Stealing bikes

[DaveK]

@Usern Ame 5746 wrote:

Inside job…

I think it was her neighbor but obviously no way to prove it.

[WillStewart]

@StopMeansStop 5730 wrote:

Everything you need to know about locking your bike.

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

Great article, especially;

If you use both the U-lock and the cable lock at work, you are more than twice as safe as you would be with either of them alone. Either type of lock can be defeated, but each requires a different large, bulky tool which is useless against the other.

I also found this enlightening;

The best U-locks are the smallest. My favorite is the Kryptonite Mini, which not all bike shops stock. The Mini is much smaller and lighter than the more popular models, but just as secure. It may be even more secure, because of the limited room to put a jack inside it. It also gives less purchase for leverage-based attacks.

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.

I bought the big clunky U-lock (ostensibly to remove and lock the front wheel in addition to the frame and rear wheel). Now I have a better perspective.

[eminva]

The one bit of advice from the late Mr. Brown I did NOT appreciate:

“Just leave the lock at work, locked to whatever you normally lock your bike to.”

We have those old fashioned bike racks at our office that you have to lift your bike over. The entire top bars are taken up by dusty u-locks belonging to once-every-six-month commuters. It is impossible to find enough space for your bike even shoving them to the side. I’d say leave it in your office and run up to get it if you only ride in twice per year.

I know, preaching to the choir again — sorry for my rant.

Liz

[hencio]

@eminva 5765 wrote:

The one bit of advice from the late Mr. Brown I did NOT appreciate:
We have those old fashioned bike racks at our office that you have to lift your bike over. The entire top bars are taken up by dusty u-locks belonging to once-every-six-month commuters. It is impossible to find enough space for your bike even shoving them to the side. I’d say leave it in your office and run up to get it if you only ride in twice per year.

We have old fashioned (fender unfriendly) racks at my office. I try to lock to the bottom of the rack, rather than the top. Over the past 2 years we have also had 3 bikes stolen there too. The common thread were cable locks rather than U locks.

[vvill]

@StopMeansStop 5730 wrote:

Everything you need to know about locking your bike.

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

This ^

I do find it annoying when rack space is taken up by people’s locks though. I always take mine with me, as I might ride somewhere else and need it.

[txgoonie]

https://www.missionbicycle.com/about/news/8-1-11/lock-and-roll-secrets-rear-triangle

[Joe Chapline]

@txgoonie 6729 wrote:

https://www.missionbicycle.com/about/news/8-1-11/lock-and-roll-secrets-rear-triangle

Sheldon Brown illustrated this method, too. I don’t doubt that it works, but it doesn’t look like it would. My worry is that some thieves won’t know that this locking method is effective and will bust the bike up trying to solve the puzzle.

[DCLiz]

Also, I’d rather not have to put my rear tire back on, after the thief abandoned his/her attempts to steal my bike, even if the tire was miraculously undamaged.

[DSalovesh]

I’ve told this story before:

I witnessed a bike theft once, but I didn’t know it until too late. All I saw was a guy leaning against a streetlight where a bike was parked. He wasn’t even looking at what he was doing, just kinda fiddling with something I couldn’t see.

When he yanked the bike away from the light I realized what was happening, and I dashed out of the restaurant where I was waiting for a carryout order and yelled at him. He dropped his “tool” and hopped on the bike, and I ran after him for a few blocks until he got up to speed and got away.

When I got back I looked at the cable, and at the tool he dropped. The cable was totally mangled because his tool was NAIL CLIPPERS! Just sharp enough to snip a few strands at a time, and it must have taken 10-15 minutes, but in the end the cable was no protection. It doesn’t take big bolt cutters or pliers to cut even the toughest cable.

I’ve also seen the aftermath of cables that were defeated totally without tools. Apparently if you twist the cable back and forth enough eventually it’ll break on its own.

[Author]

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