(Untitled)

[boxmint]

So I've been bicycling. Bicycling, I've decided, is where it's at

Comments

[_swallow]

Bicycles, lovely!

Zip ties are good at keeping things on your bicycle (in a way that will never come off). My bicycle wears a convenience-store milk-carton ("its huge ass," I say affectionately) tied on with zip ties.

More importantly: My goodness, I didn't know you lived in New York! I guess I thought you lived in Australia with all those other people.

[boxmint]

Zip ties. Neat name. What is a zip tie? Does it zip? (Any chance it can zip the lock off my bicycle as well as hold it on, I say without much hope?)

Indeed and ayup, I am in New York as ever was. Ping me if you're ever in town.

[_swallow]

No, I'm afraid, they're these things: easily cut off with scissors but never tugged off with brute force.

Oh, I see-- the problem is that you need to take the unusable lock off. Sorry! Er, couldn't a locksmith make you a new key--?

[d_aulnoy]

I have a handsaw and I know how to use it, is all I'm saying. :)

[boxmint]

Fantastic. I like me a woman with an edge.

The patron saints of cycling are turning cartwheels

[anonymous]

Bravo!! And several months ago you had barely set foot on one of these machines? Impressive indeed. So glad you've taken to the sport with such delight. And relieved that there were no unkind lycrafolk to get in the way of all the fun.

m.j.

Re: The patron saints of cycling are turning cartwheels

[boxmint]

And you get large scoops of applause. What a marvelous stroke of luck we passed a bicycle shop that day, isn't it? (People keep mocking me because my bicycle is so new and shiny. So much so that I began to wonder if bikes come pre-scruffed, like jeans.)

what would a thief do?

[anonymous]

Well, we always hear about how people can break through those locks if they really wanted the bike/car/yacht, by spraying freon or liquid nitrogen or some such nonsense on the lock and then cracking it in half. Urban legend, or does that really work? What is that stuff? Can we get it?

To be honest, it sounds dangerous. This is coming from someone who is afraid of using those keyboard cleaner sprays for too long, because the can gets so damn cold.

-JRL

[kengwen]

I applaud the handsaw thought, but think this bike lock might take an awful long time (and a lot of armpower) to cut through. (If you actually do go this route, standing ovation for you d_aulnoy!) I'm thinking a locksmith might cut it off for pretty cheap - how much can you really charge for a snip or two with some big metal claws? I would probably go out and purchase a device that could cut through the lock, but I like a good heavy toolbag myself. Knowing the size or our dear miss boxmint's toolbag though, I'm not thinking this will probably be her route of choice. (Rather funny thinking of the delicate floral-print porcelain-handled hammer/screwdriver beside a big honking pair of metal snips!)

[boxmint]

Are you impugning the size of my toolbag? I splutter with indignation. And that delicate floral-print porcelain-handled hammer/screwdriver was all your doing.

[kengwen]

Never! In fact, I'm fond of the floral-print porcelain-handled hammer/screwdriver set, and the hammer is a great size for tapping the tacks for curtain rods into the window frame. But when I want to hit a nail, I want a little bigger hammer, is all, plus I'm not sure what is in your toolbag other than that floral-prit-porcelain-handled hammer/screwdriver set. No tape measure, as I recall. Pliers?
My tool bag isn't really all that large either, though for some reason I have a good half dozen or so pairs of pliers, but it is starting to outgrow the bag and look at needing a toolbox proper. (I do get tool envy from time to time. Or rather, tool covetousness or something like that. Tool lust?) And while I do own some shears that say they'll cut through a penny, I do not own the kind of snips that would cut through your bike lock, so I'm feeling pretty secure in my guess that you don't have those either...