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Last night I went for a run. I was chasing my bicycle. It was not how I planned to use the bike. I expected that pretty much whenever it was moving it would be underneath my ass rather than in front of it.
I nearly caught up to the thief. I was about two steps behind him, running as fast as an overweight, short-legged former smoker can run. I had my backpack in my hand and was thinking about throwing it under the wheels. That would have stopped him and I would have had the satisfaction of kicking him a few times, but it might have destroyed the portable hard drive in my bag. The pictures on the portable hard drive were worth more than the bike. And I’m not that prideful of a guy.
I actually ran past the shop where I bought the bike. I am fairly certain it was open, although my attention was focused elsewhere at the time. I could have waved to the owner as I ran by. She usually sits out front on a stool and people watches. I think in the US she would’ve made a great gossip columnist.
But when I got about two steps behind the guy, he heard the labored breathing (caused by too much hot pot and Mountain City Beer), and sped up. I thought about yelling “Thief!” when I first came out of the store, but a quick view of the landscape in front of me uncovered the largest collection of elderly Chinese I think I’ve ever seen aside from outdoor Chongqing square dance parties. I worried that yelling would only make him speed up, or worse, some octogenarian might have tried to stop him and gotten injured or killed. I didn’t want to end up on Chinasmack.com the following week, so I didn’t call out for assistance.
I had locked the bike to a metal fence on the sidewalk, and thought it was safe there.
Apparently, there is a significant cost attached to buying the cheapest braided cable lock the store had on offer.
But there are upsides to this tale as well. I discovered that even at my currently poor fitness level, I can sprint approximately 300 meters (I’m using the term “sprint” extremely liberally here). I also came up with a great story to tell all my friends:
Me: “I went for a run last night.”
My friends: “You?! Wait…. Why?”
Me: “I was chasing my bicycle.”
My friends: “Ha ha! I bet you weren’t chasing it for long!”
I had been saving for a trip to Thailand that is now not going to materialize, because my girlfriend’s vacation application has been summarily revoked. She’s been told to get ready for a trip to Wuhan. Will my Thailand tickets be reimbursed? She asked. No. Said her a-hole boss.
So I had some extra coinage, since I had not yet bought my tickets. I rode that bike nearly every day around Chengdu. It was my first ever fixed gear, and I loved it. I’m addicted.
There is an American-owned fixed gear specialty store across the street from my house that sells high-end, made-to-fit-you bikes. ( http://www.natooke.com/blog/category/press/ ) They’re cheaper than my Bianchi Volpe back in Seattle, but they’re definitely some of the priciest fixed-gear bikes. They’re cheaper than a one-week trip to Thailand. Just barely. Plus I can choose how I want it to look. I had the help of the guys making it. They asked me my favorite colors. I told them I didn’t want it to stand out, I just wanted a black frame.
By the time we were done choosing literally every part of the bicycle, I had a black frame, Gold rims, Metallic red hubs and a red crank, a leather seat with a silver post and a silver handlebar. It’s going to stand out. It’s also got the colors of the Chinese flag as accents (red and gold), so hopefully the thief will look at it and be moved with patriotism.
I also bought an ABUS folding lock. Made by Ze Germans. It, along with two other expensive locks I intend to use concurrently, should make my bike the last choice thieves make when looking at their options. I like to think of it this way. If I’m a thief, am I going to pick the pocket of Bubba, the 300-pound Harley Biker, or Bert from Sesame Street?
I have to carry a backpack everywhere in China anyway, so I might as well put a few locks in it.
If my bike gets stolen next week, you’ll get another sheepish post from me discussing the beautiful qualities of my second-hand “Flying Pigeon” 80 RMB bicycle, manufactured to the high quality and engineering standards of the Cultural Revolution.
Peace. Out.
Best first post I’ve seen on the forum so far. After those first two sentences I was hooked. Thanks for sharing this story, Ben.
Quote:I also bought an ABUS folding lock. Made by Ze Germans. It, along with two other expensive locks I intend to use concurrently, should make my bike the last choice thieves make when looking at their options.I use a single Abus U-lock purchased at Natooke that has worked fantastically, but I’ve considered getting a chain lock as well and using both for maximum security. In that case, along with the other precautions you can take, make your bike very safe. When you’re spending 3k+ rmb that peace of mind becomes really valuable.
It was nice to meet you last night, also. I’m sure your new bike is going to be awesome.
Quote:Last night I went for a run. I was chasing my bicycle. It was not how I planned to use the bike.I haven’t even read your post yet, but that’s a bloody great opener buddy!!
Fingers crossed all your locks work. Sounds like your new bike will be a good one. Reminds me I need to go back and see the Natooke guys. I may be tempting fate mentioning this too but I use two locks on my Giant MTB and so far (nearly 3 years – touch wood) it has remained with me. One of the locks is a US-made (expensive) motorbike chain in a protective plastic sleeve – so also handy for defence against taxi wing mirrors that get too close…..!!! The other lock is Giant’s own combination u-lock. In the past have also considered one of these mini SIM-card based GPS units hidden in a seat tube or similar. Anybody ever tried one of these here in CD?
Quote:In the past have also considered one of these mini SIM-card based GPS units hidden in a seat tube or similar.I’d love some info on this. I too custom built my first ever fixie (which I absolutely fookin’ love by the way!) with Jacob & Larry @ Natooke, and though I’m not ever going to be leaving it unattended, I’d throw a tracker on it just for shits and giggles.
I actually heard about and saw a picture of your bike, Brendan. It is a beautiful piece of equipment. The Natooke guys were pretty proud of it. It’s fun to be in an environment where people are passionate about what they do.
I’m hoping to find and buy back the bike that was stolen so if I should decide to go, say, to the Shamrock or Underground for a drink I can ride the cheaper bike. I was going to ask about GPS units last night, but then 雪花 beer was introduced to my mental circuitry. I’ll have a bunch of locks but it would be so much fun to show up at the thief’s lair with a cop and a bunch of Chongqing dialect profanity (shout-out to the ex-wife for teaching me that).
@Charlie, Thanks for the compliment. It was great meeting everyone last night. It’s going to be hard to focus on work today knowing I can go pick up a new piece of equipment tonight!
RE: “show up at the thief’s lair with a cop “
If only it worked that way 😀 Thieves here don’t hang on to anything for long – they’ll literally steal something and go directly to the stolen-whatever area and offload it on some vendors. Cops also don’t operate that way, if you go in and make a report they’ll ask a bunch of information about you/items/etc and two-finger type up a big report, then tell you they’ll call you if they find anything (which they wont, because there’s nothing they do after that point…)
GPS would only be useful really if you showed up with some friends and physically took your shit back, which would be more fun imo – but I’ve experienced how vigilante justice can flip a situation on it’s head first hand here, and you may not like the results 😀
Yeah, you go all Charles Bronson on a thief and you’ll likely end up in more trouble than him…numerous reports of this here in China
Here’s a link to a GPS tracker. I couldn’t find anything in China even with a search for Anti Theft Device in Chinese. I might have been doing it wrong though. I get that from time to time, although usually not from dudes.
http://pegtech.com/products/gps-bicycle-tracking/spybike/product-information
Not too pricy, but I think I’ll hold off on it for now.
Quote:Here’s a link to a GPS tracker.That is pretty slick. Reasonably priced too, if you’re guarding against the theft of a bike that costs thousands of dollars. Which, I’m told, are pretty numerous even in Chengdu.
try this too. But anything under about 200 will use GSM triangulation. The more expensive ones (300+) tend to be true GPS.
Glad we had the chance to hang out last night! (Eliciting circumstances aside.) It’s funny months ago I was down at the 小卖部 picking up some beers when I heard you chatting it up with the girl at the counter. I thought to myself then “Damn this 老外说中文说得好好啊!” before you noticed me giving you the countryside stare. Then there was the obligatory Oh-Hey-Other-White-Guy nod before my throwing down of 再来一瓶！ beercaps (can’t be bothered to pay for it) and shuffling out the door.
Flashforward a few months now and you come walking through the door sweat on your brow from the chase and a killer, if not bummer of a story. Again, we’ll keep an eye out for the thing just in case! Also, thanks for the biz. We think you’ll be super stoked on this new wheelie wagon.
As for Brendan’s bike it’s tough not to get excited about his bike. Guy’s got a sleek street-eater. It just looks fast!
And bike theft? Agh! If anyone here ever has there bike stolen, let us know right away and we’ll do our best to put our word out. Weibo in this case a useful tool. With a healthy following you might just get lucky if someone sees a notice about a stolen bike and happens to be in the right place to stop the thief.
Hehe, great post, mate.
Yeah, bike theft is a bugger and a half here, and it feels so bloody, acid churningly annoying when it happens.
I got the one I was using nicked when I was off having lunch, and the real kicker was that it wasn’t mine! It belonged to my brother in law, who’s himself a cop! He took it very calmly, though, and managed to joke about it saying that it was more his responsibility than mine since it all comes down to him and his colleagues not doing their job properly. 😉
Not sure if that’s the truth, but still very decent of him.
After that I’ve stuck with my motorbike, but I guess I’ll have to get another pedal bike before long, won’t be an expensive one, though.
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