Big Rant (long)

[Dave Kahn]

"SimonC" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...

> Just have to have a bit of a rant as I've just had to get a lift home from a good friend who came
> back into the club I was playing pool in, and told me about the state of my rear wheel. My bike
> was locked outside the club and had been "attacked" the rear wheel kicked so hard the rim has
> snapped, and the bars have been nearly wrenched off, currently at right angles to the crossbar,
> also the rear rack has had one of the spars kicked in.. so because of some mindless moron I am
> looking at an approximate of £50 repair bill for a new rear wheel and a new rack, which even on
> close inspection is beyond repair.

I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune. It's quite common around Twickenham and Richmond to come
across locked bicycles that have been completely destroyed by mindless vandals. Defeat them by
repairing the bike to a higher standard than it was before. If you're a regular at that club you
might try applying pressure on them to provide decent bike parking facilities.

Welcome out of lurk BTW. Pity it had to happen on such a downer. :-(

--
Dave...

 

[Kit Wolf]

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003, Colin Blackburn wrote:

> On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 10:23:29 +0000, Peter Clinch <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > MSeries wrote:
> >
> >> I'd agree with that but I am afraid I take the 'No Tolerance' approach and I'm prepared to take
> >> no risks. Maybe I should get an old expendable mountain bike. Trouble is I hate riding ****
> >> bikes.
> >
> > No, an old tourer will be better as it will look to most eeejits like a **** Bike anyway,
> > because it's totally unfashionable. I'm quite confident the 'bent won't get nicked (no market,
>
> I wouldn't be so confident. I forget the guy's name but a bloke on Tyneside had his recumbent
> nicked from a locked shed. It has, as far as I know, not been recovered and is reckoned to have
> been stolen to order, possibly shipped abroad. joyriders wouldn't even

No less than 3 recumbents have been stolen from Tyneside over the last 6 months or so. One of them
was a trike - I think a trice, though I'm not sure. One of them was my custom modified SWB underseat
steering M5 recumbent that is completely unique -

www.students.ncl.ac.uk/c.j.l.wolf/2820.html

and the latest was a long-wheelbase tourer.

It goes without saying that I'd like to hear from anyone who thinks they may know of a dodgy
2nd-hand recumbent dealer.

Kit

 

[Tony Raven]

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers wrote:
>> so, not only was it a car driver but a bloke as well?
>
> No - we women have gonads too - in men the gonads are the testes, in women, the ovaries. Check
> your dictionary
>

Ah but while ovaries can wither and go gangrenous they cannot drop off. Therefore as described they
must be male. Check your anatomy ;-)

Tony

 

[Alan Braggins]

In article <[email protected]>, Tony Raven wrote:
>dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers wrote:
>>> so, not only was it a car driver but a bloke as well?
>>
>> No - we women have gonads too - in men the gonads are the testes, in women, the ovaries. Check
>> your dictionary
>>
>
>Ah but while ovaries can wither and go gangrenous they cannot drop off. Therefore as described they
>must be male. Check your anatomy ;-)

Couldn't they drop off the ends of the tubes and be loose inside the the abdominal cavity? (Google
confirms that gangrene is possible, but I didn't follow the links to see if dropping off was
mentioned.)

 

[Helen Deborah V]

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email protected]>typed

> I have never had a bike stolen, interfered with or damaged when parked in public.

That's tempting fate, Guy.

I have, fairly frequently.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.

 

[Tony W]

"pineapple" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>
> It's a sad state of affairs when a young person like me (19) has already had a good few years of
> terminal despair over the state of the human race...
>
> I don't understand either, and it makes me ashamed to be a member of the same species as the kind
> of person who commits this kind of inane act. The really depressing thing is that this is not an
> uncommon occurrence - there really are a large proportion of people out there, who are that
> inconsiderate and plain stupid!

Sadly, to some little-old-ladies[tm] you probably look like something frightening as you walk or
cycle along. Why? Because you are young.

If you are male (likely with a name like James), black, 'differently' dressed or adorned or with two
or three mates the fear factor may increase dramatically.

:~(

T

 

[Tony Raven]

Alan Braggins wrote:
>
> Couldn't they drop off the ends of the tubes and be loose inside the the abdominal cavity?

No. Check your Grays

Tony

 

[Just Zis Guy]

"Tony W" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> If you are male (likely with a name like James), black, 'differently' dressed or adorned or with
> two or three mates the fear factor may increase dramatically.

Anybody wearing three Mates is undoubtedly Irish. To be sure, to be sure, to be sure.

--
Guy
===

WARNING: may contain traces of irony. Contents may settle after posting.
http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk

 

[Mseries]

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
> "MSeries" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>> I am afraid I take the 'No Tolerance' approach and I'm prepared to take no risks. Maybe I should
>> get an old expendable mountain bike. Trouble is I hate riding **** bikes.
>
>
> The old standby of a decent 1980s lightweight tourer with a Hammerite paint job might do.

It might. Keep my decent 1980s tourer for touring on, get another, that will have less memories
engrained in the 531 main tubes, for shopping.

I am about to get a new washing machine, now I'd love to re-cycle it into a cycle, Mrs Series is
keen on this too.

--
The Reply & From email addresses are checked rarely.

 

[Helen Deborah V]

Peter Clinch <[email protected]>typed

> If you'll take no risks at all with your bike then you can't ride it anywhere either, which rather
> destroys the point! Having said that, if I'm going somewhere I don't like to leave the bike I take
> the Brompton, fold it up and take it in with me. Problem solved. Plenty of utilitarian stops can
> be effectively completely safe, even without "cheating" with the Brompton. Shopping at the local
> Tescos it's in front of a constant stream of people and just along the way from the entrance CCTV
> and security guard. I really can't see it getting vandalised there: vandals may be stupid, but not
> *that* stupid...

You've just reminded me of the drawing pin my tyre acquired whilst parked indoors at Safeway in
Glasgow...

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.

 

[Helen Deborah V]

"Tony W" <[email protected]>typed

> I hope you are right 'cos that's exactly what I use. I'm a bit worried now that I have put a nice
> shiney new honey Brooks B17 on it -- but then its not super soft gel so I'm hoping it will remain
> in tact.

I gave boyfriend honey Brooks saddle. It was removed outside Camden Town Hall...

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email protected] Edgware.

 

[Peter Clinch]

Colin Blackburn wrote: [stolen 'bents]
> I wouldn't be so confident. I forget the guy's name but a bloke on Tyneside had his recumbent
> nicked from a locked shed. It has, as far as I know, not been recovered and is reckoned to have
> been stolen to order, possibly shipped abroad.

This kind of targeted theft I can never be entirely confident of avoiding, but OTOH this was talking
about theft from a public place, where a degree of opportunism is likely to be involved. Targeted
theft is far more likely to involve forcing the doors on locked sheds than an angle grinder through
the Kryponite in town.

Newcastle would make a good place to steal a 'bent to order: easy to get to, out of (all those handy
ferries) and a big enough beat to make finding things hard :-(

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[Colin Blackburn]

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 11:23:19 +0000, Kit Wolf <[email protected]> wrote:

> No less than 3 recumbents have been stolen from Tyneside over the last 6 months or so. One of them
> was a trike - I think a trice, though I'm not sure. One of them was my custom modified SWB
> underseat steering M5 recumbent that is completely unique -

Sorry Kit, I should have remembered your loss too since I, slightly and completely incidentally,
benefitted from it.

Is this a local blip, a specific pattern, or are these figures reflected nationally?

Colin
--

 

[Colin Blackburn]

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 12:48:49 +0000, Peter Clinch <[email protected]> wrote:

> This kind of targeted theft I can never be entirely confident of avoiding, but OTOH this was
> talking about theft from a public place, where a degree of opportunism is likely to be involved.
> Targeted theft is far more likely to involve forcing the doors on locked sheds than an angle
> grinder through the Kryponite in town.
>
> Newcastle would make a good place to steal a 'bent to order: easy to get to, out of (all those
> handy ferries) and a big enough beat to make finding things hard :-(

Yes, but Kit's was stolen in Morpeth, not Newcastle, and IIRC he was on a ride rather than the bike
being in his home in Newcastle.

Colin
--

 

[pineapple]

Originally posted by Tony W
Sadly, to some little-old-ladies[tm] you probably look like something frightening as you walk or
cycle along. Why? Because you are young.

If you are male (likely with a name like James), black, 'differently' dressed or adorned or with two
or three mates the fear factor may increase dramatically.

:~(

T

Oh well I suppose all those idiots out there give the rest of us a bad rep... Luckily as well as being young, I'm also small, polite and oriental so I probably don't quite conform to that particular stereotype



I did have my bike stolen once from outside the boathouse where I was training for the school rowing team. It wasn't much fun running 4 miles back to the boarding house after 2 hours on the water and one in the weights room... That was probably about the same time I started to lose faith in the human race.

 

[Tony Raven]

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers wrote:
>
> But indeed they can drop off. Mine are currently attached to my abdominal wall. I'd be most
> unhappy and prob. in a great deal of pain if they dropped off.

Oh dear you must already be in a great deal of pain with adhesions like that.

Tony

 

[W K]

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> I have never had a bike stolen, interfered with or damaged when parked in public.

Lucky you. Many such things for me.

Including loosening the front quick release. Luckily hoping on to the pavement for my drive when
this happened. Still got big bruises and a front fork that was "bent as a banana".

(hadn't got a helmet on though....)

 

[Kit Wolf]

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003, Colin Blackburn wrote:

> On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 11:23:19 +0000, Kit Wolf <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > No less than 3 recumbents have been stolen from Tyneside over the last 6 months or so. One of
> > them was a trike - I think a trice, though I'm not sure. One of them was my custom modified SWB
> > underseat steering M5 recumbent that is completely unique -
>
> Sorry Kit, I should have remembered your loss too since I, slightly and completely incidentally,
> benefitted from it.
>
> Is this a local blip, a specific pattern, or are these figures reflected nationally?

Most recumbent dealers I talked to seemed surprised when I said I'd just had my bike stolen, though
the cynical might suggest that it's in their interests to perpetuate the myth that recumbents never
go AWOL. Googling about, I learnt of a few more recumbents that were taken in the UK, as well as a
man who stole a recumbent in Italy and cycled it to Germany before he got caught.

Kit

 

[Tony Raven]

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers wrote:
>
> When I was "neutered", that's where they left those bits ;-)
>
<smartarse> I think you'll find they left those bits exactly where they've always been attached to
the uterine ligament. http://education.yahoo.com/reference/gray/266.html . The neutering is done
elsewhere </smartarse>

Tony

 

[Peter B]

"Tony W" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "SimonC" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Hi, been lurking for a while now, and like the comments from the group.
>
> Welcome
>
> snip
>
> > Why do these idiots think that its fun to ruin someone's chosen form of transport?
>
> snip
>
> Partly because you dare to be different -- challenging the accepted norms
by
> using a bicycle as a form of transport.

Ditch the paranoia, cars get vandalised as well and you should have seen the mess made of our works
van parked in a high fenced locked compound.

Pete