Over the course of nine years living in New York, I had three bikes stolen — and that was actually a pretty ratio (one every three years). I have friends who easily averaged one bike theft per year. It kind of goes with the territory, I guess.
So how easy is it to steal a bike in NYC? Allow clever filmmaker Casey Neistat, whose work we’ve featured here and here previously, to demonstrate.
I recently spent a couple of days conducting a bike theft experiment, which I first tried with my brother Van in 2005. I locked my own bike up and then proceeded to steal it, using brazen means — like a giant crowbar — in audacious locations, including directly in front of a police station. I wanted to find out whether onlookers or the cops would intervene. What you see here in my film are the results.
Enjoy.
(HT: Laughing Squid)