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Old 01-29-11, 07:02 AM
  #12  
Tourist in MSN
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Madison, WI
Posts: 11,112

Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.

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I thought that I did not need to lock my bike when I was standing 25 feet away from it, but the guy that grabbed it and jumped on it could pedal faster than I could run. Bikes compared to wages were quite expensive in the early 1970s when I was in high school, it took me about 60 to 80 hours of work to accumulate the money to buy that bike. Now, if I go into a fast food store or stop to go to a restroom, I lock the bike. For a quick stop like that it might be a wimpy little lock like skiers use (such locks easily fit in a jersey pocket and weigh very little), but it is locked well enough to slow down a thief for at least several seconds.

If I was in a campground and nervous about bike theft, I would pull off the front wheel and put it between the tent body and tent fly, or in a tent vestibule if there is room. A one wheeled bike is less theft prone. Also, dirty bikes are less theft prone.

A friend of mine in college bought a used bike for $2 and it looked like he paid too much for it. He rode it for a year and a half around college, never locking it. He blew a tire, put a new tire on it and it was stolen within a week.

In the 1970s my niece had a cheap low quality bike that looked very nice with a fresh coat of paint. It was on the same porch as a columbus tubed campy equiped bike that had scrapped up paint and some rust where the paint had been scrapped off. The thief took my niece's bike but left the ugly looking racing bike. I later bought the racing bike and still own it.
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