Author Topic: Stirring bike on a second floor balcony?  (Read 2128 times)

kaizen soze

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Stirring bike on a second floor balcony?
« on: March 07, 2018, 07:55:46 AM »
Wife and I have rented a second floor apartment that has a balcony. It's covered but still exposed to the elements, and it's where we have been storing our bicycles. I lock them to the balcony railing since a thief could scale the balcony with a little effort or with a ladder. We are in a smaller town (fewer than 20,000 people), with average-for-the-US property crime statistics. It's not LA or anything.

Is this a bad idea from a bike theft standpoint? Storing the bikes inside is possible, it's just that they would be in the way and would make things dirtier. There is an outside storage closet off the balcony. I can probably wrestle the bikes into the closet, but this feels like it would be a deterrent to actually using the bikes. One idea is to store the bikes inside when are away for more than a day but keep them on the balcony the rest of the time.

PoutineLover

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Re: Stirring bike on a second floor balcony?
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2018, 08:02:15 AM »
As long as they are locked it's probably good enough. I would bring them inside if you know you'll be away for a couple days, but otherwise it's probably fine.

mayodt

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Re: Stirring bike on a second floor balcony?
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2018, 08:14:00 AM »
I have been storing mine on my balcony but I live on the fourth floor so I don't really have the fear of theft. I have noticed though in wintertime my bike had a couple issues because of the freezing temperatures sitting outside all night (I live in Canada, maybe this isn't an issue for you), so now I store it inside for the most part. Just something to think about.

If you are concerned about theft you can always just lock it onto your balcony somewhere as well.

GuitarStv

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Re: Stirring bike on a second floor balcony?
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2018, 08:26:07 AM »
Can you just throw a tarp over the bike when it's stored?  That way it's out of sight, and protected from the elements.

Lady SA

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Re: Stirring bike on a second floor balcony?
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2018, 08:30:07 AM »
My DH and I store our bikes inside on a leaning wall rack, so they are up off the floor and out of the way. We have a 2nd floor balcony, but in order to use the bikes, we needed to wrestle them inside and through the house to get out the door, anyway, so now they are closer to the door. It was too much hassle having them on the balcony.

I think from a theft standpoint, you are fine. Most bike thefts are thefts of opportunity -- someone walks by the street and sees an unsecured bike in an open garage, etc. It would take a lot of planning/effort to obtain a ladder, bring the ladder to your building, break the bike locks, get the bikes down the ladder without dropping/breaking them, and making off with both the ladder and the bikes. Honestly, that's gonna be a lot of effort (and a lot of risk) with not much payoff -- unless your bikes are obviously *super* expensive.

Maybe get a tarp/canvas to conceal the bikes from curious eyeballs on the street, plus it will protect the bikes from the elements. It won't be super pretty, but you also wont attract special notice from potential thieves.

trollwithamustache

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Re: Stirring bike on a second floor balcony?
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2018, 08:33:30 AM »
you're probably OK. You're run of the mill thief is looking for low hanging fruit. Think Grab and Go. Needing a ladder sounds like its only low hanging if he's rolling with his tool truck for the heist.

YttriumNitrate

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Re: Stirring bike on a second floor balcony?
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2018, 09:12:12 AM »
How much is the bike worth? If you are talking about a $10,000+ carbon fiber bike then yes, it's probably not a good idea to store it on the second floor of the house. On the other hand, I've had an unlocked $10 yard sale bike parked outside my front door for the last few years without a problem.

GuitarStv

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Re: Stirring bike on a second floor balcony?
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2018, 10:14:08 AM »
How much is the bike worth? If you are talking about a $10,000+ carbon fiber bike then yes, it's probably not a good idea to store it on the second floor of the house.

If it's a 10,000$ bike it should sleep inside, and you should sleep out on the balcony.

kaizen soze

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Re: Stirring bike on a second floor balcony?
« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2018, 04:24:44 PM »
Thanks everyone for the replies. I think I'll just let it ride (as it were) for now and keep the bikes on the balcony. The bikes are not terribly expensive. I mean they might be worth stealing if they were just laying around, but they're not going to be a target for a big-time thief. The wife is not happy with the idea of keeping them inside. She used the word "eyesore." And in any event we don't have the horizontal wall space to use a bike rack that hangs one over the other. I could see using bike racks that keep the bikes propped up on their rear tires, vertical like. There's room for that. For now I believe I'll keep them where they are.

Although as I write this, I notice that my neighbor has a ladder laying in his front yard. I'm imagining a thief coming along, surveying this situation, and using the neighbor's ladder to climb onto my balcony so as to take my bike, and it makes me laugh.

 

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