I've been STOLEN, AGAIN!! :(

[Cyclezee]

Our role should be to give them that advice, not to tell them to give it up.

Since when did any forum member have a particular role ?

 

[flecc]

That's not an apt analogy at all. Cwah has asked how he can stop people from nicking his stuff. The answer isn't to give up biking.

It is a perfectly apt analogy. You have posted on more than one occasion that there is no defence against the thief who wants to take something and you are right, there is no advice that can fit his question. In this case the answer is very clearly to give up e-biking

Just look at cwah's requirements. He wants a compact folder with a 25 to 30 mph performance without pedalling at times. He wants to carry a pillion passenger. He wants to have extensive weather protection as his threads about a mounted umbrella or canopy show. And he wants it thief proof while having nowhere safe for it at work, at home or while out socialising.

No e-bike can remotely fit those requirements, that's a fact and the basis for my good and fully justified advice. As with all advice in here, he can take it or ignore it.
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[JohnCade]

Since when did any forum member have a particular role ?

I always quite fancied the role of the Demon King. With all the red smoke bombs going off as I shoot up onto the stage through the trapdoor to the gasps of the assembled multitude.

 

[cwah]

All these comments are not very kind


Just as a reminder, most of my requirements are covered in the bike you can see here and the one for sale:
- it is very decently waterproof. The mitts added to the handlebar makes a whole difference. I left bike under rain for nights and it's still working fine (some rust on chain and bolt however)
- i am able to carry passenger. I am in a process to add bmx pegs on it and that's all it needs.
- both of them run between 25-30mph
- i parked them outside my flat overnight for 4 months now... no major issue apart from rain.
- thief proofing is indeed the last challenge, and I indeed learnt the hard way that leaving a bag outside is just a thief magnet... within a couple of week it disapeared!


So now I have to find a way to protect my batteries.... either in an hard enclosure i can open, put my battery inside an lock... or maybe carry the battery with me.

 

[trex]

you only need to put your battery in steel box, bolted to the bike and leave the bolts nuts to rust. The rust is an effective deterrent. Then put a rusty closed shackle padlock on it to deter the opportunistic thieves.

 

[Cyclezee]

Sorry if you are offended cwah, but I think most people wish you well and are simply putting forward suggestions that they see as practical solutions to your situation.

All credit to you for your determination to stick with it, however, given your experiences I would take a different approach.

Lets hope this doesn't happen to you again as you have had more than your fair share of bad luck.

All the best.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

It is a perfectly apt analogy. You have posted on more than one occasion that there is no defence against the thief who wants to take something and you are right, there is no advice that can fit his question. In this case the answer is very clearly to give up e-biking

That's like saying that there's no defence against a meteor striking your bike and wiping it out, so we should all give up our bikes.

You've sort of misquoted what I've said. I think I said professional thieves. Why would one of those target Cwah's bike? It was probably just some toe-rag that thought that there might be something tradeable in his panniers. The bike was still there. Therefore, the logical problem is to solve how one can stop a thief nicking the battery, as Cwah already has a handle on how to keep his bike safe.

None of us guard against our saddles or brakes being nicked by a guy with a set of allen keys and a screwdriver. After having our saddle nicked three times, should we give up ebiking? No, we buy ourselves a tamper-proof bolt for it. I think your suggestion is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Gringo]

Sorry I can't help people stealing unlocked items but if there are roles on offer, put my name on the tuna mayo please

 

[jwm]

Sorry I can't help people stealing unlocked items but if there are roles on offer, put my name on the tuna mayo please

if it's foodstuffs, I'll just take the last one then.

 

[flecc]

I think your suggestion is absolutely ridiculous.

My suggestion was the best to date at the time I posted it and it fitted the circumstances precisely which no others have done. The four posting "likes" appear to agree.

And why are you specifically attacking my suggestion? In this thread and in others, members have suggested that cwah should buy a moped. Isn't that also advising him to give up e-biking, so why haven't you attacked their suggestion?

Anyway, the advice wasn't given to you, it's for cwah to decide whether to accept it or not.
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[Deleted member 4366]

I think you need to go back and re-read the thread from the start. What your saying, doesn't quite match the facts, and if it comes down to the number of likes, I got seven, which trumps your four.

 

[flecc]

The only fact that matters is the quality of the advice, and mine fitted the circumstances better than any other given.
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[Nealh]

Poor ol Cwah is attracting some flak on here just because some one nicked his battery/ panniers which weren't secured enough.
Problem I see it is that Cwah happened to leave his bike locked up with bags still attached which any opportunist thief will remove more so in big city or town, his only solution is to find/design a fairly impregnable casing permanently fixed to his bike or a removable solution. All of this he knows, to which he has eluded to in other posts.
He did try one removable solution which was the usb 48v battery except he left in on the bike, it wasn't nicked but became buggered because he left it out in the rain to be water logged in hind sight an error of judgement.
I'm sure he will get there at what cost we don't know but that is down to him and him only, as said previously he has a passion for e- bikes so I don't see it as being very constructive to be saying give up the bike.

 

[Nealh]

8 now .

 

[D8ve]

Ignoring the popularity fight.
Options are.
1 make it theif proof. Lockable top box is my first thought.
2 make it invisible. Hidden frame batteries?
3 make it scarey X loud alarm
4 catch them. Track the bike, valuable bit. Fit a hidden tracking device.
When nicked lead the police to the rather pleasant misunderstood poor youth( or thieving b,stard)
5 a velomobile cos they won't understand it. Especially with an alarm etc.

 

[flecc]

Poor ol Cwah is attracting some flak on here just because some one nicked his battery/ panniers which weren't secured enough.

he has a passion for e- bikes so I don't see it as being very constructive to be saying give up the bike.

Since when is it flak to make a sensible suggestion that fits all his circumstances? Those circumstances weren't just a battery and bag theft as you imply, they were the large number of thefts that poor cwah has suffered, plus the unsuitability of any e-bike for his posted requirements.

And if you wish to be petty in comparing the number of relevant "likes", the current score is 15 to 8 in my favour. I only quoted the likes in the first instance to show that my suggestion wasn't ridiculous.
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[Cyclezee]

And if you wish to be petty in comparing the number of relevant "likes", the current score is 15 to 8 in my favour. I only quoted the likes in the first instance to show that my suggestion wasn't ridiculous.
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Make that 16 Tony

 

[cwah]

Not sure it's about the number of likes that matters... it's not a referendum.

if I were to give up ebiking I'd do normal cycling... the simple reason is that TFL is overpriced and crowded to a point I can't stand.

My bike is currently faster than the train or bus... and I never understood why people absolutely want to use the tube....


I however currently live in a very central location, in london zone 1, so taking the tube is always slower than the bike..

But I have to move soon (damn landlord wants to increase price and evict us all at the same time), and I may end up living much further as rent seems to have increased dramatically in central london....


In my very logical way to see things... depending on where I live, ebiking would make more or less sense.

Living in zone 1, going ebike is a no brainer and saves so much time and money...

But if next month I live in zone 4.. i may just use the bike for weekly groceries......


but for now... as I am still in zone 1 and because I still have 4 bikes at home, it wouldn't really make sense for me to sell everything and bear crazy loss (lots of part need fixing so it will be purchased at much lower price) when potentially I may still use them for ebiking...

 

[flecc]

Fair enough cwah, the advice I gave was based on what most of my London friends have chosen to do and are happy with. As a fellow Londoner I only offered that advice for you to either accept or reject, not for others to start attacking me for doing that.

I'm sorry that you have to move against your will now, but I hope it all works out well. You certainly deserve some better luck.
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[103Alex1]

You're a more tenacious man than I, Cwah .... after all that theft (can't stand thieving) I'd have moved out of London a long time ago !!! I know there's lots of work there, but all those people and so much petty crime is more than I could deal with nowadays, whatever else is on offer !

Sorry you've had so much grief - life would be so much better without having to protect yourself and your stuff from other people. I'm happy being around the birds and a dog. At least the most they nick is the remains of your sandwich or the odd sock !