Abandoned Half-stolen Bikes

[Don in Morrison]

About once or twice a year for about 6-7 years, in downtown Denver, I've observed partial bikes locked to racks for long periods of time. The most recent is one near Union Station that has been there over two months. Evidently someone locked the bike to the rack by the frame and front wheel, and then someone else removed the rear wheel, so the owner evidently abandoned the bike.

I could understand that the owner might lock the bike in the same place every day and take the rear wheel inside with him, but the location and placement of this one has been exactly the same for a long time.

The others I've seen followed a similar pattern. Sometimes parts would continue to disappear until only the frame and crank were left.

It looks like people are abandoning bikes that have had a part or two stolen. If it were my bike, I'd retrieve what's left and replace the missing parts, and find a better way to secure it next time, to prevent further mischief. I'm trying to figure the mindset of someone who'd abandon the whole bike for want of a wheel.

 

[scott43]

City of Toronto occasionally goes around and cuts the locks and auctions the remains.. Some people just dont care man. It's a $50 crapper and easier to just get another one in a yard sale. Basically just abdicating their ownership through laziness..

 

[Don in Morrison]

I've built a few frankenbikes and then gone to the trouble of fixing them from time to time just so the kids would have something to ride. I'm from a different time period, I guess. I saw a kid riding a bike the other day with two flat tires and I wondered if he even knew how to fix them. I'm inclined to think he didn't. At that age, I was fixing flats a couple times a week in the morning so I could ride to school.

 

[Plai]

I've built a few frankenbikes and then gone to the trouble of fixing them from time to time just so the kids would have something to ride. I'm from a different time period, I guess. I saw a kid riding a bike the other day with two flat tires and I wondered if he even knew how to fix them. I'm inclined to think he didn't. At that age, I was fixing flats a couple times a week in the morning so I could ride to school.

Most of the people riding in my bike group don't really know how to change a tire, much less patch one. They didn't learn as kids and don't prepare before long rides. I end up doing on the spot changes and tutoring. Go figure.

People abandon what they don't know. On a similar note, I often see people tossing waste near a trash can and leave it. They don't care enough to extert the effort to "do the right thing".

I'm definitely not well versed enough to Frankenstein a bike, but do believe in having survival skills and caring for what I and/or we have.

 

[scott43]

Tool fairy...

 

[Wilhelmson]

I've pondered this as well. I've seen vagrants around cities using bikes as transpiration. Perhaps they fall upon hard times or better opportunities and move on. Or people get pissed that someone stole the seat post off their $50 bike and just say screw it.

 

[cantunamunch]

I've abandoned four bikes in my life.

The first was an old Pony folder (like Tomos only cheaper) that had bent hinge plates; re-welding those would have cost 3x more than the bike was worth.

The second was my sister's Huffy, she told me something was wrong with it and I took it for a ride to diagnose - she didn't tell me she had crashed the front end so that both the fork and the downtube were bent/creased. The effective steering angle was something like 80 degrees with zero trail - I would have died on the downhills going home. B'bye.

The third was a 70s-bike-boom-nameplate - can't remember the name but it had a dog on the badge- built by Maruishi. I loved that bike, in a klunker-love way, for years. Then one late October I rode it to a woodworking shop - through a bunch of puddles at least two of which were deeper than the bottom bracket. Ok, I spent too much time at the shop - but when I got outside the bottom bracket had iced up and popped off.

The fourth was a Gitane - no not a Chinese resurrection but an actual French-sized-everything Grand Sport that I had converted to a townie from generic parts. The seat tube would ovalise at the drop of a hat. One evening I rode it to a party - and after drinks I simply didn't want to deal with 15+ miles of out-of-the-saddle effort just to salvage a mediocre french POS.

Hope someone used the parts - good luck to 'em. Zero guilt here.

 

[François Pugh]

Insurance claim?

 

[Doug Briggs]

Here's a good use for abandoned bikes

 

[cantunamunch]

Here's a good use for abandoned bikes
]

Our local coop has some whitewashed Peugeots in a similar position.

Insurance claim?

If we were to do one it would require a police report.

 

[Bolder]

I've been eying an old steel Kona that someone double u locked to a rack near me. Over the past year its been reduced to the frame, crank, fork and some cables. Grrr.