fietser_ivana

Saturday March 29, around 1900 hrs, my bicycle was stolen in Berkeley (SF Bay Area) in front of the REI outdoor store (Gilman & San Pablo).


It is an Airnimal Chameleon with a titanium colour (made of aluminium).
The pic is shown on https://www.m-gineering.nl/airtitan.jpg

It is very easily recognizable as it has a single very fat tube and is Y-shaped at the saddle.
The bike has an elegant but simple Brompton-like suspension system with an elastomer block. By lifting a latch it folds in half.
It also is outfitted with 520mm/24 inch wheels (just like small Terry bikes in front) and has a narrow 20mm tyre in front and a fatter 32mm knobby in the rear.
It is outfitted with:
- Schmidt hub generator and 2 front lights (momentarily tied down with zip ties as a Texan cattle guard broke the connection)
- Koga Miyata butterfly bars with fat Grab on foam, with a Cateye cordless computer attached as well as a mechanical inclinometer (Sky Mounti)
- a Tubus steel rear rack
- black road racing saddle with red tips
- a black Altura rackpack filled with many bike tools as well as a
full-size Zefal pump , a bright yellow Goretex rain jacket , swim gear (even Speedo goggles)
- Speedplay Frog pedals

I would be very grateful if people could look out for it and tell me whether they have spotted it or parts of it.

Yours sincerely

Ivana van den Hork (please try to tell this to as many people as possible!) currently back in the Netherlands again

Dahon.Steve

You have my sincere condolences. This is truly a beautiful bicycle to lose. The Airnimal is the highest-end folding road bike currently on the market.

Folks. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Do not under any circumstances commute with a bicycle that costs more than $700.00 unless you can keep it indoors. The commuter bike in the picture is worth over $1,100.00 USD. When you add the additional components, this bike is easly worth over $1,500.00 USD!

I'm afraid you'll never see this bike again. I can assure you the police are not looking for it as they would for a stolen automobile.

I would never park this kind of bike outside on the street even with 2 Kryptonite chains! The cycle is very expensive and is similar to leaving a Cannondale R1000 attached to bike rack.

Maybe you can tell us how this bike was stolen so others can learn.

a. What kind of locks did you use? Did you even use a lock?
b. Was it stolen at night or during the day?
c. Was it stolen near a university or college campus?
d. Where did you attach the bike to? (bike rack, pole)
e. How long did you leave the bike unattended?

fietser_ivana

Maybe you can tell us how this bike was stolen so others can learn.

a. What kind of locks did you use? Did you even use a lock?
An AXA cable lock attached to a special bike rack (the thick iron bars)
b. Was it stolen at night or during the day?
It was getting dark. We arrived around 1800 shortly before dark and were leaving at 1900 hr or so shortly after dark.. I had not thought we'd stay so long, but we were lingering longer than I had expected.
c. Was it stolen near a university or college campus?
At REI (Gilman & San Pablo in Berkeley)
d. Where did you attach the bike to? (bike rack, pole)
See above
e. How long did you leave the bike unattended?
see above: 1 hr.

Just the day before I had shopped at REI as well, but wanted to buy one item more (cleaning tools for water bag) and my hosts said they needed to buy things as well.. this took much longer than I had foreseen. The day before I was inside for quite a while as well, but prob not longer than 30-40 mins. Furthermore I discovered to need a small item from Walgreen a couple of blocks down the road. As there was no bike rack outside, I took the bike inside.. I should have done the same with my bicycle.
The bicycle was worth 3200 USD! Not 1500 USD. The frame alone costs 1500 euro and all the parts together (plus the money for having it put together) added up to 3000 euro. Add 150 euro for Speedplay frogs and about 500 euro for all the tools and items in the rackpack and I start to think that I was raving mad to have left it outside.. that's what happens when you had had a too rosy and happy afternoon. Also, Berkeley is one of the few places in the USA where really a lot of people cycle and have an idea about how much a bike costs.. compare this to Medford wher the gestapo-women at Greyhound forced me to park the bike outside before i could get my money back for a ticket (they were adamant about having it in a cardboard box rather than the more easy to transport bike bag, so i decided to spend 5x more on a rental car).

Sigh...

Ivana, who has spent about 70 euro so far on replacement parts but will have to spend a lot more....

Dahon.Steve

>>>>>The bicycle was worth 3200 USD! Not 1500 USD. The frame alone costs 1500 euro and all the parts together (plus the money for having it put together) added up to 3000 euro. Add 150 euro for Speedplay frogs and about 500 euro for all the tools and items in the rackpack and I start to think that I was raving mad to have left it outside.. <<<<<

Oh my God! I had no idea you paid 3200 USD for the Airnamal! Well. I guess it doens't matter since your loss was incredible by any standards.

I wish you the best of luck and yes, you did teach us all a very valuable lesson. Thank you

Steve.

davehorne

I'm an American living in the Netherlands. Over here when you buy a bike you're asked if you want insurance.

I've had two bikes stolen in the last year and the last one was insured. It's still a hassle, but it helps to cover some of the pain.

Dave Horne

fietser_ivana

Mine was insured as well, but still it is a MAJOR pain in the butt to replace all parts as I had so many things that are/were difficult to get or even unavailable, like the Altura rackpack that I had to buy in London, 165 mm cranks from Stronglight, Pamir Hypercracker (there's another type now), Koga Miyata bars with grab on foam, or even Speedplay pedals.. they are difficult to get in the NLs.
Re the Speedplay, only 1 day before i had bought a second pair so that I could put them on my touring bike as well so that I wouldn't need to swap them between bikes anymore. seems that I'll have to swap them between bikes once again.

I'll be getting a form soon from the insurance, but until I see money in my bank account, I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Ivana

davehorne

Ivana,

I feel even more stupid now after writing you personally about insurance. I just skimmed over this thread - had I spent a few seconds longer, I would have easlity seen you were Dutch and well aware of bike insurance.

For those Americans reading this - you must visit the Netherlands. I've lived here for eight years and still get a kick from the bike paths. I've even seen cloverleaf intersections for bikers below street level. The only down side to all of this is theft. Since this really is a bike country (more bikes than people), thieves have a field day.

I've had two bikes stolen within the last year and only the last one was insured. If I would have had both bikes secured with a cable, I would not be writing any of this.

Ivana, I hope you get your bike back. Batavus started an indentification system which is a step in the right direction, but the police have to take an active role to make this work.

DH

fietser_ivana

You'd be surprised, but in general, I sincerely DISLIKE bikepaths.. too much bike apartheid for my liking. Which is one of the reasons why I came to the USA.
Not just better weather, more hills to climb but also the FREEDOM to ride where I want.
Except that there seem to be some real redheads out on the road. Apparently they increase in density over time.. yet, most drivers are very polite, even more so than in the NLs. Especially when I DARE to go off the paths (often crappy in quality or resulting in getting lost) I get less than civil interaction with drivers who start lecturing me by cutting me off or driving by far too close.

Don't start me on this hobby horse of mine..

Ivana, mourning over her lost bike more and more now the reality finally sinks in... I want my Airnimal back! I should have locked it onto my person..... I must say that at times I've been paranoid enough to take the bike inside shops with me. But on one occasion , e.g. in Medford, I was sent out of a Greyhound bussstation by gestapo women working there and asked to leave the bike outside.. their behaviour (and the demand to box the bike, while I had a bag) made me spend 5x as much on a rental car. Very different approaches everywhere!

davehorne

Ivana, I was born and raised in Philadelphia. I have a brother who lives there and the notion of actually stopping at a STOP sign in that city, is quite a novelty. It seems a STOP sign (at least in Phila.) is only a suggestion ... it just means, slow down. I don't like driving a car in Phila. let alone biking.

I feel much more protected on a bike over here. Drivers here are more accustomed to bikers. Since I grew up in Philadelphia, without any bike paths that I'm aware of, the notion of having your own traffic lane ... and your own stop light on occasion, is very attractive to me.

I've thought about moving back to the US, but the thought of fighting traffic really frightens me. I personally find bike paths (especially in this very densely populated country), a mark of civility.

It's interesting - the grass is always greener on the other side! You're Dutch, live in the US and hate bike paths; I'm an American, live in the Netherlands and love those same paths.

fietser_ivana

No, no.. I live in the Netherlands, but since I started cycling longer distances that are longer than 20km I don't like the paths anymore. They are OK for locals. But once you're not local, you invariably get lost and extremely frustrated.
It's suicidal to ride on them in big packs as I occasionally do during weekend rides.. they are far, far, far more dangerous than riding on the road.

The NLs was coincidentally the only country in Europe where cyclists did NOT have the right of way when coming from the right.
BTW, I was amazed at how slavishly cyclists in the USA adhere to actually stopping at STOP signs rather than slowing down and be prepared to stop immediately in case of necessity. BTW, I've lived in Philly for 6 months, but was bike-less.. felt entirely miserable. Interestingly, I did cycle in Philly in 2000 and didn't feel it was unsafe.. NYC is quite OK too, but Miami and less so, LA were horrific... even Sao Paulo and Mexico City were not as bad as Miami where too many ass-holes live (read: ultra-conservative Cubans)

Ivana , who admires the champion of vehicular/effective cycling : John Forester = same rights, same rules for cyclists ..

davehorne

Ivana,

<<The NLs was coincidentally the only country in Europe where cyclists did NOT have the right of way when coming from the right.>>

Not any more! The law was just changed about a year ago ... May 1, 2002, I believe.

There's always the discussion of 'having' the right of way and 'getting' the right of way, but the law has changed.

fietser_ivana

Said it WAS, not IS.. they had to change the law in order to be more compatible with European traffic laws.
The law was changed in the second world war by the nazis, but the Dutch gov't thought it was a brilliant idea to prevent fast traffic from being slowed down by slow traffic, so it was never changed...

I have a very low opinion about bike-friendlyness in her own country. How many people do you really know who cycle more than 10 km habitually? 90% of the people I know are too lazy to ride more than 5 km.. we Dutch just cycle because we are too lazy to walk and our cities are so compact that cycling is a very viable alternative.. inside a city a cyclist has an edge because of all the shortcuts we can take, also as a result of blocking roads for car traffic .. which is a good thing i must admit, but it is mostly done to allow children to play on streets..


Ivana, who no longer takes her bike out for a functional ride if it is over 25-30 km... it is simply TOO frustrating to get lost all the time due to inadequate signposting.. don't tell me you never got lost.. I did so at least 10 times in the Dutch section when I did Paris-Amsterdam Nonstop in 1998 (rode it in 40 hours or so). I still have to get lost just once in France.. never had a prob either in the USA.

Inkwolf

Not to pick on your English, but I think you mean either hotheads or rednecks.

fietser_ivana

just wrote a bit too fast: yes rednecks.

davehorne

Ivana,

I bike on average more than 10k. I bike _because_ of the bike paths.

Re Philadelphia - I am not exaggerating, my brother would drive his car and would never stop at a STOP sign ... only slow down; he was typical of the drivers I saw in Philly. The individual who would stop was the exception. Of course, here in the Netherlands, I can count on one hand the number of STOP signs I have seen in the entire country.

Don't be so hard on your fellow countrymen ... they might bike because they like to. I know some Dutch who never bike, they only use their car. I would guess that most Dutch don't think about biking ... the paths exist, parking is a hassle, it makes sense to bike, doesn't it?

The bottom line for me ... I bike here _because_ the paths exist. I lived in the US for 44 years before I moved here and the thought of biking in the US, after I became an adult, never occurred to me; it was only after I moved to a country that was so bike friendly that I decided to take up biking. I got a kick out biking when I moved here eight years ago, and that same kick remains with me today.

I only use my car when absolutely necessary ... it's the bike for me and will remain so.

John00

I'm going to ride to Berkeley next week, I live about 25 very hilly miles away. Big sale at a bike shop, and a nice ride. I'll keep a close eye on my bike and a look out for yours'

fietser_ivana

But how much more do you bike than 10 K.
It remains a truth that bike paths are in 99% of the cases of inferior quality than the roads where cars can ride. And that it is extremely difficult to find your way in this country if you are banned from nearly all major roads and signposting is inadequate.
Behaviour towards cyclists who don't want to ride on brick tiles and bike paths that switch sides of the road too often, is extremely hostile as I experienced again today when going to the hospital for an appointment.
I was riding on a road that was banned for cyclists but first had a parking lot to the right that doubled as bike path, after which sides were switched and cyclists were put on a brick both side bike path.
First I was honked at by a car driver behind me, who then slowed down to a pace that was slower than I was riding and when I continued to pass at the right he intentionally cut me off by going to the right, which could have caused a serious injury, had I not slowed down abruptly.
This type of behaviour I have experienced at least a dozen times and is very very typical of the lecturing position drivers take in this BIKE APARTHEIDS COUNTRY.
I'm not overly scared of cycling along with traffic, as long as they stay sober and show no hatred towards cyclists.. but try to demand a bit more freedom in this country and you risk your life!

Ivana

davehorne

Ivana,

<<It remains a truth that bike paths are in 99% of the cases of inferior quality than the roads where cars can ride. And that it is extremely difficult to find your way in this country if you are banned from nearly all major roads and signposting is inadequate.
>>

99% ... where do you get this **********

I don't know where in Holland you bike, but in Noord Brabant, the paths are great. Actually, I"ve vacationed all over this country, and remain inpressed by the bike path network.

I see those ANWB paddenstoels (sp?) everywhere and AFAIC, this country is well marked. My friends from the US who visit are really knocked out by how well bikes are integrated into the traffic. They are amazed that we have our own paths and our own traffic lights.

I plan on staying here even though I could move back to the US ... my reason, the high level of biking, the high level of bike paths .... I could go on and on, but you see this differently than I and we will have to agree to disagree, I'm afraid.

davehorne

Ivana,

It occured to me that our different views of the same thing might be biased by our biking differences (for lack of a better description).

I _only_ bike for pleasure. I do not bike in a pack, I do not race, I do not mountain bike ... I just bike from point A to point B and only for pleasure. This might account for our different views ... or not.

fietser_ivana

Exactly.. that is the diff. I was entirely satisfied with our bike paths UNTIL I started riding longer distances in the weekends.
Then it struck me how dangerous it is to ride in largish groups on bike paths and I have seen many accidents because of it.
When I started riding longer distances I decided to use it for practial purposes and cycle from A to B even when it was 100 km apart...
It was only then that I got severely frustrated with our system and decided it was actually a case of bike apartheid. Since I'm a woman, I'm cursed with a less than wonderful sense of orientation, so finding your way is really HARD WORK and we don't even count the senseless change of directions, the necessity to take left turns in pedestrian style as if you're a pedestrian not someone riding a vehicle.

In short.. when you stop being afraid riding with traffic, it is intensely annoying to have to ride on bike paths.. not because I want to race, but because I try to use my time as efficiently as possible. Randonneuring means that you cover long distances in a set amount of time.. being a turtle means that I have to economize my time... pushing buttons twice in order to make a left turn is CERTAINLY not economical. Stopping for mushroom-sized signposts in order to read where the road is going to and then figuring what the heck it means is NOT economical...

So, I basically stopped riding longish distances for practical purposes due to utter frustration..

Ivana, who at times really DOES enjoy a nice bike path, esp when these are scenic and far, far far away from the drone of traffic.

Guest

I think we're getting lost on the origin of the post- Ivana lost her beautiful bike, and she needs people to keep their eyes out for it... so ANYONE in the SF area, keep an eye out for her bike. Ivana, I'd check pawn shops, put up flyers with pictures of the bike, comb the bike shops and leave flyers there, and just take like an hour a day to canvass the area and talk to people. With intense pressure like this, the bike may resurface.

If it doesn't, at least you have the insurance to cover replacing the bike, even though some of the accessories will be a bit difficult to come by. Is there any way you can get your insurance company to up the ante so that you can order the parts from abroad and get your spare parts?

Finally, people have different opinions about bike paths vs. road riding. If you are comfortable with riding on the streets, paths will not work as well for you. If you don't like riding with cars and accepting the risks that may come with it, bike paths are a great alternative for you. Personally, I could stand to ride in the street or the paths. Sometimes, paths are more convenient for my goals, and sometimes, the streets are the way to go for me. I just get the feeling that debating which one is better for this thread takes away from the original, more pertinent goal of this thread- getting Ivana's bike back.

Having said all this, I really wish you luck on getting your bike back. I wish I could be there in SF with you, because I'd be passing out flyers right there with you, and I'd be keeping my eye out for that bike... and I'd open the biggest can of whup @ss on whomever has your bike when it is found. Don't forget to keep the pressure on the police so that if the bike is found, they will be able to return the bike to you- if you have a police department that has police who cycle the streets of SF, you may be able to get more sympathy from them, so approach them first about your bike. They cover a lot of ground when they're out there all day on their bikes patrolling the city.

Good luck, and please let us know if you ever get your bike back!

Koffee

fietser_ivana

Thanks Koffee.. but unfortunately, the bike was stolen just 16 hours BEFORE I was leaving the country and I 'm feeling quite helpless at home in the Netherlands..

Ivana

Guest

Oh sh*t!

I had no idea... in that case, any chance you can keep in contact with the police from the Netherlands on a regular basis? Call over to the SF police station and find some of the officers who patrol the city via bike and explain the situation, sound really sympathetic, and send them a link to this website so they can see a picture? Plus send them over a color picture of the bike so they have a full sized picture they can work with. Also, if you have a contact in SF you were staying with who's also an avid cyclist, could they go to some of the local bike shops and drop off some pictures of the bike?

I am really sorry this had to happen to you while visiting. Crap, that sucks.

Koffee