A stolen bicycle; Bicycles aren’t safe…

If there should be one thing I hate the most, it's theft. I will always prevent becoming a victim or the culprit. You can only feel the pain from theft when your stuff gets stolen. But hearing about it might make you remember some of your past incidents, the real pain is on the person in question.

I know people get to steal provisions, cosmetics, phones, and many other stuff that are easier to hide, but how can they steal a bicycle?

---

Our neighbor got a new bike, it's nice to see their son ride around the compound but he was just trying so hard to practice on his own. I felt he hadn't ridden one before, maybe on a weekend when I would be free I might dedicate my time to training him on how to ride.

When I asked about the price of the bicycle, it was a bit more costly than the one we have at home. They got a new mountain bike, but I got ours as a fairly used one.

I was about to dedicate my time to training him on how to ride. Then I asked for his bicycle, and all he did was cry. He told me he couldn't find his bicycle anymore. A new bike?! What went wrong?

While he was riding, his mum called him to run an errand for her. He wanted to go on his bicycle before, but his mom told him it wouldn't be safe for him to ride on the street when he had never mastered how to ride yet. He agreed and left the bicycle outside then quickly went on errands.

Before he could arrive, he couldn't find the bicycle outside the compound again. Asking his mum if she took it inside, she was surprised. And that was when they realized the bike was gone. They came over to our residence to ask if we noticed any stranger come and leave with the bike. But no one was outside at that time.

So the new bike is gone for good. I thought of how possible someone could get into someone else's compound and carry a whole bicycle without the fear of being caught.

Days after, I asked him if he got anyone he told about the bicycle. He said he told some of his friends at school.

It's okay, I had to let him train on my bicycle before they could get him a new bicycle again. He knew his bike wouldn’t be safe if he had just bought a new one without any security on it. Because this time around he has plans on taking the new bicycle to school and also runs errands on it.

School resumed last week and he went to school. He wasn't so happy, especially when he saw other children riding on their bicycles on the street. The pain of losing his was quite unbearable but he had no choice.

In the evening, I saw him come home on a bike, oooh. I was shocked, but I quickly asked about where and how he got to find his bike again. Then he told me about one of his friends who saw their neighbor ride on it. At first, they couldn’t confront him or challenge him about the strange bicycle he was riding all of a sudden. So they asked his guardians if they bought him a bike. Or how could he get the money to buy one?

After questioning, and some additional threats he told them about how and where he stole the bicycle from. The case got to the school and was reported so they could return the bike whenever the owner resumes. And that's how he was able to get his bike again. I could feel his happiness. But he asked me if there was a way to keep his bicycle safe from theft.

Bicycles, unlike motorcycles and other vehicles which could be secured with keys and locks, bicycles don't have that. So I suggest we get a light metal chain and a padlock that could be used to chain the wheels to a pillar whenever he's not riding on the bicycle.

If there should be a security measure for bicycles, how can it be fixed on it, or where could it be fixed? I don't know if there are bikes with locks, but I would love to see bicycles have their locks on them for security purposes.

---

---

Header image

Image 1

Image 2