It is as bad as you've read. Use a good lock.
Biking in NYC, how bad is the theft?
My wife and I are staying with some friends who want us to bring our bikes. We both have nice bikes worth stealing and being that I don't live there I only know what I read about theft there. How bad is it really? I know all of the locking strategies and know the tricks thieves use. Is it as bad as I read? If I lock my bike up for an hour or two will they be safe?
i see poorly-locked bikes sit for days with no problem... and then i also see well-locked frames (only frames...)
John Leguizamo got all the tips you need.
from friends who live there, it seems as bad as you've read. most people i know ride with two locks: a NYC chain for the frame/front wheel and a NYC U-lock for the back wheel.
I've heard of peoples parts getting jacked.
How to secure your frame in NYC:
(snapshot taken the recent 5Boros ride weekend).
Also, it's really flat there, except for the bridges. You might be able to rent a bike or get around on some kind of beater bike...
In any case: have fun. It's such a great city & it is pretty entertaining to just wander the streets checking out how people lock up or make mods to the food delivery bikes.
it must've been a bicycle buffet for thieves then.
^erok, I think some of the hotels (including the one we stayed in) were pretty easygoing about bringing bikes into the rooms.
I still own all of the fancy bikes I've ridden all over NYC. Just use a good lock, check what you're locking to, don't leave it out overnight.
Hotels have no standing to tell you that you can't bring a bike into the room. It's your luggage like anything else. In all of the places I've stayed with a bike only one hotel in London gave me a hard time about it. Every time a new employee or desk person gave me a line about how I couldn't bring it into my room I just assured them I already talked to the manager and it was cool, no matter what their note from the manager said. I never talked to the manager.
+1 for what Erok said " two locks: a NYC chain for the frame/front wheel and a NYC U-lock for the back wheel."
or you can take off the front wheel and get both wheels and frame with a NYC chain...or rent bikes.
The riding is pretty dreamy there. Bike lanes galore!
I just picked up a 2011 NYC Bikemap today... the front boasts of 50+ miles of new bike lanes this year. Whew...
I was just there and saw a lot of people who used a little lock to chain their seat to the frame. It almost looked like a spare tube but it was a lock for the seat.
2 friend of mine had their bikes stolen in NYC. They were just visiting for the weekend. They locked the bike to a parking meter in front of a cafe that had out door seating on the sidewalk. They go a table about 20 feet from their bikes. A white cargo van pulls up to the parking meter. The driver stays in his seat. The side door slides open right at the bikes, someone jumps out with a angle grinder with a cutoff wheel and proceeds to cut through the u-lock in about 15 seconds. He throws the two bikes in the van and the van speeds off.
that is insane, seriously
Looks like a beaver stole the bike. What at the heck did they use to chop the tree down?
Well Geez if they put that kind of effort into earning money legally they wouldn't have to steal things from other people.
rsprake - Not sure when you are heading to NYC, but I have a Krypto NYC mini-u that you are welcome to borrow for the trip. I only use it when I'm in NYC or Philadelphia really, as it's total overkill elsewhere. Even in those town I sometimes don't bring it because it is so over the top cumbersome.
http://kryptonitelock.com/OutletProducts/Products/ProductDetail.aspx?cid=1001&scid=1000&pid=1095
I love that their security scale goes to 12.
We are going next weekend.
If you want to get in touch next week via the electronic mail I can hand it off if you're interested. I live right on Liberty Ave, so I'm not hard to find. I know a bunch of board posters pass my house on their commutes, perhaps you're one of them.
and if thats not secure enough they always make this too!
Brad, I am. I wave whenever I see you hanging outside. I ride a blue long haul trucker with the albatross bars.
I thought that was you...
Not related to theft, but here's a great video from someone ticketed in NYC for not riding in the bike lanes.
I thought ax meant to inquire about something, or pose a question.
Totally nuts.. they didn't even take the bike!
Who even owns an axe in NYC? And why?
@Lyle: I believe the term is 'fakerjacks.'
yesss..... Bike Snob
i don't think caitlin would be very happy to see that video...
Axe is an olfactory assault.
An ax is "a cutting tool that consists of a heavy edged head fixed to a handle with the edge parallel to the handle and that is used especially for felling trees and chopping and splitting wood".
If you have a question about something, you aks about it.
do you think it was from best made co?
Oh my this is crazy! I am moving to NYC in August and I already miss the (what seems to me) relative ease of biking here. Maybe lots of bike lanes will change my mind...