Stop, Thief! ...Or Not?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7zb8YXrmIA

Turns out stealing a bike is easier than it seems these days. Take this video filmed in New York City. These two brothers set out to prove that these days, the bystander is not so innocent. Using their own bicycles, locks and tools, the Neistat brothers implemented a "reverse-sting" operation: lock their own bikes up, then -in broad daylight during rush hour- steal them using bolt cutters, a hacksaw, an angle-grinder, and finally a hammer and wedge. Over the course of a little less than an hour, they were able to steal their own bike something like five times...with only one "concerned citizen", who stops to show them a more user-friendly way to steal the bike using tools he was carrying in the back of his motorized scooter.

You might think this is some kind of exaggeration, or that maybe somehow it was just a coincidence that these two brothers were able to repeatedly get away with stealing their bike (often times literally feet away from police officers). But sadly, I have witnessed similar feats accomplished in Boulder. Last year a friend of mine allowed his bike lock to rust itself to a bike rack on the CU campus. Because his bike was locked to the very end of the rack, he was able to unbolt one side of the rack and slide his bike right off-in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week. There may have been around sixty people walking by, (this incident occurred right outside of a popular dormitory on campus) both faculty members and students, and not a single person said anything.

So, moral of the story: Don't expect anyone to look out for your bike. Get a freakin' U-lock!