10 worst cities for bike theft below
Have you ever had a bicycle stolen and wondered what happened to it?
I've been lucky, but thousands of other aren't. Some $50 million worth of bicycles are stolen each year.
Justin Jouvenal is one of the unlucky ones. He wrote a fascinating story about his search for his stolen Fuji Touring bicycle in the San Francisco Bay Guardian. His quest is a journey through the city's bicycling underworld.
I was surprised at how flagrant the fencers were. They're parked in white vans behind electronics stores; they hang out at Seventh and Market fast-food joints and openly offer low-priced bikes to passersby; they sell at San Franscisco flea markets, and post bikes online at Craigslist and eBay.
Jouvenal even participates in a park department raid on a homeless encampment at Golden Gate Park where he finds disassembled bikes laying around in an open-air chop shop.
Police told Jouvenal that bike theft is a not a high priority:
“We make it easy for them. … The DA doesn't do tough prosecutions. All the thieves we've busted have got probation. They treat it like a petty crime.
… “You can't take six people off a murder to investigate a bike theft.”
Victor Veysey, who as times has worked as a bike messenger, mechanic, and member of the city's Bike Advisory Committee, tells Jouvenal:
“Bikes are one of the four commodities of the street — cash, drugs, sex, and bikes. You can virtually exchange one for another.”
The National Bike Registry agrees. The company that runs the nation's largest database for stolen bikes, says that “Within the drug trade, stolen bicycles are so common they can almost be used as currency.”
Interestingly, the largest cache of stolen bikes are held at the police department's warehouse on Hunter's Point. Only about 1 in 3 stolen bicycles are reported, so many recovered bikes end up in the property warehouse.
What's the answer? Jouvenal (who never finds his bike) says a bike registry program has been considered, but shot down for lack of manpower. The city is considered a requirement that commercial buildings allow cyclists to bring their rides inside.
San Francisco is a good city to consider these laws. It has the second highest rate of bike theft in the nation, after New York City, according to the Kryptonite lock makers.
What are Kryptonite's 10 worst cities for bike theft?
1. New York City
2. San Francisco
3. Chicago
4. Washington DC
5. Boston
6. Eugene, OR
7. Philadelphia
8. Oakland, CA
9. Seattle
10. Miami
Recent Comments