bike theft

Hal tells us how to properly lock our bikes. Is bike theft so bad in NYC that even the crappiest bikes have to have chains locking their seats? This is getting out of hand.

I've got the scoop that Igor Kenk - our friendly, notorious bike thief - will be attempting to ameliorate his reputation by hosting a free bike repair session in Trinity Bellwoods Park on No

Torontonians will get another chance to claim thier stolen bikes from Igor. The police are holding one more series of open houses to display the recovered bikes at 35 Strachan Avenue

From TPS Press release
And from City News

I've been fortunate in that although I bike everywhere I go, I've never had a bike stolen (knock on wood!) Only and somewhat inexplicably one rusty bolt-on front wheel. This is probably a combination of good locking techniques, usually locking up an unattractive target, and definitely a dose of good luck. One bike was cosmetically damaged but not stolen when a would-be thief tried to use my bike as leverage to break the lock, where it was locked to the railing of the front porch where I was living. The good luck? Another tenant saw this and scared him away.

Igor's bike theft bust was a big wake-up call for the public and politicians. Recovering over 2500 bikes stuffed into garages around city gave some tangible evidence of just how many bikes are stolen. Then to have only a tiny fraction of those bikes be recovered by their proper owners was even worse. If people don't register their bikes it becomes much harder to claim their bike and the police have few ways to track it. The sad thing is that most of the bikes will probably be returned to Igor because it can't be proved that they're not his.

Please review and forward the information to anyone who has had a bicycle stolen. The Police need people to claim their stolen bikes to build the case against the accused, Igor Kenk.

Approximately 1500 bicycles have been recovered from the Igor's "Bicycle Clinic" on 927 Queen St W and other storage units. Many of them, if not the majority are stolen.

Public Viewing Monday July 21, 2008 10am-6pm - 9 Hanna Ave, Toronto

More public viewing to be announced when all the recovered bikes are sorted out...

Whether he deserves it or not, Igor has reached legendary status for downtown commuters. Only days after an article appears in the Toronto Sun by Brett Clarkson on bike theft, including long quotes by Igor about how he's constantly targeted as "the darkest nightmare in the western hemisphere", the very same Trinity-Bellwoods bike theft mastermind is caught by undercover cops for directing bike thieves to cut the locks off of two bikes near his shop.

The Toronto Sun has dug up the perennial "bike theft is rampant" story. The reporter, Brett, did some quote digging at the Community Bicycle Network where mechanic Dave confirmed that theft is a "really big problem" (CBN actually refurbishes used bikes but only accepts donations to help reduce the chances of getting stolen bikes).

Theft-proof bike racks could roll in by spring
Jan 18, 2008
A proposal for a bicycle storage facility near Union Station is expected to be popular with riders who don't want to see their expensive wheels stolen.

The 200-bike facility, with swipe-card access for users, would be located in the York St. rail underpass and could be open for business as early as May.

Blogging at I Bike T.O. may be our bread and butter, but once in a while we like to experiment: be it peanut butter and banana or a fine foie gras (actually no, scratch the stuffed goose liver). That's why we've started up a "Lost and Found" section on this site.