Thursday, July 09, 2009

why?

this morning i locked my bike up on the corner of sydney rd and glenlyon for an hour while i got my hair cut. i came back to find my front brakes (including the cable) and my lights gone. why would someone do that??? i can understand the lights (i'm actually surprised this is the first time i've had my lights stolen, especially the rear one which was just taped to my panier rack with electrical tape) but the front brake? they would have needed an alan key to get that off. they left my cycle computer and helmet and seat which all would have been almost as easy to take (especially the seat). there was a pretty dodgy looking guy sitting near my bike but it could have been anyone (there's always dodgy looking people sitting around that area). i ended up just taking my bike to the closest bike shop (which isn't really my favourite) and it's costing me $65 to replace the brakes (and i'm bikeless the rest of the afternoon). when they told me to pick it up at 5 i should have just left and taken my bike to a new shop that just opened along the park st. bike path on nicholson. at least there it would be a much closer walk to go back and get it later on (and i've been intending on trying that place out for service). so annoying. plus, i NEED lights for my bike tomorrow cuz i work the late shift and it'll be dark when i come home and would never ride up rae st in peak hour traffic without lights (even with bright lights i've still had people come close to hitting me). i went to the $2 shop and bought some lights to do for now (i kinda think the front light came from there, and maybe the rear too, although they didn't have anything similar to my rear lite style this time). sometime you can get good lights from the $2 shop but it's kinda hit and miss.

update:
so i picked up my bike, rode most of the way home (3 blocks away) and the gear cable snapped!!! arrrrghhhh! i don't know if it was the bike shops fault or if the guy (or girl) tried to take my gear cable too (or got mixed up and started undoing that instead of the brake cable). i didn't want to ride back to the bike shop again. i tried to fix it myself but i definitely need a new cable so i called velo. i really don't want to leave my bike there (i think they do offer courtesy bikes or metcards) so the guy said if that's all i need then he'll do it on the spot for me in the morning (yea).
i also had issues with the cheap lights i bought. i went to exchange the front one (which only lit up 3 of the 5 leds). the guy at the shop tested it with his batteries and it worked fine (note to self: don't use the old batteries out of the remotes to test bike lights)
zac came home with a longie of coopers stout. that makes me happy.

2 comments:

K said...

That really sucks, I can't believe those stole all those different things during the day on a really busy road.

Anonymous said...

When my favourite bike was ripped off from outside the rink I was teaching at in Victoria when I was 20 yrs old, my belief in the greater good of society was shattered forever. I was so mad, but more sad that someone would do that. To this day, 10 years later, I still miss that bike. It was my transportation, my recreation, and I paid for it with my own money when I was 15.
Some people suck. That's just the way it is.