r/bikeboston

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping to hear from people who have actually gone through this.

About a month ago, my Segway electric scooter was stolen from the Chelsea MBTA station. The scooter has built-in Segway GPS, and for the past month it has consistently shown what appears to be the same location inside a multi-family home in Somerville.

I’m intentionally not posting the exact address because I don’t want the person who has it to realize I know where it is.

Since the theft, I’ve tried just about everything I can think of:

• Filed a report with MBTA Transit Police (since it was stolen from an MBTA station).
• Contacted Chelsea Police, Boston Police, and Somerville Police.
• Provided proof of ownership, the serial number, and GPS screenshots showing the scooter’s location.

An MBTA detective was also assigned to the case. He contacted me shortly after the report was filed, requested all of my evidence, and I sent everything he asked for. Since his initial email (which included my case number), I haven’t received any updates or replies to my follow-up emails.

The response from every department has essentially been the same: because the scooter appears to be inside a residence, they can’t simply enter the property without a warrant.

So my question is:

Has anyone here actually recovered a stolen bike or scooter after knowing exactly where it was? If so, how did it happen?

Did the police eventually obtain a warrant? Did they wait until the bike/scooter was moved? Was there another legal avenue that ultimately led to recovery?

I’m not looking for advice on confronting anyone or trying to recover it myself. I’m only interested in hearing from people who have been in a similar situation and what actually worked.

At this point, I’m just trying to understand whether there’s a realistic path forward or if my only option is to keep monitoring the GPS and hope it eventually moves, because they haven't moved it since it appeared in Somerville. (It is passcode locked).

I’d really appreciate hearing any firsthand experiences or suggestions.

Thanks!

Finally made it out there for a ride and staties said no bike this year. Bummer. Still a great day for a ride with so few cars out.

Could be trip to a beach on the commuter rail or whatever. Any ideas or things yall have explored? Just roll into South Station/BackBay or whatever and head off on an adventure.

Most people know about the dangers of not crossing tracks at safe angles. But what are some road hazards you've experienced that you don't typically hear about?

This morning I almost ate riding over a very loose manhole cover at the Atlantic and Commercial St. intersection, right in front of UrbanAdventours. The cover sunked a good 2 inches or so as soon I made contact with it (already reported to 311).

Where were all y'all?!?!

I was on Storrow this morning at about 7, weaving left and right. I got on EB @ Charlesgate. Rode to Leverett circle, turnt around, went WB to the Fenway - Kenmore split, hit EB @ Charlesgate again, and y'all wasn't even there!!!

I’m primarily a runner who has gotten into cycling recently for fun, mostly for commuting but doing some weekend 2-3 hr rides. My current bike was pretty old (used) and isn’t cutting it anymore (it is also too big) and I’m looking to get a new bike that will carry me through tri training next year. I’ve been to Landry’s on Commonwealth for a fitting before and had a good experience, but I really want to make sure I get a bike that fits me and is comfortable and am not too knowledgeable about which bike shops are the best. Price range would be ~3k or below. Thanks!

Edit: I bought my original bike at Cambridge Used Bicyles and pretty much felt like I got sold my current bike to make a sale, it is way too big so anyone else seeing this thread, wouldn’t really recommend that one at least🫠

Hi all,

I have been meaning to wash my bike for a while now. I need a hose to spray it down but live in a high-rise without one.

Does anyone know of any good spots to wash their bicycle?

Thanks!

My bike is currently being held hostage by a cheap 4 number combination lock. I came back to it and put in the combination and it just wasn’t working. I’ve tried pulling quite hard on it and trying to hit it to free some mechanism in the lock but nothing has worked. I’ve even doused it in wd-40. Nothing has worked.

It is now day 2 of it being stuck without budging. It is also in a fairly popular area, so I don’t really want to just walk up to it with bolt cutters.

Any ideas on how to get my bike back without getting the police called on me?