5 ms·

This is not really surprising to locals. The joke was always that if your bike is stolen when you get back, you'd just steal another one and keep the circulatio

by lucumo 4y ago

This is not really surprising to locals. The joke was always that if your bike is stolen when you get back, you'd just steal another one and keep the circulation going. During the 90s the stories were about heroin junkies selling bikes for 25 NLG (11.34 EUR). Clearly not the type of people with the organizational skills to set up an international crime syndicate. These were stories, and it's good/interesting to check in case they were wrong, but the results are as one would expect. (Another common observational joke about inner city bikes is that the value of the locks commonly exceed the value of the bikes they lock.)

akira2501 4y ago
When the article stated “We thought bikes might be stolen and sent abroad." I nearly spat out my coffee. It really is amusing to watch MIT laboratory types spend a bunch of time and effort to rediscover what was plainly known beforehand.
- TechBro8615 4y ago
  You've got to give them some credit. MIT laboratory types are apparently clever enough to get funding for a multi-month "research trip" to Amsterdam.
- eythian 4y ago
  Eh, in Amsterdam you'll get plenty of people mentioning that there's people in vans who go and steal a bunch of bikes at night (scoping them and sometimes locking them with their own lock during the day), and driving them off to somewhere in Eastern Europe. I'm not sure particularly of the truth of this, beyond this article suggesting it's probably not the case, but it's definitely something in the popular consciousness there.
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    Thing is, "dutch bikes" often don't have a great reputation. Few moving parts, so very reliable, but slow as fuck. Single speed, so crap for anywhere with even tiny hills. Rear coaster brakes. Front drum brakes if you're lucky. Again, problematic if you can gain speed on a decline or otherwise need to stop quickly because you have inadequate bicycle infra. 10kg of low-grade steel tube and heavy af steel wheels (stuff that spins is effectively 2x as heavy).
anonymouskimmer 4y ago
> The joke was always that if your bike is stolen when you get back, you'd just steal another one and keep the circulation going. I saw a post-War Italian movie a while back in which the main character was lucky to get a job placing advertising posters around the city. He only got the job because he had a bike. While doing the job his bike was stolen. He tried to steal another so he could keep working to support his family, but was caught in the act and thrown in jail. I can't remember the name of the movie.
- Straw 4y ago
  Bicycle Thieves, very sad. The owner of the bike he steals lets him off the hook at the end, but he's still desolate.
jacquesm 4y ago
> (Another common observational joke about inner city bikes is that the value of the locks commonly exceed the value of the bikes they lock.) Note attached to my uncle's thesis (he's a physics PhD): 'The sum of the weight of bicycle and lock is a constant.'

by lucumo 4y ago

akira2501 4y ago

When the article stated “We thought bikes might be stolen and sent abroad." I nearly spat out my coffee. It really is amusing to watch MIT laboratory types spend a bunch of time and effort to rediscover what was plainly known beforehand.

TechBro8615 4y ago
You've got to give them some credit. MIT laboratory types are apparently clever enough to get funding for a multi-month "research trip" to Amsterdam.
eythian 4y ago
Eh, in Amsterdam you'll get plenty of people mentioning that there's people in vans who go and steal a bunch of bikes at night (scoping them and sometimes locking them with their own lock during the day), and driving them off to somewhere in Eastern Europe. I'm not sure particularly of the truth of this, beyond this article suggesting it's probably not the case, but it's definitely something in the popular consciousness there.
- Scoundreller 4y ago
  Thing is, "dutch bikes" often don't have a great reputation. Few moving parts, so very reliable, but slow as fuck. Single speed, so crap for anywhere with even tiny hills. Rear coaster brakes. Front drum brakes if you're lucky. Again, problematic if you can gain speed on a decline or otherwise need to stop quickly because you have inadequate bicycle infra. 10kg of low-grade steel tube and heavy af steel wheels (stuff that spins is effectively 2x as heavy).

anonymouskimmer 4y ago

> The joke was always that if your bike is stolen when you get back, you'd just steal another one and keep the circulation going. I saw a post-War Italian movie a while back in which the main character was lucky to get a job placing advertising posters around the city. He only got the job because he had a bike. While doing the job his bike was stolen. He tried to steal another so he could keep working to support his family, but was caught in the act and thrown in jail. I can't remember the name of the movie.

Straw 4y ago
Bicycle Thieves, very sad. The owner of the bike he steals lets him off the hook at the end, but he's still desolate.

jacquesm 4y ago

> (Another common observational joke about inner city bikes is that the value of the locks commonly exceed the value of the bikes they lock.) Note attached to my uncle's thesis (he's a physics PhD): 'The sum of the weight of bicycle and lock is a constant.'