The World's Most Cycle-friendly Building

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Permalink Reply by James Lee on January 30, 2012 at 11:57

No bicycle theft is acceptable.

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Permalink Reply by Chris on January 30, 2012 at 13:07

James - I agree that no bike theft is acceptable, but in a situation where the bike is cheap, and seen as a mode of transport rather than a treasured belonging, a certain level of theft may be written off in people's minds as part of the cost of living. In that situation, the convenience of having a stand and a simple wheel-lock is valued higher than the added security that carrying a good quality D-lock brings. That is what I meant when I said that a certain level of bicycle theft was accepted.

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Permalink Reply by James Lee on January 30, 2012 at 13:25

In the bad old days when a LOT of factory workers in Brum travelled to work on a bicycle, theft was not acceptable.

Not only did the bike's owner lose his transport to work, but he lost wages that day due to lateness.

Bike theft was so unacceptable that any culprit suspected of stealing a bicycle, locked or not, was taken down a dark alley and given a good seeing to.

I cannot imagine the Danes being so blarzay that "Hey, my bike's gone. Never mind, it was cheap and I can afford a new one cus I earn a fortune" is said on a daily basis.

Just imagine if YOUR bike went missing. You'd be straight down the police station with photos and numbers.

 

So in your world, budgeting for a replacement bicycle should be part of everyone's household accounts.....

Which is not a bad idea, but shouldn't be a necessity.

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Permalink Reply by Chris on January 30, 2012 at 13:53

James:

There is a significant difference between saying something is 'acceptable' and that it is 'accepted'.

In Japan - where a large proportion of the population use bicycles occasionally, and most children use them regularly for going to school - there is an attitude that bike theft is part of life, and is a cost that has to be factored in.

Most Japanese ride bikes that look pretty much the same, and are fairly cheap. They will stick them in outside parking areas where they get exposed to the weather, and they won't bother about locking them up to anything - because they are using built-in locks on their wheels.If the bike gets stolen, they certainly are not happy, and complain - but then they buy another one and ride that.

You can try to deny the existence of this culture if you like, but it is not going to make it go away.

I have had a bike stolen 3 times. 2 times I reported it to the police because it was a valuable bike. The third time I didn't bother, because it was an old bike which was not worth very much. 

At university in York, after my expensive bike was stolen, I bought a cheap 2nd hand (probably more like 4th hand) bike and rode that till it broke, and then brought another cheap 2nd hand bike, till that broke, and then brought another to replace that.

They still got me places, and with a little TLC, were as reliable and useful as the expensive bike. But since they cost me very little, I didn't care so much when they broke. And I didn't worry much about where I locked them up, because it was unlikely that anyone would make much effort to steal them.

Even with this sort of attitude, the cost of running a bike is less than 10% (at least, if not less than 5%) of public transport costs over the same period, and significantly less than the cost of running a car.

That is a cost that can be accepted, even if the crime of stealing a bike is not acceptable.

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Permalink Reply by James Lee on January 30, 2012 at 14:13

Weird.

 

Everyone knows Japan is a 'throw-away' society. You can go get last year's TV and DVD player from the council tip gratis.

Over here, we don't like bike theives and its best to send them the message that when a bike is stolen, there is an angry bloke after their necks.

 

Chris, you can leave your bike on the pavement outside my house anytime.... ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Chris on January 30, 2012 at 14:42

Japan is not any more of a 'throw-away' society than the UK is - that image of Japan is a creation of Europeans and Americans who like to image the East as 'exotic' and different.

This attitude towards bikes is the result of a society where bike ownership and use is common-place, and cheap, reasonable quality, bikes are available everywhere. It doesn't mean that the owners of the bikes wouldn't like the opportunity to have the bike thieves dealt with appropriately - it is just that they factor in the expense of the loss of a bike as part of living expenses.

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