Thieves ransack, clean out Weir’s Cyclery in St. Johns

Wow — that is messed up. Hope Weir\’s gets back on its feet soon.

That really sucks, the people at Weir\’s have always been super nice. Good luck.

I\’ve never been there, but whenever I\’ve read about a bike shop getting robbed, I feel like my own parents have been robbed.

Fury is an understatement.

I am not in any way blaming the victim here.

Do they not have some sort of security system? I will be looking out for the bikes and hoping the shop gets back up and running soon.

This is just plain sickening.

Bike Thieves should be strung up and publicly stoned.

Weir has a pretty amazing collection of vintage cruisers and racers. Hopefully they are all ok.

I live in St. Johns and will definately stop by this week and try to buy something. I would ask all of you to help keep a Portland institution viable.

Thanks

I live in St. Johns and will definately stop by this week and try to buy something. I would ask all of you to help keep a Portland institution viable.

I\’ll be glad to do my part as soon as I can get some more bike spending cash. Might take a few weeks…

And yeah, bike thieves need to be shut down and locked up. It\’s getting ridiculous.

Oh, man…

I was just in there this weekend.

Yeah, I hope the vintage bikes made it unscathed.

Did they get into Ira\’s studio at all?

Donald,

no, Ira\’s workshop was untouched.

And yeah, bike thieves need to be shut down and locked up. It\’s getting ridiculous.

I have been a little frustrated with how easily people toss around the whole \”with police budget crunches, clearly they shouldn\’t be doing any bike enforcement at all\” argument.

The same argument can be made that with police budget crunches, they should focus on murders and not piddly little bike theft.

I don\’t agree 100% with either of these arguments, but I want to point out the inconsistency in them.

I think just one of those mountain bikes or one of those road bikes constitute grand theft because of it\’s value (over $1000?). It sounds like over $10,000 worth of theft and it is of course braeking and entering. What are the chances of the theives being involved with meth?

The same argument can be made that with police budget crunches, they should focus on murders and not piddly little bike theft.

but, it\’s not just piddly bike theft, as you\’re saying in a devil\’s advocate sort of way.

the people who steal bikes in this town are overwhelmingly likely to be meth addicts, and are therefore also responsible for a huge amount of property crime in this area (somewhere around 80%)… not just bike theft. if you go after the people who are ripping off bikes, you\’re going after the same people who are responsible for almost all identity theft cases in this state. same for burgularies, car break ins, etc etc. it\’s a major quality of life issue.

and that\’s not even getting into the public health aspect of it.

But Jessica is right, the police do say they\’re too busy with \”important\” crimes to bother with piddly old bike theft.

Interesting post, Jessica.

Dave (#8) – strung up with brake cables and whipped with bike chains!

I saw a shiny new-looking blue Allez yesterday at the #6 stop at Grand and Broadway. It had store-demo plastic platform pedals. I wondered if it was recently liberated from some more rightful owner…

SA-WEEET! Looks like I am going to find some sweet deals on Rockhoppers on Craigslist! Could use a pair of cycling shoes as well. Shopping spree!

Important crimes like stopping messengers for \”no brakes\” downtown, but leaving tweakers riding truely brakeless freewheel BMX bikes alone as they sell meth on the Waterfront, in Pioneer Square, and in front of Petersen\’s News. Anyone want to go watch a crack deal in Chinatown?

Jessica,

How about the justice system of Singapore. Instead of dragging them into court, there is a quick review followed by corporal punishment. Imagine being a dealer or petty theif knowing that you might get 20 lashes vs court time or a week in jail only to be released early due to over crowding. Our system seems to be a-wash in pettiness that prevents it from adequately responding to more pressing cases.

I live in St. Johns and will definately stop by this week and try to buy something. I would ask all of you to help keep a Portland institution viable.

I\’m not saying it doesn\’t totally suck, but I would assume they have insurance to cover the losses… does anyone know?

Somebody\’s going to come across a tweeker or disheveled vagabond riding one of these beauties, and will be tempted to do or say something there and then…Don\’t! Call the cops and they\’ll get to it asap. If need be, follow at a safe distance and feed the info. to the dispatcher- been there, it works!

\”I\’m not saying it doesn\’t totally suck, but I would assume they have insurance to cover the losses… does anyone know?\”

Even if they have insurance, like most of us, they probably have a deductible of some sort.

Weir is a very blue collar type shop where the most Bling bicycle is probably $1200 (and there is only 1 or 2 in the shop). Compare this to the Gallery or River City. By the time you figure in lost sales (no merchandise), repairs to the store, increased insurance rates, etc. this could be a significant issue for a small business.

Weir\’s is a great old neighborhood bike shop. I\’ve found they tend to only stock items they really believe in. Real blue collar, like the man says. They overhauled my bike last year and did a great job. I hope they catch the scumbags that did this, it makes me sick to hear.

These thieves need to be dealt with harshly and legally. People, do not go vigilante on some shaggy mutt on a bike YOU think is too nice for them to own. Take the advice of DK, get info and all that but don\’t take matters into your own hands.

I say this because a couple of years back I remember a group of people who started harassing folks on bikes if they looked suspicious and in many cases the people did indeed own the bikes.

Hopefully this family owned business is insured and will recover, and the police should be treating this as a major crime due to the amount of the losses.

….Anger. Much, much anger. I will be on the lookout for sure.

I just sent a letter to Weirs(check their website for the email) and I\’m sure they\’d appreciate getting more support from the community. Pass on the kind words.

\”Hi,

I just read about the recent robbery at Weirs on bikeportland.org. I\’m really sorry to hear about this, when I was about 10 or so, your shop sold me my very first new bicycle. I saved up for months to get that bike, I don\’t remember much about it now but I do remember how awesome your shop was. I go to school at the UO, but I\’ll surely keep my eyes open for bikes that fit the description of the missing items. If there is anything else I can do, please let me know. Also, I\’m sure the people at bikeportland.org would be more than willing to do what they can to make sure a Portland bike institution of sorts is taken care of.\”

Mike Perrault

I looked in the window yesterday and it looks like the vintage bikes are ok. Guess the folks wanted the quick sale, brand new items. It is a mess that it happened, but the non replaceble items are still there. Glad Ira\’s shop was untouched. Hope they get caught and soon.

Tankagnolo Bob

These sounds like somewhat knowledgeable thieves, so probably not meth addicts or homeless people or anything like that…

And the \”85% of property crimes are meth related\” number was invented by the Oregonian, and has no basis in fact:

http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3220/7368/

For one thing, Oregon property crimes are much lower than they were 10 or even 20 years ago, the time period of the supposed meth \”epidemic.\”

\”If meth causes property offenses, and meth use has gone up,\” Henning says, \”then property offenses should have gone up. And they haven\’t. It\’s either that, or all the people who commit property crimes have disappeared and been replaced by a small number of meth users.\”

Matthew,

I keep reading stores how meth addicts are the primary purpetrators of identity theft for financial fraud.

I don\’t think that the brand of their addition curtails their creativity and ability for long term planning. The stimulant properties of meth permit addicts to be very driven and focused towards commiting crimes. This could perhaps account for a small population having a disproportionate effect.

I\’ve only been to Weir\’s once — they were the only bike shop in town that had an obscure industrial bike chain in stock. That totally impressed me, and I\’m sad to hear that this happened to such a neat shop (if I lived in N or NE, I\’d visit them more).

I wonder if there is a connection to the CCC break in????

Wow. There\’s a special place in hell for somebody that rips off a bike shop. Hopefully some serial numbers will be ciculating soon so folks can keep an eye out, and I wish the shop/police the best in catching these asshats.

Re: meth addicts and ID theft/crime, the articles I\’ve read that make this point usually say that it\’s the menial, repetitive, manual tasks (i.e. sorting through stacks of someone else\’s mail, stripping down a stolen bike/motorcycle for parts, filling out, filing, and mailing seven hundred forms in other people\’s names, etc.) that people can get into when they\’re tweaking that make them \”meth-centric\” crimes.

So there\’s a certain \”stuff that can be done while tweaking\” aspect to crimes like ID theft etc., in addition to the \”stuff to do to raise cash to support the habit\” crimes.

This is a real tragedy. It is also a tragedy that the bike community immediately jumps to blame addicts and persons experiencing homelessness on this HUGE crime. Think about it: 15-20 bikes and all that gear would (likely) require a large vehicle or several vehicles with which to transport it. And enough knowledge to know where to sell them to someone who would not be suspicious after a huge burglary. Bet those bikes are in SF or Seattle by now. Or sold on EBay.

My condolences to the workers and owners of Weir\’s. This is such a violation. I\’ve never purchased anything there, but the air in my tires never felt so good!

I wouldn\’t be surprised if these bikes end up in another town, another state, or even another country. It\’s a good idea to keep a lookout for them here, but there\’s a very good chance these bikes are in an out of town warehouse until things cool down, awaiting sale on ebay or even craigslist in another town–assuming they\’re not in a cargo container by now.

it\’s the menial, repetitive, manual tasks (i.e. sorting through stacks of someone else\’s mail,

So I\’m not being paranoid when I shred everything– and I mean everything– with my name and address on it…

If they have insurance, which they probably do have at least some of, making a claim to the insurance company will probably raise their premiums. That\’s really tough on a small business in this very competitive world. But what else could they do?

First CCC, now Weir\’s…I wonder if there\’s some sort of database for law enforcement to check into, to see if there have been similar thefts in other cities? The same MO might give a clue as to where this is a local ring, or a traveling ring.

er, \”whether,\” not \”where\”

For those of us who are also in the bike business and who might get those \”A friend of mine wants to sell me this bike\” phone calls, does Weir\’s have a list of descriptions with serial numbers of the bikes that were stolen? Some of would help try to reunite Weirs with their merchandise if we could get details and heard anything.

I\’m not sure if this is good news or even related but on my home from a doctors appointment this morning I passed through St. Johns and saw a parade of 4 new Specialized bikes heading toward Weirs from the direction of North Precinct. All of the bikes had tags on the handlebars, flapping in the breeze.

I looked in their window as I passed the store and there were a lot of empty racks in there.

Hoping for the best…

My sympathy for addicts runs out when they become thieves. Same for homelss people. There are plenty of homeless people who do not resort to being theives to survive.

Weir\’s is the only bike shop in my 25 years of bike repair to drastically scratch my bike\’s paint.