Dealing with Bike Vandals

Sometimes, for no apparent reason, somebody decides to vandalize your bicycle.

Some of the common ways are to:

1. Rip the seat.

2. Puncture the tires.

3. Dent the wheels.

4. Break the chain.

5. Break the derailleurs.

6. Bend the handlebars.

7. Cut brake or shifter cables.

8. Break various fixings on the bike (lights, reflectors, waterbottle holder, etc).

Breaking the frame of the bicycle requires a lot more effort, so even if someone heavily vandalizes your bike frame should still be good.

And the sad part is there is little you can do to prevent such things, unless you're keeping your bicycle inside your home or in your garage. If your bike is on the street or in front of your apartment building its pretty vulnerable to vandalism.

Generally speaking when you lock your bike up securely you think its safe. But that does very little to prevent people from stealing parts off it or just being plain mean.

Sometimes you might know who did it because of some kind of private feud. In which case you have a choice of reporting to the police or maybe retaliation. If you actually knew the person's name that would be helpful to the police, but otherwise there is not a lot you can do about it.

Which can be very frustrating for bike owners who have had their bikes vandalized.

Today, I personally had not one but two of my bicycles vandalized. I don't even know who did it and am confused about why they did it. If they had a problem with me, my name and cell phone number are written on my bikes (to prevent theft) and they could have easily contacted me and discussed their problem.

Instead they decided to vandalize someone else's property. Some people have no respect.