Korean Job Discussion Forums

pkang0202 · Joined: 09 Mar 2007

Just found out my bike was stolen. I kept it locked up, on the side of my building. I can't bring it inside because there isn't any room in my apartment, and the landlord says I can't store the bike in the hallway, even though there is plenty of room.

The bike wasn't too expensive, maybe around 250,000w.

Probably nothing I can do about it. Sucks.

isthisreally · Joined: 01 Sep 2007

Same thing happened to my gf, now everytime she sees a pink bike she cries ㅜㅜ

byrddogs · Joined: 19 Jun 2009 Location: Shanghai

Yep, that does indeed suck OP; sorry to hear about that. I don't care how small my apt. is I find a way to make room for my 2 bikes. They are are worth about 5 mil krw though, so outside storage is no option in my mind.

On that note, when I did summer English camp this year there was a rash of stolen bikes (including the head K teacher's) from the school that I was teaching at. It is a shame.

ekul · Joined: 04 Mar 2009 Location: [Mod Edit]

I had a friend who locked it in his building every time, once though, it was too rainy and he didn't wanna mucky the place up so he locked it outside. Come the next day it had vanished. This was in shiny Jeongja in Bundang, one of the most affluent areas outside of Seoul apparently. There's pikey bastards everywhere.

mc_jc · Joined: 13 Aug 2009 Location: C4B- Cp Red Cloud, Area-I

I think the person did you a tremendous favor and probably saved your life by taking your bike- look at the way people drive. By riding your bike, you were making yourself a moving target to every driver in your area.

cdninkorea · Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Location: Seoul

Sadly, there's nothing you can do about it, OP. The owner of the bike shop I go to told me there's been an increase in bike thefts lately. Even though it's heavy, I'm thinking of getting one of those motorcycle locks...

English Matt · Joined: 12 Oct 2008

byrddogs · Joined: 19 Jun 2009 Location: Shanghai

earthbound14 · Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Location: seoul

sucks...

A friend of mine keep his bike locked with a little lock just around one tire, not locked to anything. Hasn't lost his bike yet.

With all the Koreans who do this I kind of thought bikes never got stolen.

Hmmmm, perhaps time to invest in a better lock. My 3,000 lock doesn't feel safe enough anymore.

julian_w · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 3:55 am Post subject:

Don't give up hope of getting your bike back. I had an el cheapo heavy-arsed folding bike on loan from a friend a couple of years ago. Some local pillock knicked it, but merely rode it around the block and chained it up besides another apartment block. It somewhat stood out for two reasons:
all the other bikes there had flat tyres and were rusty and broken down; and,
it still had my second bright green colourful chain around the front handle bars. I hadn't used both locks the day they had taken it.
I simply went to the nearest small key-cutting store and asked to borrow his 'big scissors' (didn't know the word for bolt cutters). He followed me back to the bike and I took it away again.

So, I agree it's the best idea - have one small but strong lock around the front wheel bolting it to the frame - and then have *another*, longer chained lock from the frame or a wheel to something immovable, like a lamp-post or small tree...

The trick is, however, to find that immovable object somewhere outside and nearby a 24 hour convenience store or something where there is a person awake and around all the time.

The other trick I've found is to have stirrup-style strap-cage clips on the pedals. Koreans tend to be petrified of them.

Finally, think about whether you can handle a racing-style old ten-speed kinda bike. If it's just for getting around town, they tend to be a lot less desirable for thieves as they're a lot less common and more obvious.

mimis · Joined: 24 May 2009

In the Netherlands, what many people do is paint their bicycles in crazy colors, which makes them less desirable for thieves as well. Don't know if that's an option here?

flakfizer · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 6:52 am Post subject:

My first bike here was a piece of junk I bought used for 25,000. I figured no one would want it enough to risk stealing it. I was proved wrong in just two days.

OneWayTraffic · Joined: 14 Mar 2005

Found an unlocked decent condition elcheapo MTB dumped outside our APT Thursday. Unlocked. I propped it against a wall and left it. It was gone later.

Locks can be cut or picked. Taking it inside is safer, if it's an expensive bike.

pkang0202 · Joined: 09 Mar 2007

nosmallplans · Joined: 10 Oct 2008 Location: noksapyeong

stealing run of the mill bikes just seems like poor business. they must just scrap all the metal 'cause the resale value of those bikes can't be much at all.

just get yourself a good kryptonite u-lock - thieves in korea haven't figured out what to do about those yet. mine is probably over the top, totally unnecessary as i never really leave my bike anywhere for too long anyway but it feels good to know that there is squat any local thieves can do about it.