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What's going on in SOMA? Is there a stolen bike chop shop in the area?
We've heard rumors for a while now about what happens to bikes and bike parts that get stolen in San Francisco. But we don't know for sure. You people are smart AND street smart, so tell us the details. Please leave a comment, and see what somebody did to our beautiful Trek 8000, after the jump.
Fifteen years. Fifteen freaking years of bike ownership down the aluminum tubes due the loss of the handlebars, shifters, brakes and stuff like that. We might try to rebuild, just as Aunty Entity did with Bartertown. But the question remains - who can even use our old-school 7-speed XT shifters that really only work with cantilever brakes? The kids today, they're into V-brakes, right?
Who indeed. Last night we saw three separate groups of people in SOMA from the ballpark to Van Ness doing what seemed to be working on bikes. Not that that is illegal or anything, but what's going on here? Is there some sort of vast clearinghouse/"open-air market" of stolen bike parts near SOMA/Civic Center? A kind of mini-factory chugging out reassembled product? That's what we've heard.
Read of the pain of San Francisco bike thievery here. Fight back with tips here. And who of these four, Mai, Tim, that smug bastard John, or Kalie, are using the best locking technique?
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Did you call the cops?
There are a LOT of creepy creepy 'homeless' people in town right now. I have no idea where they came from or why they are here but it sure it taking a long time for word to filter out that SF only gives out $50 GA checks now. One really great thing Newsom did for this town was to eliminate the truly evil 'homeless' bike thieves who simply can't be happy until they f*ck up my bike. This is the video age so why not video some of the 'crew' working in bikes and post it here? It would be even more great if you could catch a theft in progress on video and post it....instead of busting the bus drivers why not bust a real a$$hole??? Pepper spray will mess up any number of people stealing a bike, and if that doesn't stop them they are still blind enough so that a metal pipe will finish them off no proplem.....
The cops don't give a shit. An open-air bike chop shop operated under the Fell St. ramp of the Central Freeway for years. Every day around dusk a guy in a van rolled up and paid cash for parts, wheels, whole bikes, and other stolen shit like guitars. I took a lot of (excellent, clear, high-resolution) photographs of this activity and took it down to the police station and they couldn't possibly have cared less.
I drive by those vans full of bike parts parked under the Central Fwy almost every day. It's obvious they are stolen. I wish the cops would do something for once.
The kids today are heavy into disc brakes.
Bike thieves come in a few basic flavors:
Drug addicts: Mostly, it's crackheads smashing and grabbing, then selling for a few bucks with no idea how much the shit is worth.
Small-timers: Like the one described by jwb. They have a better sense of what bike stuff is worth, and they'll buy stuff from crackheads, re-assemble, and sell at flea markets.
Big-timers: This is the dude that cases your house, then breaks into your garage and steals your Seven. A lot times, they're in far-reaching networks and shuttle bikes around the country to make them harder to trace.
The only thing you can do is keep track of your bike's serial number or register with the National Bike Registry (not free). If the cops find your bike, they'll let you know.
Cantilever brakes, hahahahahaha
Nothing wrong with cantis.
The reason the industry switched over to long pull was ease of assembly/adjustment and the proliferation of full suspension. Performance is similar (enough) on a rigid bike.
Disk brakes? Maybe someday.
"Every day around dusk a guy in a van rolled up and paid cash for parts, wheels, whole bikes, and other stolen shit like guitars. I took a lot of (excellent, clear, high-resolution) photographs of this activity and took it down to the police station and they couldn't possibly have cared less."
Might be worth going straight to the SF Chron about it. There have been a couple stories they've broken that have put the city in a bad PR light and thus made the Mayor's Office lean on various departments.
Re: your trek - consider using www.stolenbicycleregistry.com
I am a cop in the city. The best thing you can do to help is keep a copy of the serial number on the bike so when it is stolen we can enter it into the computer. That way when the dude is stopped on it or we run a check on it when he is working on it it will come back stolen. you get your bike back he goes to jail. No hit in the computer we cant prove its stolen cant just take someones bike because i think he stole it. That would put me on the front page of the chron
^^^ another good argument for leaving guest comments turned on
Keep your serial number. If your bike is stolen the cops are required to record it into the stolen bike database. You don't need to register your bike.
Never use cable locks. Always use a U-lock, and fill the space in the 'U' with your bike parts so thieves can't use leverage to bust the U-lock.
Keep your eye out for bike thieves and beat the shit out of them when you see them.
Never buy a stolen bicycle.
Next time you see Heather Fong ask her what the hell is up with a bike thief ring operating a few blocks from her office?!
Didn't think to report this as only parts were taken. Thanks for peoples' comments
Or just always ride shitty bikes and figure that if someone steals it, you can get another shitty bike. I am so completely over having a good bike in this town after someone swiped a good bike off my PORCH.