Bike vultures

But wait, there’s something wrong here: this looks like a crime scene! And it is. And if you live here long enough you’re likely to be victimised by this crime at least once. In Holland, your bike is either stolen in one piece, or gradually in bits and pieces. If your bike is stolen in one piece, well, there’s nothing much you can do about it but curse your bad luck and lock. But if your bike is locked in one place for a while, starts looking rusty and flat-tired, well, that’s when the mysterious ‘bike vultures’ swoop in and start ripping off chunks of parts and accessories! Who are the bike vultures? When do they descend? Nobody really knows for sure. But one look around at the other bikes you see driving around reveals a clue, as most of these bikes are mismatched hunks of junk built from the ‘spare’ parts of other bikes. But fret not, for what goes around comes around: stay here long enough and one day you too will probably end up happily riding around town on just such a motley collection of bike-vultured parts.