Why do so many bikes end up underwater?(theguardian.com)
theguardian.com
Why do so many bikes end up underwater?
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jul/28/bicycle-graveyards-why-do-so-many-bikes-end-up-underwater
59 comments
Damn. I didn't know he had passed. I liked him.
I guess? Sounds like he was kind of an asshole.
Incredible singer and songwriter, messed-up human being.
Not the first, won't be the last.
Not the first, won't be the last.
It is not that complicated, a few friends and relatives living in the Netherlands told me the 3 mai reasons:
- you want to go somewhere and you don't have your bike. You borrow one, but when you get near the destination and you don't want to risk a theft charge, you dump it in the canal, the water is removing fingerprints and DNA
- you have an old bike that does not work anymore. It is cheaper to throw it in the canal
- you find a bicycle poorly parked (or dumped) on a sidewalk or some place that is inconvenient, you throw it out of the way ... in the canal
There may be other reasons in other places, but these are in that part of the world where they live.
- you want to go somewhere and you don't have your bike. You borrow one, but when you get near the destination and you don't want to risk a theft charge, you dump it in the canal, the water is removing fingerprints and DNA
- you have an old bike that does not work anymore. It is cheaper to throw it in the canal
- you find a bicycle poorly parked (or dumped) on a sidewalk or some place that is inconvenient, you throw it out of the way ... in the canal
There may be other reasons in other places, but these are in that part of the world where they live.
I understand #2 and #3 but #1? Who checks if you own the bike you are riding and why? Or borrow == steal?
It was a polite way to say it was technically stealing. Sometimes people return these bikes, but if the destination is a bar, it includes some alcohol and in the morning you don't remember how the night started, it is a good precaution to get rid of the bike and anything linking it to you.
I don't support any such behavior and the guys that I know don't do it, just reporting it.
I don't support any such behavior and the guys that I know don't do it, just reporting it.
"technically stealing" here means "actually just regular old stealing."
Read through the entire article and I see no numbers just anecdotes after anecdotes. I guess it's Friday evening and time for a 'feel good' clickbait article.
That’s sort of like asking “why do so many people end up dead?”
Because the human activity Markov chain terminates with death, or in the case of bikes with ending up at the bottom of a river out of the way of accessibility.
Because the human activity Markov chain terminates with death, or in the case of bikes with ending up at the bottom of a river out of the way of accessibility.
That doesn’t make sense though, it’s much easier for me to throw away a bike in a large public trash can than find my nearest water body and go through the trouble of making sure it will sink.
Someone will pull it out of the trash can even if it is just to free wheel part way to their destination before dumping it. Eventually someone dumps it in a body of water where it cannot be seen and if it could would be deemed unusable.
It's a bit like the drunk, wall and gutter, they will bounce off the wall everytime they hit it, but once they are in the gutter they are stuck there.
It's a bit like the drunk, wall and gutter, they will bounce off the wall everytime they hit it, but once they are in the gutter they are stuck there.
I've never seen a public trash can large enough to hold an entire bike, but lots of bodies of water that could hold a bike. I've only seen one bike end up in the water (a mountain bike that fell off the back of a sailboat), and it sank immediately, there was no problem making sure it sank.
A commercial dumpster would hold it, but most places around here keep those locked up (either by locking the cover or keeping them behind a locked gate). Probably because they got tired of people dumping personal trash (like bicycles) in them.
A commercial dumpster would hold it, but most places around here keep those locked up (either by locking the cover or keeping them behind a locked gate). Probably because they got tired of people dumping personal trash (like bicycles) in them.
Bike are very easy to get rid of, not in trash cans (I find that unrealistic, too), but because they're appealing for their individual pieces, since they're mostly generic (as opposed to appliances, which even when sold for parts, have mostly specialized components). There is always somebody that will take them to extract parts to fix/build other bikes (assuming a large enough city, and enough bike users).
I've actually purchased a bike from a shop that made bikes from parts. It was a horror, but it shows that there is a life cycle that doesn't end in a river :)
I've actually purchased a bike from a shop that made bikes from parts. It was a horror, but it shows that there is a life cycle that doesn't end in a river :)
what
the river doesn't ask questions. doesn't judge you. doesn't rear it's ugly head of spatial conformity when your bike doesn't fit.
it merely politely swallows whatever you put into it, wherever you are, leaving you free to go about your day
vs the municipal trash can, where you'll be fined if it doesn't fit, and have to lug it in
way more fun to toss and dump on one last wild ride of your bike
bikes don't float hth
the river doesn't ask questions. doesn't judge you. doesn't rear it's ugly head of spatial conformity when your bike doesn't fit.
it merely politely swallows whatever you put into it, wherever you are, leaving you free to go about your day
vs the municipal trash can, where you'll be fined if it doesn't fit, and have to lug it in
way more fun to toss and dump on one last wild ride of your bike
bikes don't float hth
Can you hear the ocean? It longs for your car batteries.
Tyres. For a reef (obviously)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_Reef
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_Reef
I seem to remember that back in the 80's, IBM sunk a metric assload of hard drives off the coast of Boca Raton to make a reef.
This was something that happened more than five days ago, so nothing came up when I did a Google search.
This was something that happened more than five days ago, so nothing came up when I did a Google search.
This is why public dumpsters are probably a good idea in general.
I thought I was smart by not paying Home Depot to install my replacement overhead microwave unit and carry away the old one. Then I discovered it's almost impossible to throw away a microwave. Garbage won't take it, e-waste recycling drives were always "Sorry, all full" after the first 15 minutes... I held onto that thing for 7 years until an old gypsy scrapper and his dog happened to see it while I was working in my garage. God bless him and his dog.
I always thoroughly disassemble all electronics, much easier to properly dispose that way. Outer shell goes in recycling, along with all plastic pieces with a recycling symbol. Inert stuff goes into the trash. The stuff that is actually e waste is then much easier to drop off at a recycler. Just a couple circuit boards or batteries.
I chucked my overhead microwave in the dumpster in the alley last week. It’s pretty wild how different something as germane as trash collection is so different from place to place.
It often depends on money and motivation.
I've lived places where the city didn't want to, or was legally unable, to increase taxes to fund enhanced trash collection.
I've lived in places where the city spends tons of money on trash collection, and everyone got new wheelie bins every year, and trash pick-up three days a week.
When I lived in the desert, trash collection was frequent, and cheap as chips because the city didn't want to give people any reason to dump their trash in the desert.
I've lived places where the city didn't want to, or was legally unable, to increase taxes to fund enhanced trash collection.
I've lived in places where the city spends tons of money on trash collection, and everyone got new wheelie bins every year, and trash pick-up three days a week.
When I lived in the desert, trash collection was frequent, and cheap as chips because the city didn't want to give people any reason to dump their trash in the desert.
They'll be abused by businesses. There's a reason any time you rent a dumpster it has a locking cover: any open dumpster will be filled overnight by carpet installers who want to dump old carpet without paying disposal fees.
For every public dumpster there’s a non-zero chance of the dumpster being destined for the bottom of a river too.
River, you are such a sink.
River, you are such a sink.
A better solution is periodic residential pickup for large items and drop off days.
I like the places where you can bring anything you want to the dump. They weigh your car on the way in, and weigh it again on the way out, and calculate your fee based on the difference.
Every man should own a sledge hammer and a bolt cutters and some decency to do what is right. Make that shit fit in your alotted bin and be grateful for the never ending courtesy of personal trash removal.
But you will never cross paths with a landfill right? People do continue to cross over the river again and again. Discoverability bias.
I see more dumpsters than rivers
The dumpster has to be completely filled to emit evidence of a disposed bicycle, that is beside the point ... Why would anyone write an expose on bicycles being disposed of in a public dumpster. The absolute numbers to give a fuck are entirety different and don't even point the same direction on the moral compass. An expose on dumpster bikes would be like why aren't people throwing more bikes away in dumpsters sounds more like a shitty Seinfeld routine. "Why aren't there more bikes in dumpsters? You never see em! Meanwhile everybody's dumping into the river! There's a dumpster right there!" It's obvious befuddled nonsense which does not admit the intentional flow of trash away from the placement and the inability of a bike to flow in a river. End of discussion have good weekend EVERYONE!
It makes perfect sense.
Bikes at your large public trash can be easily recycled or discarded at municipal waste facility.
Bikes lost to rivers lakes and oceans accumulate into graveyards.
Thus the “why so many”
Bikes at your large public trash can be easily recycled or discarded at municipal waste facility.
Bikes lost to rivers lakes and oceans accumulate into graveyards.
Thus the “why so many”
One reason: It's thrilling to ride a bike into the water. When I trained as a pool lifeguard, we frequently had to "rescue" bicycles that had been ridden off the high dive the night before. I imagine it's like crash-landing a plane, but with somewhat less risk of injury. (Although this would be slightly less tempting when the target is a filthy canal.)
I wouldn't relish the thought of metal parts of the bike being rammed into me.
jump off mid air
As can be seen here, on dutch national television, for decades:
https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=ter+land+...
https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=ter+land+...
The speed boost from riding a bike off a high dive would be awesome but do you try to stay on it for the fall or do you separate midair and try not to land on top in the water?
Yes, you absolutely want to separate falling off a buck when it's on the ground hurts enough, falling from 12 feet with a bar between your legs is a bad idea.
We used to tie our bikes to the end of the peer and do tricks then pull them up by the string. It's pretty fun.
We used to tie our bikes to the end of the peer and do tricks then pull them up by the string. It's pretty fun.
Now that's what I call re-cycling! [U+1F92A]
A key driver in Manchester and London was the cheap Chinese sharing bikes from Ofo, around 2015-16. All the kids in my area broke the locks off and rode them around, a lot of them ended up in canals.
Because it’s absolutely exhilarating to throw stuff into the water (or off cliffs, or into holes, etc). Not condoning the behavior but you gotta admit it’s pretty fun.
Because it’s absolutely exhilarating to throw stuff into the water (or off cliffs, or into holes, etc).
When I was in high school I worked at a supermarket, and one of the duties all the male high schoolers had was to round up the shopping carts twice per shift.
The supermarket was built on landfill, and parking lot was a slope with a cliff at the end. Any shopping carts with wonky wheels were "accidentally" set free to roll downhill, slowly getting faster, until the front wheels hit the curb with such speed that the entire cart flipped over and tumbled down into the ravine.
The ravine has since been filled in and turned into a movie theater. I wonder if there are hundreds of dead shopping carts entombed underneath.
When I was in high school I worked at a supermarket, and one of the duties all the male high schoolers had was to round up the shopping carts twice per shift.
The supermarket was built on landfill, and parking lot was a slope with a cliff at the end. Any shopping carts with wonky wheels were "accidentally" set free to roll downhill, slowly getting faster, until the front wheels hit the curb with such speed that the entire cart flipped over and tumbled down into the ravine.
The ravine has since been filled in and turned into a movie theater. I wonder if there are hundreds of dead shopping carts entombed underneath.
I work for a company whose product requires periodically removing trash from rivers and reservoirs. When the rent-an-e-scooter places came to my town I was absolutely sure that we would end up dredging these things out of the river by the dozens. Strangely, not many ended up in there. I haven't used one so I'm not sure how they prevent it but whatever they do is startlingly effective.
Most scooters are decently heavy, maybe 40-50 lbs. Carrying one some distance to a river while it beeps at you probably takes enough effort to deter casual hooligans.
Our downtown has a pretty extensive riverfront connected to the sidewalk system, it's trivially easy to ride a scooter right up to the river, lift it over a 3 foot guard rail, and pitch it into the river!
The downtown of a lot of cities has bridges over rivers that would be trivial to huck those e-scooters into.
We found a car2go in the river once, apparently.
We found a car2go in the river once, apparently.
I prefer throwing things from high-up spots, but yeah I agree...
Looks at the canals in Amsterdam
Theft.
Theft.
I think it's fairly simple, and also relates to why some people will dump heavy trash into water: you can't see it once it's in there. For our dumb monkey brains it's close to magic. How many other places can make something turn invisible with nearly zero effort?
I was in Amsterdam walking down the street one night and saw a bike just fall into a canal. No one was around except my wife and I. So at least one ended up in the water because someone poorly positioned it against the railing.
when i lived it mountain view, i watched as one of the dry river beds filled up with google campus bikes over the span of a few weeks
All I could think of while reading this was about one of my favorite devin supertramp videos that features bikes and water.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tuwHs2aeF9Y
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tuwHs2aeF9Y
It's interesting that hooligans and lowlifes trend towards similar behavior the world over, as if there is something in the human DNA driving them towards these actions.
Suppose you are on a bridge or near a body of water as we humans tend to gravitate.
Where would you decide to go pee?
Where would you decide to go pee?
They probably went there to spawn bikelets.
Chavs and yobs.
ETA: The memoir is brutal. He did not romanticize any aspect of being part of the '90s Seattle scene, and talks about being a strung-out junkie in a way that no other rock star ever does. He deeply regrets not being there for his friend Kurt Cobain, who reached out multiple times before he took his life in 1994. Courtney Love not only forgave him, but saved Lanegan's life when he hit rock bottom in the late 90s. It's a very powerful book.
https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/mark-lanegan/sing-backw...