View Full Version : Bike Theft: Where to Reduce the Risk?
77Univega
11-18-05, 10:26 PM
--- Granted that any bicycle locked up in public is vulnerable to theft, where are the places to best reduce the risk? For instance, some obvious places are the bike racks in front of the police station or within sight of a security guard. Or outside the window of a restaurant where the bike owner can see it. What other public places have you found to be among the safest?
I am turning to you my fellow Bike Forums members for original realistic ideas. Please do not post the usual horror stories.
Right next to a brand new, $2000 bike.
Right next to a brand new, $2000 bike.
You should qualify that. Park your road bike of any value next to a mountain bike. If you've followed the theft posts, you'll know that most thieves will take a $300 MTB over a $3k road bike.
Dahon.Steve
11-20-05, 06:15 AM
If there are bike racks, you're in luck. A bike rack will draw many if not all the crooks to that location looking to steal a bike enabling you to park far away! Seriously, there are so many horror stories about bike racks on this forum, your best bet is to avoid them entirely. Here's where I park my bike.
Malls --- All the way to the back of the lot. Usually there's a fence where you'll be able to slide the U-lock around where it blends with the background. I'll look at hiding it behind the mall. I'll worry every now and then but nothing ever happens. As I said, the bike crooks focus on those poor souls who use the racks.
McDonalds/Fast Food Stores --- The location where they dispose the garbage is a good place. I won't park it inside but use the fence to attach the U-Lock. Bike crooks usually won't go inside or even near these locations for bicycles beause they smell or have rats. I have poor sense of smell but they are not so bad and I've never seen a rat. I'll also use a handicap post if it's close to a widow where I can see it from the inside. A fence next to bushes or trees are great for hiding your bicycle. The bike would blend right in from a distance.
Big Box Stores --- It's so nice to see big box stores like KMart and Target providing bike racks next to the door. NOT! That simply means hundreds of potential bike crooks will scope you ride! I'll look for a location far away where there's little foot traffic as possible. Look at the sidewalk. There are usually signs posts out in the open in the middle of nowhere with some useless sidewalk that leads to nowhere. If there's very little chance of foot traffic using that sidewalk, that would be the best place to lock the bike. The burbs are great for creating sidewalks next to a highway no one ever uses.
So those are my two strategies. Hide the bike or leave it out in a location so far removed from foot traffic, the thief would have to break your lock in the middle of a highway.
Bekologist
11-20-05, 08:01 AM
For a theft to occur, you need Agent, Object, and Opportunity.
A skilled bike thief will comandeer a bike in front of a crowd of people like it was their own and never look back, but your average agent of opportunity low life bike stealing punk will take them only when its convienent and chances of being observed is low.
Attaching a bike securely to a solid object set in concrete with a Ulock will deter a lot of opportunistic thievery. I personally don't sweat leaving a bike at the mall with a Ulock at the bike rack- I'm more concerned that a meth addict with a tool fidget will come along and remove all my hardware than my bike disapearing on me.
I forgot to lock My LHT at the grocery store on Friday, it sat outside of a busy metropolitian Seattle grocery store in the bike rack for 20 minutes. DOH! I've also forgotten my lock on arrival to a morning class before, and fakey locked a bike for an hour, here in metro seattle.
the Agent looking for that Object of Opportunity wasn't walking by, and if they did, the crowds etc deterred the theft.
I have had fugly bikes in small towns i never locked, but Seattle not so much.
trackhub
11-20-05, 12:31 PM
In his book, "Richard's Bicycle Book", Richard Ballantine wrote that on one occasion, he came out of an office building to find a bunch of punks around his bicycle, dutifully trying to break the lock. What made this unusual, (he felt) was that a NYC police car, containing two of "New York's Finest", was parked right across the street. In his own words, he simply told the punks to beat it, and they did.
I'm not certain anyplace is 100% safe. I work in a place where the bicycle parking area is inside a controlled-access parking garage. The bike racks themselves are of the post-with-a-big-ring type, and they are in full view of un-blinking security cameras. I wish everyone had this luxury.
Folks I know who must regularly ride in high-risk areas (The entire city of Cambridge, MA for example) ride old, but still usable, 3 speed Raleighs. Or, they ride a high-quality bike that they have uglied up, so as to make it look like a messenger machine. Duct tape over any trademarks and logo's, carelessly applied spray paint, the usual stuff.
You'll need to weigh a couple of solutions, and decide what would be best for you.
Not to sound melodramatic, but there seems to be some kind of code among bike thieves. This code says that "If you lock it up in such a way that we can't steal it, we'll vandalize it". Anyone else notice this, or have any direct experience?
Dahon.Steve
11-20-05, 06:02 PM
Some more advice.
Don't park near bus stops in malls. The kids that use buses will start to fiddle with your bike or try to get a free cycle. There's a mall around my way that has a bike rack right next to a bus stop. As you can imagine, this rack has not one but TWO strikes against it. People used to lock their bikes on that rack but not anymore. In fact, I haven't seen a soul park a bike there in ages! Once bikes start getting hit hard, the bike commuters no longer use the rack.
77Univega
11-20-05, 08:14 PM
Malls --- All the way to the back of the lot...
McDonalds/Fast Food Stores --- The location where they dispose the garbage is a good place...
Big Box Stores --- ...I'll look for a location far away where there's little foot traffic as possible.
--- Thank you for posting your strategies.
What do you think of this concern: Behind the mall or in the garbage area, the thief can work at his leisure without being observed.
Instead of using "security by obscurity" to provide concealment for both bike and thief, I prefer to lock my bike up to some fixed object right in front of places I shop and rely on the effective security of a good lock prevent theft.
My commuter gets locked to a pole in a strip center parking lot. It's in plain view and after a couple years, there's no indication that anyone has even attempted to break the Kyptonite NY3000 U lock.
mechBgon
11-20-05, 09:31 PM
Also, finding something of comparable strength to the lock can be important but difficult in some places. If you do have to (or choose to) lock up in the rear of a big building or store, see if you can lock to their natural-gas pipes or a big electrical conduit. :evil:
mexredknee
11-21-05, 12:28 AM
I personally prefer public places to lock my bike. After my ride I lock my bike to a bike rack between a major parking lot and the school I go to. Since there is pedestrian trafic there all day (and most people know me and my bike), I feel the bike is fairly safe. If I'm at a shopping center I usually lock my bike to the cart-return spot in the parking lot. This has some pedestrian traffic and it makes it easier to find the bike when the lot is full.
michaelnel
11-21-05, 02:51 AM
For instance, some obvious places are the bike racks in front of the police station or within sight of a security guard.
I live near the San Francisco City Hall of Justice at 7th & Bryant Streets. The HOJ is the main cop shop for the city and always has at least 20 cop cars parked out in front. Cops coming and going at all hours of the day and night, and it is a busy, well-lighted street with lots of pedestrian and vehicle traffic.
There are bike racks out in front. I noted that for several months there was a white bike frame locked into one of the racks. Just a frame. EVERY single part had been stripped off the bike.
If you think cops care about your bike, I think you are sadly mistaken.
Bekologist
11-21-05, 08:37 AM
too, quick lockups versus long term or god forbid, overnight, allow different locking strategies. A pop in to grab a coffee or return a book to the library allow a touch more leniency in locking than doing your christmas shopping at the Mall of America, say.
The beater, undesirable bike strategy is the best bike deterrant to theft, however. Every bike lovin' big city dweller should have a beater errands bike.
Dahon.Steve
11-21-05, 01:24 PM
--- Thank you for posting your strategies.
What do you think of this concern: Behind the mall or in the garbage area, the thief can work at his leisure without being observed.
Bike crooks don't look in garbage containers but homeless people will. I'll take my chances with the homesless and here's why. First, most homeless don't hang out in the back of a mall. More often, you'll see workers, mall security or delivery trucks drivers back there. From experience, these folks don't steal bicycles as they are not utility cyclists. Most of those in the back of the mall are motorist who consider my bicycle a toy and not transportation. I once hid my helmet under a small dumpster only to find it placed next to my bicycle which was locked to a fence nearby.
A thief can work at his leisure with or without being observed on a bike rack. This has been proven many times with people submitting actual vedio of crooks ripping off bikes using heavy equiptment in front of hundreds of spectators! Bike racks tend to attract poor utility cyclists riding department store bikes or kids riding BMXs. These are the people more likely to steal or damage your bicycle and not those employed by store management working in the back.
Enthalpic
11-21-05, 01:33 PM
Nobody will confront a guy cutting off a lock. I know this because after some guy smashed the keyhole of my lock while trying to steal my bike I had to come back with a saw to get the lock off. Not one person asked me about what I was doing cutting off a lock; and I was slow. At least 20 people walked by and many more cars passed too. Sad really :(
trackhub
11-21-05, 05:36 PM
Good points all around about the malls. Dahon.Steve, are you sure you're in New Jersey, and not in Watertown, Massachusetts? You just described a situation there perfectly. They put a small bike rack at a shopping mall right near the bus stop. You know the rest. Last time I rode past it, there was one bent, totally stripped frame locked to the rack.
The Bike rack at the Natick Mall might be somewhat safer, but only because it is right next to the spot where the Mall cops park, when they are not patrolling the lots. A few brave souls actually use that one.
brunning
11-21-05, 08:17 PM
speaking from experience in nyc, there is no safe place to lock your bike. i've seen and heard of bikes stolen in non-trafficked and hidden places as well as in plain view of many people, including police.
the thieves have somewhat of a free pass here - cops don't care and not many passers-by would ever question anyone fooling with a bike on the sidewalk. no one wants to make a scene and no one wants to chance being attacked by some junky trying to steal a bike.
over the summer, a friend lost his lock key while making a delivery. his bike was locked to a block-long scaffolding setup. he went to the hardware store, bought an adjustable wrench and removed the bar from the scaffolding so he could slide his locked bike off. this was in midtown manhattan in broad daylight. hundreds of people probably walked by.
on the block where i work, there's a pink guerciotti track frame i've seen locked up most days for the last year. the guy takes the front wheel off and puts his krypto u-lock through the wheels and frame, and locks to a bike rack. always locked the same, always there.
one of my friends also locks his bike on this block with a krypto chain through the wheels and frame. never a problem, but one day he didn't lock his front wheel and guess what? it walked away as soon as the sun went down.
people have laughed at me for locking with both a chain and u-lock or walking a block to find something secure to lock to, but i've never had a bike stolen. this leads me to believe that the best defense is the most obvious: locking the frame and both wheels to a secure object using a good lock.
i also take the extra precautions of filling in my stem, handlebar binder, and seatpost bolts with crazy glue and dropping a ball bearing in there to deter the common thief with an allen wrench set.
slagjumper
11-22-05, 07:47 AM
1) Don't use the same place all the time. That would give a would be theif time to find your bike and plan for the theft.
2) Limit the time that your bike is out of site.
3) Look for the places where messengers park. They might catch someone stealing your bike. Also the thief might be more cautious.
4) Avoid locking to any object that has visable bolts.
5) If you are near a campus, try to find indoor bike parking like in a garage. There will usually be security folks around and good multipoint racks. Also is free, even if your not a student.
6) If you have to be out of sight for a long time, consider paying for bike parking in a public garage.
7) Hide the bike from general view, but not the view of a subset of the public. In other words, hide your bike behind the pilliars of a giant public/municipal building, (court house, city office building). That way only people that would see the bike are leaving the building and are less likely to be thinking in thievery mode.
8) Like others have said, park your bike more securely than those around it, and or next to more desirable bikes.
9) If you have to leave your bike unlocked, try to shift the gears or set to high gear so the would be thief has to fiddle with the gears to take off. You could also tighten the brake adjustment so that they have to work against the brakes. This way if you happen to catch them in the act, you can stop the theft. Other stratagies -- loosen the front wheel. This way they wreck, but could damage your bike. Lock the bike, but take the QR skewer. That way if they get your bike off the lock, they cannot ride off.
10) If you park in the same place and it is somewhat remote, but you are within a 400 hundred feet-- you could get one of those driveway alert alarms for $20. Mount the sensor near the bike, and tape up the light so that it is covert. This might be good if you park in the basement of an apartment building and the area you park, does not get much traffic, like behind a furnace. Would be nice if someone came up with a tamper alarm with a 400 foot range.
http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/drivewaypatrol.html?gid=
Fredmertz51
11-22-05, 12:56 PM
I've had good luck locking mine to a 2" pipe railing between the County Court House and the County Jail.
jakub.ner
12-03-05, 11:37 AM
A related comment and question. Currently I have several bikes on which I use a U-Lock, a cable with a padlock, and some flexible cable lock. Takes a while to lock up the bike, but no problems. I lock the frame, the wheels, and the seat, with each lock through the frame and some other parts.
The only time I had a bike stolen was when I used just one lock, and it wasn't the U-Lock. Interestingly enough the crook left me the lock, still works.
Recently I've really been set on getting a folding bicycle. It seems I could fold a bike and put into a nylon carry case quicker than I can lock my bike up. Has anyone tried this approach for trips to the mall etc? Is this feasible? Hauling 22 lbs around?
Nobody will confront a guy cutting off a lock. I know this because after some guy smashed the keyhole of my lock while trying to steal my bike I had to come back with a saw to get the lock off. Not one person asked me about what I was doing cutting off a lock; and I was slow. At least 20 people walked by and many more cars passed too. Sad really :(
This has been posted before, but here is a video clip supporting Enthalpic's point:
http://neistat.com/pages/video_holding/bikethief_holding.htm
gwhunt23
12-03-05, 01:08 PM
I've never tried this tactic, but I've just thought of it:
Lock the frame up to a rack. Take the wheels and lock them to a different rack farther from the first rack. What thief would want to make off with just a frame? What thief would want to make off with just a wheel?
I live in a small town in Colorado, and for its size, it has a fairly high rate of bike theft. I like to ride to hasting book store and still feel unsafe when I leave my bike. A lost of stores that have overhangs have steel posts from the ground to the roof. In cases like that, I try if I can to use my U-lock to lock it to a post. Our local Hastings books has one of those cheep PVC type sand filled bike racks which could easily be picked up bike and all and thrown into the back of a pickup. Hence my locking it to their support post instead. The sand filled bike racks are a joke.
With gas prices the way they are now, I've been getting much better gas milage and loosing weight. So I cant copmplain about that :D
Blue Order
12-04-05, 07:33 PM
Lately, I've been paying a lot of attention to how other people are locking their bikes. There's a lot of bike theft in this town-- it's all the meth addicts-- and I'm always hearing about someone's bike being stolen. So what am I seeing in terms of theft prevention? LOTS of bikes locked to a bike rack with a Kryptonite U Lock-- but just by locking the top tube to the bike rack (we have these u-shaped bike racks all over downtown). So, lots of space between the lock and the rack, and the wheels totally unsecured. I see it every time I look.
A friend of mine actually had her brand new bike stolen the first day she rode it. She had it locked to a bike rack, U-lock through the top tube locked to the rack (not one of the city racks, but a rack at school). The thief unscrewed two nuts to disassemble the rack and her bike was gone, in broad daylight.
NYC has been putting in these single U racks that are bolted to the sidewalk. I just don't trust them. They look pretty easy to pry out of the concrete.
larry_llama
12-29-05, 09:55 AM
That video is hilarious. One evening I rode to meet my girlfriend and she had locked her bike a few blocks away from where we were meeting. When I got there I realized I'd forgotten my lock key, and had to secure both bikes with her lock. Because I am lazy, I rode my bike to find her bike, unlocked it, and rode back several blocks on her "beater" with my Cannondale over my shoulder. One drunk pedestrian called out "Look at that guy!" and laughed with her friends. It ocurred to me that, not only is bike theft easy, but you don't even have to WALK to the target bike. You could probably ride with as many bikes over your shoulder as you can carry without anyone noticing.
In my opinion, shiny paint, a crappy lock, and lazy locking technique are the major contributors to theft. I had a $99 bike stolen this year because it was locked only with a cable and was brand new and shiny. It was probably the cheapest bike on the entire rack, but it looked the best. Electrical tape and sray paint are probably a good idea. Most thieves probably don't care about brand. Stealing an expensive bike and selling it for parts is a lot of work. Selling an expensive bike as a whole is a big risk. Selling a like-new department store bike for $50 to a pawn shop is fast and safe. I'm going to ugly up my next $99 bike to make it unsellable.
folder fanatic
01-26-06, 12:38 PM
A related comment and question. Currently I have several bikes on which I use a U-Lock, a cable with a padlock, and some flexible cable lock. Takes a while to lock up the bike, but no problems. I lock the frame, the wheels, and the seat, with each lock through the frame and some other parts.
The only time I had a bike stolen was when I used just one lock, and it wasn't the U-Lock. Interestingly enough the crook left me the lock, still works.
Recently I've really been set on getting a folding bicycle. It seems I could fold a bike and put into a nylon carry case quicker than I can lock my bike up. Has anyone tried this approach for trips to the mall etc? Is this feasible? Hauling 22 lbs around?
I am an owner of 2 folding bikes purchased over 2 years-a Dahon S1 converted into a three speed and a C type Brompton. The number one reason each were purchased was each was theft resistant (fold and take with me). To help with bringing the bike along with me, I use an inexpensive luggage cart. When the bike is in the bag, it passes for luggage and no one protests me bringing the bike into the stores. Another positive ability of the folder is the ability to take with you when you travel or commute. Do consider purchasing one. I never regretted my purchases.
jakub.ner
01-28-06, 08:00 AM
folder fanatic, thanks for the tip. You strap the little cart to your bike somehow?
ken cummings
01-28-06, 05:57 PM
Elsewhere on BF I saw a video of good U-locks being quickly defeated with what looked like a dowel. I had a 10 day job at a local Costco (big box store) and was directed to use the company bike rack. A bad location and I easily took the rack apart with the little 6 inch adjustable crescent wrench in my tool kit. I checked with the manager and got permission to leave the bike in the break room. I love the poster who suggested lockint it to a gas pipe or main power cable. I would pay for a video of someone cutting one of those.
Seriously, Roberts (?), the guy who wrote Computing Across America, a true bike vagabond, had an early GPS system linked to some sort of radio system. If his bike and trailer were stolen, the system would call the local police and tell them where the stuff was :beer: :roflmao: How big are these LoJack transponders? Could we hide one in or on a bike? They work just fine for cars and my bike cost a lot more than my car.
MrCjolsen
01-29-06, 07:00 AM
I live near the San Francisco City Hall of Justice at 7th & Bryant Streets. The HOJ is the main cop shop for the city and always has at least 20 cop cars parked out in front. Cops coming and going at all hours of the day and night, and it is a busy, well-lighted street with lots of pedestrian and vehicle traffic.
There are bike racks out in front. I noted that for several months there was a white bike frame locked into one of the racks. Just a frame. EVERY single part had been stripped off the bike.
If you think cops care about your bike, I think you are sadly mistaken.
Is the frame still there? What size is it? :)
vBulletin® v3.7.3, Copyright ©2000-2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.