anti-theft idea

Ken

Here's an idea I came up with to lower your chances of getting your bike stolen:
Place a big HUFFY sticker on your frame , covering the TREK , CANNONDALE, etc.
I'm not sure if these are sold in bike shops, but I suppose you can make one up
on the computer

THe downside of this is that you look like a dork, to some people who think
you ride a HUFFY. I haven't tried this myself, as it is just an idea. What do
you think?

Ken

Mike Schwab

Reminds me of this story

Good sign! --- Martin Pion <mpion@swbell.net> wrote:
> To: STLCM@topica.com From: Martin Pion <mpion@swbell.net> Subject: Re: [STLCM]
> "Ex wife got car" rear sticker Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2003 12:16:17 -0500
> =

> Hi Dan,
> =

> This is an amusing piece, and maybe even worth trying (just for fun, mind): a
> "bumper" sticker to affix to your helmet or bike to ward off aggressive
> motorists (identified by the cyclist below as NRA members et al.).
> =

> The winning slogan was:
> =

> "EX WIFE GOT CAR"
> =

> That's enough to get you sympathy from all those over-hormoned angry males out
> there. (I assume there are no angry females?) I'd better check this out with my
> wife before trying it though, in case it becomes a portent. (Come to think of
> it, my present wife has the one reliably running family car now, and I have to
> check before borrowing
> it. I can't complain though. She usually says yes.)
> =

> Best regards, Martin.
> =

> P.S. It occurs to me you'd need an illuminated version, maybe a neon light, for
> nighttime use. Or perhaps it could be created with reflective tape. Here's
> an opportunity for an entrepreneur....
> =

> >from yesterday's Boston Globe
>
>http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/1...e_Hancock+.sht=
ml
> >
> >ALTERNATIVE COMMUTES
> >
> >>From Hull to the Hancock
> >
> >Trying to get a four-wheeler's respect, on a bike
> >
> >By Joe Berkeley, 6/8/2003
> >
> >s a commuter cyclist who frequently makes the bone-chilling ride from Hull to
> >the Back Bay, I do what I can to protect myself.
> >
> >I purchased a headlight system with optional flashing taillight. A neon-green
> >jacket also increases my visibility.
> >
> >However, I had a problem beyond visibility: How to be liked by motorists.
> >
> >While most of my fellow travelers behave in a professional and predictable
> >manner, a minority do not. Some become enraged that I occupy up to 18 inches
> >on the far right side of the lane. Drivers of trucks, commercial vans, SUVs --
> >even compact cars toting four to five hormonally driven youths -- have all at
> >one time or another hollered at me, uttered oaths that couldn't be repeated in
> >a family newspaper,

> >the enthusiasm of a lynch mob.
> >
> >I theorized that if I proved to this group of angry motorists that I am
> >
> >not some freak clad in spandex, but a regular guy, just like them -- someone
> >who shares their pain, understands their challenges -- I would extend my life
> >expectancy. But how? Finding an American flag on a roadside one day, I
> >fastened it to my rear rack and started pedaling madly. The theory of this
> >experiment was ''You, Mr. Chevy SUV driver, are an American, and I am an
> >American. We have a lot in common. From the mountains, to the prairies, to the
> >oceans . . .''
> >
> >The angry drivers were just as angry, just as nasty, just as likely to
> >question my patriotism. Down came the flag.
> >
> >Having spent an enormous amount of time riding past vehicles that later pass
> >me on the commute, I have observed the following stickers on the back windows
> >of those most likely to yell at me:
> >
> >''I am the NRA''
> >
> >''Go Sox''
> >
> >''Semper Fi''
> >
> >Using my desktop publishing skills, I mocked up similar signs to fit on the
> >back of my bicycle. Before posting them, I showed them to a noncyclist co-
> >worker named Kevin.
> >
> >We decided that the ''I am the NRA'' sign could lead to a shooting incident.
> >Mounting a shotgun rack on the back of my bicycle would add an air of
> >authenticity, but the added bulk would be problematic.
> >
> >The Red Sox approach was also complex. When the Sox win, sure, I could be
> >given a bit more respect on the road. But what about when the Sox lose a close
> >one? One bad bounce and I could be driven off the road. Until the Red Sox win
> >a World Series, this idea was on the back burner.
> >
> >''Semper Fi'' appeared to be a strategically sound approach. Everyone loves a
> >Marine, so that's good. Marines know how to kill people who mess with them, so
> >I could inspire fear. However, what if a real Marine saluted me inbtraffic? I
> >would be a fraud. Back to the drawing board.
> >
> >I knew I had a winner on my hands the second I penned
> >it:
> >
> >''Ex wife got car''
> >
> >''Yeah,'' my co-worker Kevin said, nodding his approval. ''Pickup truck guys
> >are always mad at their wives.'' One Friday evening, I tested my inspiration,
> >affixing it to the back of my bicycle. Guess what I got: an abundance of
> >knowing smiles from my core audience -- angry men driving pickup trucks,
> >hormonally enraged young men traveling in packs while crammed into small cars,
> >homophobic van drivers, as well as petite women in gargantuan SUVs.
> >
> >I got plenty of thumbs up, too. And nods of approval.
> >
> >One morning, a plumber and his sidekick rolled by in a rusty pickup. The
> >sidekick rolled down a window, nodded sagely, and said, ''Yeah, and I bet
> >you're still paying the insurance.''
> >
> >Other men have said, in family newspaper-speak, ''I have been similarly
> >imposed upon.'' And a few women have actually pulled over -- not to hit me,
> >but to hit on me.
> >
> >Most importantly, all of the drivers who can actually see where they are
> >going are giving me another inch of room on the road. You can't ask for more
> >than an inch.
> >
> >Drivers who can't see where they're going, like those helming the Grand
> >Marquis Presidential editions or Cadillac Broughams, just keep steaming along
> >as if I didn't exist.
> >
> >You do what you can in this world.
> >
> >Joe Berkeley, a creative director at Hill, Holliday, always wears a helmet
> >while riding. He says his wife is not amused by the sign.
> >
> >This story ran on page 1 of the Boston Globe's City Weekly section on
> >6/8/2003. =A9 Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

ken wrote:
> =

> Here's an idea I came up with to lower your chances of getting your bike
> stolen: Place a big HUFFY sticker on your frame , covering the TREK ,
> CANNONDALE, etc. I'm not sure if these are sold in bike shops, but I suppose
> you can make one up on the computer
> =

> THe downside of this is that you look like a dork, to some people who think
> you ride a HUFFY. I haven't tried this myself, as it is just an idea. What do
> you think?
> =

> Ken

Tom Keats

In article <b22dd29d.0403052145.6b1982d8@posting.google.com>,
kenbus189@hotmail.com (ken) writes:
> Here's an idea I came up with to lower your chances of getting your bike
> stolen: Place a big HUFFY sticker on your frame , covering the TREK ,
> CANNONDALE, etc. I'm not sure if these are sold in bike shops, but I suppose
> you can make one up on the computer
>
> THe downside of this is that you look like a dork, to some people who think
> you ride a HUFFY. I haven't tried this myself, as it is just an idea. What do
> you think?

I've heard many people express their belief that it is the ease with which a bike
may be stolen, rather than its intrinsic worth or appeal, that is usually the
deciding factor in whether or not it actually does get stolen. I agree with them.
Even Huffys get stolen.

I think it's better to make a bike hard to steal, than undesirable to steal.

cheers, Tom

--
-- Powered by FreeBSD Above address is just a spam midden. I'm really at: tkeats
[curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Dalibor Bauernf

In article <b22dd29d.0403052145.6b1982d8@posting.google.com>, ken says...
> What do you think?

I think there's 2 kinds of ppl.

1) Who steal all bikes
2) Who steal brandname bikes, and know them when they see them

Either way, you bike with fake stickers is gonna get stolen.

--
"There's a fine line between an attitude problem and thinking clearly."
d.B. ICQ: 138579247

Just Zis Guy

On 5 Mar 2004 21:45:29 -0800, kenbus189@hotmail.com (ken) wrote in
message <b22dd29d.0403052145.6b1982d8@posting.google.com>:

>
Here's an idea I came up with to lower your chances of getting your
bike stolen:
Place a big HUFFY sticker on your frame , covering the TREK ,
CANNONDALE, etc.

Standard practice on bikes left locked at stations is to brush-paint
the bike with Hammerite so it looks like a pile of cack.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

Zippy The Pinhe

On 5 Mar 2004 21:45:29 -0800, kenbus189@hotmail.com (ken) wrote:

>Here's an idea I came up with to lower your chances of
>getting your bike stolen: Place a big HUFFY sticker on
>your frame ,

I think a better option would be to place a spring-loaded,
barbed harpoon ("The Shaft [TM]")in the seat tube. The Shaft
(TM) would be tethered inside the bike by a thin, ten-foot
Kevlar cable attached inside the tube down near the bottom
bracket. You'd place an unobtrusive key into the seat tube
to disable it when you were riding it, and take the key out
when you park it.

Any weight placed onto the saddle would begin the process of
arming The Shaft (TM). In the absence of the key, few turns
of the crank-arm would release The Shaft (TM) through the
saddle and impale whatever was riding it at the time.

An audio alarm would be optional, and would loudly announce
in a computer-generated voice: "The guy with The Shaft (TM)
up his ass is a THIEF!" at ten-second intervals until the 9V
battery went dead.

Even in a built-up area, it shouldn't be too hard to find
your stolen bike; you'd just follow the trail of blood and
diarrhea. It wouldn't be too hard to cut the cable. You'd be
out a new saddle, and since The Shaft (TM) is inexpensive
and disposable, you'd be able to replace it cheaply and
conveniently.

Gabike

>THe downside of this is that you look like a dork, to some
>people who think you ride a HUFFY. I haven't tried this
>myself, as it is just an idea. What do you think?

The upside would be seeing their faces when someone riding a
HUFFY passes them like nobodys business and laughing at them
the next week after they went out and bought actual HUFFY's
to try to keep up with you.

Steven M. O'Nei

Just zis Guy, you know? <guy.chapman+usenet-reply@spamcop.net> wrote:
>On 5 Mar 2004 21:45:29 -0800, kenbus189@hotmail.com
>(ken) wrote in

>>Here's an idea I came up with to lower your chances of
>>getting your bike stolen: Place a big HUFFY sticker on
>>your frame , covering the TREK , CANNONDALE, etc.
>
>Standard practice on bikes left locked at stations is to
>brush-paint the bike with Hammerite so it looks like a
>pile of cack.

Hammerite appears to be a brand name. Which of their
products would you recommend for this practice?

TIA, Steve
--
Steven O'Neill steveo@panix.com "Your search for bike cack
returned 0 results"

Dave Mayer

"ken" <kenbus189@hotmail.com> wrote in message > Place a big
HUFFY sticker on your frame , covering the TREK ,
> CANNONDALE, etc.

Ken: around here, putting a Huffy (or Schwinn, Murray,
Infinity, Dunlop, Mongoose etc.) set of stickers on your
bike will increase its chance of getting stolen. Why? Most
bike thefts are by drug addicts who sell them for a few
bucks. Small-time thieves and their cohorts in pawn shops
only know these brands.

Put two identical bikes out with Pinarello and Huffy
stickers on it and the Pinarello will be left alone. This
situation played out here in which an unlocked $4k Klein
road bike was moved on a bike rack so they could work on a
locked $200 department-store mountain bike.

Just Zis Guy

On Sat, 6 Mar 2004 14:48:31 +0000 (UTC), steveo@panix.com (Steven M.
O'Neill) wrote in message <c2cobv$olf$1@reader2.panix.com>:

>Hammerite appears to be a brand name. Which of their
>products would you recommend for this practice?

Any of them - the fake hammer-finish blue rust-inhibiting
paint seems to work quite well, as it's obviously
Hammerite :-)

Hammerite used to be made by a firm called Finnigan's
IIRC...

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

Lorenzo L. Love

Zippy the Pinhead wrote:
> On 5 Mar 2004 21:45:29 -0800, kenbus189@hotmail.com
> (ken) wrote:
>
>
>>Here's an idea I came up with to lower your chances of
>>getting your bike stolen: Place a big HUFFY sticker on
>>your frame ,
>
>
> I think a better option would be to place a spring-loaded,
> barbed harpoon ("The Shaft [TM]")in the seat tube. The
> Shaft (TM) would be tethered inside the bike by a thin,
> ten-foot Kevlar cable attached inside the tube down near
> the bottom bracket. You'd place an unobtrusive key into
> the seat tube to disable it when you were riding it, and
> take the key out when you park it.
>
> Any weight placed onto the saddle would begin the process
> of arming The Shaft (TM). In the absence of the key, few
> turns of the crank-arm would release The Shaft (TM)
> through the saddle and impale whatever was riding it at
> the time.
>
> An audio alarm would be optional, and would loudly
> announce in a computer-generated voice: "The guy with The
> Shaft (TM) up his ass is a THIEF!" at ten-second intervals
> until the 9V battery went dead.
>
> Even in a built-up area, it shouldn't be too hard to find
> your stolen bike; you'd just follow the trail of blood and
> diarrhea. It wouldn't be too hard to cut the cable. You'd
> be out a new saddle, and since The Shaft (TM) is
> inexpensive and disposable, you'd be able to replace it
> cheaply and conveniently.
>
>

Hey! I proposed this years ago! I knew I should have
patented it.

Lorenzo L. Love http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact
that a person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife
beater, and even a newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive
there's something wrong with him." Art Buchwald

Ryan Cousineau

In article <Vzn2c.723726$ts4.597223@pd7tw3no>,
"Dave Mayer" <dave4242@hotmail.com> wrote:

> "ken" <kenbus189@hotmail.com> wrote in message > Place a
> big HUFFY sticker on your frame , covering the TREK ,
> > CANNONDALE, etc.
>
> Ken: around here, putting a Huffy (or Schwinn, Murray,
> Infinity, Dunlop, Mongoose etc.) set of stickers on your
> bike will increase its chance of getting stolen. Why? Most
> bike thefts are by drug addicts who sell them for a few
> bucks. Small-time thieves and their cohorts in pawn shops
> only know these brands.
>
> Put two identical bikes out with Pinarello and Huffy
> stickers on it and the Pinarello will be left alone. This
> situation played out here in which an unlocked $4k Klein
> road bike was moved on a bike rack so they could work on a
> locked $200 department-store mountain bike.

Are you for serious? Where did that one play out?

All my bikes have fancy-pants name brands (Kona, Pinarello,
Bianchi) but look like crap,
--
Ryan Cousineau, rcousine@sfu.ca
http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

Mike Schwab

This device should included with a Cutout Seat and
suspension seat post, with the impaling instrument inside
the seat post and tube. Lock would be a locking pin over the
seat post. The seat would have the regular male/female
cutout with additional disguised by the padding. upon
activation, you only need to replace the mechanism and the
seat cover.

"Lorenzo L. Love" wrote:
>
> Zippy the Pinhead wrote:
> > On 5 Mar 2004 21:45:29 -0800, kenbus189@hotmail.com
> > (ken) wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Here's an idea I came up with to lower your chances of
> >>getting your bike stolen: Place a big HUFFY sticker on
> >>your frame ,
> >
> >
> > I think a better option would be to place a spring-
> > loaded, barbed harpoon ("The Shaft [TM]")in the seat
> > tube. The Shaft (TM) would be tethered inside the
> > bike by a thin, ten-foot Kevlar cable attached inside
> > the tube down near the bottom bracket. You'd place an
> > unobtrusive key into the seat tube to disable it when
> > you were riding it, and take the key out when you
> > park it.
> >
> > Any weight placed onto the saddle would begin the
> > process of arming The Shaft (TM). In the absence of the
> > key, few turns of the crank-arm would release The Shaft
> > (TM) through the saddle and impale whatever was riding
> > it at the time.
> >
> > An audio alarm would be optional, and would loudly
> > announce in a computer-generated voice: "The guy with
> > The Shaft (TM) up his ass is a THIEF!" at ten-second
> > intervals until the 9V battery went dead.
> >
> > Even in a built-up area, it shouldn't be too hard to
> > find your stolen bike; you'd just follow the trail of
> > blood and diarrhea. It wouldn't be too hard to cut the
> > cable. You'd be out a new saddle, and since The Shaft
> > (TM) is inexpensive and disposable, you'd be able to
> > replace it cheaply and conveniently.
> >
> >
>
> Hey! I proposed this years ago! I knew I should have
> patented it.
>
> Lorenzo L. Love http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove
>
> "Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the
> fact that a person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a
> wife beater, and even a newspaperman, but if a man doesn't
> drive there's something wrong with him." Art Buchwald

Mike Schwab

Springfield, IL took recovered bicycles not claimed, painted
them yellow, and put them out for anyone to use. They did
not last very long.

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
>
> In article <Vzn2c.723726$ts4.597223@pd7tw3no>,
> "Dave Mayer" <dave4242@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > "ken" <kenbus189@hotmail.com> wrote in message > Place a
> > big HUFFY sticker on your frame , covering the TREK ,
> > > CANNONDALE, etc.
> >
> > Ken: around here, putting a Huffy (or Schwinn, Murray,
> > Infinity, Dunlop, Mongoose etc.) set of stickers on your
> > bike will increase its chance of getting stolen. Why?
> > Most bike thefts are by drug addicts who sell them for a
> > few bucks. Small-time thieves and their cohorts in pawn
> > shops only know these brands.
> >
> > Put two identical bikes out with Pinarello and Huffy
> > stickers on it and the Pinarello will be left alone.
> > This situation played out here in which an unlocked $4k
> > Klein road bike was moved on a bike rack so they could
> > work on a locked $200 department-store mountain bike.
>
> Are you for serious? Where did that one play out?
>
> All my bikes have fancy-pants name brands (Kona,
> Pinarello, Bianchi) but look like crap,
> --
> Ryan Cousineau, rcousine@sfu.ca
> http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/ President, Fabrizio
> Mazzoleni Fan Club