Damage?

TheJones

like alot of others yesterday I decided to make the most of the good weather and have a few jars after work to ironically celebrate the lack of cloud cover indoors!

On the way to the Templebar we came across a troublesome but also an increasingly more common problem, found what looked to be a relatively new specialized Allez locked to a post by the cross at the Porterhouse bar, not a terribly expensive bike but judging by the few additions made by its owner it was a loved bike none the less. The troublesome thing is that as we passed it we found someone had gone to the trouble of cutting this poor lads brake/gear cables, slashing his/her tyres and trying at least but with little success to kick through some of his back spokes.

Despite being locked up on what is a fairly busy area those responsible had clearly got away with the damage. What makes it worse is that on the way home by Dart noticed another bike, this time a little bit more expensive kelly's mountain bike also torn to ribbons at the local stn, everything that could be removed was stolen and the frame was subsequently battered beyond any further use. Although the station has numerous CCTV installations these would seem to be more for discovering illegal car parking than preventing bike theft/damage.

So the question is this, Is this an increasing problem or has it always been at the same levels and is policing regarding this crime purely reactionary rather than actively preventing vandalism and theft?

ednwireland

with the bike to work scheme a lot of expensive bikes have appeared i guess, and the police dont do anything about it so once they get away with it once ....... so lack of policing.

also if they cant get through the locks i guess they trash the bike (i wouldnt leave any of my bikes locked up all day)

(planning on cycling in next week and its coming in the office with me !)

Ghost Rider

I've no idea whether bike vandalism is getting worse but it has been a problem ever since I've been cycling in Dublin city centre, which about 10 years.

I reckon there are two categories of bike vandal. There are the ones who vandalise because they're annoyed that they didn't manage to rob your bike. And then there are the pure vandals. Bike theft is of no interest to them; the only thing way they can achieve satisfaction is through damage.

I've wondered about the psychology behind this. It seems to me that if you're angry and frustrated enough to be in the business of pure vandalism, it's important that you can imagine the displeasure resulting from your actions. Wrecking bus shelters, chucking shopping trolleys into rivers, plastering crap graffiti onto walls - these are all very well for the entry-level vandal. But they're not really very satisfying when you already have a few year's vandalising under your (Ben Sherman) belt. After all, who loses the rag when the glass in a bus shelter is shattered? Whose blood boils at the sight of a shopping trolley in the Liffey? Nobody.

Bikes, on the other hand, are satisfying targets. Like the above items, they're functional but, much more importantly, they're personal. They belong to individuals, not faceless organisations. "Yeah, I can really imagine the owner of this bike going apes*it when he comes back and sees it nicely f*cked over," thinks the pure vandal.

Even better, people get attached to bikes. That just makes the act of vandalism even more offensive, and therefore satisfying, to the pure vandal. "Whoah, look at this: a spanking new racer. Whoever owns this will really suffer when I slice his tyres open and cut his cables."

In other words, the nicer the bike, the more satisfying the target.

Chips Lovell

"For only in destroying I find ease; To my relentless thoughts"
John Milton, Paradise Lost

rottenhat

This is one of things I consistently find depressing about Dublin but it has a large population of people who get their kicks from wandering around breaking things. I can sort of understand the mindset that keys a BMW left in a poor neighbourhood - I think it's retarded to do it but I can see how that would be perceived as being some ass flaunting their wealth. But kicking in bus shelters? Standing on someone's bike wheel? Smashing bottle in the roads? There was plenty of poverty in DC but I rarely saw anything like that.

TheJones

Thks for the replies, don't know why I got so piss*d off at the sight of damaged bikes that don't even belong to me but it struck a chord, but can anything be done to combat this?

@el tonto, All is not lost, th’ unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield.

Raam

rottenhat wrote: »

Smashing bottle in the roads?

I'm getting pretty fed up picking up empty vodka/wkd/miller glass bottles strewn from some drunks knacker drinking session along the coastal cycle track.
Some mornings the damn things are everywhere, and you just know that if they are left there they will end up smashed.

Chips Lovell

Broken glass is the bane of off road cycle tracks.

petethedrummer

Vandalism seems more likely to happen if you leave a bike on its own where drunk people or yoofs might congregate. A mate of mine had his battered next to supermacs on O'connell st., but he did leave it there the whole weekend. The worst I saw was on Dame st. near the lights at the central bank. A lovely 80's girl racer must have got kicked by every drunk that passed. I saw it on my way home from work with no damage, everytime I passed it over the next few days it looked worse and worse.

As for theft, around Heuston station every few weeks/months the bikes are pillaged for anything not nailed down. It seems to happen to bikes left over night. But you should see the way some people lock their bikes. Last week alone I could have robbed a brand new Giant CRS, a nearly new lappiere flat bar racer and another decent MTB with only a set of allen keys.

petethedrummer

el tonto wrote: »

"For only in destroying I find ease; To my relentless thoughts"
John Milton, Paradise Lost

"Give me somethin' to break
Give me somethin' to break
Just give me somethin' to break
How bout your ****in' face"

Fred Durst, Break Stuff

Doctor Bob

petethedrummer wrote: »

The worst I saw was on Dame st. near the lights at the central bank. A lovely 80's girl racer must have got kicked by every drunk that passed. I saw it on my way home from work with no damage, everytime I passed it over the next few days it looked worse and worse.

I remember that one too. The first day I saw it, I thought 'Not a good place to lock', and every subsequent day confirmed my initial fears. I suspected at the time that it was someone new to Dublin- if so, what a sorry introduction to our town.

As pete has noted, bike owners can go some way towards minimising the chances of it happening by the right choice of parking and locking, but if someone really wants to do in your bike, they'll find a way. Casual kicking is one thing (though not excusable!); cable cutting is plain malicious.

Not unrelated- does anyone else pick up fallen bikes in the street? I'm often surprised by the looks I get from passers-by when I pick up a fallen one, even as they have to walk on the road to get around it- surprised, but not embarrassed enough to stop me doing it.

Dr_Colossus

Scum that go around maliciously damaging and stealing other people's property need an almighty kick up the arse. The guards aren't bothered in preventing or curtailing them because even if they catch them in the act and stop them all it entails is a load of paper work for them to be released back onto the streets with a slap on the wrists. The problem in this country and city is two fold, firstly people's base behaviour and lack of respect for other people prised possessions which they've worked to pay for and secondly a lack of a deterrent and strong punishments/laws. If guards had sufficient power to reprimand these scum and either give them a beating or hefty fine then they wouldn't be so quick to go around vandalising. Also guards could/should plant a few bikes with embedded gps units in them and once stollen from the locked location pick up the culprits and equally reprimand them. Maybe that would ease the rampant bike theft in this city.
My 2c anyway.

Chips Lovell

Police brutality FTW.

Piercemeear

Doctor Bob wrote: »

Not unrelated- does anyone else pick up fallen bikes in the street? I'm often surprised by the looks I get from passers-by when I pick up a fallen one, even as they have to walk on the road to get around it- surprised, but not embarrassed enough to stop me doing it.

I do this, and always feel like I'm doing something slightly wrong, like I should be minding my own business. This is what the city does to you. But I still try to do it.

I was walking down a street in San Francisco a few weeks ago and a loosely locked bike just toppled over into my hands as I passed. Felt like I had superpowers.

RacoonQueen

Just before I read this thread I was talking about not wanting to lock my new bike up outside the gym and how irritating it is that I HAVE to be reluctant to do so. Your average vandal won't know the difference between a €150 orbita bike and a €2000 Focus...but it doesn't matter to them anyway once they can get a kick out of destroying someone else's property.

oflahero

Doctor Bob wrote: »

Not unrelated- does anyone else pick up fallen bikes in the street? I'm often surprised by the looks I get from passers-by when I pick up a fallen one, even as they have to walk on the road to get around it- surprised, but not embarrassed enough to stop me doing it.

I do that the odd time. It's uncomfortable because everyone assumes you're the one responsible for knocking it over in the first place. And if the owner comes back, he/she first thinks you're robbing the bike, THEN assumes you're the one responsible for knocking it over in the first place. There's no win to be had. It's a Larry David scenario.

Micilin Muc

oflahero wrote: »

I do that the odd time. It's uncomfortable because everyone assumes you're the one responsible for knocking it over in the first place. And if the owner comes back, he/she first thinks you're robbing the bike, THEN assumes you're the one responsible for knocking it over in the first place. There's no win to be had. It's a Larry David scenario.

TBH these bikes annoy the hell out of me. Why would you park your bike when there's very little space on the footpath and when there's a good chance it will fall down and get damaged by passers-by?

I do pick them up though!!

petethedrummer

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Just before I read this thread I was talking about not wanting to lock my new bike up outside the gym

Depends where your gym is really. If there's a few racks together and you lock it tight, it should be grand. Presuming you don't go to the gym at 2:30 in the morning, in temple bar.

bibibobo

rottenhat wrote: »

This is one of things I consistently find depressing about Dublin but it has a large population of people who get their kicks from wandering around breaking things. I can sort of understand the mindset that keys a BMW left in a poor neighbourhood - I think it's retarded to do it but I can see how that would be perceived as being some ass flaunting their wealth. But kicking in bus shelters? Standing on someone's bike wheel? Smashing bottle in the roads? There was plenty of poverty in DC but I rarely saw anything like that.

I have lived on Dublins northside for 34 years and have travelled the world - I can honestly say that Dublin has a very significant scum population. Heroin addicts, beggars and gypo thieves line the city center streets. People have little or no social conscience even ordinary working folk. People are rude and unmannerly. For example when is the last time your supermarket cashier said thanks to you?? I used to say thanks when getting my laser card back but realised that they were not saying thanks back!!! Never again. Now I just say nothing unless they say thanks. This lack of proper upbringing and years of poverty may explain why these knackers kick bike tyres and key bmw's.
p.s. on the way home today a scummer pedestrian proceeded to close one nostril with his finger and apply high pressure on the other to eject green snot goo all over the pavement!! Unreal!!

Chips Lovell

bibibobo wrote: »

p.s. on the way home today a scummer pedestrian proceeded to close one nostril with his finger and apply high pressure on the other to eject green snot goo all over the pavement!! Unreal!!

You've obviously never been on a club training spin.

bibibobo

el tonto wrote: »

You've obviously never been on a club training spin.

dirty animals!

BostonB

I think you get it every were tbh. Theres a lot of it in Dublin alright.