Smart Bike Thief Thwarted

Photo by Wayan

Apparently, the first thieves have tried to get their hands on a SmartBike. It was a complete failure, according to WTOP:

Someone tried to steal a SmartBike from the rack at the Shaw SmartBike location over the weekend, D.C. Department of Transportation spokesperson Karyn LeBlanc says.

“The person came and took the back tire and lifted it – physically lifted it over the rack – in hopes that it would snap the lock,” LeBlanc says.

The rack proved too mighty for this thief, however, and the bike did not come off the rack. SmartBikes are secured into racks by steel locks.

You’re going to have to try harder than that to get one of the SmartBikes…

Tom Bridge

I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.

5 thoughts on “Smart Bike Thief Thwarted”

Seems to go in line with what gets locked up will eventually be looked at to get stolen. If it wasn’t locked up would there have been less of an attempt to posses it?

It makes sense to lock them up, honestly. Sets access control for the individual bikes, etc. You wouldn’t setup Zipcar like this, would you?

The main danger in having these bikes stolen comes when people have rented them & are out & about. No locks are provided, so someone will lean a bike against something to dash in to buy something & then the bike is gone.
Even the racks are not foolproof. There are a lot of thieves in the District, & nothing is safe. If something has value & is sitting anywhere in town, some crack head or coke head or a plain old thief will figure out how to steal it.
The people here steal cars & buses & anything not set in concrete, including hundreds of millions of dollars from the government. If someone wants to steal one of these bikes, it’s gone.

Who would want to take a bike like that anyway. They certainly aren’t very utilitarian or attractive.

Will makes a good point… these bikes can’t really be resold for much…

Chip on August 27, 2008 at 5:32 pm said:

Seems to go in line with what gets locked up will eventually be looked at to get stolen. If it wasn’t locked up would there have been less of an attempt to posses it?
Tom Bridge on August 27, 2008 at 10:21 pm said:

It makes sense to lock them up, honestly. Sets access control for the individual bikes, etc. You wouldn’t setup Zipcar like this, would you?
Freddie Mick on August 27, 2008 at 11:08 pm said:

The main danger in having these bikes stolen comes when people have rented them & are out & about. No locks are provided, so someone will lean a bike against something to dash in to buy something & then the bike is gone.
Even the racks are not foolproof. There are a lot of thieves in the District, & nothing is safe. If something has value & is sitting anywhere in town, some crack head or coke head or a plain old thief will figure out how to steal it.
The people here steal cars & buses & anything not set in concrete, including hundreds of millions of dollars from the government. If someone wants to steal one of these bikes, it’s gone.
Will H. on August 28, 2008 at 6:51 pm said:

Who would want to take a bike like that anyway. They certainly aren’t very utilitarian or attractive.
Justin on August 28, 2008 at 7:10 pm said:

Will makes a good point… these bikes can’t really be resold for much…