Given all the attention paid to bicycle theft on the internets, I decided to conduct an experiment in my neighborhood:
In South Broad Ripple, if you park a shiny light blue and silver 18-speed Wally World "mountain bike" with a matching Bell saddle and a Nashbar luggage rack and a sign that says "FREE BIKE!" on your curb on trash day at 11:00 AM, it will take approximately an hour and a half for someone to steal it. The average thief will be dressed like a FedUPS driver (complete with truck) and, when you wave and say "Just sharing the love!", will wave back and smile.
I'm such a hippie.
How, perchance, does one steal a "free bike"?
ReplyDeleteYou couldn't even get $25 for it on Craigslist?
ReplyDeleteAyn Rand frowns upon you.
A) Comrade Misfit, this is what we earthlings call "a joke". ;)
ReplyDelete2) PDB, given that the thing was barely over $75 new, I feel I got my money's worth out of it. It was worth the $25 to avoid the hassle and see the smile on the guy's face. Ayn can do what she wants with her own damn bike. ;)
and I'm sure that Ayn would defend to the death your right to whatever the hell you want with your own damn bike.
ReplyDeleteYour death, anyway...
I was going to "cancel" this comment, until I saw The Word:
WV: flamlog. Need one these days to keep track of comments on certain blogs...
I'm reminded of an experiment where someone left a car with hood open and unlocked in a several kinds of neighbourhoods to see how long it would take for it to attract the attetnion of A. Criminals or B. Police c. Local citizens
ReplyDeleteNeighbourhood A. Researcher was mugged as he turned the corner, car was stripped inside 30 min
B. Car stolen within an hour.
C. Car stolen with a day
D. Car sits until police called to investigate, 1 day . They close hood and lock doors. Car sits for another week before police tow it
E. Car sits fo 6 hours, passing citizen closes hood. Cars sits for 3 weeks before police take interest and lock it up. sits another 2 weeks before towed.
F. Car sits unmolested until after a week someone closes hood, Sits until researcher removed it.
Anyway... sticking something on the sidewalk with a "free" sign is a wonderful way to get rid of almost anything, old TV's, bikes, crappy furniture, wood, metal bits, no stress to you, and makes other people happy.
There was a news story in Denver many years ago about a guy trying to sell his old refrigerator. He tried several methods and no one would buy it. So he put it in his front yard with a sign "Free". No one would take it. Finally he chained it to the tree in his front yard and that night someone stole it.
ReplyDeleteI heard the refrigerator story as follows. No one would take it with a "free" sign on it. Owner puts a for sale sign on it for $50 and it's stolen almost immediately.
ReplyDelete"Just sharing the love!"
ReplyDeleteYou're scaring me lass...
Ayn Rand approves of you. You avoided having to pay someone to haul it off.
ReplyDeleteThe cycle is complete.
ReplyDeleteTalking about bicycle thieves - about a week ago the local newspaper had a story about a couple of wannabe bicycle thieves who were foiled when the neighbors of the family owning said bicycle noticed that a crime was about to happen. Now this happened in the middle of the night, and the reason why the neighbors were awake was because they were, as the paper said it, 'doing their own thing'. The heroic couple rushed out, the wife dressed in a sheet and the man probably in nothing, and he wrestled the thief carrying the bicycle to the ground, and lets quote the paper again, 'in the spirit of the original Greek Olympics' (which is why we guessed that he was starkers). To add to the guy's heroism, this happened in Finland. Pretty cold here this time of the year. Anyway, the thieves were caught and the bike returned to the owner, a 12 years old girl. Hopefully her parents rewarded their neighbor in a suitable way.
ReplyDelete