The Chainlink

Bike Theft Gangs Using 'Sucker Poles' to Steal Bikes Across the City (DNA Info)

Yesterday's article with mentions to Bike Index, Stolen Bike Registry, The Bike Lane and The Chainlink...  

Kudos especially to Kevin C and Howard and others for all their hard work fighting thefts.

Bike Theft Gangs Using 'Sucker Poles' to Steal Bikes Across the City

Paul Biasco

By Paul Biasco on November 11, 2013 8:10am | Updated on November 11, 2013 8:10am

Stolen Bikes
 
Stolen Bikes

LINCOLN PARK — On a sunny Wednesday morning as moms, kids and workers walked along Halsted Street, a bike thief worked in plain sight.

It was as easy as lifting a tow zone sign right out of its base, slipping the U-lock off the metal pole and riding off with the lock still attached to the frame of the bike.

Couldn't have been more than 10 seconds.

"He had the pole in his hand when I saw him, and he had it up in the air," said Kathy McInerney, a 24-year-old Lincoln Park resident. "He threw it back down into the [base], and he just hopped right on [the bike and went] down Lill." Read the rest here.


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and as we discussed when you posted this previously, many of these ulock thefts may be due to improperly locked bikes. Cutting of ulocks is very, very rare.

Locking your bike with a u lock in the loop is very safe for your bike. Please don't discourage more biking..that's what your fear mongering does (directed to the previous poster!).

Kevin C said:

You have said on more than one occasion that Chicago is the bike theft capital of the US. Cite please? 

Team of bike thieves riding the loop in vans with no windows angle grinding locks... Cite please?

A comparatively small percentage of theft reports to the CSBR (<5%) are of bike locks which have been defeated by angle grinders. It certainly doesn't mean that can't be accomplished (and quickly), but our data just doesn't bear that out. The CSBR data indicates that 25% of reported thefts are of unlocked bikes. Another 35% of reported thefts are of bikes locked only with a cable lock. Is this more of a problem with well-equipped, methodical bike thieves or more of a problem with bike owners who fail to take adequate (or even minimal) precautions to keep their property safe?


El Dorado said:

There are team of bike thieves that ride the loop in dark work vans with no windows. They will pull out the angle grinder and saw away the best locks in minutes. Chicago is the bike theft capital of the US. We need better locks, more police, better locking strategies ect... Enough is enough. Lets stop this.

Additionally, Chicago bike theft lore of the ages always has the vans being white cargo vans.

The ones I've had personal knowledge of have fallen into the category of "anything that runs that you could fit a few bikes into."

Really, though.... considering E.D.'s recent revelations about his drug busts, it's possible he has access to dark-underbelly-of-life-insider knowledge that we don't.

Old news but still who really checks? Look down and if it has a washer pounded in to wedge the pole it's relatively safe. I see the newer poles with the bolt sticking out slightly and then being bent so it can't be removed. 

Also that lock job is crappy unless you can see your bike at all times. I see that big u-lock dangling and a small jack can "pop" it aaprt, I see cable locks around the old parking meters which can be lifted over. My favorites are the u-lock around a sapling, poor trees get cut and the entire bike is gone.

After many parts, rims etc... stolen I Double lock the rear to the frame then to a post, the front wheel to the frame.

Home depot sells angle grinders starting at like $50 bucks. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. I feel many of you riders are underestimating the professional bike thieves. I would guess only about 10% are real pros. 


It doesn't matter.  There just aren't a lot of professional bike thieves any more.  Someone in Seattle wrote an article recently - I can't find it - talking about how rough the economics of bike theft are.Stores wont' buy used bikes so your avenues are selling on the street, that outdoor "Market", and selling on craigslist. People know to check Craigslist for their bikes so thieves have to wait a while.

There are a few groups of prof. bike thieves - like those guys who got caught up in Evanston or the ones who hit the Clybourn station - who have vans and storage places for the bikes. But these guys are far and few between. Because of the relatively poor economics, that leaves low level thieves, addicts and street people who will cut cables and grab unlocked bikes for $100. With an angle cutter - as cheap and easy as it seems to you - the potential $ is not worth the risk to thieves of getting caught. You would have a hard time explaining to anybody why you had an angle cutter.  If it was attractive you would see guys using them every day..and you do not.

El Dorado said:

Home depot sells angle grinders starting at like $50 bucks. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. I feel many of you riders are underestimating the professional bike thieves. I would guess only about 10% are real pros. 

+1

And as I have pointed out before, there is no need for thieves to "up their game" when Chicago has such a large supply of easy targets in the form of unlocked and poorly locked bikes.

jolondon30 said:


It doesn't matter.  There just aren't a lot of professional bike thieves any more.  Someone in Seattle wrote an article recently - I can't find it - talking about how rough the economics of bike theft are.Stores wont' buy used bikes so your avenues are selling on the street, that outdoor "Market", and selling on craigslist. People know to check Craigslist for their bikes so thieves have to wait a while.

There are a few groups of prof. bike thieves - like those guys who got caught up in Evanston or the ones who hit the Clybourn station - who have vans and storage places for the bikes. But these guys are far and few between. Because of the relatively poor economics, that leaves low level thieves, addicts and street people who will cut cables and grab unlocked bikes for $100. With an angle cutter - as cheap and easy as it seems to you - the potential $ is not worth the risk to thieves of getting caught. You would have a hard time explaining to anybody why you had an angle cutter.  If it was attractive you would see guys using them every day..and you do not.

El Dorado said:

Home depot sells angle grinders starting at like $50 bucks. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. I feel many of you riders are underestimating the professional bike thieves. I would guess only about 10% are real pros. 

I love when you bring out the facts and statistics. Seriously. I'm a huge fan.
 
Kevin C said:

You have said on more than one occasion that Chicago is the bike theft capital of the US. Cite please? 

Team of bike thieves riding the loop in vans with no windows angle grinding locks... Cite please?

A comparatively small percentage of theft reports to the CSBR (<5%) are of bike locks which have been defeated by angle grinders. It certainly doesn't mean that can't be accomplished (and quickly), but our data just doesn't bear that out. The CSBR data indicates that 25% of reported thefts are of unlocked bikes. Another 35% of reported thefts are of bikes locked only with a cable lock. Is this more of a problem with well-equipped, methodical bike thieves or more of a problem with bike owners who fail to take adequate (or even minimal) precautions to keep their property safe?


El Dorado said:

There are team of bike thieves that ride the loop in dark work vans with no windows. They will pull out the angle grinder and saw away the best locks in minutes. Chicago is the bike theft capital of the US. We need better locks, more police, better locking strategies ect... Enough is enough. Lets stop this.

+1 but add some kind of general insult in.

jolondon30 said:


It doesn't matter.  There just aren't a lot of professional bike thieves any more.  Someone in Seattle wrote an article recently - I can't find it - talking about how rough the economics of bike theft are.Stores wont' buy used bikes so your avenues are selling on the street, that outdoor "Market", and selling on craigslist. People know to check Craigslist for their bikes so thieves have to wait a while.

There are a few groups of prof. bike thieves - like those guys who got caught up in Evanston or the ones who hit the Clybourn station - who have vans and storage places for the bikes. But these guys are far and few between. Because of the relatively poor economics, that leaves low level thieves, addicts and street people who will cut cables and grab unlocked bikes for $100. With an angle cutter - as cheap and easy as it seems to you - the potential $ is not worth the risk to thieves of getting caught. You would have a hard time explaining to anybody why you had an angle cutter.  If it was attractive you would see guys using them every day..and you do not.

El Dorado said:

Home depot sells angle grinders starting at like $50 bucks. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. I feel many of you riders are underestimating the professional bike thieves. I would guess only about 10% are real pros. 

I thought about it - something about critical reasoning skills - but decided against it

Now I am waiting for the post stating that a friend of a friend of my cousin had his $10 bike stolen in front of the security guy at Sears Tower with five u locks on it. As if the exception proves the rule.

I would hate to see people stop commuting because of this fear mongering.  If you leave a non expensive (<$1k) bike in a decenty trafficked area of Chicago during daytime hours and lock it well with a u lock your chances of getting the bike stolen are very, very low. 

notoriousDUG said:

+1 but add some kind of general insult in.

jolondon30 said:


It doesn't matter.  There just aren't a lot of professional bike thieves any more.  Someone in Seattle wrote an article recently - I can't find it - talking about how rough the economics of bike theft are.Stores wont' buy used bikes so your avenues are selling on the street, that outdoor "Market", and selling on craigslist. People know to check Craigslist for their bikes so thieves have to wait a while.

There are a few groups of prof. bike thieves - like those guys who got caught up in Evanston or the ones who hit the Clybourn station - who have vans and storage places for the bikes. But these guys are far and few between. Because of the relatively poor economics, that leaves low level thieves, addicts and street people who will cut cables and grab unlocked bikes for $100. With an angle cutter - as cheap and easy as it seems to you - the potential $ is not worth the risk to thieves of getting caught. You would have a hard time explaining to anybody why you had an angle cutter.  If it was attractive you would see guys using them every day..and you do not.

El Dorado said:

Home depot sells angle grinders starting at like $50 bucks. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. I feel many of you riders are underestimating the professional bike thieves. I would guess only about 10% are real pros. 

You must have been in a hurry. ;-)

notoriousDUG said:

+1 but add some kind of general insult in.

jolondon30 said:


It doesn't matter.  [snip] 

Never lock to pole! Poles to me are like garlic to vampires, I never trust them unless I'm in and out. Ps... Chicago may not be the number one for bike theft (NY) but is at the top. Kryptonite's rank Chicago as the 3rd worst city for bicycle theft behind NY and San Francisco. This was compiled by using their records as well as dealer interviews and police statistical studies.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-07-25/news/0607250311_1_bik...

and you bet your ass there are gangs of bicycle thiefs. A good chunk of them know eachother becuase they are in the same bussiness. This is a great article about how bicycle thiefs remove your lock and indirectly talks about how they know eachother and work together.

http://www.tested.com/tech/458286-best-bike-lock-today/

Whether or not there are a lot of professional thiefs now or in the past is hypothetical, but selling a stolen bike on craigslist, pawn shops, or sketchy used places like Shining Bikes & Things in lincoln square is easy. I know for a fact that people have reovered stolen bikes from here. A lot of times they are also torn down and sold for parts. It's not that hard to sell a stolen bike. i have a collection of beautiful bikes. I am a bike mechanic, fabricator, and worked at working bikes and the recyclery. So I have researched this subject well.


The article you reference is from 2006 and reports on a bike being stolen that had a cable lock.

Bikes are sufficiently hard to sell that they aren't very attractive to target except for those types of thieves I noted in my post.  Bikes that aren't locked or aren't locked well (cables, sucker poles, to wheel only) will get stolen. Bikes that locked with a U Lock  and subject to the caveats I listed -  are rarely stolen for the reasons I described.  

Matthew [cannonball] Franzen said:

Never lock to pole! Poles to me are like garlic to vampires, I never trust them unless I'm in and out. Ps... Chicago may not be the number one for bike theft (NY) but is at the top. Kryptonite's rank Chicago as the 3rd worst city for bicycle theft behind NY and San Francisco. This was compiled by using their records as well as dealer interviews and police statistical studies.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-07-25/news/0607250311_1_bik...

and you bet your ass there are gangs of bicycle thiefs. A good chunk of them know eachother becuase they are in the same bussiness. This is a great article about how bicycle thiefs remove your lock and indirectly talks about how they know eachother and work together.

http://www.tested.com/tech/458286-best-bike-lock-today/

Whether or not there are a lot of professional thiefs now or in the past is hypothetical, but selling a stolen bike on craigslist, pawn shops, or sketchy used places like Shining Bikes & Things in lincoln square is easy. I know for a fact that people have reovered stolen bikes from here. A lot of times they are also torn down and sold for parts. It's not that hard to sell a stolen bike. i have a collection of beautiful bikes. I am a bike mechanic, fabricator, and worked at working bikes and the recyclery. So I have researched this subject well.

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