General Cycling Discussion - "Uglyfying" a bike?

So I'm planning to ride my bike (Kona JTS) to campus this coming school year, and I'm worried that it's a bit too attractive for potential thieves.. after I read about jclaine's Krypto NY lock being cut (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=561246) (and my bike looks similar to his in terms of attractiveness, not to mention that I live in the same city), I was thinking of ways to "uglify" my bike, or at least make it less attractive.

I'm not just talking about locks - I've got a Kryptoflex cable and a Kryptonite Evo Mini u-lock - but things I can put on the bike.

I was thinking of maybe wrapping something around the top tube (like a plain black top tube pad type thing) and around the logo on the downtube. Possibly an old inner tube secured w/ a zap strap for the latter.

Obviously if the thief knows what he's looking for, he can see that I have a fancy drivetrain, but I'm just looking to make my bike unwanted at a glance. I don't want to splatter paint or something on the bike, just in case i decide that I want to sell it in the future.


Then again, if I cover things up in an obvious way like I've stated, won't that make it more obvious that I'm trying to hide something?

Then again, if I cover things up in an obvious way like I've stated, won't that make it more obvious that I'm trying to hide something?

I've seen good bikes wrapped in inner tubes, which is secured with black electrical tape. It might help, but if you're that worried about it maybe you should leave the Kona at home and get a beater for campus. (That didn't help me- they stole my beater, probably because it had good wheels on it.)

My strategy is not so much uglification, as it is customization and personalization to the point that it would be a pain to resell.

There's a logo somewhere under there, but you'd have to peel off a lot of sticky sunbaked reflective tape to see it.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3332/3659206492_516462536a_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/xenologer/3659206164/)
I wouldn't consider this an 'obvious cover up', since it looks so darn cool in its own right.

Please buy a beater and use it for your commuting. I locked my pride and joy to a bike rack on campus. I used the best lock available at the time. The buggers dismantled the rack that I had locked the bike to. It was more than half my summer's pay.

Someone will know what a fine bike yours is, even if you wrap it in inner tubes, even if you beat it with a ten pound chain. Don't lock it up on campus.

Rust Stickers (http://www.dominicwilcox.com/stickers.html)

Mud.

Oh yeah, and pubes.

+1 on a beater bike. The only thing better would be to get a second beater bike in case the first gets stolen. Then your not tempted to ride the good one.

Rust Stickers (http://www.dominicwilcox.com/stickers.html)

That is great. Entrepreneurship at work

+1 on a beater bike. The only thing better would be to get a second beater bike in case the first gets stolen. Then your not tempted to ride the good one.

+1. Beater bike is the way to go.

i just run it through mud, and don't wash it

it sinks in with the theme of the bike

it's a MTB after all, with the dirt on, it looks so much sexy! :love:

at the same time it discourages people from touching it :thumb:


So I'm planning to ride my bike (Kona JTS) to campus this coming school year, and I'm worried that it's a bit too attractive for potential thieves.. after I read about jclaine's Krypto NY lock being cut (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=561246) (and my bike looks similar to his in terms of attractiveness, not to mention that I live in the same city), I was thinking of ways to "uglify" my bike, or at least make it less attractive.

I'm not just talking about locks - I've got a Kryptoflex cable and a Kryptonite Evo Mini u-lock - but things I can put on the bike.

I was thinking of maybe wrapping something around the top tube (like a plain black top tube pad type thing) and around the logo on the downtube. Possibly an old inner tube secured w/ a zap strap for the latter.

Obviously if the thief knows what he's looking for, he can see that I have a fancy drivetrain, but I'm just looking to make my bike unwanted at a glance. I don't want to splatter paint or something on the bike, just in case i decide that I want to sell it in the future.


Then again, if I cover things up in an obvious way like I've stated, won't that make it more obvious that I'm trying to hide something?

The thing about the rust stickers is that my bike is black... :D


But yeah I guess a beater is the way to go... although I hate the idea of not riding my shiny new bike... oh well.

You might fool the petty thieves who don't know any better. But the guys you really have to worry about are the types who look at your drivetrain. And they're savvy enough not to be fooled by any tricks.

I'd say get a beater. A used Walmart bike with some bootleg Shamana derailleurs.
If you keep it tuned up, it will probably serve you just fine around campus for a few years.

The thing about the rust stickers is that my bike is black... :D


But yeah I guess a beater is the way to go... although I hate the idea of not riding my shiny new bike... oh well.

Keep the shiny new bike at home. If you don't- someone will enjoy it.

Many moons ago- a mate and I built up a beater bike for his daughter at uni. An Old Raleigh frame that we knew worked- but we left it outside for a month to rust up. A set of old Alloy wheels that were perfect but did not look it. Ran 7 speed cassette and an old beat up steel crank. Took all the stickers off the XT deraillers and put thumb shifters on it. You would not look at it twice. BUT- that bike worked. 10 years later and it is still running and is a joy to ride.

sometimes I wonder the reason to get a good bike is so that your cycling experience will be an enjoyable one. What's the point of getting a $50 beater or some cheap Wal Mart hunk-a-chunk for commuting? I hate thieves. They ruin it for everyone.

It doesn't have to be a hunk a junk. It can be a $300 bike from ten years ago. You know, respectable but not blissful. When my pride and joy was stolen, my roommate loaned me his old faithful boring bike for the rest of the school year, since he never rode it. It was a wonderful gesture, very helpful, and I learned to appreciate cheap bikes. I rode his bike to get to class and everywhere else useful. I rode my racing bike on weekends for fun. Oh, yes, I did replace the pride and joy with a high end used racing bike.

Cover your main tubes with larger sheets of stick on vinyl (from a sign writer, the stuff they cut the letters from) in an ugly colour - even a reflective one for safety and dork factor.

+1 on the mud
+1 on the rust stickers (clever!)

you can cover the tubes with inner tubes.

you can also try putting something sticky, like oil (work with me here) and get some dust/dirt in it to create a grime, and smear that on your components. Just cosmetically - nothing that'll affect the functionality of the bike. Y'know, on the crank arm, on the derailleur cages (not gears).

If you put a pos seat on the bike, that'll definitely make the thing look like a pos from afar.

I have a beater you can have that you don't need to worry about. Just trade me for yours.

or smear peanut butter all over it. No one will want to get their chocolate mixed up with it.

But the guys you really have to worry about are the types who look at your drivetrain.

Would removing 2 or 3 of the rear cluster sprockets spray painting them a different color from the rest, and putting them back in help? (or stripping the paint off a few if they're all already black)
So it looks like you have an old drivetrain with mix and matched sprockets...

Similarly, if your particular derailer was made in more than one color variant, mix and match parts between 2 perfectly good ones...

You could make it look like mine, and I can pretty much guarantee no one would steal it (assuming they can even lift it):
http://evalbum.com/img/2691/2691a.jpg
http://evalbum.com/2691

My other bike doesn't look any prettier, but it's a regular upright (Columbia 2005 "comfort" road bike). Heavy customization is a deterrent to anyone that would be reselling the whole bike, but if they're after just specific parts they might take it anyway.

Everything on mine looks like junk because it *is* junk, and a significant percentage of parts came from trash. :) It does work fine, and is a real comfy ride, but you wouldn't know that looking at it. :)

would grinding/sanding the shimano/etc names off componets helps deter "savy" theifs? I agree, if you have a good "purdy" bike, why would you want to ride around a beater all the time. but i also agree that if you live on campus/go to school/etc, I wouldnt want to be riding around a nice purdy bike for all the ****heads to steal. I'd keep it for fun and weekends where I wouldnt need to lock it up.

I was planning on asking a welder friend of mine to make me "weld beads" I can glue on my frame

it looks like something out of the Mad Max movie :thumb:

nice eBike or is that suppose to be an eRecumbent?


You could make it look like mine, and I can pretty much guarantee no one would steal it (assuming they can even lift it):
http://evalbum.com/img/2691/2691a.jpg
http://evalbum.com/2691

My other bike doesn't look any prettier, but it's a regular upright (Columbia 2005 "comfort" road bike). Heavy customization is a deterrent to anyone that would be reselling the whole bike, but if they're after just specific parts they might take it anyway.

Everything on mine looks like junk because it *is* junk, and a significant percentage of parts came from trash. :) It does work fine, and is a real comfy ride, but you wouldn't know that looking at it. :)

Wrapping a bike's frame in a sturdy, thick inner tube, is a brilliant idea!

I would do this just to protect against every use, regardless of potential thievery!

Then, on weekends, I would take the inner-tubes off, and revel in the bike's long-kept, pristine glory! :)

I have to believe that there are bike thieves out there who can tell a good bike from a cheap bike, even if the good bike is wrapped and uglified. If I can, why can't a bike thief?

Inner tubes are not the equivalent of a lock or fully enclosed bike locker. The only way to ensure your pride and joy is not taken is not to let it out of your sight. And even then, I had a bike taken from me by force.

Please buy a beater and use it for your commuting. I locked my pride and joy to a bike rack on campus. I used the best lock available at the time. The buggers dismantled the rack that I had locked the bike to. It was more than half my summer's pay.

Someone will know what a fine bike yours is, even if you wrap it in inner tubes, even if you beat it with a ten pound chain. Don't lock it up on campus.

True this. Get a beater. A JTS?!? They'll smell that a mile away.

I would think wrapping your bike's decals would make things worse by showing that you have something to hide.

I've thought about sanding the names off my components, like somebody else was suggesting. Could you take it a step further and strip all the paint from the frame? Would this compromise the frame at all? How about painting it really ugly colors? It might not help the OP, if he wants to sell his bike, but I have an old Univega Gran Turismo I've thought about doing this to.

You might fool the petty thieves who don't know any better. But the guys you really have to worry about are the types who look at your drivetrain. And they're savvy enough not to be fooled by any tricks.

I'd say get a beater. A used Walmart bike with some bootleg Shamana derailleurs.
If you keep it tuned up, it will probably serve you just fine around campus for a few years.

Yeah exactly. I know people who have "sleeper" SS/fixed gear bikes (boring looking frame, but plain-looking yet expensive components) and they've either had their bikes either stolen or their locks clearly messed up from an attempted theft. My guess is that even if it looks remotely worth something, a greedy thief will try to get it.

I'll probably end up going to a sports consignment store and picking up something.

paint the frame w/ truck bed liner this stuff is like painting w/ glue and if it's a steel frame you've got one heck of a rustproofing treatment .I've done a couple bikes w/ this, i put a matte finish on it after it's dry-----it does have kind of a military - radar absorbing look about it but from a distance looks like a parts bin bike the look does kind of grow on you (i've grown rather fond of the finish)

About 20years about a friend had his bicycle stolen for the new parts. I have to agree, those guys are experts.

Why not buy something like the Ultra Bicycle Club Jr.? (http://www.overstock.com/Sports-Toys/Ultra-Bicycle-Club-Jr./2108841/product.html#custreviews)

Why not buy something like the Ultra Bicycle Club Jr.? (http://www.overstock.com/Sports-Toys/Ultra-Bicycle-Club-Jr./2108841/product.html#custreviews)

I have the larger version of that... not sure how safe they are.

I had a pet name for my bike printed into sticker form and stuck it on the frame, along with other customization. I have no way of knowing if it has kept the trash from stealing my wheels, but so far (knock on wood) it hasn't happened. Plus they have to look at that and know it will take hours with a putty knife to get the crap off the frame and there's no way to do it without scratching the paint.

Why not buy something like the Ultra Bicycle Club Jr.? (http://www.overstock.com/Sports-Toys/Ultra-Bicycle-Club-Jr./2108841/product.html#custreviews)

Thats an interesting lock design.
I like how it can slide variable amounts to remove empty space (tho bad bones do the same for a normal Ulock).
I wonder how good it is... The locking mechanism being on one side only bothers me; the freesliding side looks vulnerable.

There are other tricks, you know. For example, not only you can lock between a bike's frame and a rack, you can also put a lock between a frame and a wheel by the use of a locking cable, as long as it's thicker than 3/8th of an inch.

Here's a lockable cable with kevlar for it:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10298313

Scroll down in here and you should come across information about locks for your bike (or if you don't have one, but good to know):
http://www.sbbike.org/commute/how-to

How bout some Huffy or Murray stickers?

Insurance?

Just a thought...but I wonder if bike thieves read threads like this to find out what the latest anti-theft strategies are?

I can't agree more with noglider that the only way to prevent theft is to never let it out of your sight...and insurance covers it if it ever does grow legs. I am fortunate enough to live in a very low crime rate rural area, but even here there's a homespun expression that goes, "Trust everyone...but brand your cattle."

If by "uglification" one means engraving parts with your name to make them less desirable on the black market...sounds like a wise idea to me.

sometimes I wonder the reason to get a good bike is so that your cycling experience will be an enjoyable one. What's the point of getting a $50 beater or some cheap Wal Mart hunk-a-chunk for commuting? I hate thieves. They ruin it for everyone.

So do the people who provide a market for their stolen goods.

Get a bike rack, and mount a beehive to it. Sure, you'll need to wear a beekeeper suit to ride the bike, but nobody else will mess with it.

There was a bike posted in the ss/fg section which had everyone thinking it was stripped and rusting.... was actually athletic tape and paint. It looked awesome... very weathered.

I had a friend in Jr High who's dad engraved their name (and on larger parts, phone #) to every component and peice of the bike. Each rim. Frame. handlebars. stem. brake lever. crank. brake caliper. everything. THAT is overkill, I wouldn't do that to my bike.

I built a converted roadie fixed gear out of an early 80s Fuji. It's probably borderline for eyecatching... but it's all cheap parts, and I worry little about leaving it out. I will NOT ride my nice bike... it is not replaceable (excellent condition 80's Bianchi/campy)... and will have major worrying about riding the bike I WANT to get to replace the beater.

I just can't see leaving an uglified high-end bike locked up on a campus. Next thing you know, someone will be posting here, asking about the morality of "liberating" a high-end drivetrain from an ugly, neglected bike on their campus. ;)

Edited to add: Seriously, get yourself a beater bike.

Same here, but whether a bike is very beautiful or ugly does not matter to me. I mean, someone who bought their bike for commuting is their bike, right?