11042 replies to this topic

[Coreyburger]

I suspect the business that provided this service on Broad Street stopped providing it as there was too little uptake.

 

No, they stopped because they changed ownership - Chain Chain Chain was sold and has since become Broad St Cycles (after yet another ownership change). There was plenty of uptake

[jonny]

I might be a bit fatter now but I’ve run a few marathons and I certainly never maintain 32kph on my commute to work on my hybrid.

I knew it!!!

[Cassidy]

I find it somewhat hard to believe that there is a ring of highly skilled well equipped bike thieves in town. are you sure there are not just expensive bike riders with terribly cheap locks?

Human nature dictates that when you're a crack head or a junkie that requires $250.00 - $500.00+ a day, every day ... and you don't have a job - you become incredibly proficient at whatever you have to do in order to make sure you've always got that money in your pocket.

 

There are crack heads hanging around Centennial Square and the assorted free living arrangements in town who have a full set of bike theft tools in their backpacks at all times, and with the exception of one or two unique locks, can walk away with any bike in less than a minute. They look for a bike they can steal with enough cachet that they know they can get rid of it for cash shortly after they've stolen it.

 

Get woke bro, we live in a town crawling with thieves, junkies, and violent offenders ... this ain't the Victoria you and I grew up in

[Matt R.]

surely there is some type of public fixed bike rack that allows you to add your own lock to it to make at least most of your bike unstealable.
a system that has massive thick steel bars that go through the frame opening and each wheel’s spokes.
i’m trying to think what I can compare this to.

Like a clamshell or a Venus flytrap?

Matt.

[Victoria Watcher]

no bike has ever been stolen from a bikeep.

 

https://youtu.be/hk1M6WaUXKo

[Cassidy]

no bike has ever been stolen from a bikeep.

These are certainly magnitudes better than anything we've got in Victoria, but still far from perfect.

You would have to strip all accessories off your bike every time you locked it up, lights, tool bags, water bottles, pumps, seat, etc ... and you still have to secure both your wheels with your own locks (be they cable or otherwise).

 

The individual bicycle locker is still the solution of choice, but requires thinking far more advanced than the current parties in charge appear capable of.

Parties who have now spent $14 million in order to provide exponentially more potential targets for our multitude of resident (and highly skilled) bike thieves.

 

(Ahhhh Victoria politicians and bureaucrats! ... always thinking they're two steps ahead, while in reality being 5 steps behind.)

Edited by Cassidy, 04 May 2019 - 08:44 AM.

[lanforod]

If you want a fast ebike you need to either build it yourself or buy from Luna cycle online (you pay an extra $250 USD for 'Ludicrous' controller programming "for off road use only"). Luna is making some really amazing ebikes- true pioneers.

A lot of the DIY guys are downright scary- using old laptop and cordless drill batteries, etc. There are stories on some forums of guys burning down their houses while charging batteries, and even batteries exploding while riding.... technically i guess these doofuses are true pioneers too...

There are other options similar to the first you mentioned.

[Hotel Mike]

What is the top of the line in electric assisted bikes?

[LJ]

Have you seen how big secure bike storage lockers are? Maybe two per space is more realistic. Parking structures are packed now as it is...

Well these are 33" wide and hold one or two bikes, that doesn't seem huge to me.

 

https://cyclesafe.co...opark-standard/

[DustMagnet]

Investing millions into secure bicycle parking infrastructure also sends the wrong message, that if you don’t use a secure bike facility you might not see your $2,000 bike ever again.

 

I don't know if you've checked the bag recently, but the cat is about three towns over by now.

[Mike K.]

No, they stopped because they changed ownership - Chain Chain Chain was sold and has since become Broad St Cycles (after yet another ownership change). There was plenty of uptake

I should have said, at the price the new owners planned to charge for the service.

Very few business purchasers will forego a supposedly lucrative source of income.

[Cassidy]

I should have said, at the price the new owners planned to charge for the service.
Very few business purchasers will forego a supposedly lucrative source of income.

Didn't we discuss this in this thread earlier?

That Chain, Chain, Chain weren't really expensive, and that they were successful ... but that the new owners (apparently) simply didn't want to babysit bikes as part of their business model, presumably wanting to focus their efforts strictly on running a retail bike and accessory business?

 

I seem to recall our conversation ended with the participants generally agreeing that getting rid of secure bike storage seemed not to make business sense from a money perspective, so must have been made as part of a change in their overall business model?

[Mike K.]

Which would be totally backwards. The income from the service just wasn’t worthwhile.

[Mike K.]

And for all we know, the storage might have even been free under the previous owners.

Corey, was that the case?

[Cassidy]

Which would be totally backwards. The income from the service just wasn’t worthwhile.

I agree ... it didn't make much sense the last time we talked about it either, and it continues to not make much sense ... unless it truly was a money loser, and that part of the business was generally unsuccessful from a financial point of view.

[Coreyburger]

And for all we know, the storage might have even been free under the previous owners.

Corey, was that the case?

 

It wasn't free. $10/day sticks in my mind, but it's been more than a decade since Chain3 closed, so I honestly cannot say if that is accurate

[Cassidy]

$10.00 per day likely explain why it closed.

 

Places like the Bay Centre cage lock-up/shower (probably the most "secure" in the centre of town) go for $30.00 per month, so the Chain, Chain, Chain lock up would have cost somebody 10 times more, around $300.00 per month.

$300.00 per month is more expensive than parking a car in all but the very centre of downtown.

[Mike K.]

I found Chain Chain Chain's website on Wayback, but I can't access the content as they ran the site using Flash.

 

Can anyone glean any info? We might solve this mystery yet! https://web.archive....chainchain.net/

[nerka]

I find it somewhat hard to believe that there is a ring of highly skilled well equipped bike thieves in town. are you sure there are not just expensive bike riders with terribly cheap locks?

 

There are tons of bikes locked downtown with the most pathetic cable locks. Blows me away. Recent example:  parked downtown to watch the Avengers movie (3+ hours) bike rack outside was full.  My bike and two others had respectable U-locks, six others had cable locks. Two of the cable locks were a complete joke.

 

Virtually any cable lock can be quickly cut with a reasonable beefy set of bolt cutters and some of the particularly wimpy cable locks can be cut with regular pliers. You can cut a crappy U-lock with bolt cutters but it is hard work. Once you get into the high quality U-locks the only tool that is going to do the job (to my knowledge) is a grinder . Throw two U-locks on your bike like I did and you have made your bike a lot less attractive to thieves.

[shoeflack]

Eh...if at the end of the day, someone wants to steal you're bike, they'll find a way no matter what type of lock. And chances are no one will try to stop them. Case in point this great Casey Neistat video.

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=UGttmR2DTY8