From Newsgroup: rec.bicycles.tech

On Thu Jun 19 11:36:19 2025 Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 6/19/2025 6:58 AM, Roger Merriman wrote:

Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On 6/16/2025 10:20 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:

... the
dentist installed a bike rack (a *functioning* bike rack!)
just for me.

That's very nice! Our local bank used to have a bike rack near the door. >> When we first moved here, I'd lock my bike to the rack before spending
time in the bank, but then things changed.

1) They removed the rack

B) I moved my accounts to the credit union, about 6 miles away

III) I realized bike theft just isn't an issue here, nor at the credit
union.

So now at the CU, the grocery, the library, the pharmacy, etc. I just
lean my bike against a wall. I have "brake blocks" that I jam into my
bikes' brake levers to lock the front wheel. They stabilize the parked
bike and might perhaps confuse a potential thief, but I don't believe
they've ever been tested.

Indeed security by obscurity only works so far, much like value hence the ?old school roadie? as it isn?t so attractive to thieves I hope at least!

Right, my bikes are not fashionable. The closest I come (not very) might
be my touring bike. A new guy on a ride last week was gushing over its
bar end shifters and other features.

But I recall one time I rode my commuting/shopping/utility bike over to
pick up my car after a shop installed four new tires. The guy at the
counter was charmed at my geeky bike - fenders, mudflap, headlight, rear rack, huge homemade handlebar bag, etc. I guess people like what people
like.

Once in Paris, we'd parked our bikes just a bit inside some underground
garage. When we returned, some policemen were blocking access to the
garage - I don't know why. I asked if I could please retrieve the bikes, >> and the (apparent) head cop said he'd get them for me; but he was
baffled by the locked front wheel. I gingerly went in and removed the
block so the bike would roll. He said in heavily accented English "Oh!
That's a good system!"

I believe some Dutch bikes have a wheel lock, though it?s much like a cafe lock only really for stepping in to get stuff.

I only used to do shopping by bike when my work was local, so I?d pick up something on way past. But with my commute being longer and being on a bypass well bypasses retailers.

And frankly I have supermarkets, bike shop, pharmacy, bakers, post office, dry cleaners so can get clothes cleaned/repaired and so on, all within 10 min walk most within 5 mins and multiple cafes to enjoy and so on.

Ie bike doesn?t add anything for my utility wanders.

That's London, right? Suburban America is much less dense, and
especially less dense with services. I sometimes do walk to the
pharmacy, library, dentist etc. but it would be more than a five minute
walk so I usually use my three speed. Groceries are something like six
miles round trip, so I never walk there. It's a nice little bike ride.

I have an Aliverti steel road bike that is very light. it weighs 21 lbs without a saddle pack. I imagine that if I put on downtube friction shifters that would knoxk off another lb. For a steel bike that makes it about the same weight as my DeRosa Idol hydraulic disc bike. I cannot see why I would need 12 speeds and lever shifters other than I'm used to it. At 21 lbs the Alaverti is fited with Campy Chorus 11 speed stuff. I find that really atractive since it will use either Shimano or Campy 11 speed wheels.
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