Protip: take pictures of your bikes

[thirdgenbird]

Originally Posted by eBAUMANN

Every time I actually take the time to add up the total value of my bikes and camera equipment, it fills me with anxiety/stress because of its ratio to my current "net worth" -- i have a LOT of $$ tied up in STUFF...makes me want to get rid of everything beyond the essentials

It feels good. I am by no means at just the essentials, but I am down to one camera body, three lenses, and three bikes. I would actually be down to two bikes (one good one and one cheap single speed) if the third one wasn’t a family heirloom. We have also been selling off other unused or unneeded stuff.

[tuxbailey]

Sorry about the loss. It really sucks.

One thing I read is that instead of itemizing everything in your house, just take a camera and do a tour of your house for all the major items (TV, appliances, etc.) In case there is a fire you will have evidence of your major possessions.

I think this will apply to theft as well.

[joosttx]

Bummer, I am sorry to read this. I don't keep my bikes in my garage, I keep them in the house. I feel they are safer that way. As much as I put pictures on the internet I am pretty sure a thief could stalk me. So I add a layer of security and store my bikes in my home. It gives me peace of mind.

[Blue Jays]

Lots of good ideas all throughout this thread. Will adopt many.
Storing in a garage allows too many people to casually see them.

Mine are kept in basement with solid-core lockable door leading to bicycle room.
Nothing is truly perfect, yet we all have to take practical steps to prevent theft.

[soulspinner]

Originally Posted by joosttx

Bummer, I am sorry to read this. I don't keep my bikes in my garage, I keep them in the house. I feel they are safer that way. As much as I put pictures on the internet I am pretty sure a thief could stalk me. So I add a layer of security and store my bikes in my home. It gives me peace of mind.

Me too. Garage is 26 by 30 but my bikes are in the house.

[texbike]

Argh! Ari, I'm really sorry to hear that. Such a frustrating experience. We've had a bad habit of not locking our cars at night when they're left outside. Unfortunately, we've had a several car break-ins on our street recently (interestingly, it seems that very few of our neighbors were locking their cars either). The thieves stole an expensive saddle (the horse kind) out of my wife's vehicle and our neighbors lost other, random items. One of the neighbors had their car stolen on one of the same nights (they had left it unlocked and had an extra key in it). Unfortunately, I think we're going to see an uptick in property crime and theft in the near future.

As a FYI, have you checked with any of your neighbors to see if they have video footage that may have caught the theft in progress? A couple of our neighbors have cameras out front of their houses and one of them did catch video of their car being broken into on one of those nights.

Best of luck with the insurance company and thanks for the reminder to document the bikes.

Texbike

[redir]

That's too bad, sorry to hear that. Been there twice myself. And as an aside I've been disappointed with USAA lately. I think we are dropping them for another homeowner insurance.

When My bikes were stolen we had renters insurance as we were renting and they pretty much paid me replacement cost with no questions asked. The only thing I did was go to a bike shop and they were kind enough to write me a note with a replacement price.

I didn't read all the comments but I hope someone suggested you call the police. The second bike that got stolen from me was found by the police in a pawn shop. Good luck

[NHAero]

So sorry to hear about that theft Ari.

I wonder when I'll learn that I don't live in never-never land. Bikes are in the basement except for Big Dummy and wife's commuting bike, which are in an outbuilding. We're about 400 feet back from the road, very different from a row of suburban houses one after another with garages facing the street 40 feet away. And my closest neighbor's house and deck overlook our place.

If for no other reason, the Photos from Your Rides thread has pix of most of my bikes. I imagine for folks who have collections where they don't ride them all it would be more important to systematically photograph each one (although you've prompted me to do a video tour of my house now). I've ridden 6 of my 11 bikes in the past 6 days and planning on the 7th today. There's literally nothing in this house worth nearly as much as the replacement cost on the bikes. A couple of laptops and a 27" monitor. No entertainment system, china/silver/jewelry, cameras, etc. The tool caddy in the basement would be a helluva effort to get up the L shaped stairs :-)

It is sobering what the replacement cost on stuff would be if you really add it up. I gotta photograph my tools.

[Matthew]

Sorry about the theft. As others have mentioned, I keep my bikes in the house too. Well usually, then I realized I have two Moots in the garage right now!! Thieves are scum.

[paredown]

Sorry about the loss of your bikes.

I think I have posted about this before, but one of the best things we did was a "Listed Inventory" that we had to compile for shipping insurance when we moved overseas.

It was astonishing to get everything listed and assign values to it--and has served as the base document ever since for insurance. It's a good thing to have--many people have trouble reconstructing what they own in the case of natural disaster or theft--and I think understate what they own.

Which reminds me--it needs to be updated!