Stop Burning Man's Culture of Bicycle Thievery!!!

[Elliot]

Bicycle detonating season is now open over on the old thread.
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... &start=330

[mdmf007]

Nice Sawzall

[dbstevens]

I wonder if BM would consider being able to register bikes like we do cars. That might not be practical since any sort of tag could probably be easily removed, but it might at least discourage theft. Then stolen bikes may be easier to identify.

My first burn was last year... the first year I could afford it. My bike was stolen the second day even though it was locked, so someone went to extra trouble to break the lock. I guess I made the mistake of bringing a new bike that I'd spent a huge amount of time decking out with lots of lights, power generators, etc. But I found it the next day at Center Camp. Someone told me to keep checking there because sometimes stolen bikes are returned there. And someone at the camp next to me gave me a lock. So the disappointment turned into gratitude because of finding the bike and the generosity of a stranger.

[Ratty]

Take a picture of your bike. Write your playa address on it in big sharpie letters. (on tape if you want). This makes it possible for someone to return it. Write your name under the fender or somewhere you can look when trying to identify it. Make a mental note of any identifying dents or alterations.

[some seeing eye]

ePlayans have consistently suggested do-acracy.

Don't bring a good bike, lock with a formidable lock, label your contact info, record bike data before it is stolen.

Take a photo of the serial number on the bottom bracket and a side photo. Turn your bike upside down, the serial number is on the frame under the pedal crank. If stolen you can record it on bikeindex.org - with the serial number! Bikeindex is not perfect, but it is the best nationwide stolen bike resource.

[DoctorIknow]

For years I've been using the "4 letter" cable locks. I found them better than having a key around my neck.

I've been lucky to not have my bike stolen!

There must be 100 videos on youtube about how to open that type of lock in 30 seconds.

But, there seems to be a Master lock that makes it too time consuming for the thief to attempt out on the playa.

[Perpetual Burn]

What if we preemptively prepare for thievery by bringing extra bikes?

So, like by Exodus there are mad abandoned bikes all around... maybe they were borrowed/stolen, lost or just straight ditched... at any rate they're MOOP...

So, like a tyrannical villain I've scooped some decent ones up for my friends to go on bar crawls with me and whatnot on the other 51 weeks...

But I'm gonna deck them out and bring them all back, tell my campmates and random folks they can use them whenever they want... probably just intentionally leave them at random places for others to borrow/steal...

Gifting is a rad Principle... I bring extra food and water, so now I'm gonna bring extra bikes.

I lost my first bike at my first Burn in like 15 minutes... still the best week of my life...

And it's only 2 miles in diameter till 2099... so it ain't impossible to ride your Chevrolegs around and have a great time.

[ChanceFlashLightning]

Okay, so if I'm reading this correctly, you ("tyrannical villain") TOOK bikes that WEREN'T YOURS and now you are planning on bringing them back and LEAVING them there?

How does this discourage either thievery or MOOP? Please correct me if I'm misunderstanding your post.

[Perpetual Burn]

Okay, so if I'm reading this correctly, you ("tyrannical villain") TOOK bikes that WEREN'T YOURS and now you are planning on bringing them back and LEAVING them there?

How does this discourage either thievery or MOOP? Please correct me if I'm misunderstanding your post.

Well, you pretty much understood it correctly...

But by Exodus, those bikes were abandoned or already stolen... doubtful the owner would find them if borrowed... and if ditched they're MOOP, someone was going to have to deal with the hassle of removing them.

But okay, I won't just leave them anywhere, yeah that could create MOOP. But if I see people without a bike, I could just give them one because I brought extras... and I've done this before. Saw two dudes walking, one with a bike, one without so I just gave them a green Yellow bike and told them about the Yellow green bikes... they were most grateful and happy they could ride together.

And the MOOP bikes I "borrowed" weren't the greatest most decked out bikes, they just still functioned... But they will return decked out and be given to campmates, friends or other folks that are bummed their bike has been borrowed, or they might just think mine looks cooler so they can have it... so it won't stop thievery but it will promote Gifting.

And the "tyrannical villain" line was sarcastic.... because as far as I understand, this is exactly what the Yellow Bike Camp does... except they don't deck them out, so people might be more inclined to borrow a bike with lights...

[some seeing eye]

Mr Perpetual Burn,

You have gotten off track from BM principles and are going down a Robin Hood sinkhole.

BM does not need snowflake Robin Hoods.

Volunteer with a bike camp or the BORG itself to get a different perspective and really contribute. Why? Because what happens with bikes is much more complex than you read.

Loss of bikes at the event really crushes the experience of many who are poor.

[Popeye]

Perpetual Burn said

But by Exodus, those bikes were abandoned or already stolen... doubtful the owner would find them if borrowed... and if ditched they're MOOP, someone was going to have to deal with the hassle of removing them.

That does not make them yours, no matter what your intentions.

SSE said it better and a lot more politely than I can. A thief is a thief. If it does not belong to you and you take it you have stolen it.

[burner von braun]

If a bicycle isn't yours, leave it alone.

[Molotov]

It would be a real shame if the BLM cops figured out how to use bait bikes as an easy way to rack up arrests. Just sayin'.....

[AntiM]

We have had bikes left in camp, we made sure they were out front all week, then took them home with us instead of leaving them as MOOP in our village. But a bike anywhere else, even on Monday, does not belong to anyone who just wants to take it. Not your bike? Hands off.

[Elliot]

Without reading all the way thru the shit somebody recently posted....

My camp carries a considerable number of bikes to and from the Playa, and we have had a serious problem with being ACCUSED of removing bikes from the Playa that were not ours to remove.

So my vote is... we avoid doing anything that might make this problem worse.
Because... I'm bloody effin well fed up with having to explain our normal and legitimate camp activities as if I were some sort of known-habitual-criminal.

And yes. Any unattended bicycle in Black Rock City BELONGS TO ITS RIGHTFUL OWNER, who MUST be assumed to be searching for it -- and there is NO TIME LIMIT on this fundamental concept.
YOUR estimation of the likelihood that he is still searching, and the likelihood that he will find it, does NOT have anything to do with it.

[maladroit]

The official process for removing bikes left in your camp is to wheel them over to the nearest porta-potty bank at the end of the burn and leave them there. That's because the official process for attempting to find your bike is to go to porta-potty banks and hope that you see your bike. There is no circumstance in which you are A-OK to take a bike home that isn't yours.

[DoctorIknow]

The official process for removing bikes left in your camp is to wheel them over to the nearest porta-potty bank at the end of the burn and leave them there.

"Official" ??????

Link?

[vargaso]

Lock your fuckin' bikes. Almost all stolen bikes are stolen out of convenience because some asshole just HAS to get over to that awesome dance party across the playa like NOW. ANY kind of deterrence will make that asshole skip over your bike. Hell, you could probably just tie some rope in a nice bow and it wouldn't get stolen because it would take a few seconds for that asshole to untie it. Bikes aren't getting stolen because the asshole thinks it's a cool bike. On the other side, DON'T TAKE A BIKE THAT ISN'T YOURS, PERIOD. Can't believe I even have to type that.

All that said, I'm guilty of leaving my bike unlocked in the middle of the playa while stumbling around this or that installation or camp. I've been lucky that it's never been stolen. One year a virgin camper in our camp got her bike stolen on her FIRST sojourn to the open playa, not 10 minutes in. How shitty is that? We all remember our first time out there as a game-changing experience, and hers got totally tainted by some asshole. So yeah, it's a total crapshoot. It is what it is.

[maladroit]

https://burningman.org/culture/history/ ... dpw/bikes/

I can't find mention of the porta-potty thing, but it's stated and re-stated policy that bikes aren't considered abandoned until after the event is over. "Leave it where it is" if it's not yours. Some word-of-mouth instruction from DPW to wheel any bikes left in your camp out to the street. I may have been told by a campmate that wheeling the bikes to the porta potty, rather than out to the street, was the correct thing to do. That may have been born of reluctance to just leave the bikes at the camp and risk a yellow or red spot on the MOOP map.

Anyway. If you're leaving before noon on Tuesday, the bikes aren't abandoned, aren't yours, and you can't take them. If you are there after noon on Tuesday then you probably are working for DPW.

[Ratty]

After noon on Tuesday I've been told I have to take the bikes left in my camp. What?! I've already got the passenger seat filled with garbage bags. Those aren't my bikes. I should have rolled them over to the yellow bike camp sooner. That's where the bike 'lost and found' is located.

[Perpetual Burn]

Robin Hood is a more appropriate name for my intentions with these bikes than tyrannical villain lolz

I've only been to two Burns... both times my bikes got borrowed or lost... not for a second did it bum my Burn out...

And maybe I should do some work for Yellow Camp...

My first Burn, my friend's bike got a flat and his peddle broke on his birthday... so I walked it to Center Camp to get some direction to where to go to fix it... the lady at the info center just laughed and asked why I didn't just "borrow" someone else's but directed me to Yellow Camp. They said they only work on their bikes but I said it was for my friends birthday so he gave me a tube, a peddle, and let me use the tools to fix it... I rode it back to camp and my friend was stoked.

So, if I wait till Tuesday it's ok... unless someone disagrees with that... or I can take it to a porta potty station... but that's still MOOP... or take it to Yelllow Camp... but that's still thievery...

Or take it to Elliot and blame it all on him.

Robin Hood lives! The Man Burns!


I got a PM from a member blatantly disagreeing with all the whine some folks be drinking around here... no wonder it was a PM...

Sorry if I've offended any of you folks... I'm about done with this "debate."

[vargaso]

So, if I wait till Tuesday it's ok... unless someone disagrees with that... or I can take it to a porta potty station... but that's still MOOP... or take it to Yelllow Camp... but that's still thievery...

That's the Tuesday AFTER the temple burn, meaning almost everyone has left. During the event proper, DON'T TAKE A BIKE THAT ISN'T YOURS!! For chrissakes.

[Perpetual Burn]

Hahaha yeah that's the Tuesday I was talking about...

But Exodus is only a day before that... so all those bikes lying around are more than likely MOOP...

But yeah, I've thought about waiting to leave on that Tuesday to avoid the hassle of Exodus...

Would I then have official permission from the Kingdom of ePlaya to borrow bikes for my friends, bring them back next year decked out and give them away to any Burner who wants a better or replacement bike?

Lolz *yawns*

PS- For Christ's sake? Jesus Christ would forgive ANY sin... borrowing a bike is laughable on the Divine scale of morality.

[lucky420]

Oh for fucks sake ^^

[FIGJAM]

It's fairly easy to understand.

If it's not yours, DON'T TOUCH IT!!!

It's called consent!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrFortuna]

C'mon guys! Let me steal enough bikes to pay for my trip plz! At least I'm not killing people!

[Perpetual Burn]

Lolz money grows on trees...

I damn sure don't steal bikes to sell them...

I buy tickets for virgins and light money on fire for shits and giggles... for real.

Decommodification is my favorite Principle.

The Burn is about Burning down the financial system for folks like me...

It's a blatantly frivolous party where some of us Burn/spend outlandish amounts of money just so we can see our brothers and sisters have a good time.

"You will Love one and hate the other.
You will either Love money and hate God,
Or you will hate money and Love God."
-Jesus Christ

He also said he came to Burn shit down... hint, hint...

[Captain Goddammit]

You're so full of shit.
No one who really does have that kind of money says things like that.
And no one who is that much of a god freak is financially stable either.
You god freaks talk about yourselves having plenty of everything because you believe that your faith IS wealth.
You're not fooling anyone.

Stealing is stealing. Do you know when the owner of a bike you "found" is leaving the playa? NO! People stay over a month later doing after-work. I'm often still on the playa on Wednesday. God help you if I catch you stealing one of my bikes, amigo. You don't know that the owner of that bike has left yet. You're a thief, plain and simple.
If you're so rich you burn money for fun, stop being a thief and buy a hundred new bikes and hand them out.
You're just SO full of shit.

[vargaso]

I have to think he's trolling at this point.

[Ratty]

Yes, a little troll.