r/chibike

Title. I’m basically a single issue voter for bike lanes, so if any candidates are reading this you have a fast-track for my vote. 🗳️

Looking for suggestions on where to ride a century and wind up with a cool location to finish 100. Looking for someplace with food, hotel, and is picture worthy.

Oh, also need the bike friendly route to get there. I would like to start out of Westmont, Downers Grove or Lisle.

I hope to ride my first century this September or October.  I have seen pictures with cool end locations for a century.

Please for the love of God and all that is dear. If you work in Chase Tower - Chicago and you lock your bike outside, please be mindful not to U-Lock and Chain your bike to others. My bike is parked out on the Dearborn side, and I cannot collect my bike until someone gets off at 5 (I hope) and unlocks their bike from the frame of my bike.

Like why would you do that? ?

what are some good trails I can realistically get to by bike from downtown Hinsdale without having to haul the bike in a trailer?

I’m totally fine riding on the street to get there, as long as I’m not putting myself in a sketchy situation trying to cross some major road or highway.

I keep hearing about Salt Creek, Centennial, Cal-Sag, etc., but I’m having a hard time mapping it all out and figuring out which trailheads/connectors are actually reachable from Hinsdale solely by bike.

Would love to hear from anyone who regularly rides from the Hinsdale/Burr Ridge/Willowbrook area

Just came across this site that tracks thefts and locations. Thought it would be useful with all of the stolen posts. Not sure if this has been posted or linked before but it's the first I've seen it

https://stolenbike.org/

My n+1 addiction keeps me scrolling Marketplace, CL, OfferUp, and local shops for new bikes and deals. In the past 6 weeks or so, I have helped two people recover their stolen bikes and wanted to post about it to give hope to those who've had their bikes stolen.

The first bike was a Bianchi road bike. I send listings to a friend of mine for their opinion since he's been biking much longer than I have been. I sent a Marketplace listing to him and he replied almost instantly, "Fuck that guy, I was gonna buy a set of wheels from him and he ghosted me while I was on the way. Plus I think he sells stolen shit." That last sentence hung in the air for me, so I actually searched Google for "Bianchi stolen bike chicago" and found a reddit thread as well as the listing on stolenbike.org. The fork had a pretty distinct scratch on it and it was easy to tell that the two bikes were the same. I ended up contacting the owner through the Bike Registry and sent him the Marketplace listing. He was able to contact local authorities, schedule a meeting with the seller, and was able to claim the bike back with the help of local authorities within a few days.

The second bike was found at Play-It-Again sports in Evanston. I was toolin' around the far north side one afternoon and decided to go check out the bikes at the store. There was a too-good-to-be-true deal on a Specialized Sirrus X 2.0 that they had gotten in a couple of days prior. I bought it without much hesitation, brought it home, and started researching the bike. I was trying to figure out what year it came out and searched the serial number on Google. Lo and behold, another Stolen Bike Registry listing popped up and my heart sank. I contacted the owner, told them I bought the bike and had it in my possession and we coordinated a time to meet back at Play-It-Again so I could get a refund for my purchase and she could get her bike back.

It sucks to get your bike stolen. But if it happens to you, post about it, scour Marketplace, go to shops, and maybe you might actually have a happy ending. Good luck everyone, stay safe out there.

I plan on biking around the chicago marathon to support my gf with her nutrition / some water. Has anyone done this? are there specific spots you stopped for your runner? Do you have tips on crossing? I'm hoping to stop at least in 5 spots.

EDIT: ok what about to cheer her on then? I didn't know the rule. She is just aiming to finish and hoping to make the time cut

I was taking a CTA bus Sunday evening and my bike was on the bus' bike rack. I was sitting towards the back and unfortunately wasn't keeping an eye on my bike while riding. Several stops before the stop I was supposed to get off at, I realized my bike wasn't on the bus anymore and alerted the driver.

It turns out a guy on the street had been waiting at a bus stop about 5 minutes prior to me noticing, and motioned to the driver to stop so he could get the bike off. The driver asked the bus passengers several times if the bike belonged to anyone but I had been zoning out on my phone and didn't hear him. The guy on the street pointed to the bike repeatedly, took it off the bus, and then biked away (and I didn't realize until 5 minutes later when I looked up).

I should have been sitting closer to the front and keeping an eye on the bike/listening to the driver. The driver had said the guy on the street looked very confident and it probably wasn't his first time stealing a bike off a bus.

PSA to everyone to keep an eye on the bus' bike rack while you're riding!! I've taken my bike on this particular bus line many times in the past and never considered that someone off the street could just steal it.