<p>Just a reminder that your kids should take care to properly lock up their possessions. My son had his bike stolen 30 minutes after he locked it to a bike rack on campus.First time riding the bike to class. He had planned on getting a U Lock all summer but never got around to it. He ended up taking his old cable bike lock from home. He was only away from the bike for 30 minutes and the lock was cut. He is bummed but really glad he did not bring his better bike. For fear of theft he had brought up to school his old BMX bike from Middle school. The crooks will be surprised though when the front wheel pops off. The bike has some problems that if you are not a bike mechanic are hard to repair.
He also heard that another apartment in a different wing of his apartment complex was broken into. They broke the front door and made off with a computer and some electronics. My son figures the locals know that school is back in session. Both his classroom where the bike was stolen and his apartment complex are on the outer edges of a campus in a city with a high crime rate. The apartment break made my son aware of the need to lock his computer up. The last 2 yrs in the dorm he had not used the lock and had not had a problem.</p>
<p>mom60 - Sorry to hear about your son’s bike, but glad to hear it wasn’t an expensive one. I had lunch with a friend last week who’s son will be starting at UCLA next month and he was insisting that he wanted to take his expensive bike. My friend told him that she had bought the bike and unless he was going to pay her back for it he was not taking it to school. I believe she said he is now taking an older bike of his.</p>
<p>My friend’s DD that lives off campus at the University of Arizona had the front door of the house kicked in at the end of last semester and had all electronics and computers stolen from the house.</p>
<p>mom60 Sorry to hear that! I will definitely pass the information on to DD who is at the same school but in the dorm. The dorm she is in just got new furniture and the desk has a drawer that you can purchase a padlock for. maybe she should get one…
By the way, I would NOT take a good bike to UCLA.</p>
<p>Our condo insurance covers theft at D’s college. Maybe something to look into?</p>
<p>Grrr…I’m still mad about my Betsey Johnson dress stolen off the dorm clothesline at a school that makes much of its honor code…grrrr…</p>
<p>ebeeee-he never had a problem in the dorms nor did any of his friends. I think the dorms are more secure since you need an ID card to enter the building. Today I looked at the university website and did a search on bike theft and it turns out last year over 50 bikes were stolen on campus. And that is just the reported cases. My son said he didn’t see any point in reporting his since he knows he is not going to get it back. He thinks it was taken by locals not students. He often leaves his skateboard in the rack in the dining hall and has never had a problem.
I know at UCSB the kids tend to buy clunker bikes due to the high rate of theft. Mousegray- the bike was probably $200 new. It is now 7 yrs old and it has been rode hard.
The funny thing is the bike he left at home the “good” bike" looks like a piece of junk to me. It is a mountain bike that he built himself when he was 13 out of different components.
He is a extremely easy going kid and is not upset. He feels partly at fault for not making the time to get the better lock. He will go back to skateboarding across campus.
I had just taped up the package that contained the bike helmet he had forgotten at home. At least I had not yet gone to the post office.</p>
<p>Live and learn. For most of our kids, the idea that someone would steal something from them is shocking.</p>
<p>Kids should be reminded to LOCK THEIR DOORS at all times.</p>
<p>Now I do know my DD is doing that because today she locked herself out of her room!</p>
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I don’t think any campuses, including ones in nice expensive areas such as UCLA’s, are safe when it comes to bikes so I agree that he shouldn’t bring an expensive one or one he likes very much.</p>
<p>Moreover, he might want to reconsider bringing a bike to UCLA at all since most students there don’t use them (lots of hills), although of course, some do. Maybe he should try starting without the bike and then if after a couple of weeks he still thinks he wants a bike there, bring an inexpensive bike.</p>
<p>If you look on Craigslist for an inexpensive bike now do you know you are not buying a bike that has been stolen?</p>
<p>My D had a yucky bike that S bought for her for under $10. Someone cut & stole the lock & chain but left her bike! S has a similar bike & has also never had a problem with theft. Both bikes are really ugly but run OK–only one working gear bought cheap from Craigslist. Both kids are happy their bikes aren’t attractive enough to interest thieves interested in resale or “nice” wheels.</p>
<p>I guess there are few guarantees that the bike wasn’t stolen, but few students would actually have a title paper for a used bike (I know I never had one for any of the used bikes I bought or sold).</p>
<p>My D’s bike was stolen her freshman year at Rice. She locked it stupidly- chain through the front wheel. The thief left the front wheel. Bikes are an easy target at Rice.</p>
<p>My dear old Schwin varsity was stolen from a bike rack in front of a classroom building early in my grad school career. I was initially confused - did I leave it somewhere else? But then I found 1/2 of a cut chain link and reality set in. This was almost 30 years ago.</p>
<p>Now my son is taking my other old bike (32 years old) with him to Boston. How long do we give it?</p>
<p>I had a very old clunker bike back when I was a student–bought it for $20 at a garage sale & sold it when I left campus for good for the same $20. It was not particularly attractive & no one stole it. Ditto for law school. Who knows, maybe your antique won’t be stolen either, you never can tell.</p>
<p>NJres, your son might need two extra heavy-duty locks depending on where he goes to school.</p>
<p>At D’s school, a campus plice office told me that a couple of times thieves drove through the campus in the early morning hours and loaded every unchained bike into their truck. It happened in October when the students let their guard down and stopped locking up their bikes because they thought that their campus was the most uneventful place on Earth.</p>
<p>I have a lock that cost more than my bike. In addition to the frame, I also lock my front wheel. And I take the seat with me. Or you can lock that to the frame too. (I live in NYC)</p>
<p>The one thing I can leave behind is the helmet.</p>
<p>mom60 thanks for the reassurance. I did note when I emailed DD that the dorms are probably fairly secure. As you know there is a huge biking culture at UCSB and yup a LOT of bikes stolen. Lots of bikes and property stolen at son’s college too and mainly (probably like mom60’s son) the kids get stuff stolen from off campus individuals. The crime logs for DS school support this. Lots of high school and junior high school kids from the surrounding urban area take laptops, bikes, ipods, cels, etc.<br>
One day DS who is a big boy called me and laughed that some 14 year olds had tried to mad dog him for his ipod. Apparently that involves staring and intimidation.
They had little success with him.
Glad DD isn’t at that school :)</p>
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<p>That’s who’s causing all the problems at my son’s school. They’re even robbing students as they walk home from parties at night. My son’s campus is only 4,000 students and I just can’t believe that, between campus security and the local police, they can’t get these young punks under control.</p>