Bike Theft Preventative measures

Making your bike look unattractive

big fuck off locks

Park your bike where there is street lighting and where people walk by if you have to park it on the street.

I came back once to find some horrible girl trying to take my bike outside the biggest shopping centre in town a couple of weeks ago. I don't really think that anyone will ever try to deter anyone on your behalf.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html

especially this bit:
"People tend to buy the big clunky U-locks because they don't know how to use them properly. A U-lock should go around the rear rim and tire, somewhere inside the rear triangle of the frame. There is no need to loop it around the seat tube as well, because the wheel cannot be pulled through the rear triangle."

Comforting!

The busier a place is the less likely people are to try

I'll tell you what not to do: don't go to the hardware store and buy 18" of regular chain off a roll, no matter how thick and convincing the links are.

"...because the wheel cannot be pulled through the rear triangle."

...unless your thief has a hacksaw and can saw through the tire and rim and then you're SOL.

"Some will object that felons might cut the rear rim and tire to remove the lock. Believe me, this just doesn't happen in the real world. First, this would be a lot of work to steal a frame without a useable rear wheel, the most expensive part of a bike, after the frame. Second, cutting the rear rim is much harder than you might think. Since the rim is under substantial compression due to the tension on the spokes, it would pinch a hacksaw blade tight as soon as it cut partway through. Then there are the wire beads of the tire, also difficult to cut."

First, this would be a lot of work to steal a frame without a useable rear wheel, the most expensive part of a bike, after the frame

Not on my bike it isn't. I always stick a cable lock through the gap between the crown and the arch of the forks, cos it must be so damn easy to pinch someone's forks with just a hex key. I am a total paranoid nutjob when it comes to these things though. Actually, you can't really lock the forks on a road bike can you?

Sheldon isn't the smartest guy, you could saw through the spokes first in about 10 seconds.

I mean, I'm not hating, but this is a guy who champions BioPace chainrings on fixed gears.

but to answer the query, I use two u-locks:

#1) through rear wheel/seat tube to pole
#2) frame through front wheel.

SS OTM.

SHELDON, LEAVING YR LOCK LOCKED TO A BIKE RACK IS JUST ASKING THE CITY TO COME CUT IT OFF.

MAYBE IN RURAL MASS. THIS FLYS, BUT NOT IN THE BIG CITY BUB.

Seems to me the most fail-safe method of locking is two different kinds of locks (NY chain and NY U-lock) attached to two different objects, which are both firmly implanted in the concrete. Theory being that a thief will only have the tool to defeat one kind of lock.

Oh and taling smack about Sheldon is totally blasphemy.

an TALKING smack is even worse

and

(I'll stop typing now)

I USE 2 LOCKS AND HAVE MOST OF MY HEX HOLES FILLED WITH TOP SECRET GOVERNMENT PLASTIC.

SHELDON IS COOL...I WOULDNT SAY HE IS THE END-ALL BE-ALL THOUGH.

he's the Steve Albini of the cycling world.

I WISH STEVE ALBINI WORE A HELMET WITH AN EAGLE MOUNTED TO IT.

ha fake sheldon friendster account still active

HIDE IT UNDER SOME DIRT

Nothing on my bike comes apart w/o tools you don't have and huge efforts. Quick release NUTHIN. Also except for my Brooks (which is chained on), it's all crap so I just U-lock any part of the frame to any immmobile object.

Well, to be fair it's not CRAP but it's at least 25 years old, so....

i need to find that video of some dude stealing his own bike in the middle of a busy intersection in manhattan.

starts with bolt-cutters/hacksaw, gradually upgrades his weapons until he's got an angle grinder, plugged into a lamppost, cutting the shit out of his lock, sparks everywhere.

oh hey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TNTq3nhuh0

the answer is to ride a beater when you know yr gonna lock up, no?

not really an option if you ride your bike all over the place, all the time.

i don't want to ride a beater if i am going to put down a lot of mileage in a day.

...or all the time. (xp)

Srsly one of my friends got a super nice Surly Xcheck but now she won't go anywhere on it.

Well, except Montana. She did to go to Montana on it, which I guess is fair. She still needs a beater, though.

yeah i doubt i'm going to lock my new road bike up anywhere unattended

meaning, beater is the way to go

one person'ss "beater" is another person's "neater!"

i mean i guess my pista is a beater, but i still lock it up everywhere. however, most bars in the city have like a thousand bikes locked up outside anyway, so the numbers are on my side.

Someday I will have a "not a beater" for special occasions.

where do people usually park their bikes at home. I have just moved into an apartment with literally no room for my bike on a really dodgy street (there is a car park but everyone who has ever parked there has had their car broken into) there is no possibility of hanging the bike from the ceiling. Is there some genius solution that everyone has copped onto but me?

If "inconventiently placed in front of the wardrobe" = genius, then yeah.

How about hanging from the wall on bog standard hooks - remove front wheel so you can turn the bars parallel to the wall.

Both of them go in my bedroom cos one of my roommates objects to bikes in the common rooms. Soon tho I'm moving to loft apt where everyone keeps their bikes out in the open (b/c they have tons of space). That's gonna be good....

different thread topic, amirite?

anyway topeak has a two-bike stand which attaches to the floor and ceiling (no drilling)

i think i will purchase soon because my bike's are just leaning against each other by the window looking stupid

i want them to look smart

err "bike's"

Actually re the thread topic, most of the year I leave one bike locked outside with just a Ulock through the frame, but you already said the neighborhood is dodgy so it seems like that's not an option....

Maybe try and make nice with the building manager and inquire about the possibility of locking the bike up in some kind of storage area or what not. My building has a locked bike room and only residents who have rented a stall can access it. My bike gets locked to the rack too, so it seems pretty secure. I actually kind of wish it'd get stolen, so I could collect insurance on it and buy something new.

"Seems to me the most fail-safe method of locking is two different kinds of locks (NY chain and NY U-lock) attached to two different objects, which are both firmly implanted in the concrete."

Even if you could find to such objects you'd have to be nuts to lug that much weight around in the first place (note: SF seems to be filled with many such nuts mostly riding insanely expensive Japanese track frames around Valencia/16th St.) It's not even worth having a nice bike if you have to do that. I use a mini-U lock for the rear wheel/frame and a thick Kryptonite Gorgon cable lock for the front wheel/frame and that shit is fucking heavy enough. I can't imagine lugging around those heavy as shit NYC versions.

Yeah, but even locked outside I can totally see my bike being vandalised for the hell of it. It is truly bad street

I found a place for my bike. Seriously every house on this street are related to each other. I saw three drug deals go down today in like an hour.

Maybe you should move.

do you have a balcony? open a window and lock it to the fire escape or something. be creative.

I only plan on living here for like six months and this appartment is lovely and conveniently located. I discovered a section of stairs that leads to nowhere. I am locking it to the (metal) bannisters.

*polite applause*

once about 15 years ago while i was living in a thefty area of denver i left my mtn bike outside my door, facing the street, overnight. first id dont know how i managed to do that, i wasnt drunk or anything. second--it was still there the next morning. it was a pretty nice bike too.

it was subsequently stolen in park hill when i took my eyes off of it for about 5 minutes in my driveway.

I've lost the sodding key to my D-lock. Fortunately I lost it after unlocking the bike, but it does mean I can't leave it anywhere right now. The bike is currently sitting next to me at work, taking up rather too much of my small office.

I forget to look my bike up overnight on the front drive outside my house about once a week these days. And they say East Oxford is rough.

i've been "free-locking" a lot lately, but that's because my bike is never left unattended for more than 5 minutes.

also been bringing a 4-foot cable with me. lock the frame/rear wheel to something, pass the eyelet at one end of the cable through the other, and cinch it down around the front wheel. lock cable. my wheels aren't nice enough for something to bother clipping the cable, so it functions as an effective deterrant to the casual, wheel-stealing bike thief.

adds only a few ounces to my bag, and a 10 seconds to my locking procedure.

Bike stolen tonight in apartment building. Thieves also broke into several cars (smashing windows, etc) and bashed their way into the door to the apartment building.

Cunts.

ARGH I HATE THEM :(

I kind of lucked into wheels that are worth as much as the rest of my bike put together. Do anti-theft skewers work or not?

what do y'all do with your lock while riding? i have a kryptonite u-lock and it's kind of awkward. i usually put it in my bag, but if i don't want to take a bag then i'll lock it to the frame, but then it'll sometimes slide down and bump into the front wheel. there must be a better way!

back pocket.

lock holder mounted on frame, is this not standard?

or sling it over yer shoulder.

Sheldon isn't the smartest guy, you could saw through the spokes first in about 10 seconds.

and, yo, sheldon brown's dead ;_;

He wasn't when SS wrote that.

yeh, just sayin <who knew>

Back Pocket

well he had been sick for a while, but yeah.

Bag

you guys must have huge back pockets

btw i asked a dude at the bike shop about other options, hoping he'd mention something like a lock holder (i hadn't checked this thread yet), and he was all "nope"

This is what I have that fits a back pocket:

http://www.texaselectricbikes.com/catalog/images/streetcuff1.jpg

has it's downsides, does not fit round those U-Section street signs in New York (which seem pretty flimsy locking points anyway). I had to cut the rubber of one end for it to fit a standard london sign post.

bike handcuffs, whoa!

i keep my u-lock in bag or just hanging off handlebars makin all kinds of noise on bumpy streets

my bike is so beat up but i have bike-theft paranoia anyway - i have a u-lock for front and a cable lock wound around seat post, seat, back wheel even tho yeah i know i shld use the u-lock on the back but hey. also my bike seems to be perpetually grimey/dirty even tho i sometimes clean it. i guess that's kind of a deterrent.

I'm gonna stop using the Sheldon Brown 'lock thru back wheel only' technique 'cause my friend has now on three separate occasions had someone unscrew the back wheel, obviously thinking "haha look what this douche has done ... oh wait".

downside of unscrewing back wheel is dealing with all the chains and gears and shit. but idk, why would you not lock the wheel to the frame.

the key is not having a dbag bike with too many gears really. unless you actually race or off-road, fuck that shit.

why would you not lock the wheel to the frame.

'cuase it can be a pain to try and fit a d lock thru wheel frame and post.

ehh... i did have a d-lock when i had a nicer-looking bike. that got nicked even though it was locked to something. current one is about as pricey but looks less attractive/more utilitarian.

I'm glad I don't live in the city and don't have to worry about this shit.

But when someone steals my bike because my brother leaves the garage door open I'll probably cry.