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Sunday, April 27, 2008

Hal (and Kerri) Grade Your Bike Locking

by Clarence Eckerson, Jr. on April 27, 2008

Time: 5:43 Plays: 34,402 Embed:

Nearly five years ago, legendary bike mechanic Hal Ruzal and I walked the streets surrounding Bicycle Habitat and graded the bike locking ability of New Yorkers - producing many humorous and enlightening anecdotes. The resulting video aired frequently on bikeTV and at many festivals, and because of it - Hal is still frequently asked by complete strangers to judge their bike locking.

I always endeavored doing another, but as with most sequels you need a new wrinkle. This time we thought we'd give Hal some company and invited former Recycle a Bicycle mechanic Kerri Martin (and founder of The Bike Church in Asbury Park, NJ) to weigh in with her expertise.

Again, bikes on the streets of SoHo provide lots of fodder for laughs and lessons to learn.We didn't plan to but we walked the same loop and even used the same one-hour time frame. The results? The grades were a little better than five years ago. Sure, still some bad locking out there, but many more people are now sporting multiple locks and better strategies! Good news, maybe we made a difference after all...

23 Comments

Last comment by Joel Leave a comment »
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    ecm

    Nice follow up!

    April 26, 2008 at 12:03 pm Link # 1
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    The Voice of Reason

    That's Hal-icious!

    April 27, 2008 at 11:59 pm Link # 2
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    Tammi

    This is great. I think Hal would give my bike locking skills an D+ at best. Thanks for this. I never knew there were gadgets you could buy to protect quick release wheels!

    April 28, 2008 at 8:38 am Link # 3
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    Grade your bike locking skills | Commute by Bike

    [...] Ruzal goes out with Bike Church founder Kerri Martin to evaluate how New Yorkers lock their bikes in this video at Streetfilms. Bikes with secure front and rear wheels and saddles using quality locks get an A, while those [...]

    April 28, 2008 at 12:58 pm Link # 4
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    Terrie

    Call it a treejerk reaction but each of those dorks who locked his/her bike to a tree should get automatically downgraded to a C- and the tire deflated. The locks rub the bark and damage the tree, which is already stressed from all the honking. Do not lock your bikes to trees! Kerri, Hal, I would have expected a more holistic approach to your grading system.

    April 28, 2008 at 6:26 pm Link # 5
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    Bicycling Green Goblin

    Terrie,

    Hey I don't agree with locking to a tree, and don't support it, but there are many blocks in NYC where there is NOTHING to lock to. DOT should install even more racks that way people don't lock up to trees and damage them.

    I think the point of the grading was the locking and if you start making exceptions for one thing, you open up a can of worms.

    April 28, 2008 at 11:09 pm Link # 6
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    fixxr

    Hey Green Goblin - sure there are some blocks where trees might be the only thing to lock to, and ya know what???... it's not going to kill you to walk a block and find something solid to lock to.

    If it isn't obvious enough, I agree with Terrie. Locking to a tree is about as bad for the tree as having your bike pissed on by a neighborhood dog. Nobody wants or deserves that kind of disrespect.

    FYI, ask anyone who rides every day if they lock to trees. The answer will be a resounding no.

    April 29, 2008 at 3:44 pm Link # 7
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    Willy

    Wouldn't it be nice if this dopey 40 something hippie trustifarian goon didn't contradict himself? First he says its good that one bike had a hose clamp on the front QR because you'd need that oh so rare flat-head screwdriver to get it off, but then he criticizes others because thieves carry 5mm and other tools to remove stuff.

    Ugh. And of course he works at Habitat. My friend ran that place throughout the late 80's early 90's. Total goofball loons running that spot even today.

    So, children, why is it that the general public still looks down on cyclists and insurance companies make funny commercials at our expense? Anyone?

    May 1, 2008 at 7:45 am Link # 8
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    The Voice of Reason

    Nice Willy...you are obviously out of touch.

    Firstly Hal is mid-fifty something, and if you ride a bike you should be thankful for the fact that the guy was promoting cycling when there was a mere fraction of the folks doing it today.

    Yeah, I'll agree with the flathead screwdriver comment, but you have totally missed the point of course...he has TWO methods to make it hard to get his front wheel quickly. As us smart cyclists know, it is all about making it difficult for thieves and make them carry more tools or spend time. Seeing that much complexity makes the thief move on.

    As far as Habitat, again be thankful they were donating $$$ and supporting T.A. when other bike shops and bike companies didn't.

    May 1, 2008 at 11:29 am Link # 9
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    Willy

    Thankful? For what exactly? His selfless promotion single handedly saved cycling in NYC? Oh please, give me a big old break!

    Habitat donating $$$? Care to attach a real number to that? Again, a break to be giving me please.

    What exactly was he doing in the early 90's? Hanging out at the volley ball courts, buying beers from Paulie? And yea, you're right, at that time he was in his 40's. Silly me. :-/

    NYC cycling needs to get away from these clowns if it really wants to go mainstream. Get a nice clean cut yuppie, and she/he can "sell" cycling to the other clean cut yuppies, and then you'll see some real movement. The dopey ex-messenger losers need to fade away already. Note I did not say they should finally grow up as they are Never Never land lifers.

    May 3, 2008 at 7:23 am Link # 10
  11. Post Thumbnail  

    Stationner et bien barrer son vélo « Montréal à Vélo

    [...] http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/hal-and-kerri-grade-your-bike-locking/ [...]

    May 4, 2008 at 11:39 pm Link # 11
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    Lars

    Great video, keep them coming!

    May 4, 2008 at 11:46 pm Link # 12
  13. Post Thumbnail  

    StreetFilms; Hal (and Kerri) Grade Your Bike Locking « Bamboo

    [...] 15, 2008 de Vitor Leal Pinheiro from http://www.streetfilms.org posted with [...]

    May 15, 2008 at 12:28 pm Link # 13
  14. Post Thumbnail  

    Protect Your Bike « In The Spin

    [...] Hal (and Kerri) Grade Your Bike Locking (5:43) [...]

    May 16, 2008 at 8:43 am Link # 14
  15. Post Thumbnail  

    Paraciclos e Bicicletários « Bamboo

    [...] deixar a bicicleta prioritariamente em locais vigiados. Se não conseguir ver abaixo, acesse o link direto. (Pelo visto não estou conseguindo fazer [...]

    May 17, 2008 at 7:00 pm Link # 15
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    Bicycling Green Goblin

    I noticed that this Willy guy posted the same comments on three different blogs regarding this video. Apparently, he has an axe to grind. Loser.

    May 20, 2008 at 1:39 am Link # 16
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    Grade your bike locking… « Freewheel Collective’s Weblog

    [...] your bike locking… I’m having trouble embedding these videos directly, but here is a video grading bike locking skills. And here is the original, to which the aforementioned was a [...]

    June 29, 2008 at 1:19 pm Link # 17
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    NYT forgets bike parking

    Riding a bike is a pleasant, cheap and environmentally friendly way to move around the city, but has its own things to worry about. One of the main issues is parking your bike in a safe way.

    July 1, 2008 at 2:11 pm Link # 18
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    Angela

    This is absolutely great!

    August 17, 2008 at 6:05 pm Link # 19
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    Brandon

    This is great! I probably won't have had my bike stolen a month ago if I had watched this. :)

    August 27, 2008 at 12:26 am Link # 20
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    Tysen

    How to steel the Bike without touching the Tree:

    The chain doesn't go through the frame, only the front wheel, and is too loose to prevent the following. Take the front quick release wheel off, turn the handlebars to the left and slip the chain over the handlebars and down the fork.

    September 2, 2008 at 1:04 am Link # 21
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    Bart BART

    Gotta love HAL. He's a NYC icon.

    April 1, 2009 at 1:14 am Link # 22
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    Joel

    I wish I would have watched this video years ago... lost a Giant to theft. Boo thieves.

    May 18, 2009 at 9:49 pm Link # 23