I bought my first ever nice saddle, a Brooks B-17 Narrow on February 24. This being New York, I figured it might get ripped off eventually, but boy, that was fast! Last night I locked my bike to a rack on 13th St between 4th Ave and Broadway while I attended the BikeNYC Tech Meetup. As we were leaving post-meetup drinks, we felt a few sprinkles of rain and I joked that I need to run back to my fresh new Brooks to protect it from the elements. Well, I had nothing to worry about! Somebody had anticipated my worry and removed my saddle for me.
Something was not quite right about my bike
I’d been locking the seat by threading a 10mm Kryptonite Kryptoflex cable through the saddle rails and connecting it to my U-Lock. While by no means impenetrable, I had hoped that it would at least be a deterrent and an obstacle, especially one block away from Union Square. It proved to be neither. The thief left the cable lock behind, and as you can see, the cut looks like it was made easily and quickly.
That didn't look difficult at all
A closer look at the cut cable. Clean work.
This stings. It was only a couple of weeks ago that this saddle started getting really comfortable. I suppose to protect its replacement, I will use the chain to seat stays method AND a cable lock, for an extra layer of deterrent. Although I hate to spend money on another another copy of the cable that is so easily snipped.
So farewell, Brooks. My ass, having just made peace with you, will miss you.
One small consolation: A replacement saddle will still cost less than a 1 month MetroCard.
Julie - I’m so sorry this happened to you! It sucks that it has to be this way. (Thankful for my cheap-o clearance section bike.)
shmuli - oh that sucks. i have my seat locked with a Bike Chain, with an inner tube covering the chain. so far it has worked for me. i hope it will help in the future as well…
russell - Just wanted to comment since my brooks swallow was stolen last night. I used a U-lock (through the seat stays to the frame) AND the bike-chain-in-innertube method. So I felt fairly confident since the seat was “double locked.” Well, that didn’t work. U-lock was gone, chain was gone, and seat was gone. Luckily they left the rest of my bike, but i feel fairly certain that there is little you can actually do to keep a thief from stealing your seat unless you weld it on…
Luckily the pinhead locking skewer for my seat-post kept that from being taken as well, but my new, beautiful, and loved seat that I had for 1.5 months is gone. I will miss it. I for one don’t plan on ever investing in a nice seat for a commuter bike again. At least not a brooks as they’re targeted like this.
Dmitry - Russell, thanks for commenting. Sucks that happened to you. Short of welding, I’ve heard of supergluing a ball bearing into the hex bolt of the seatpost clamp (and the one connecting the post to the seat rails – the weak point in your system). It’s reversible (just takes some time and acetone) and of course you’d only do it once you had your seat height/pitch perfectly dialed in. Me, I bought another one since writing this post and a few weeks ago THAT was stolen while I was shopping for groceries. Had it locked with a bike chain. We’ll see if I’ve learned my lesson or not.
Schuyler - Some lower life form stole my saddle last night from Grand St. and Bedford in Williamsburg. Really really disappointed in humanity right now. Ugh.
Oh yeah, the reason I was writing- to let @shmuli know that I also had a “bike chain” securing mine. Well, didn’t look like they had a very difficult time with it. Clip!
A few minutes after I walked into a bike shop, just for some sort of commiseration I guess, and one of the techs there said, “oh, they didn’t even have to cut the chain, they could have just take the seat off and spun it until the chain broke…”
Thanks, guy.
I think just taking the seat with me everywhere will be the new method.
Dmitry - Sorry to hear about that. I’ve had 2 stolen now. The first one was the one in this post. The second was secured with a bike chain. I was in a grocery store for no more than 20 minutes at around 7pm. Someone with a chain tool and quick hands grabbed the saddle during that time. Pro job.
I have a friend who, having calibrated the exact right height of the saddle, put Gorilla Glue in all the screws/mounts. It’s not permanent, but definitely takes time to remove.