Riv,Miyata, and Pelican stolen in SF

[J L]

Hello,

My GF and I just got back from a weekend out of town and three of our four bikes were stolen from our garage in San Francisco.

54cm 1996 riv road in blue with mostly dura ace 7700 parts

52cm BDB pelican with a mix of parts and White Hetres

47cm Miyata teal powdercoat and 650b wheels with albatross bars

http://www.flickr.com/photos/subfascia1/  - This photosite has pictures of two of the bikes on it and i'll upload a third as soon as I am able. 

I would appreciate everyone keeping an eyeout and please email if you see any of the bikes or think you have any info.


JL

[Ray Shine]

JL -- Really a drag. I will absolutely be on the look out.  I commute by bike every weekday, and see lots of other bikes on my normal route (Richmond, GG Park, Panhandle, Lower Haight, Market corridor, SoMa). I keep bikes in my SF garage, too. May I ask in which district you reside?

Ray

---

From: J L <subf...@gmail.com>
To: intern...@googlegroups.com; rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Mon, September 5, 2011 7:58:09 PM
Subject: [RBW] Riv,Miyata, and Pelican stolen in SF

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[Ray Shine]

By the way, I ask about the district because my dentist just had his bike ripped from his garage. He lives in the Richmond District.

---

From: Ray Shine <r.s...@sbcglobal.net>
To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Mon, September 5, 2011 8:06:19 PM
Subject: Re: [RBW] Riv,Miyata, and Pelican stolen in SF

[Lee Chae]

Hey JL and Ray. Sorry to hear about the theft, JL. Recently, there's
been a well-documented stolen bike spree going on in SF. Areas that I
know of that have been hit are: the Richmond, Cole Valley, Inner
Sunset, and the Mission. All have been garage break-ins with very
similar characteristics. Three apartments within one block of my
building have been hit (including my building). I don't know if it's
the same person(s) doing it, but in the case of my building,
he/she/they left the bikes that had their frames u-locked to something
substantial, and stole those whose frames were cabled. That
particularly sucked for my building, as it's hard to u-lock bikes to
the racks there and most people had some sort of u-lock+cable
combination.

For the Mission thefts, I referenced people to this SFPD officer, who
specializes in bike theft: steven dot pomatto at sfgov dot org

JL, you might want to contact him as I'm hoping that this will add to
SFPD awareness of this particular spree.

Good luck,
Lee
SF, CA

[islaysteve]

JL and everyone, So sorry to hear about the thefts.  I'm curious about what folks on this list do/think about bicycle registration in general.  I assume that SF has a registration program, not sure whether all areas do that.  Do you feel that it helps recover bikes?  Are all of your bikes registered and stickered?  Mine is, I live in Montgomery Co. Maryland.  Steve

[newenglandbike]

Man, that is awful.   They are definitely unique bikes, so chances are better that you'll get them back hopefully.    Makes a person want to wait in his garage armed with a heavy, blunt object.

[Ray Shine]

Thanks for the info, Lee.  I suspect the bulk of the thefts are in the Mission/Civic  Center/SoMa as that is where so many of the bikers reside and work these days. My dentist resides in an apartment building in the Sea Cliff area of the Richmond District and other residents can access the garage. His bike was, as Lee pointed out, only cable locked. I'll bet that most of the thefts are like that. Single family home garages are much more secure. I'm fortunate to have a special locked-cage bicycle parking facility at my office building in SoMa, but even at that, I always lock the bike to the rack. There are about 200 persons able to access that cage. I assume that they all work in the building, but who knows?  It's an 8-story building. The agency also parks in that cage its small fleet of pool bikes that employees can check out for errands or meetings around the city, so really just about anyone could gain access even if he or she is not a registered user. Truthfully, although I've never had a problem (knock, knock) I worry more about the doodads on the bike, like the Keven's bag or the Brooks, etc.

The Pelican is a much more unique and rare bike, even in that part of the city where Box Dog has their shop. If it doesn't get repainted and parted, it'll be easy enough to spot -- assuming the thief is dumb enough to keep riding it as a whole bike. Best bet on recovery as a whole bike is to pick off someone who is actually dim enough to purchase such a bike without the proper proof of ownership. The same applies to the Riv. Miyatas are more common. But, I look at lots of bikes as I ride around, so I'll be looking for these in particular.

---

From: Lee Chae <lee...@stanford.edu>
To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Mon, September 5, 2011 11:01:26 PM

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[JL]

My incident was just how Lee describes it. I had heard there was a
rash of Richmond/Inner Sunset bike thefts and made steps to secure
them. All three bikes where ulocked to each other and the bunch was
tethered to a beam in my garage. Two other bikes where in the garage,
unlocked and untouched. The thieves only took the high end (or fancy
looking) bicycles. When I filled out a police report the officer
confirmed that they had a suspect in custody but thefts were still
happening which probably means there is a group of people stealing
bicycles.

JL

On Sep 6, 2:01 am, Lee Chae <leec...@stanford.edu> wrote:
> Hey JL and Ray. Sorry to hear about the theft, JL. Recently, there's
> been a well-documented stolen bike spree going on in SF. Areas that I
> know of that have been hit are: the Richmond, Cole Valley, Inner
> Sunset, and the Mission. All have been garage break-ins with very
> similar characteristics. Three apartments within one block of my
> building have been hit (including my building). I don't know if it's
> the same person(s) doing it, but in the case of my building,
> he/she/they left the bikes that had their frames u-locked to something
> substantial, and stole those whose frames were cabled. That
> particularly sucked for my building, as it's hard to u-lock bikes to
> the racks there and most people had some sort of u-lock+cable
> combination.
>
> For the Mission thefts, I referenced people to this SFPD officer, who
> specializes in bike theft: steven dot pomatto at sfgov dot org
>
> JL, you might want to contact him as I'm hoping that this will add to
> SFPD awareness of this particular spree.
>
> Good luck,
> Lee
> SF, CA
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 5:08 AM, Ray Shine <r.sh...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> > By the way, I ask about the district because my dentist just had his bike
> > ripped from his garage. He lives in the Richmond District.
>
> > ________________________________

> > From: Ray Shine <r.sh...@sbcglobal.net>

> > To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com
> > Sent: Mon, September 5, 2011 8:06:19 PM
> > Subject: Re: [RBW] Riv,Miyata, and Pelican stolen in SF
>
> > JL -- Really a drag. I will absolutely be on the look out.  I commute by
> > bike every weekday, and see lots of other bikes on my normal route
> > (Richmond, GG Park, Panhandle, Lower Haight, Market corridor, SoMa). I keep
> > bikes in my SF garage, too. May I ask in which district you reside?
>
> > Ray
>
> > ________________________________

> > From: J L <subfas...@gmail.com>

[Steve Chan]

I can see about stopping by the Laney swap meet this coming
weekend. Send if you send me contact info for the fastest way to reach
you sometime, I can text/call/send a camera phone photo for
verification. Have you filed a police report?

Steve

On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 8:20 AM, sean flores <seane...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Lanely college. Go this weekend. Three of the last four bikes friends had
> stolen popped up there the very next weekend.
> If you need more recovery spots, send me an email off list. A couple of us
> have had pretty good success rates when it comes to getting bikes back.
> Sean.

>
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--
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habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny." - Samuel
Smiles

[Joe Bernard]

Damn, that makes my heart hurt.

Joe Bernard
Fairfield, CA.

[Beth H]

I think the effectiveness of bicycle registration depends greatly on
where you live and the level of enforcement and follow-up your local
police are committed to. In Portland, I tend to lock up my bike with
both a U-lock and cables and advise everyone else to do the same,
because the police are simply too understaffed to deal with it very
well. The nicer the bike, the heavier the lock. No lock is as
expensive as a new bicycle. (Especially a Rivvy or similarly nice
bike.)

The double-edged sword of bicycle registration is, of course, that
someday folks may clamor for bicycle rider registration and licensure.
Licensure of riders will probably lead to a requirement for bike rider
insurance; and, well, there goes the neighborhood. It's too slippery a
slope for my taste. So I'd rather lay low, slip under the radar, take
personal responsibility for my bike and go sort of overboard on
protection.

[newenglandbike]

"The double-edged sword of bicycle registration is, of course, that
someday folks may clamor for bicycle rider registration and licensure."

I agree with this. 

"Licensure of riders will probably lead to a requirement for bike rider
insurance"

This made me shudder, then throw up a little.    If this ever happens, I'm moving up to ruby ridge, where I will build a pump track and grow vegetables.*

-Matt


*in addition to stockpiling ammo.

[Minh]

I find this whole thread really disturbing, from a pure thief trying
to make money perspective i can't see how stealing these kinds of
bikes are worthwhile. Something like a Rivendell or BoxDog i only
see two options for fencing it, either really cheap or at a 'normal
price', fencing it cheap, well you might as well steal a more generic
bike so less chances of getting caught. trying to fence it for a
normal price would involve someone that knows the rarity of the bike
and would be suspicious.

Maybe i'm trying to apply too much logic to thieves, guess i would not
make a particularly good bike thief....

[Seth Vidal]

On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 11:14 AM, Minh <mgian...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I find this whole thread really disturbing, from a pure thief trying
> to make money perspective i can't see how stealing these kinds of
> bikes are worthwhile.    Something like a Rivendell or BoxDog i only
> see two options for fencing it, either really cheap or at a 'normal
> price', fencing it cheap, well you might as well steal a more generic
> bike so less chances of getting caught.  trying to fence it for a
> normal price would involve someone that knows the rarity of the bike
> and would be suspicious.
>

Agreed. You would either want the bikes for yourself or you have a
fence in mind for a better price.

The going rate for a stolen bike seems to be between $40 and $100 -
seems to correlate strongly with the price
of various drugs.

If I have to work hard to steal a bike which is going to fetch me the
same value as one I have to work less hard for then I'm going to go
after the lower hanging fruit.

-sv

[PATRICK MOORE]

Slightly tangential: can anyone else confirm or refute the value of
hardware-store towing chain plus top end, security-designed padlock as
a reasonably cheap and secure alternative to U locks and cables? I've
got two locks made from this chain which had to be cut on a grinding
wheel or (15+ minutes) with a hacksaw as the hw store said that bolt
cutters don't work. It's heavy and you have to get the length right --
short enough to avoid needless slack, long enough to get around tire
and down tube as well as post -- but, with top end lock, costs under
$30. I slip a length of mountain bike tube over the chain to protect
things. The chain (and a good padlock) is very heavy, so I leave them
at common destinations: I have one at church and one at a local
grocery store which is too crowded for me to wheel my bike through.

It's nice to have locks where you need them without having to remember
to transfer the Kryptonite to the right bag.

Oh, and where can I pick up an easy to use wheel lock, the kind that
bolts to, say, the fork and simply slides a rod through the wheel, for
my trike?

[islaysteve]

Agreed, these are good points. I can think of two arguements:  1. Parts can be stripped and sold on eBay (I know, that takes work and time).  Maybe  they could even sell the frame on eBay (see #2).  2. Thieves know a nice/expensive bike when they see one.  if they have tools to get it relatively quickly, why not go for it?  They may not realize that Rivs are fairly low-production-number, have an extensive owner community, that GP will help track SNs, etc.  It's a nice expensive bike, let''s steal it!    My two cents.  Steve

[Minh]

Wow, i think it's kind of nuts that a Rivendell 'looks' expensive. I
mean they might look expensive to me, but are leather saddles, cork
grips, lugged steel, fat tires, fenders, high-spoke count wheels, what
equates to expensive now? what has the world come to?

wouldn't a low slung plastic/carbon bike with minimal spoke wheels be
a better target

[islaysteve]

Well, just opinion and conjecture of course.  Looking at the photos Flickr and the like, lots of pretty bikes that are RBW.  Sure, carbon/new black parts:  steal that too!  

[Mattt]

It more important to know the serial number with a picture of the
serial number and a picture of the bike. When the bike is stolen, you
provide the serial number and then the serial number goes in either a
local database or NCIC (National Crime Information Center) or both.
NCIC is a national database that is used by all law enforcement in the
nation. If a bike is stolen in San Fran and shipped to New York and
recovered as stolen in NY, the police there can look up the serial and
find the agency that reported it stolen. This occurs with any item
stolen that has a serial number. Police are not going to actively
look for your bicycle. But if they catch someone stealing a bike or
find a bunch of bikes in a bust (drug bust or something of that
nature) they can match the serial numbers to stolen bikes in the
database as previously mentioned. Hopefully your servicing police
department puts your bike into NCIC and I would call to make sure they
do. If they do not put it in you have nothing because it cannot be
matched by any other department.

[JL]

Joe,

You and me both. Keep and eye out for me would you?

JL

[Joe Bernard]

I am, mate. Bay Area folks should keep an eye out for any sale of Dura-Ace Triple parts. The group isn't very common, so try tracking it to the frame it came from (the Rivendell). 

 

Joe Bernard

Fairfield, CA. 

[Rex Kerr]

On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 2:14 PM, Minh <mgian...@gmail.com> wrote:

Wow, i think it's kind of nuts that a Rivendell 'looks' expensive.  I
mean they might look expensive to me, but are leather saddles, cork
grips, lugged steel, fat tires, fenders, high-spoke count wheels, what
equates to expensive now? what has the world come to?

 

I suspect that they don't look expensive to most people.  The first two comments that I heard when I finished assembly and rolled my AHH into the house from the garage were "that doesn't look like a $4000 bike"...