Would you park a bike of £2000.00 at an open train station cycle park?

[Bicycle]

If you mean Rugby Football, then I guess you are not wrong.

Yes, I mean Ruger rather than Soccer. My apologies. My boys play both as did I, so I get casual about the common terms.

If someone asks if I'd like to come and see a football game, I don't imagine he means Rugger.

And of course... I mean playing, not plating.

I am a bad, bad typist.

 

[david k]

maybe the issue is not enough good quality and safe areas to lock bikes

 

[Hip Priest]

Hell no, as they say across the pond. I wouldn't even dream of leaving my £300 Carrera locked up in the street all day. When my Apollo got pinched, I replaced it with a £50 Ebay special, which I scratched up with a Stanley knife to make it more unpleasant. It never got pinched, but it did get kicked over once or twice and had what appeared to be curry smeared over it. Happily, the days of parking in the street are behind me.

 

[martint235]

what appeared to be curry smeared over it.

I really, really hope you were sure!!!!

 

[david k]

there was an article a couple of months ago in Cycle plus about companies not providing secure parking for bikes. i think this is the main issue that needs to be addressed. my works have some bars and that it, then theres nowhere to get washed and changed

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I really don't get the 'folder' thing.

Then feel free to leave your rat bike at Woolwich Arsenal station, as the OP proposes, for a few days and let us all know how you get on.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

If you set up a Brompton properly, which means:

- the right bars for you
- the right seatpost length for you
- the right pedals for you
- the right saddle for you
- the right suspension block for you
- the right gearing choice for you

then it is its own pleasure to ride.

Wellgo removable SPD's on order.... to play swapsies as and when with the Wellgo removable platforms.

 

[Bicycle]

Then feel free to leave your rat bike at Woolwich Arsenal station, as the OP proposes, for a few days and let us all know how you get on.

Sorry, I simply do not go south of the river these days.

 

[Alun]

Yes, I mean Ruger rather than Soccer. My apologies. My boys play both as did I, so I get casual about the common terms.

If someone asks if I'd like to come and see a football game, I don't imagine he means Rugger.

And of course... I mean playing, not plating.

I am a bad, bad typist.

Don't play with a Ruger, especially if it's loaded

 

[Bicycle]

And I am sure that South London is all the poorer for that.

Do you know... I'll never find out.

I briefly rented a house just off Coldharbour lane in the mid-80s, but there was civil unrest and I moved out shortly afterwards.

I ought to add that I was not the cause of the unrest. I was just living there when it all went slightly awry.

 

[Bicycle]

Don't play with a Ruger, especially if it's loaded

Ha ha ha... You've got me.

I refer you to the last sentence of the passage you quote about my being a bad tipyst.

Amusingly (probably not) I was given an unloaded Luger to play with by a German family friend when I was a young child. He'd been a decorated tank commander in the Wehrmacht. My father (who'd fought on the opposing side in the same theatre and was slightly pacifist) raised his voice at his pal Werner when he found me with the pistol. It was the crossest I ever saw him.

Anecdote or not, my tipyng is still crop.

 

[deckertim]

I cycle through Woolwich regularly and I try to avoid even slowing down!
I'd agree with the ideas on getting a clunker or riding further.

 

[Cyclopathic]

I know I'm stating the mind bogglingly obvious but there needs to be a major development in bike security, both in portable locking and deterent devices and in the type of secure locking facilities available. Of course all of this must be achieved without any disruption to cyclists or anything which might deter people from taking up cycling.

Is that too much to ask? I've got the ball rolling by identifying what is needed so the hard work is mostly done. I hope someone out there can just fill in the blanks.

 

[Bicycle]

I know I'm stating the mind bogglingly obvious but there needs to be a major development in bike security, both in portable locking and deterent devices and in the type of secure locking facilities available. Of course all of this must be achieved without any disruption to cyclists or anything which might deter people from taking up cycling.

Is that too much to ask? I've got the ball rolling by identifying what is needed so the hard work is mostly done. I hope someone out there can just fill in the blanks.

I'm not sure it is that obvious and I'm not sure I agree.

Most taxpayers probably think that enough has been done. I would agree that there could be more provision of cycle racks in populated areas, but not that they need to offer greater security. I'm not sure how they could and what the benefit would be if they could.

As to portable locking devices, the industry will provide what the market can bear. Cycle locks have become more resistant to tampering, more expensive and (in some cases) bigger and heavier in the years I've been riding. People seem far more excercised about security than they were 30, 20 or even ten tears ago. A lot is spent on locks, but things still seem to be stolen.

The average bicycle is now more expensive, more 'desirable' and perhaps more easily sold by a thief than it was a decade or two ago. £2000 bicycles are now commonplace. I'm an enthusiastic rider, but my most expensive bike was £1000. Others I have are worth a fraction of that.

A thief who takes a £3000 car has a lot to get rid of, much of it traceable. The car is highly visible in transit and has identifying markers all over it.

A thief in a Transit can take five £3000 bicycles quietly, invisibly and covertly. He then has little trouble dismantling the things and eBaying (or fencing) the stripped components.

I know which I'd go for if I wanted to make some money from theft.

Ultimately, I think your request/suggestion probably is 'too much to ask for'. The state won't do anything about making the cycle-parking infrastructure more secure, because there's no wider demand for it and even if there were it just wouldn't climb high enough up the priority sheet.

Industry may or may not do something about affordable increased security in portable devices, but that's more a question for the consumer.

Sorry, but I don't think it's high time anyone did anything.

 

[ColinJ]

It doesn't matter how securely you lock a bike - it wont stop someone taking bits off it, or just kicking it to a broken heap for the hell of it.

I once went to Manchester to watch a city centre criterium race and as I walked down Deansgate I saw many expensive bikes chained to lamp posts. By the time that I eventually walked back the other way, every single wheel was mangled.

I once visited Sheffield university and walked past some bike racks. There were frames securely locked to stands, with wheels missing; wheels locked with frames missing; bikes locked up with bits missing, and bikes locked up but broken and bent.

As far as I'm concerned, the sad fact is that it probably isn't safe to leave a bike in the open in any UK city these days, no matter how well it is locked.

The future must be secure indoor bike parking like Leeds Cyclepoint or even better, the Japanese way ...!