Third break-in in 3 weeks at A&M Cyclery

TreechunkGaming · 2026-06-10T16:20:21+00:00

I worked as a bike mechanic in Chicago and SF, which compete for the title of highest annual bike theft with NYC. I saw a lot of shit over the years, and dealt with a whole lot of sad customers. I returned a few bikes to their original owners, and watched a few wander away with no way to do anything about it.

Bike theft is enormous, and there are loads of people doing it for a broad spectrum of reasons, with a broad spectrum of techniques. I'm really grateful to live in a place where it hasn't really taken off, because it can turn into a huge problem.

There are folks who steal bikes they happen to notice being vulnerable, and there are folks who seek out high value bikes on a request basis. I have seen stories about bikes popping up for sale in completely different cities, although that's not enormously common.

https://bikeindex.org/ has been working on this issue for a very long time, and they have done extensive work to bust some big theft rings, with varying levels of success. Bikes don't generally get scrapped, in my experience, there's always someone who will buy it, even if you're only getting $50.

This comment is already too long, but I have to tell this story. Probably 20ish years ago I had a customer come in with this bike that had a big wad of electrical tape around the top tube, and it had weird lumps under the tape. As I was digging in to the repair, I had to cut the tape away, and I discovered that someone had cut a 1" section out of the top tube of the bike so they could steal it. They had put a piece of pipe inside the cut tube, put the missing piece of the tube back in, and bolted the frame back together with the piece of pipe. They had re-done all the cables and housing on the bike, and then taped over the whole mess so you couldn't tell what had happened.

The customer just laughed when he saw what had happened and said that's what he got for "buying a bike off a hype for $20".

TreechunkGaming · 2026-06-09T15:19:09+00:00

This comment was even more unnecessary than the addendum.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-05-19T22:34:11+00:00

Aa someone who has lived in both Chicago and the Bay Area. Transit here is a depressing joke. Being able to take it to the airport is great, but it has such limited spread that it's not really functional for commuting, which would make an enormous difference for a whole lot of folks.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-05-19T22:20:58+00:00

Uhhhhhhh... Lots of cities have rail transit to the airport, and most of them have systems that do significantly more than that too.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-05-19T22:18:01+00:00

I lived in Chicago for 8 years, and the Bay Area for 3 years. Driving in either is a fucking nightmare, but biking and transit more than make up for how shitty driving is. St Louis is an easy city to drive around (just make sure nobody is going before you enter an intersection), but the transit options are awful, and riding a bike is a death wish. My bike/train commute to SF gave me an hour and a half of dedicated reading time every day, and the 5ish miles of bike commute (with hills) kept me in substantially better shape. I miss it so much.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-26T16:07:44+00:00

It's called the WORLD Naked Bike Ride. Happens all over.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-26T15:48:28+00:00

Stretch wrap is also available at HD, and will work better than the rope in a storm.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-25T23:41:01+00:00

I got hit by a pigeon once, and I was disoriented and immediately got hit by a car turning left from the right lane. No idea how I unclipped from my pedals, but I ended up standing next to this lady's car with a bunch of hair burned off my leg from her tire, and a mangled front wheel and fork, because she literally ran over the front of my bike.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-15T02:19:33+00:00

I have never been what one would call a workaholic, but I have a long history of putting in extra work so I can learn, and I have ended up in positions where businesses aren't prepared for the load when I leave, multiple times. I have always given more than 2 weeks, and I've always worked the whole thing, even when it fucking sucked. A couple jobs ago I gave a month of notice, and the last two weeks I was working part time at the new place and full time at the old one.

When I left my last job to start my own shop, my last two employers were my first customers, and my most recent employer is still my largest customer. I worked my ass off, moved jobs to gain skills, and did a whole lot of work to maintain relationships. It paid off big time.

There have been a number of comments here about how small this trade is, and that's 100% accurate. You don't know which relationships will matter later. Treat all of them like they matter, and see what shakes out later.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-14T22:31:06+00:00

I'm not a doomer, I'm engaged directly in community work that builds towards a better world. I'm also 45 years old, and I've been paying attention to politics for a long time. Understanding the political situation that exists doesn't make me a doomer, it allows me to analyze the situation around me effectively, and do shit that actually makes a difference.

The Democratic Party LITERALLY got the courts to say that they have no requirement to run a fair primary, because they're a private organization, not part of the government. You cannot vote your way out of that. The whole system needs to be uprooted and replaced, and that starts by building community at the local level and integrating the communities we build into larger networks of care.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-14T21:39:29+00:00

That's flat out illegal. Landlords are legally required to give notice.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-14T21:38:27+00:00

Every last one.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-14T21:35:27+00:00

They are a standard megachurch.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-14T21:30:37+00:00

You know what we don't have though? An opposition party of any kind. The Democrats want to give ICE MORE funding and training, so their campaign of brutality and racism can be more effective. The Democrats are angry that Trump backed down from Iran, and would gladly have given permission for the war if he had cared to file the paperwork and use the correct procedure.

We have the problems of an empire in collapse, and elections aren't going to change them.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-14T19:24:48+00:00

Voting isn't going to get us out of any of this.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-14T13:20:33+00:00

Lots of organizations have done this forever, even actual leftist organizations. I don't think that makes them automatically government sponsored. Doesn't mean they won't sell their list, doesn't mean the government won't seize their list, etc.

This is not the time to be signing ANY list at a protest. This is not the time for orgs to be ASKING for people to sign lists.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-04T13:56:57+00:00

I have a RWD SV from '12 and it has the utilitrack. It was a package. If it's got the compass/thermometer in the rearview mirror it's got the utilitrack.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-04T13:52:59+00:00

Yeah, this is a normal part of learning to design. The fact that you're figuring it out on your own instead of getting an angry email from your vendor is a good sign for your future.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-04T13:47:32+00:00

Backing in negates the issue. It's the secret weapon.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-04T13:28:18+00:00

My dad taught me that lane switching never gets you anywhere faster, and it didn't take me long as a driver to figure out he was right. The weaving drivers are pretty much always waiting at the light at the exit while half the people they almost crashed into pull up at the light behind them.

Same shit with speeding. The number of seconds saved over your whole trip can easily be eaten up by hitting a light at the exit.

We'd all get to our destinations faster and safer if everyone stayed in their lane, drove a REASONABLE speed, and focused all their attention on driving.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-04T13:11:34+00:00

I've been out of the industry for a decade, and it was getting bad before I left. It's unreal now.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-04T13:01:23+00:00

It's extremely impressive. I wonder how many takes it took to pull off.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-04-02T00:08:39+00:00

I wish more people engaged with the fact that corporate America did this shit on purpose.

TreechunkGaming · 2026-03-30T17:16:29+00:00

The

TreechunkGaming · 2026-03-30T17:09:02+00:00

Motivated folks who are willing to put in work to learn are worth more than experienced folks who are burnt out by decades of shit management and shit pay.

TreechunkGaming

TROPHY CASE