Bike Thefts Are Up 27% in Pandemic NYC: 'Sleep With It Next To You'

October 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/nyregion/bike-thefts-nyc

As more people are buying bikes, more bikes are being swiped from sidewalks, garages and basements. Locks are not always a deterrent.

By Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura

One of the more unexpected side effects of the pandemic has been a surge in cycling, fueled by people avoiding trains and buses and seeking a way to stay in shape. That triggered an extreme shortage of bicycles. Then came the thieves.

Bikes are being plundered from sidewalks, garages and apartment building basements in rising numbers in New York and across the country. Similar spikes in thefts have also been recorded abroad, including in Britain and France.

No one, it seems, is immune.

A father recently posted a sign on a Brooklyn street to publicly shame the thief who stole the bike his 10-year-old son got for his birthday. A bike along with the railing it was locked to was stolen from a Brooklyn apartment building. In the Bronx, a 15-year-old boy riding a bike was attacked by eight men who stole his cycle.

“When you buy a bike you just hope that you hold onto it for as long as you can,” said Jacob Priley, 29, explaining how he had two bikes stolen, one after the other.

The first was at a protest against police brutality in Brooklyn where he said he was arrested after being out past a curfew and left his bike on the street. He replaced it with an electric mountain bike costing about $800. That one was stolen, too, after he left it overnight in the street, albeit locked.

While locks are obviously a good idea, many are no match for the electric saws that thieves commonly use.

“Every lock — you can break it,’’ said Sty Gonzalez, who works at Trek Bicycle shop in Manhattan. “The stronger ones just buy you more time.”

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E-bikes are taking over and finding suitable bike storage has never been more important

September 2020

www.alpenstorage.com/pages/electric-bike-storage

E-bikes are taking over the streets. The global e-bike market is projected to reach $38.6 billion by 2025, up from $21.1 billion in 2018. Particularly in 2020, cafes, restaurants, and other public spaces are closed or have limited service due to the pandemic. Public transportation comes with safety and social distancing concerns, and cities are closing streets to give pedestrians more room to navigate their cities. With this confluence of events, it is no wonder that e-bikes are becoming a favorite way to commute, explore and yes, exercise. 

With the cost of electric bikes averaging $3,000 to $8,000, and some models going for as much as $10,000, e-bike safety and storage has become an important consideration. Insurance companies are offering e-bike theft insurance, and the first tip you will read is “invest in a good lock.” Whether you are an individual e-bike enthusiast, or the property manager of an apartment building, investing in secure e-bike storage is a must. 

E-bikes require considerations that traditional bicycles do not, and their owners will be disappointed if their specific needs are not accommodated. ALPEN has some ideas about how to store a bike safely, with special consideration for e-bikes. 

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A New York Biker’s Headache: Where to Store It

August 2020

www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/realestate/new-york-bike-storage-headache

With New Yorkers avoiding the subway and buses, landlords and building managers grapple with the expanding need for bike storage space.

By Ronda Kaysen

The long bike rides that Carolann Martini takes from her Murray Hill co-op down to Battery Park are invigorating. Dragging her bike out of the storage room? Not so much.

The tight space is a maze of long-forgotten bikes and trikes tethered to elementary school-style racks. To retrieve her Eduardo Bianchi road bike, she has to untangle it from a web of handlebars, pedals and frames. “It’s just aggravation,” said Ms. Martini, a hospitality industry executive. Cycling in the city “is a pleasure. So why should I be aggravated?”

The pandemic has ushered in a golden age of cycling for New Yorkers who, like Ms. Martini, have discovered that riding a bike everyday is fun, and less confined than a trip on the bus or subway. But with daily biking comes a hitch that seasoned riders already knew about: storing a bike in the city is a grind.

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Cities Are Transforming As Electric Bike Sales Skyrocket

May 2020

https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/14/21258412/city-bike-lanes-open-streets-ebike-sales-bicyclist-pedestrian

Returning to a car-dominated city after the pandemic lockdown is ‘out of the question’

By Thomas Ricker and Andrew J. Hawkins  

Cities around the world are grappling with the same issue: how to safely reopen in the COVID-19 era. Public transportation systems in places like New York, London, and Paris typically carry millions of people to work and to shops each day, amounting to roughly 1.5 billion trips each year. Now, nobody wants to be on a crowded subway and risk exposure to the virus if they can avoid it. But if everyone jumps into cars instead, traffic will grind to a halt, interfere with emergency vehicles, and reverse advances many cities made toward reducing carbon emissions during lockdown. That’s why city planners and residents alike are looking at the humble bicycle as their way out.

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Covid-19 Pandemic Supercharges Global Bike Market

by ALPEN Storage, Inc. | April 2020

Contagion fears are driving urban commuters away from mass transit toward bikes and scooters. Learn how the pandemic may have a silver lining for the micro-mobility market. 

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