful notion if applied to the reality of bike 'ownership'. Thus there is the legal or 'paper' owner and the beneficial owner who has the use of the actual property. In this way the extent of control over land and the term of ownership have become governed by an increasingly complex set of rules and regulations aimed at protecting the property uses and interests of the public at large as balanced against the personal interests of the property 'owner'. The latter of course has tended to come out on top, generally, but no mind. Now, it seems from a lot of posts on this thread that we could cut to the chase here and learn from the millenia of expertly argued legal doctrine without going to all the same fuss. Which is another way of echoing what eeekkk and others have said: nobody ever really owns a bike - they just have tenure over it for the duration of the period they are allowed to have it. The legal title is a sort of community matter and the beneficial owners are, well, whoever takes a shine to any given bike at any given time. Be happy about it and feck another one for yourself whenever the need arises?
stolen bikes happen, it's a pain in the balls but you get used to it.
You will probably never see it again, although moore street is always a good place to check.
Fantastic Article - renews ones faith in IMC. Like everyone, Ive had bikes stolen in Dublin. At the moment,Ive got money together after a holidayless summer and the voices in my head are saying “spend that money on a good bike – with 2 locks itll be grand”. There is nothing like a well oiled, well working bike – its such a pity you cant get one without the near inevitability itll be stolen.
I hear the latest thing going is that if you double lock your bike – both wheels and frame, and manage to get one over on them , the dickheads will loosen up your wheels so that once you get peddling, you will fall and smash your face. Beware - these people know no limits.
I say plaster the lads photo all over the place - and the house of the fence too.
...the proceeds go to the gardai.
The Garda bike auction is actually happening tomorrow, today was just the viewing in the sheds.
Those big lots at the end (they are piled up in huge big stacks outside) are great value/potential, but you have to take them away yourself, i.e. you need a truck, and you have to have space to work on them...
A public auction of bicycles will take place at Kevin Street Garda Station in Dublin at 11am on Thursday 6th October 2005.
Members of the public may view these bicycles on Wednesday 5th October 2005 between 10am and 3pm.
I pass that place on the North Circular Road every working day and see so much coming and going I assumed it was a bicycle shop or a guest house aimed at cyclists.
Hopefully this exposure on indymedia may frighten off a few of the punters. If someone is caught with stolen goods they are liable to prosecution. If they did not know it was stolen (very unlikely) they still lose, the stolen item must be returned to the rightful owner. "Caveat emptor" - "Let the buyer beware"
The guards may see bicycle theft as petty crime, but it is very likely that some of the money the bike thieves receive is spent on drugs. Maybe now that the guards have closed the local crack house they can turn some of their attention to this "nice lady", "Eileen", and her little sideline.
A very enterprising friend bought a huge job lot of bikes from the cops at the end of an auction a while back. 100 or so for a token sum. He repaired them and sold them and made a very very very handsome profit.
How to stop bikes being stolen. Make them free and so ubiquotous that there is no incentive or market to feed by stealing.
Utopian I suppose but more realistic in the long term than burning the planet up.
Dutch Provos made a celebrated gesture in this direction with their white bikes:
http://pdxnorml.org/HT_provos_0190.html
I've had five bikes nicked in Dublin. For the first two occasions I was overwhelmed with rage, but after that it was just something that happened, like getting soaked by the bus on a shite morning - you deal with it as a cost of living in the city. The only problem is the junkies haven't provided us with a centralise means of stolen bike re-distribution.
Very interesting story indeed, and very lively written. I also lived in Amsterdam for about half a year but managed to keep the same bike for the whole time at a cost of 25 guilders (about 8 Irish pounds). I don't see why you shouldn't post posters of that person who stole your bike. If it was definitely him that did it why not? If he is happy enough to do something in public then he should be happy enough to be seen doing it. Just like protesting on a Saturday afternoon. Maybe if you PDFed it some Indymedia contributors would print a few copies and stick them on their local lampost. Tell the police. Stick up the posters. Cry havoc and unleash the dogs of war.
Name and Shame? NO. Show and Expose.
Mark Conroy.
Firstly congratulations on one of the best written stories I've seen on indymedia in a while. I used to live in Amsterdam where aparently there are 400,000 bikes and 800,000 bike thefts a year. And I like many "buitlanders" used to by my bikes off Junkies on the street. There were certain spots to go at certain times where a skinny scruffy looking guy would eventually pass by on a freshly stolen bike. At first I was paying up to fifteen euro per bike but eventually I was able to get them for five. Needless to say it becomes a case of easy come, easy go and I went through five bikes in the space of a year. A lot of people look upon it as a sort of bike karma. You by a stolen bike it gets stolen and you presume the previous owner had bought it from a junkie too. However your average cloggie strongly disapproves of this principal and it was only when my Dutch girlfriend had her bike stolen and then bought a secondhand one for eighty euro I began to see that maybe not all of the bikes were fair game. After all I wouldn't have stolen one myself why should I encourage somebody else to. The solution was simple, re-cycling. There are always enough old bikes around your house or dumped on the street to put together and get some sort of a cyclable contraption. More than likely you won't have any suspension of space age disk brakes etc. but it'll get you around. On another note though one of my flatmates had two bikes stolen in one day, she kept forgetting to lock them.
sorry about your bike. universal truth. i don't bother buying bikes anymore either (longest one has lasted me was 3 months), & anyone i know with one nearly strips them down themselves every night and leaves only the frame with multiple locks on the street.
Some years ago in Oxford (once the UK capital of bikes) where this problem is huge, I had a nice bike which unavoidably had to be chained outside my front door. Everyone said it wouldn't last there. On enight at 3am, about 10 days after I got it, sure enough I heard the chains rattling outside and leapt to the window just in time to see what looked like two 11 or 12 year old boys casually walking off with two bikes - one of them mine - and chatting happily to each other. Some monumental cutter things were sticking out of one of their Artful Doger style long coats. I banged on the window and they looked over their shoulders and clocked the red angry face above them. They were completely unperturbed to be discovered. One of them looked me straight in the face with a 'so what are you going to do about it now' expression. In the moment what was conveyed was that by the time I got downstairs and out the door they'd be well on their way and tthere was nothing I could do about it, so why bother. Ringing the police? We wouldnt see them until the following year, if at all. When they knew I'd got the point, they climbed up and cycled off at a leisurely pace and left me, incoherent with rage and impotence at the window. Neither of them were tall enough to sit on the bike and pedal at the same time. Just about recovered now but wish I'd had the sage advice offered above to help me in the intervening 12 years!
Don't poster that photo around -- he looks like me! :-)
(Seriously, I don't wear CocaKilla hoodies, but the face could be mine, or indeed anyone for that matter!)
But I think bike theives are the scum of the earth. You a have an incredibly clear picture of him. A few thousand posters with that picture and you would find him I bet.