Nitram612

Not really a commuting topic, but I figured this was the best place to post.

I always carry a U lock and a rope lock and use them together to protect my frame and wheels when I lock my bike in public. A few times in the last couple weeks, some different random person I don't know has come up to me and smugly said something along the lines of "You don't need to lock your bike that well. You are paranoid." I politely brush them off but inside I'm fuming. Don't tell me what to do with my bike. I value having my wheels when I come back over the 20 extra seconds it takes to lock them. I have a friend that always starts ****ting his pants and complaining every time I lock my wheels too. Why are people so obsessed with perceived convenience? Is it really that strange to take the extra step to make it so someone needs more than a multi-tool to steal your wheels?

dynodonn 

Locally, nobody has said that I overkilled on the bike lock department, especially in our village. What I hear are numerous stories on the brazen thefts that are occurring locally. A good example was a couple of weeks ago when the theft of close to a dozen locked school purpose bikes occurred at a local school that students had fixed up and were planning to use at several community events. This theft outraged many in the community and with a number of local residents, many who were alumni of the school, stepping up and donating money and bikes to replace the stolen ones.

doc0c

I wouldn't sweat it too much. Just smile and say you're paranoid by nature.
Not to get too much off topic, but I recently realized the meaning of the phrase "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar". Take it from me, it's not worth the trouble to argue about it.

Nitram612

I usually just chuckle and say something along those lines. It just really bothers me when someone who clearly doesn't know what they are talking about thinks they know something I don't, like they are educating me.

iconicflux

i just tell them that's exactly what a thief would say if he wanted to make taking my bike easier.

Of course, I also leave my phone deep inside the bike bag so if my bike is stolen I have a decent likelihood of turning on the GPS and having the police help me retrieve it.

BloNoBikeGuy

+1 for the hidden GPS in the bag.

Tuc

Hope to see those GPS in the frame technologies come down in price. My buddy got his stolen from the doctors waiting room at one of those experimental places where they pay you to test new drugs. Some guy came in looking to make a few bucks, and decided taking the bike was more profitable than a few pills. 20 people in the room and some guy just rolls it out the door!

CrazyWally

I've only been asked a couple times in 30+ years of biking why I'm locking my bike up so well. Both times were by some random guy standing next to the bike corral, coincidentally not riding a bike

fietsbob

A line to try ..
'I try to make it more convenient to have them take your bike, instead'

unterhausen

I got a shorter answer, "oh, so you're a bike thief then?"

What I probably would do is grunt. People hate to be ignored, getting a grunt as an answer basically means you were heard but what you said wasn't worth responding to, and thus ignored

pkulak

I was in hiking in the woods once with my buddy when we saw a bear up the trail charging us. I immediately got down on one knee and started lacing my shoes. My buddy asked, "What are you doing? That's not going to help you outrun a bear." To which I replied, "I don't need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you."

It's like that with bikes, really. Someone who steals bikes is just going to go around until he finds one that's easy and is worth something. Lock your wheels up and it's the bike next to you that's going to have to be carried home. I'd encourage your friends to not lock their wheels and park nice and close to your bike. Hell, tell them that cable locks are great around a frame. Then you can use a lighter u-lock.

genec

Just smuggly ask them if they locked their car?

iconicflux

+1

CB HI

Ask them to park their bike next to yours.

DX-MAN

"Thanks for volunteering to replace it at full value when it comes up stolen!"

This usually gets the response, "I'm not buying you another bike!" To which I say, "Then STFU!" (Except I don't spell it....)

One time, with three kids with me, I used the U-lock and my 9' cable; some ghetto thug outside Dollar General kept repeating (looking for a rise out of me), "That's a PEE WEE HERMAN lock, heh-heh!" Any answer I would have given would have ultimately resulted in the U-lock being used to break the thug's teeth.

Another time, I was rolling my bike into a store; some other thug in the parking lot hollered, "AIN'T NOBODY GONNA STEAL YO' BIKE, DUDE!" (Yeah -- you'll be the first one to try if I leave it out......)

zonatandem

Locked up our tandem when a smart a$$ told me: "I can steal that bike in less than one minute.'
Told him: 'OK, your time starts right NOW!.
His reply/excuse: 'Well I need a pair of cable cutters and . . .'
Funny!

TStwahine

Just once, but then I quickly explained about how I had had my bicycle stolen from one top of my car (along with my Thule roof rack) while I had run inside to find the key to lock said thule rack. My house at that time was right next to a big apartment complexes parking lot... I still fume over it... $1200 gone just like that. So now I go completely overboard. Who would have thought Iowa would have such a bike theft problem. Grrrrrrr, it's been five years and I'm still VERY bitter.

TwoFourOne

My girlfriend always questioned why I lock my bike up when we ride bikes to the park/playground area in her fancy neighbourhood. I told her it's a good habit I formed to make sure my stuff stays my stuff.

A few weeks after that, she told me one of her friends bikes got snatched in the same neighbourhood

idc

Not worth fuming over; they have no idea. Just ignore them.

osephjey

I always thought my bike wasn't a desirable bike to be stolen, but as I was dropping my son off at preschool today a kind gentleman told me "oh no you're riding a raleigh those are nice bikes. Definitely stealable." And here I was banking on it NOT being an attractive ride due to my setup. I have always locked it up for the most part, but now I'm gonna do it always and forever.

dynodonn 

That sounds just like my grandfather, that is until you put a few cocktails in his hand, then something resembling the forming of complete sentences would follow.

El Gigante

I was getting off the subway last week around dusk , and as I was putting on my helmet and getting ready to head home , I saw this guy with a pair of bolt cutters working on the chain of a bike locked to a rack . I asked him what he was doing, and he said that it was his bike and he had he had lost the key to the lock. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but it was a good wake up call on the importance of having a good lock and using it...

alexaschwanden

Just ignore them, it not worth your time.

linus

When I was in Korea and Japan, people looked at me like a weirdo because there isn't much bike theft. But in Toronto, nobody look at me that way.

cjewett65

Not overkill at all. You should teach your friend a lesson and set up another friend to sneak up to his bike while you guys are inside somewhere and hide his wheels from him. Teach him a lesson in good humor lol. It only take a few seconds to get two quick release wheels off a bike so your just protecting your property. If you really want to protect your wheels still but dont want to keep going through the "hassle" then consider some skewer locks so they are already attatched.