WANTED: parking spot for my bike

Since you sound willing to chain it up outside, how about any public fixture in front of your building? Co-op board can't forbid that. Though as someone who loves bikes, maybe you should do it a favor and bring it inside with you - they also can't forbid that. There are plenty of storage solutions to get it out of the way in even the tiniest of apartments.

Co-op boards in Park Slope... Ugh...

flynn wrote: [quote=dreamymo]Isn't a pole or street sign technically illegal??

not at all. if you are willing to lock your bike outside in the elements just make sure you have a good lock to prevent theft. the only places where the city will take your bike is if you chain it to the subway entrances. do not pay someone to give you a space to lock your bike.


and a good lock means not a u-lock

I actually toned down the post I was originally going to submit in favour of, you guessed it:

This thread sucks.

OpossumQueen wrote: [quote=Carmen][quote=flynn][quote=dreamymo]Isn't a pole or street sign technically illegal??

not at all. if you are willing to lock your bike outside in the elements just make sure you have a good lock to prevent theft. the only places where the city will take your bike is if you chain it to the subway entrances. do not pay someone to give you a space to lock your bike.


and a good lock means not a u-lock

My bf did a bunch of research on bike locks and seems to now think that 2 or more u-locks is actually the most effective mode of locking. Why don't you trust them?

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/09/64987

My bf is a bike messenger and its pretty widely known that you should hang your bike somewhere high if you're going to lock it using a ulock for any length of time (this is probably why you see bikes hanging from scaffolding in the city.) With that said, I use a u-lock on my bike, but I rarely leave it outside for more than an hour or two (and I never leave it outside overnight.)
The boy's friends have been known to "liberate" abandoned bikes fairly easily by breaking ulocks with pens or, more easily, crowbars.

Its sort of like using "The Club" on your car- its a deterrent but if someone really wants it its easy enough to take off (with a hacksaw in less than 30 seconds, to be exact haha)

Mougar wrote: [quote=Carmen]http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/09/64987

That's only with the older versions, no?

I thought the newer models had fixed that.
As far as I know it's the new and old round-key type. There are other methods to cracking open the straight-key type. Using two locks helps...but really if someone wants your bike they're gonna steal it (or whatever parts they want off of it haha)

This has always made me feel secure locking up my bike





Also, heh: http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/08/lock-n-loaded-cracking-down-on-bike.html

And who can forget the bump key:

Alright, maybe I'm missing something but what is the difference between using a mini u-lock + krypto chain and just using a big u-lock? I didn't think the lock itself was any different, just bigger.

in my experience, the bigger U locks are usually made of less quality metal (easier to clip) and the U section is usually skinnier.

in re: to the pen unlocking and all that jazz. from wikipedia:

Vulnerability

Until 2004 Kryptonite locks used the tubular pin tumbler locking mechanism. In 2004, videos circulating on the Internet demonstrated that some tubular pin tumbler locks of the diameter used on Kryptonite locks could be easily opened with the shaft of an inexpensive ballpoint pen of matching diameter. Trade website BikeBiz.com revealed that the weaknesses of the tubular pin tumbler mechanism had first been described in 1992 by UK journalist John Stuart Clark[3]. For an article in New Cyclist magazine he teamed up with a bike thief to show how easy it was to break in to the majority of bicycle locks then on the market. One of the methods he revealed was the ballpoint pen method. His article led to follow-ups in bigger circulation bicycle magazines and a BBC TV consumer rights programme also carried a feature on the pen method. Some UK trade distributors of bicycle locks using the tumbler mechanism withdrew the products from the marketplace and introduced locks which were more pick-proof. Following BikeBiz.com's report about this 1992 knowledge of the pen method the lock-picking video received widespread attention by the mainstream media and after a few days of negative publicity the company responded with a lock exchange offer. However, lawyers in the US and Canada had already launched class actions against the Kryptonite Corporation, citing the 1992 revelations on BikeBiz.com Kryptonite Corporation later settled the claims out of court despite the fact the 1992 magazine article had not featured a Kryptonite lock and Kryptonite employees said they were unaware of the 1992 article.

so it seems that all locks post 2004 are ok...

The good chains also have flat sides to foil chain cutters (which are best suited for round chain links). I would guess that a chain + lock combo is better than the u-lock b/c the small lock is harder to break using a leverage attack.

check out this site- it's short video stories of people talking about their Bike's being stolen...

http://someonestolemybike.com/