6705ac23d6Bummer days in San Francisco as a rash of bike thefts have hit. It started in the Richmond but has seemed to spread like a plague in to other neighborhoods. My friend had his Ridley Excalibur stolen from his single family home garage the Thursday before last. In it, my cross bike. Yep, I had it over there, for shall I dare say, “safe keeping.” The rule of thumb in SF is NEVER leave any bike you care about in your garage but keep it inside your apartment. We learned the hard way this rule just doesn’t apply to shared access garages, but single family homes. And don’t think locking up your bike in the garage will help – and certainly not just to itself. Another friend had her tri bike stolen in from her Marina apartment garage where the sawed a water pipe it had been locked to!

How do they know which garages house bikes? Simple, they follow you home – both from your ride, and from the commonly from the bike shop where you just had it tuned up. And guess what, if they couldn’t take everything the first time, they’ll be back. My friend had a break in the following the night to finish the job.

Where do stolen bikes appear? Well so far not on Craigslist or ebay. At least not for me. (FYI, I check Crazedlist for a search of all areas and keep a keyword alert on ebay). I’ve been in contact with others and they’re finding them at both bike swaps and flea markets. In fact, just the other day, there was a post on craigslist of a successful recovery. The owner had been tipped off that a similar looking bike was being sold at the NorCal Swap Meet at Laney College. The owner relayed that bit to the BART police to which they said it was common. Really? Neither I nor my friends had heard that. Glad they’re spreading the word.

Anyways, my 2006 Bianchi Cross Concept is gone. Whether or not the thieves have parted it and changed components, it should still be a dead giveaway that it’s mine or a stolen bike. You can’t buy a Cross Concept frame by itself and you wouldn’t part it unless you were going to upgrade its components.  And its a cross bike made for racing.  The stock bike is pictured above. Mine had a FSA SLK Crankset, Selle Italia SLR saddle, yellow Cranks Bros. Candy pedals, and an Ahrens Wisecracker bottle opener mounted on the seatpost (rare indeed).

A good list of area flea markets:

Starving Vendors

Bay Area On The Cheap

Our friends at SF Bicycle Coalition provide some good tips for prevention and recovery as well including registering your bike.  The biggest favor you can do for yourself is noting the serial number on your frame and remembering where you put it.