Re: [TheThinkTank] Bike Theft and Selling Locks
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Hi, Matt.
I would not worry too much about the potential that you will
turn your EAB kids into bike theives if you explain good and bad locking jobs to them.
If they are at your bike shop, watching older people provide
loving mentorship and lots of free labour and enthusiasm to encourage something they love, they are getting quite the innoculation against growing up to become theives.
They see people working hard to fix and care for their bikes,
and they meet a lot of the bike-dependant people in their community, and they know that people can recognize each other's bikes.
They know and understand the value of a bike, a value that is
deeper and stranger and more about love and freedom than it is just about the monetary value of that bike.
I know a good locking job from a bad one, and so do the
people on this list. I've never stolen a bike, and that probably hold true for (almost?) everyone on this list. We don't steal not because we don't know how, but because we are people of (reasonably?) good character.
The kids who come into places like their community bike shop
are putting themselves into situations where they hang out with good adults (or ordinary adults behaving well).
This, rather than any technical ignorance, is why they likely
will not steal bikes. They are, or are becoming, good people.
Your walking tours sound great. What a good idea. They work so
hard for their bikes, it sucks when those bikes get stolen.
Sasha
On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:04:38 -0400 veganboyjosh@gmail.com wrote:
not to hijack the sourcing locks question, but does anyone include
in their curriculum/EAB/youth classes some kind of locking information? i know there's the video of the guy in NYC grading lock jobs on the street, and in one of our classes here (community cycles in boulder, co), we start the class with a walk around the neighborhood, to point out some of the lock jobs that are less than stellar.
it's a weird balance, because in order to teach someone good lock technique, it's easiest to show them examples of how not to do it, which is basically teaching them to think like a bike thief...how to do this without actually encouraging them to become bike thieves? it's not a major concern,
but one that came up while we discussed the issue. does anyone else have experience with this?
On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 8:57 AM, Matt mattface@gmail.com wrote:
We sell inexpensive U-locks. THey are not top quality, but they
are more
than adequate for the type of theft we have here, and they are
relatively
affordable.
On Sep 15, 2008, at 10:54 AM, Graham wrote:
- Are there any shops out there who buy locks in bulk and re-
sell them?
The rationale for doing this would be that providing a good-
quality
low-cost lock to people visiting the shop would reduce the
likelihood of
having their bike stolen. I see the rampant bike-theft here as
one of the
common reasons people stop cycling or don't want to invest time
or money in
their bike.
My questions are, where do you get locks from, and how is the
program run?
Are their any other initiatives you take to reduce the problem
of
bike-theft?
Graham @ The Bike-Dump in Winnipeg
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dragonfly＠mac.hush.com