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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: How many bicycles have you lost/had stolen in China?
One year and 5 bicycles and one electric scooter gone. One time I even bought the crappiest used bike I could find but that went too. When the electric scooter was stolen it was from the lobby of my apartment building with cameras rolling so at least I got to watch that one later on video.
That's terrible! In three years I've bought and kept one bicycle! I feel lucky now. But at night I bring it inside my home and when I lock it up outside I use two locks just to deter people. Are your bikes made of gold? Or possibly crack? Good luck man!
DBowman:
Yes I think you are lucky. All my bikes were locked when they were stolen but maybe I should try the two lock thing.
Zero: cycling around Changsha would have required a death-wish. As it was, walking around the city, even on the path, meant you could be run over at any moment by a vehicle of some sort.
DBowman:
Yes, bicycling here can be dangerous. So is walking. The traffic is dangerous. Sometimes I am in awe of the ebb and flow of it all and how few accidents I have seen.
None, either bicycle or ebike in 5 years, and have both. But do take above normal precautions do. On bicycle chain both wheels to frame and frame to a post or tree. On ebike also chain both wheels, has alarm (very loud) and it is very heavy.
Edit: this was intended as a comment to HappyExPat.
Wow, that is some serious lockage. Isn't that a lot of extra weight too? I guess compared to buying a new bike every two months it might be worth it. When I lost the Ebike, they started some kind of recycling program here in Shenzhen and the security guard was preoccupied with taking care to make sure no trash goes in with the food waste. Although he did apologize. But the Ebike was locked so they had to drag it out.
HappyExPat:
Yes, a bit heavy but because of the extra effort, neither has been stolen yet. And by the way, the chains are extra strong steel, can not be cut with the big cutter, need a torch.
Just the one in almost 2 years. Better than Amsterdam, believe me.
Yea OP, they'll steal anything. Someone stole a basket off one my beaters! Zero bikes out of ... 6 and 0/1 ebikes in four years but, like Happy, I use numerous locks and keep my favorite MTB in my apartment.
DBowman:
I am surprised that someone would have the balls to steal the basket. No doubt it would take a few minutes so the risk compared with the benefit hardly seems worth it to me.
bill8899:
It was a big, new basket. Maybe they stole it to punish me for putting two 30 RMB locks on a 100 RMB bike.
I had a bike when I was very first here in China. It was in the school grounds so I thought it naively would be safe. One of my Chinese teachers told me to chain and lock it up, so I bought a lock and a chain for it. About a week later, someone sawed off the chain and goodbye bike.
I have not bought one since. I have toyed in the past of getting an electric bike, but I am afraid someone would steal that one too so I never did.
DBowman:
That is the same reason that I hesitated to buy the Ebike and also the reason that I have not gone to get another one.
one. but it was my fault, I didn't lock it. I was sitting at an outdoor juice bar in the evening, a well-lit place w/ medium-level pedestrian traffic. I had parked my bike maybe 5 meters away from where I was sitting. I kept glancing over at it, just to keep an eye on it and then, poof, in a split-second it was gone! thankfully it was just a bike from the local super-market, I think I paid about 700.
DBowman:
I don't think it is ever your fault if someone steals your bike. I had one bike that I bet my boss would not get stolen. I never locked it on the street outside of work and it never got stolen there. It was stolen outside of a mall when it was locked up.
I've had my bike for nearly 4 years and I'm very attached to it. Even had it shipped 4000 km east to west when I moved. Bike's name is Bert and we're mates. I often leave him outdoors o/n when I'm too pissed to ride home but, that said, Bert has pulled off some herculean efforts to get me home when all looked lost.
What's with all this theft? I'm gunna ask the question. Bloody bastards. Thieves.
DBowman:
Wow, you even named your bike. You are very attached to it. You will be extra pissed of someone steals it.
royceH:
I'll be straight on the eau de cologne to THE HULK.... and he'll have license to go forth and KICK ARSE!!
Ok, 2 e-scooter and 3 bicycles ... nice score
Only one of them wasn't locked...
Actually, not even one but then I don't store my bike outside. I lug it up four flights of stairs and I never even leave it alone unattended. Like or not, I drag it into my office with me and leave it in a corner, and that means dragging it up three tall flights of stairs.
Indeed, bicycle theft is current around here but I hate to say it but that was also the case in my neighborhood in Tokyo and in Taipei.
DBowman:
I stayed in Fukushima and Taichung and never felt as vulnerable as I do here. Of course I've grown weary here having so many bikes stolen, but three years in Taiwan and never had a problem. It seems organized here in Shenzhen. Bike dealers are very reluctant to sell parts, which makes it easier to sell bikes.