We stole a bike in downtown Toronto - and it was easy

[Blue_Tires]

At the southeast corner of Yonge-Dundas Square there’s a glass security tower, an underground parking garage entrance, a busy gold and diamond dealer, an ambling group of teenage tourists lighting cigarettes and me, stealing my own bike with a brazen pair of bright-orange 30-inch bolt cutters.

One snip, two snips, three snips, four snips. A cheeky smile to one of those tourists as the steel cable lock clinks on the sidewalk. Heave the cutters onto my handlebars. Pedal away.

Thirty-six seconds, a sneaky swagger and a touch of brassy foolishness.

That, it seems, is all it takes to pinch a bike in downtown Toronto. Well, that and the bolt cutters.

On a recent mid-March afternoon, with record-high temperatures blanketing the city, this reporter set out to test just how easy, difficult or dangerous it is to steal a bike in downtown Toronto. Disclosure: My bike was tied down with only one lock, each ranging in price from $10 to $33 and of dubious quality.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1148884--bike-theft-revealed-star-hits-the-streets-to-test-how-easy-it-is-to-steal-a-locked-up-bike?bn=1


Wow...36 seconds??

I remember a Dateline special in Newark the early 90s back when New Jersey was the undisputed car theft capitol of the world (each year the FBI's top 10 car theft cities list had 4 or 5 in NJ)...They had a 14 year old kid who was a reformed thief showing all the tips and tricks...NBC setup a car with an aftermarket alarm and Lojack, and the time it took the kid to open the door, disable the alarms and start the ignition? 34 seconds...

[gratuitous]

1. Thirty-six seconds? Slow poke

A bike in Portland can disappear in less than half that time. There was some meth-head with a pair of bolt cutters who got caught last year. He cut off a bike lock at an outdoor market, the owner about 15 feet away. The thief started to pedal off, with the owner chasing after him through the crowd. The thief went less than two blocks when another bike caught his fancy. He stopped to cut the lock off that bike when the first bike's owner arrived. The thief was busted, which was a far better outcome for him than if he'd tried to rip off my bike.