CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!

Stand down the ravens

(24 posts)
  • Started 7 years ago by I were right about that saddle
  • Latest reply from gembo

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  1. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    I've been lazy I do confess. Took the D-lock off the Scaffolding Bike for weight weenie reasons over the summer, never put it back on. Was using a Kryptonite Flexlock cable and an Abus padlock.

    Bike locked up outside the national library on George IV Bridge, when I went to unlock it the cable came away in my hands. Snipped with bolt cutters but left in place. Three possible scenarios;

    1) The raven food was disturbed mid-theft.
    2) The raven food cut the cable, looked at the bike and recoiled in horror at the unsaleable mish-mash of vintage and modern parts.
    3) I'd accidentally threaded the cable through the other bike on the stand and that bike belonged to an impatient psychopath who carries bolt-cutters around in her panniers.

    I'll ask if the library has CCTV on those racks tomorrow - don't suppose they do.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  2. crowriver
    Member

    I'm going for 3).

    Posted 7 years ago #

  3. gembo
    Member

    4) a man was leaning on the scaffolding bike whilst trimming his nails using nail cutters he acquired from his Christmas cracker but dropped them in such a way that they touched the cable with a glancing blow that severed the tie.

    Loving the I'll ask the library for CCTV, reminds me of when the dude asks the police whether they are seeking the thief of his car.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  4. PS
    Member

    @gembo I understand they've got them working in shifts.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  5. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    This isn't a laughing matter, gentlemen. Corvids are fasting in preparation as stakes are hammered into the rocky summit of Ben Alder. This aggression will not stand, man.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  6. unhurt
    Member

    Usually I'm a rehabilitation-favouring pacifist, but if someone pinches my Surly I'd find it hard to resist helping IWRATS with the stakes...

    Posted 7 years ago #

  7. gembo
    Member

    @unhurt, these ravens he raves about are purely metaphorical

    @PS The Dude Abides

    Posted 7 years ago #

  8. chdot
    Admin

    "these ravens he raves about are purely metaphorical"

    You've been hooded winked.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  9. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @unhurt

    Yes, that is the IWRATS Principle. Cheek-turning non-custodial rehabilitators like us get exactly one crime to which we may specify a medieval response.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  10. algo
    Member

    @IWRATS - I just can't pick a crime though - there are so many good ones to choose from.

    Somewhat relatedly, but also somewhat irrelavantly.... recently I locked my bike to the lock of an adjacent bike as there was no other place for it to go in a very crowded space, and I returned to receive this note attached to my lock, where my bike had been removed from its position in such a way as I intended possible, and the bike whose lock I attached mine to was still there. I felt the owner of this bike wanted to feed me to your Ravens, perhaps justifiably, but I felt perhaps not....

    Posted 7 years ago #

  11. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @algo

    I've been careful about locking other people's bikes by mistake after an incident at work where I was summoned to the basement by the office tannoy as 'the owner of a silver Marin'.

    I was utterly mortified and apologetic to the guy I'd held back, but he got so aggressive that there was the potential for unpleasantness. As you suggest, I think I'd accidentally wandered into the range of his ravens.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  12. algo
    Member

    @IWRATS - but in this instance, I hadn't held anyone back - indeed the fact that they detached my bike and moved it elsewhere (by unlocking their lock) proved that pretty well I thought... hence locking to the lock.

    I think locking to other people's locks is ok - perhaps I am wrong.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  13. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @algo

    Yes indeed, but might it be that the other bicyclist felt an obligation not to leave your bike unattached? There are some very dutiful people out there (though I am, alas, not one of them).

    Posted 7 years ago #

  14. Frenchy
    Member

    Also possible, but probably not likely, that shifting your bike was quite challenging for them due to a disability of some sort.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  15. algo
    Member

    @IWRATS - well they did detach it and leave it elsewhere unattached, as I intended it possible for them to do, so I guess not.

    @Frenchy - I hadn't considered that - it's a good point. The problem with this particular space was there was nowhere else to put the bike but on this one, so the effort required to move my bike was the same whether it was locked to their lock or not. I think the correct answer was probably to leave the bike outside in the rain somewhere (I was selfishly reluctant to do this due to the back child seat padding getting soaked, but I probably should have).

    Posted 7 years ago #

  16. Frenchy
    Member

    Sounds like more bike racks are needed.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  17. unhurt
    Member

    @gembo even a metaphorical raven can probably deliver a nasty peck (or a suitable simile?)

    Posted 7 years ago #

  18. Frenchy
    Member

    I'm using this as the "thefts not worthy of their own threads" thread.

    Someone stole the pump off my bike whilst it was parked in front of Morrison's in Moredun tonight.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  19. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Ok. I left my bike unlocked at the Cameron Toll racks while I got my messages yesterday. Nobody stole it.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  20. unhurt
    Member

    Judgement on bike or reflection on honesty of CameronTollian citizens?

    Posted 6 years ago #

  21. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    You've seen my bike. Thing's a donkey. The Gumtree advert would've gone viral if they'd nicked it.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  22. unhurt
    Member

    I'm glad your bike doesn't read this forum. Donkeys have feelings too!

    Posted 6 years ago #

  23. Blueth
    Member

    How times change - when I was a kid nobody left a pump on a bike as it would be almost certain to disappear.

    Posted 6 years ago #

  24. gembo
    Member

    Someone was telling me that in the olden days when shifters were on the down tube and someone in the group was being annoying, you could lean over and put them in a harder gear

    Then yesterday I spied a brand new bobbin brand bicycle with shifters on the down tube.

    I once put the rear mech into the back wheel with too much pressure on the shifter.

    Posted 6 years ago #

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