Well my bike was locked up at melbourne central on wednesday, just like everyday monday through to friday. At around 5pm (fixed.org member george) came to my work with some devastating news that someone had kicked my ulock to try and steal my bike.It heavily fucking denting the down tube and top tube leaning on the rail.
Yesturday rode to work as normal locked my bike out the front of work. Left work rode down the st then my rear wheel starts to whobble and is buckled. It was fine on the way to work.
Today rode my other bike(which is now my GF’s) and some dead beat decides to steal her top tube pad.
Is it just me or are bikes being targeted by crack head beanie wearing thugs?
It WAS shit. From what I hear it seemed like a random act of aggression for absolutely no reason. I don’t understand some people. I don’t give a damn if you just smashed your ice pipe, there’s no need to damage someones property for no reason.
Melbourne Central used to be a safe place to park a bike but lately. . . me not so sure.
I don’t want to have to ride a piece of turd just so I know it’ll be there in one bit when I come out at the end of the day. Ride my fixed to work EVERY day makes my day that little bit more tolerable.
This is probably a topic that has been talked about previously,
but do you think there provision for a ‘bikepark’ or 2 in Melbourne as opposed to a ‘carpark’?
Surely many people would be prepared to pay a dollar or two (or there could be weekly/monthly/yearly tolls) to have their bike kept in a secure and monitored area with registration etc? This would make it easier for people like Matt that dont want to have a ‘pub’ bike to ride into town on.
Probably suited more to the 9-5er that doesnt have to take their bike in and out several times a day.
In the space of 10 car parks in say a multi story carpark im sure you could easily fit a hundred bikes.
i think the issue is people are only prepared to walk a block from bike to where they want to go, anymore and they won’t bother.
a list of places with security cameras like the melbourne central spot would be useful i guess.
i remember hearing that multistory carparks do have a space to lock your bike for free near the attendants booth, but i’ve never really looked.
the end thing though is that stuff gets broken, whether it’s your car or your bike. some dick is going to fuck it up at some stage, and you have to accept that.
The city council is/was proposing something like this near fed square. you’re right about the area it can service only being a block or two. Hell I ride my bike round the corner sometime because i hate walking.
I they projected it to cost $5 a day (includes locker and showers) which is pretty steep I reckon. not much less than a daily ticket but far more than a gym membership (for showers alone).
my local train station has the individual bike boxes. my dad went and put the $50 deposit for the key down. it must have been about 2 years ago, and used it a little. i’ve had the key for the last year or so, and i have to say it’s pretty awesome. i can just jump on my bike and ride down to the station, don’t even have to think about where to lock up or carry a lock around. it is much quicker then fiddling with a dlock, and it keeps my bike dry when it rains. it’s just a pity that they’re such an inneficient use of space and cost about $1000 each. especially since i’ve only ever seen on other dude using them once. so it’s actually really sweet for me, but i know there’s ways which would be much more practical to accomplish a similar thing.
This is why I was surprised when you told me your bike had never been damaged (Im the guy with the fluro/pink bike)
And Sime, RMIT has an undercover bike shed on Victoria st that I lock my bike in, you need a security card to get in (costs $20 to get the card) and its free parking, I love it, just for the peace of mind. I have to walk a few blocks to get to Uni on Bourke st, but don’t really care, because I know if I left it out on the streets it would get molested or stolen.
yeah i was aware of that locking area but i was thinking on a larger scale for commuters.
I usually just take my bike into the building/class with me. I have classes on eliabeth st in two separate buildings and its never an issue.
I just thought that bike storage can be extremely effective. And i have many customers at work in Mitcham that dont commute to the city purely because they dont have a ‘safe’ enough locking option, for their beloved bike.
and if people are going to complain about a block walk from the locking compound, then perhaps they could sell concrete pills at the security booth so that the ‘commuters’ can HTFU on the brief walk to work.
there’s a somewhat secure bikecage at my work. i’ve not used it on the weekends, as i tend to just lock it somewhere close to where i’m going but i might have to start making a practice of locking my bike at work and walking a block or 2.
Brisbane city council has just opened a bike parking facility in the middle of the city. It has a secure enclusure , lockers and showers. I think they’re charging about $5-7 a day to use it. Seems a bit steep to me but then again I have bike parking and showers in the basement at work. Would I pay for it if I didn’t ? Dunno.
As for parking the bike next to the desk, I tried it and was quickly shut down. Apparently it’s a “safety issue”. The theory is that if there’s a fire someone might trip over it while trying to get their panic on. Once upon a time I would have argued that on that basis we need to get rid of all the chairs in the office for the same reason. Now I just nod and smile. It doesn’t pay to be the office wierdo.
I work at the G most weekends. There’s places outside to lock on to but I’m lucky I guess because my pass card allows me to use the racks on the lower level, far from any ‘paying’ patrons. I must be really lucky though cause I’ve forgotten the lock once or twice and just leave the rig there to meet me at the end of the shift, sweet!
A few smartly placed security bays around the CBD would be great if the Melbourne council would ever seriously consider funding it. Hay, if the Krishna kitchen can afford to pay the rent for their place, then surely the increase in commuters who would feel safer bringing their beloveds in would pay for itself in the end.
My girlfriend’s work supplies a secure, undercover basement level bike storage area for 70 cents a day. my work supplies two shitty stands that are always full, and even though they are under video surveliance (watched by a police security officcer), two bikes have been stolen from there… Guess where I’d lock my bike up?
Our office is in an old Gym on top of a carpark, so we have a really huge open shower area where all bikes just stack up. Being the ‘Green concious’ trendy architecture office we our our new office fitout is going to include a classed room off the lobby where all the bikes will hang from the cieling…show the bosses can show off their Greeniness. I think it’ll be pretty cool. Though out of an office of 50 Id say a good 15 ride daily in winter up to 20-25 in summer, which is pretty good
Dunno.