The Chainlink

Yes, Bike Jackers. 

Chainlink member and all-around awesome guy, Michael Wollpert, had his bike stolen right out from under him last night outside Penny's Noodles on Damen. He unlocked it and was knocked down and kicked by two guys who ran off with his Canondale cross bike. This was in front of people on a relatively busy street. 

I'm not sure if he's very active on this forum, but thought I would post 1. in case anyone comes across the bike and 2. to warn you that criminals will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Please be careful. If you know anything about what went down or see a Canondale cross bike (not sure of model) please leave comment or contact me or him directly.

Thanks,
Dawn  

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Sounds terrible and I hope he's OK. This is, as of yet, a fairly rare method of bike theft in Chicago. I would hate to see it become more "popular." Thanks for posting it.

Scary and awful.  This is bad news...and I often ride to Wicker Park from Logan Square, since it's so close and easier even than taking the L.

My thoughts go out to Michael.  

As much as it sucks this is nothing new.

It's not quite as bad as the kids who will knock you off your bike just to hurt you or to mug you.

This was the first incident of bike jacking I'd heard of so I was surprised and thought there might be others who hadn't heard of it who should know. But I guess if people will steal your car from you, there's no reason for them not to steal your bike. :(

Thanks for the report, and glad he's apparently not injured.

This is just south of the Blue Line Damen stop?

Wish we had a site to record/map these incidents. Not something Chicago police are going to devote much resources to.

Can you ask him to post a report at http://stolenbike.org?

Yeah not fun. That happened to me.

notoriousDUG said:

As much as it sucks this is nothing new.

It's not quite as bad as the kids who will knock you off your bike just to hurt you or to mug you.

Yup, Damen and Adams. Neither successful.

Have also heard of more than one attempt roughly at California and Hirsch, and one not too long ago at Belmont and Central Park.  About 3 more I'm too fuzzy on location-wise, or don't have solid enough confirmation on to mention. No way to know to what degree the ones we hear about represent such attacks in general.

Not sure on location. Going by his facebook post. I asked him to post to the stolen bike registry. Wonder if anyone ever gets their bike back that way. Thanks for the info..

h' said:

Thanks for the report, and glad he's apparently not injured.

This is just south of the Blue Line Damen stop?

Wish we had a site to record/map these incidents. Not something Chicago police are going to devote much resources to.

Can you ask him to post a report at http://stolenbike.org?

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/search/node/recovered

(make sure you specify stolenbike.org-- there are a few others with similar names.)

Dawn said:

 I asked him to post to the stolen bike registry. Wonder if anyone ever gets their bike back that way.

This is extremely stressful news. I would like to express my heartfelt sympathies to the victim! I often visit that area, alone and in the early evening. I will be more vigilant.  Perhaps we should organize some kind of neighborhood watch thing for our fellow cyclists.  If we all look out for each other, maybe by lingering and watching while others unlock their bikes, joining up to ride together for a while if we are heading in the same direction, and just keeping our eyes open in general for other cyclists we can create a more difficult theft atmosphere. I am always astounded by the strength of the community of cyclists in the city. Surely together we are stronger than a couple of thieves!    

Let me know what I can do to help April.

What if people who were willing to help wore an armband, (maybe a one of those reflective ankle straps or just a bright piece of cloth) that way when cyclists see it they know they can ask that person to watch out while they unlock or find out what direction they are traveling and (if they are going the same direction) ask to ride along for a while.  Not that we wouldn't do it for one another anyway, but the symbol of the armband will make it clear who is willing to help. That way a shy cyclist doesn't have to feel like they are imposing when asking for help. Who knows, the thieves might even take notice and start feeling like there's eyes everywhere. :-)

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