I want to go biking in cities, but from what I’ve read most police departments simply do not give a fuck about stolen bikes. How do I make sure my bike doesn’t get stolen?
Cover/remove any brand name labels. Duct tape and spray paint are ugly. Use them.
Lock it to something solid. Use multiple, high quality locks if you can. Lock it where there is video surveillance if possible. Never leave it long. Never ever leave it outside overnight.
Greetings from Berlin, where more than 25,000 bikes are stolen each year. That’s 70 per day, or 3 per hour.
Despite following my own advise above as best I could, I have lost 3 bikes in the last 20 years. I still ride a bike everywhere though, 100% of the time, averaging over 5000 km a year.
Get out there and explore your city!
Edited to add, a good lock is going to cost a lot more than a standard one, and will easily weigh over 5kg.
Cover/remove any brand name labels. Duct tape and spray paint are ugly. Use them.
I call it “uglifying”. Maybe it’s luck but I never had my ugly bike stolen. In a sea of attractive bikes, mine stands out like a eyesore. And I always imagine if some one did steal it, it’ll be quick to recover.
You can buy very convincing stickers that make your frame look rusty
Ugly bikes ftw!
I use a Kryptonite Fahgettaboudit lock and chain through my rear wheel and rear triangle with a cable through my front wheel. I live in Medellin, Colombia which is about as theft prone for bikes as NYC is. I’ve never had my bike stolen. I also don’t leave it out at night, only when I’m going into a store or something.
Edit: Be aware this is a pretty heavy chain and lock but I love my bike and don’t want it stolen so I bought the best one I could find.
Lock Picking Lawyer says he wouldn’t hesitate to use the non-chain version. That seems like the best endorsement you can get for any lock.
I just got back from a trip to Medellin and was surprised how big the bike scene was. Beautiful city.
I used to live there in 2013 and it felt super safe. How is it these days as I heard some bad bits about it.
I felt pretty safe when I was there. I had no issues. I’m a white guy from NYC for some context and I didn’t feel unsafe at all. I was in El Poblado for the most part.
I visited to meet a few of my World of Warcraft guild mates in person and eat a ton of Colombian food. So probably not your typical tourist experience in Medellin.
Only wish my Spanish was better… I don’t speak much and that was a challenge.
Yeah it forced me to buck up and learn a bit, which I maintain to this day. Poblado has always been pretty safe from what I remember; I was down in Envigado and really got along with that place, what will it being it’s open little town.
You can’t prevent bike theft - you can only discourage it.
- Use multiple locks. Chains are harder to cut than U-locks. Stay away from cable/combination locks.
- If the lock is a pain to carry around it’s also a pain to break.
- If possible, place the lock so that it’s in awkward position to cut.
- Have a bike that’s difficult to sell. Either a cheap and crappy one or make it unique looking.
- Park it in public and leave it next to a bike that’s easier to steal.
- Remove the battery if it’s an ebike.
2 points:
Use multiple lock types to increase the required angles of attack.
Keep the locks up off the ground so thieves can’t use the ground for leverage with bolt cutters.
In short: Make it more difficult and time consuming to take than the bike next to it.
I’d look into a nice beefy lock, I know they make some that are grinder resistant. I think the name of the game is making your bike take longer than a few seconds to steal.
Be the least steal-able bike on the street!
How do I do that?
Make all the other bikes more stealable
Bring a second bike along with you, and lock it with a $10 combination lock chain.
Or just boltcutter the locks off all the other bikes in the rack. Thieves will think twice about stealing your bike when there are a half dozen better choices.
Any ways that dont involve being a complete asshole?
Understand the difference between a recreation bike and a utility bike.
Having a really awesome mountain bike with top of the line shocks or a super light road bike that costs more than a car is awesome. But don’t park that outside the mcdonald’s.
Instead, buy a used bike or get a REAL mid-tier bike from target or bikesdirect or whatever. And use that for commuting or going to the store or whatever.
And if this sounds prohibitively expensive because “enthusiasts” would need to won multiple bikes and need a place to store them? You are starting to understand why “just replace your car with a bike” is a very “upper middle class white person” mentality.
Fuck that. You don’t need to spend more that $300 to replace your car with a bike. But something used and ride it every day. You don’t need more than one.
“Replace your car with a bike” is also basically limited to only single or childless adults who live in an urban area with everything they need nearby. Because if you have a family or more than a few miles to places you need to be regularly, you’re going to have a much harder time without a car. So it basically is not applicable to millions of Americans, with our massively large square mileage of country that we occupy.
I live in a family of 6, and we were able to live car free for a year when we lived in germany. My dad used to live and work 300 kilometers away, and he would visit us every few weeks, coming by high speed train. My mother did all the buying groceries by bike. And we didnt live in any big city. It was a town of less than 10.000 people. It is possible for families to live car free. We did roadtrips by bike, visited nearby cities, went to beaches by train. We did have the car of a relative available, but we used it some 5 or 6 times in the whole year.
I dont care if you have a family, you can live car free, if in the right place. And we aren’t super rich or anything, we lived with our relatives, and my dad lived in a friend’s house, who gave him a very big discount.
And we also didn’t have any 3 bikes each, our bikes were mostly oldies borrowed from old family friends who didn’t need them.
And if you do the math, 100 dolars a month, is pretty cheap for a car, if you consider gas and wear, so it is cheaper to buy a pretty nice bike every 3 months than to own a car.
That’s a very America specific thing and not applicable to most pieces.
Which is why I take it to mean “replace applicable travel events with bike rides”. I can’t go carless in a suburb, but I can cover many daily needs with a bicycle. This is from someone that regularly commutes by 80mpg motorcycle and uses it for many grocery/light shopping needs, so it’s not a fear of cargo/passenger capacity.
Similarly, this is what shoots the rail dream down. Yes, it’s nice to dream about the freedom of a train ride taking you to a fun destination. But then what? You arrive at the city and then… Stay in the city? Hope it’s a city at all? If it’s a decent-sized city with an airport, a car rental will probably work out fine enough. But then how did you get to your train station? Well, probably by car too. The regrettable situation of the US is that it’s not just a cute little country jam-packed over millenia. It’s as vast as the entire European continent with the population heavily concentrated on the coasts. If visiting cities are your thing, it’s easier to work out. But no, we’re not going to completely revamp the rail system to be “like germany, Spain, France, or England” because we already have that. It’s just in a straight line from DC to Boston. The area triangle made by London/Paris/Berlin is very similar to Boston/DC/Detroit. In the same way Americans generalize “Europe” to mean Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, and the UK, ignoring all the east Europeans, we forget how empty it is between the Mississippi River and the west coast states - roughly half the continental 48 states house just 26% of the continental population. That’s including Texas in the middle with 9% in itself. The carless infrastructure drops quickly because population density drops quickly. The cities are largely isolated by seas of suburbs or emptiness.
Whatever, tangential rant. I love rail, I work in rail, I rode the acela for fun. But we can’t right suburbs without displacing half the population. There is a strong westward density drop-off after the Mississippi River, a small one after the Missouri, and a sheer cliff after the line dropped from Winnipeg to Dallas until you get within 50 miles of the Pacific. That’s a 1300x1300 mile square of emptiness.
So it basically is not applicable to millions of Americans, with our massively large square mileage of country that we occupy.
It’s funny to me when people use the US’s land size as a reason for needing a car…as if they live in Miami, need to commute to New York for work every day, and have to pick up the kids off from daycare in Anchorage after work.
It’s not the geography that necessitates cars. It’s poor city planning.
And now it’s weirdos protesting things like 15-minute cities, as if being able to walk to a grocery store, a department store, a doctor’s office, schools, and a park within 15 minutes from home is a bad thing.
You seem to be ignoring the fact that those millions of square miles are actually occupied, in many parts other than the cities. I don’t care what you do with your big cities, and I don’t know who you’ve seen protesting the alleged 15-minute cities, but the rest of our huge nation still has to operate as well. That’s why we have cars.
limited to only single or childless adults
I think this is too narrow of an assessment. More common in America than single adults living alone are two adults living together, with each having their own car. So while you’re right that the present American land-use reality isn’t exactly conducive to having a plurality going car-less, it’s entirely probably for a couple to save substantial money by switching one car for a bike and keep just one car for the household. That’s something that can apply in huge swaths of the country, although it’s exceptionally apt for cities.
Even a scooter or motorcycle is better than a car (though not necessarily safer).
Well I have both but I prefer the car when it’s raining.
Have any recommendations?
Litelok X1 or X3, hiplok d1000 are the specific models that are angle grinder resistant.
Not any I can recommend personally but I did a quick frrrrt search and found some articles that talk about the best options
frrrrt?
Yeah things that make you go frrrrrt
As someone that biked in Chicago for over a decade… You make your bike harder to steal than other bikes. Very few bike thefts are targeted; they’re largely opportunistic. If it’s a targeted theft, they’re going to get your bike.
Start by getting a good lock. If you’re riding a bike around that’s more than about $1500, spring for the Kryptonite New York series of locks. I’d say get a chain and a very small shackle, because that gives you the most places to lock your bike. When you lock up, remove your front wheel, and run the chain through your rear wheel and both the rear and front triangle, and through your front wheel. Make sure that what you’re locking to is sturdy, and difficult to move or cut quickly; city bike racks (the steel ones that are set into the concrete) are pretty good. For buildings that have exterior gas and water pipes, those are pretty great too. Take your seat and seat post with you. Get the tiniest, most uncomfortable-looking clipless pedals you can (Crank Bros. Eggbeaters are a good start, I had Speedplay Frogs before they were discontinued), and wear cycling shoes everywhere; as dumb as it sounds, a bike that someone can’t easily ride off on is less likely to get ripped off.
Don’t leave your bike locked up outside overnight. Don’t leave your bike in a garage, in a fenced-in back yard, or on a back porch. Set up a place inside your house to store your bike (yes, this means that you need a large shower mat to catch the melting snow in the winter). If you commute to work, see if they have a place inside where you can keep your bike during your shirt.
Declare your bike on your homeowners’ or renters’ insurance, and make sure that you specify replacement value, and exact duplicates rather than equivalents.
Yes, Kryptonite locks can be picked. The people that can consistently pick the new ones quickly are very unlikely to be ripping off bikes.
It’s not fool-proof, but I commuted to and from school in the loop, and to and from work in Skokie, and had a grand total of zero thefts across two high-end Cannondales, one mid-level Fuji, and a Specialized StumpJumper Pro in the years that I lived in Chicago.
Check out the Lockpicking Lawyer on YouTube. See what kind of lock he does not condemn.
Remove a wheel, seat and/or handlebars when you lock up. A lot, and I mean a lot, of bikes are stolen out of convenience, and not having a wheel means that someone can’t easily ride it away.
This won’t deter a motivated Igor Kenk-style thief that steals tens of bikes a day, but it’ll make you less of an opportunity to casual addicts looking to for a ride for the night or something they can flip for cash or drugs.
its sorta like the same mindset of driving manual. it wont deter everyone away, but it filters out some of the potential people who can steal it (those who dont know how to drive manual)
Dont leave a bike that is worth stealing, if you mind it being stolen, for daily commutes just get a second hand bike for around 200$ and fix it up, pick up a 50$ kryptonite NY lock and ride stress free.
This worked for me. Protip: get some shitty spray paint for a theft detering paint job
Two most important things
- Don’t leave your bike anywhere overnight.
- Don’t make a pattern of leaving it locked up in the same place for long periods of time.
A nice lock will help a little bit but tbh if they’re determined then they will get it if you slip up and allow them the time.
I use a hardened steel chain and a hardened steel lock, and I thread the chain through the frame and the front tire. That’s enough to defeat bolt cutters (and my lock has notches on it to prove it), though I’m not sure how it would do against an angle grinder. Though if they have an angle grinder, they might just go through whatever it’s locked to instead of the chain/lock itself. There’s only so much you can do against a very determined thief.
On top of the various lock suggestions, I added something on my ebike I quite like.
”Hidden” beneath my water bottle holder is a casing for an Apple AirTag. No one is likely to notice it because it’s mounted with the water bottle holder. It doesn’t blend perfectly, but enough to not be noticed unless you’re looking for it. The security screws that are used to mount it require a somewhat uncommon head (not that people don’t have them, just not a normal part of a bike kit), so it’s not easily removed.
So if the bike is stolen, I can hopefully find it again.
This coupled with an alarm lock that attaches to the brake rotor and a standard combination cable lock has served me well so far. Though this spring I might add a folding lock just in case. If I’m spending as much as I did on a bike I shouldn’t cheap out on protecting it.
Make sure to loop a lock through the frame and both wheels. I use an ABUS frame lock on my rear wheel (never has to be removed) and a kryptonite chain lock for the front wheels and frame.
If you want to get really secure, replace fasteners with tamper resistant versions.
Nothing is ever theft proof, but there’s lots of ways to make your bike very theft resistant.
These are all great suggestions.
OP, You’ll want a heavy-duty D-lock from a company like Abus or Kryptonite, and always loop the lock around the frame of the bike and loop it through a secured bike rack. A bike rack that can be picked up and dragged off is not secure. A bike rack with loose bolts holding it in place is not secure.
A frame lock that goes through the back wheel is also a great option, and the Abus ones (and others i believe) have an option on the frame lock to attach their own brand of bike chain as well. This is the lockup method i use on my $5k bike for any stops under 20 minutes.
For anything longer, i also use a d-lock around my frame and hooked to the bike rack, as well as cable locks around my front and rear wheels. I also have security hex/allen bolts securing my seat and seatpost suspension. People walk by, see 4+ locks on my bike, and never bother it.
Never use a cable lock to secure anything you’re not comfortable having stolen. Also bike insurance is a thing and can be really affordable. Finally, there’s an app called 529 Garage that allows you to register your bike into their database to help with recovery in case it gets stolen. Some cities also offer registering your bike with the city to aid in theft recovery. I did it in my city, but honestly i have no idea if law enforcement even checks the city database for recovery.
All depends on where you are. If you have a bike registration sticker program in your area, do that (e.g. 529 bikes, some cities, some police departments have their own service). Get locks with insurance that would cover the full cost of replacing a stolen bike that was properly locked, if available.
Don’t leave it outside over night. Lock it in at least two places if it will be out of your sight in public for more than 20 minutes. Lock it at a bike rack or against a fixed post, one wheel, and frame locked to the rack if possible.
Apologies for the lazy answer, but Lock Picking Lawyer on YouTube has a number of videos on bike locks. In addition to the lock itself, you want to secure both wheels with a chain or cable if possible, and take the bike seat with you if you can (or secure it in some manner). Thieves will remove any bike part they can quickly remove from the bike. Obviously take any bags or water bottles with you, too.
LPL is not a great resource on this since people aren’t going to be discretely picking locks to not show signs of tampering. They are going to pull out a bigass pair of bolt cutters (and if you cut the pocket out of a pair of jeans you can fit some REALLY chonky bolt cutters in your “pocket”) and cut through the cable.
In terms of protecting your bike from an actual attack? That is going to very much depend on where you live. Growing up, basically every thug had some good bolt cutters so chains and even cables were worthless and you needed the big fucking bar locks. I was visiting my sister on a business trip a few months back and saw someone literally pull out a battery powered angle grinder (ryobi) and slice through a bar like it was butter while I gassed up at a Wawa’s.
Which is why all you can really do is lock your bike on crowded well traveled bike racks and hope that someone brought the road bike out.
Iirc he also tested bypassing the lock as well, at least for some locks.
I.e. Bolt cutters, grinders and pneumatics
You’d be surprised. Some locks can be picked very quickly, and you underestimate a bike thief’s ability to casually look like they are just messing around with their own bike while they pick the lock. Most passerbys are not paying attention / don’t care about bikes on a rack.
Of course most passer-bys don’t really give a shit. But that is true whether someone is trying to look nonchalant while they mutter “binding on two” or if they are doing a smash and grab. Except the smash and grab says “Don’t fuck with me” whereas someone holding on to a lock is how you get an owner starting to yell.
Which kind of sums up a lot of the, quite frankly nonsense, that LPL’s channel is. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching him pick locks (and wince during his semiannual libertarian dog whistling) but all of the “masterlock is bad, lolz” meming kind of ignores the reality. MAYBE a thief will pick a lock to sneak in the back of your house or your shed. More likely they’ll just smash a window, listen for an alarm, and then steal shit. And I know LPL knows this because of his commentary on really cool shit like the military base locks where it is very much about just having a chain of custody and being a slight deterent.
I dunno. I am always reminded of a Discovery (?) Channel show. “To stop a thief”? or some crap. Premise was former burglars run a security company. They inspect a family’s home, upgrade every lock and install a security system, and come back a few weeks later to rob them as a way to reinforce good practices. The vast majority of episodes boiled down to “Yeah. you didn’t lock the door, you dumbfucks” or “You have a giant tree right outside your daughter’s window and she left the window open”. But one episode that really stuck with me was where the family actually did follow every good practice. All doors and windows were locked, the trees were trimmed, etc. So they just crowbarred a window and got in that way.
Because Felicity and Perry Mason will pick a lock to photocopy some documents without you ever knowing the hot chick who banged you last night is actually a spy. The vast majority of thieves will just smash a window, grab what they can, and be gone long before the cops come to check on your alarm going off. And that is why “just don’t leave shit on the seats of your car” go such a long way to prevent break-ins. Because, no matter the target, it is really about getting in and out before anyone tries to stop you. And you don’t need a Covert Instruments 9000 lockpick set when you can just sparkplug a window.
A combination of a good lock (I think those Kryptonite New York locks are well reviewed) and having a bike that doesn’t look desirable. If your bike is obviously high end, it’s a target. If it looks like an old beater, thieves probably won’t bother. As often, anyway.
I have an old “NEXT” bike that I pinned the front fake shocks because they’re really only springs. I did the same with the rear one by taking out the spring and replacing it with a piece of pipe. It rides good, it’s still a POS that I got for free.
