Submitted by Luke on Tue, 06/27/2017 - 15:11
The bicycle racks at Union Station in Washinton DC have become unsafe to lock a bicycle to, as bike thieves have removed many of the nuts holding the U-shaped racks to the concrete. In addition, many of them now have ordinary hex nuts, not the original security nuts holding them down. Anyone with a wrench can remove the hex nuts, and obviously someone is able to remove the security nuts as well. The steel bases on each end of the U sections are small enough to pass through a U-lock.
Video: gone in 60 seconds-your bike at Union Station
Here's the problem: missing or easily removed nuts permit bike thieves to remove the entire rack from your lock. If you didn't lock through a wheel and the frame, you just lost your bike
