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BIKE THEFT SUCKS

What's the best way to prevent bike theft?

Believe it or not, most stolen bicycles get that way because they weren't locked. So, your first defense against theft is purchasing a quality lock (we at Gord's refuse to sell sub-par locks) and using it whenever you leave your ride unattended (even when it's inside your garage). Thieves usually ignore protected two wheelers because so many freebies are readily available.

Spend as much as you can afford on a lock. If you can, buy a higher-end Kryptonite lock like the New York series and rest assured your bike WILL NOT BE STOLEN provided you lock it properly.

But, don't just slap on the lock any old which way. Thieves are scoundrels but they're not always stupid. They'll get your machine or part of it, if you're lazy about securing it. For example, most bicycles are equipped with quick-release wheels, which make it easy for crooks to make off with a very expensive chunk of your machine if you forget to lock the wheel (or the rest of the bike, if you only secure one wheel!). Likewise, if you wrap a cable around a parking meter, the felon can just lift the bike over the post's top, toss your pride and joy in his truck and take it home where he can break off the lock at his leisure.

Avoid the misery of bike theft by following these seven safety rules:

1. Tell us how and where how you'll use your lock and we'll recommend the best models and demonstrate their use.

2. Ask us where the high-risk areas in town are so you won't make the mistake of parking there.

3. At home, store your bicycles inside. If kept in a garage, keep the door closed and store your two wheelers out of sight and locked; you never know who might cruise your neighborhood looking for valuables.

4. When stopped, if you can't take your bike inside, always lock it.

5. Always lock your bike to an unbreakable and immovable object being certain to secure the frame and both wheels.

6. Take with you any easily-removed accessories and components such as pumps, computers, lights, seat bags, quick-release seat and seat post, etc.

7. To reduce the risk of becoming a target, never tempt thieves by leaving your bike locked for long periods such as overnight, or securing it in a predictable fashion, such as putting it in the same bike rack every day.

Here's another way you can prevent bike theft: Boycott pawn shops and non-bike shop resellers who sell used bikes. If you're looking at buying a used bike from a bike shop (or even a buddy's buddy for that matter) ... Ask for an original bill of sale, don't accept stories of fallen on hard times and such... The reason our city has a much higher bike theft rate than elsewhere is partly because so many shops are eager to buy used bikes and flip them for a tidy, often undeclared, profit.

Where's your bike now?

FOOTNOTE:

We recently received an Email from Mike who works for some pawn shops in the Winnipeg. While we stand firm by our stated recommendations and while we don't agree with some of what he added, we have changed the wording to include more than just pawn shops. He brought up some good points... AND he took the time to voice his opinion. We though it only fair to share.

Here's Mike's Email:

"You make it seem like pawn shops are all just a bunch of low life criminals that
will take any kind of merchandise stolen or not just to make a quick buck.
However there is some truth in what is said because I know for a fact that
there is a few in the city that will, but not all of them do. In fact I
work for three in the city that are very clean shops. We don't take
anything without a serial number because we need to enter it into the data
base for the police to go over.

We sell tons of bikes in our stores, yet the article states "The reason our
city has a much higher bike theft rate than elsewhere is partly because so
many shops are eager to buy used bikes and flip them for a tidy, often
undeclared, profit." You are just assuming that most of the stolen bikes in
the city end up in pawn shops, but what about just selling them on the
street? I am not saying we haven’t taken bikes that turned out to be
stolen, because we have and always will. That is why we don’t pay much for
bikes when people want to sell them, or if someone looks suspicious. So if
it does end up coming back as stolen then we have all the persons ID and
finger prints, but we lost whatever money we paid for it. Or if it was a
stolen bike but cleared the police check then do you know who’s fault it is?
It would be the consumers problem for not either keeping his receipt of
purchase, or not taking down his/her serial number. He/she should learn
that it is Winnipeg and bikes get stolen on a day to day basis, so it is
their responsibility to take action.

“Ask for an original bill of sale, don't accept stories of fallen on hard
times and such,” was also mentioned in that paragraph if you were to buy a
used bike from a pawn shop. Your chance of seeing one is very slim. If
people wanted more money for their bikes we tell them to bring in a bill of
sale. So just because we don’t have an original receipt doesn’t mean the
bike is hot.

“Boycott pawn shops who sell used bikes,” just brings me back to the serial
number thing.

So now that I look back on it, assuming a mature responsible person writes
down their serial number and the bike gets stolen, and ends up in a “clean”
pawn shop then the individual won’t have to buy a new bike. Therefore,
relief will take over and the bike will be returned to them by the police.

I guess the purpose of me writing to you is the fact that I just wanted you
to know that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. I have been in your
store and I was treated with respect and the service was excellent, and if I
were to tell them I work in a pawn shop I sure as heck don’t want to be
treated any differently. Pawn shops have always had this bad rap through
the years that is slowly being overcome by customer satisfaction. The
majority of our business isn’t in buying people's stuff, but pawning it. So
we give a person money for pawning their product (ex. bike) which means they
usually want their belongings back. But sometimes our customers just don’t
have enough money to get the stuff out before the expiry date. That is when
it goes out for sale.

Within the city limits there is a lot more rules for pawn shops then outside
the city. Outside they don’t have to run it through the police checks, and
there is no 15 day hold on products. Although this letter was directed
toward bikes I would like you to realize that all of our rules are applied
to everything that come into our stores. So when the article is talking
about boycotting all pawn shops that sell used bikes, I believe it is an
extreme thing to say. So if you could please edit the article it would be
greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Sincerely, Mike from Winnipeg"