The Homeless Bike

I see abandoned bicycles all over the place when I ride. For example, the same 4 bikes have been locked to the bike racks outside the store for over 6 months now, and they never move, except when they get kicked over when someone else locks up. Most every abandoned bike I see is nearly always the same: Typical cheap department store bike, with flat tires, occasionally with the front fork turned around backwards, and in varying states of decay as the rust bugs eat at the bicycle-shaped objects. Nearly always, they are locked up with a cheap department store cable lock that can be cut with a butter knife.

The above is what I thought when I took pictures of this bike below, as it meets none of the typical abandoned bike stereotypes. This bike has been at the racks underneath TC and Exegete's office building every time I've gone there for the past month.

An older Specialized Hardrock. Note the impressive amount of rust on the chain, and how the bike lock is doing it's best to ensure no one steals the seatpost, and not the bike.

Chopped riser bars... Looks like someone wanted the fixie look that seems so popular nowadays... but wait, what are those...

Yes, brake levers and shifters mounted on the curves of the bars because there wasn't any room on the flats!

The other guy who parks his bike down there said if it's still there in a few weeks he may start pulling parts.

...I call dibs on the frame.

Mileage: ~19 or so.