Hold it, Lock it, or Lose It

Greenwashing Cycling Is Counterproductive* December 2, 2009

Yes indeed, green IS the new black. Whether you’re painting your nails with Chanel (or fake Chanel - the real stuff is rumoured to be going for around £80 a bottle), trying to put some clear green water between your political party and the next, or just trying to ease your conscience after a career of [...]

Too Painful December 1, 2009

I’m seeing more and more of these strange little cartoon video things from Xtranormal . For me (seeing as I work in a Kafka novel set on the fringes of local government), the TV series The Office was just too painful - too full of the sort of power-deranged, delusional madness that I saw every day. [...]

Is Bar Tape SO Expensive? November 30, 2009

I guess when you work in an industrial equipment store, there are just so many alternatives for the regular cork & synthetics / cloth / leather options. And seeing as the availability of these alternatives could be seen as one of the perks of the job (i.e. free , provided that the boss doesn’t catch [...]

Biking Kids - CGI? November 30, 2009

I remember in The Good Old Days, when you could see the strings and the tell-tale focusing errors of stop-motion animation. But not any more. Just take a look at this, which I found on Velorution this evening: I really don’t know if this is CGI or not. I bet he’s a complete nightmare in the [...]

I’m Moving To Portland November 28, 2009

For some time now, I’ve hankered after building bikes from scratch. I mean, building the whole frame from lengths of steel tubing, and hand-cast lugs. Actually, not from lengths of steel tubing, but from iron ore that I smelted myself, and then converted to steel in a Bessemer converter in my shed, and then rolled [...]

Wet Weather Braking (or not) November 28, 2009

One of the things about living on the East side of the country is that we’re in the rain shadow of the Pennines. Over the other side is the Lake District - lots of lakes made by lots of rain filling up the valleys. But over here, it hardly ever rains. When it does, however, you [...]

“Everything We Take For Granted… November 27, 2009

… weekend, gay rights, the right to form a union, the abolition of slavery, everything was won by disobedience" Sometimes I’m very, very boring and conventional. And I’m not entirely sure of the merits of a mass civil disobedience event at the COP15 UN Summit (will the protest achieve it’s aims, or result in a beautiful [...]

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Hold it, Lock it, or Lose It

Posted on September 17, 2008 by Karl McCracken

Matthew Reid: “I feel really lost without my bike,” said Matthew. “My whole social life revolves around going out on my bike with my mates

This sad story was in the Newcastle Journal on Monday. Local paper boy, Matthew Reid was doing his morning round on his pride and joy customised Giant Glory. Like most paperboys, he used his bike to get from house to house, but then left it at the garden gate while he walked to the front door to drop the news on the mat.

The trouble was, he was riding a bike that had cost him over £3,000, specially built for downhill racing. Despite its distinctive bronze colouring and being engraved with his name, it was just too tempting for a thief to grab and ride off on. Matthew’s now been reduced to riding a beaten-up old mountain bike that the papershop owner has lent him.

Like so many of us who’ve had bikes stolen, Matthew said, “I feel really lost without my bike. My whole social life revolves around going out on it”.

The lesson from this? Quite simple, really:

ALWAYS lock your bike
If your stops are too frequent & short to make locking your bike convenient, always take it with you. If you’re a paperboy, that means wheeling it up the garden path of every house you deliver to.

Both options probably sound inconvenient, but trust me, they’re no-where near as inconvenient as getting a £3,000 bike stolen.

Filed under: News, Stolen Bike, Unlocked Bike