You’re Doing it Wrong

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by Prince Of Petworth — July 20, 2016 at 10:00 am 16 Comments

bikeshare chain

A reader sends yesterday afternoon from the 1700 block of P Street, NW.

Safetrack surges have taken competition for these things to a new level?

anon

Eh. If you’re making an especially short stop-off, it makes perfect sense to park a bikeshare bike. I do it maybe once a month. Between having to walk from and then back to the nearest dock in quick succession (plus the risks of getting dockblocked or coming back to find no bikes), it’s worth the negligible effort of keeping your lock with you (where, if you own a bike and use the same bag for bikesharing as regular biking, you’ll likely have on you anyway) and doing this.
- thief
  
  “dockblocked”
  Hadn’t heard that before. Perfect word for it and will steal. Thanks!
neighbor

maybe they just needed to run in for a second or the closest station was completely full.
atlascesar

Pretty sure some employees who do logistics or marketing for CaBi get unlimited and untimed use of the bikes. I went to a house party a few years back and saw a few of the bikes parked up on the porch; a few such employees lived there supposedly
bruno

What’s the problem? If you are making a short stop at the store, why not lock the bike? The post assumes people don’t stop between start and stop destinations. Wee-yard, baby. Wee-yard.
- JohnH
  
  30 minutes sounds like a short time, but it’s a lot. You can bike a mile in less than 10 minutes easily. So you can bike somewhere a mile away, lock up for 10 minutes, then return – in under 30. I have been in other cities with bikeshare that provide a lock to use, but these were much smaller cities – they’d probably be stolen rather quickly here…
Former Petworth.

My problem with this is the complete lack of lock-up knowledge, similar to the complete lack of biking knowledge I see exhibited by a significant portion of bike share cyclists. But, all things considered, seems perfectly reasonable to lock up for a short period of time.
- JohnH
  
  Oh give it a rest on the biking knowledge!! I see just as many stupid moves from people who “own” their bike as bikeshare riders.
- Anon
  
  My mind immediately went to the placement of the lock. The fact that it was a rental was secondary. Also agreed about the riding. It can be a bit frightening
anon

Of course you might want to make a stop. I thought the “wrong” part was that you generally want to put the lock through both the real wheel and the frame, not just the frame. But maybe when you don’t own the bike, it doesn’t matter as much…
- textdoc
  
  When I bought a bike in college, I was told to put the U-lock through the _front_ wheel and frame when locking it. Has the conventional wisdom changed? Or are both wheels in danger of being stolen if not locked along with the frame?
  - anon
    
    I learned this the hard way when I did that and had my rear wheel stolen years ago. The rear wheel, with all the gears, is much more expensive to replace.
    - textdoc
      
      Ahh. So the front wheel is easier to steal (at least if it’s a quick-release one), but less expensive to replace?
      .
      If I ever get a bicycle again, I’m thinking I’d want to lock both wheels to the frame… maybe with a cable lock for one and a U-lock for the other.
      - ***
        
        I think it depends on where you are leaving your bike and what kind of bike it is. I intentionally got an expensive bike with low grade components for my day to day commuting.
- ***
  
  But really… who is going to steal a wheel from a bike share bike? I don’t even U-lock the front wheel on my commuting bike because A: It’s a cheap wheel and B: it’s not quick release so if you have the equipment and wherewithal to unbolt my front wheel, than by all means.
Truxton Thomas

“It’s a joke; people laughed.”

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