nitropowered

So when I got back to my bike after my class (1 hour), my seat and seatpost was missing. Out of all the bikes parked around me, that person decided to get out an allen key and steal my seat. My campus really isn't a high crime area so I'm guessing the person that stole it possibly knows me and either did it as a joke, or was really eyeing it. Its not anything special, a Ritchey Pro post with a Fizik Poggio.

Its actually not the first time someone has messed with my seat. A month or two ago, someone unbolted my seatpost and turned the saddle backwards.

Looks like I have to whip out the paraffin wax and fill in my bolts.

If the person was smart, they would have stolen my phil-deep-v front wheel.

humancongereel

your what? your "edit: it's a piece of crap" wheel?

just kidding, i hope bike thieves don't frequent this site.

Yoshi

I filled in all the bolts on my bike with wax. Recently I needed to take everything apart (frame/fork getting painted) and it took me about 2 seconds to get rid of the wax using a flathead screw driver. Just sayin'.

A better solution is the bike chain through the seatstays/saddle-rails.

squeakywheel

Wax? Wax is softer than anything on earth. everyone knows that. Try solder. It's a metal with low melting point.

BTW, you could wittle out a solder filled hex bolt with a pocket knife, but what thief knows that. I just looks like a bolt with no tool interface whatsoever.

sers

i've been looking into getting a quick release seatpost clamp with a locking bolt. ****'s going to be expensive.

slopvehicle

"Its not anything special, a Ritchey Pro post with a Fizik Poggio."

That's a whole lot more expensive-lookin' than the saddles on my bikes-- currently rockin' an old Selle Rolls perf w/ tears on both sides and a generic post. I think it looks cool. Haven't asked the thieves yet.

531phile 

If the thief had an allen wrench, they'll be resourceful enough to have a chain tool as well. Takes about 5 seconds to undo a chain.

531phile 

how about just get a quick realease seatpost clamp and just take the post and seat with you where ever you go? Then replace it with a seatpost and seat with 6inch metal spikes coming out of the saddle for the stupid thief to steal. Put a note and say "ride this seat MoFo"

theritor

a little while back i was working at my shop and another mech. started working on this bike, but the seatpost wouldnt come out. so he rears up and yanks hard on the thing. there was a a homemade wedge ting that acted like a starflange and that was atached to a wire with a big plastic nub at the end which went down to the bottombracket. there was a bolt in the bottle seattube bottle mounts that was extra long to ast as a stop for the aforementioned nub. needless to say, the frame got bent.
we didnt have any clue why it wouldnt come out until it was forced out, but by then the damage was done. talk about theft deterent on the sly.

sivat

I don't know about that. I've owned countless sets of hex wrenches and got my first about 15 years ago, but didn't own a chain tool until about 6 months ago.

operator

They sell those locking skewers, front/rear and seatpost for like $50usd. I'm sure someone will pony up a link where they are cheaper.

blu3d0g

befriend/become a machinist. make custom bolts and nuts and your own tool to undo them. a friend of mine is doing that for the nuts on his wheels, he's going to teach me the tools in question and help me make a set once he's done with his.

bejay

use crazy glue, it works pretty good, its a bit of a pain to get it out, but, no thief is gonna wanna mess with trying to get it out of your bolts for sure!

pixel

blu3d0g:
interesting... I may have a project to work on after my machine tooling class this summer... any other info on this you could pass along?

Chimay

Please don't tell me you think Yoshi takes the chain off his drivetrain and threads it though his* saddle rails everytime he locks his bike up.

*-all due apologies if Yoshi is a her.

onetwentyeight 

What? no. Just use a bit of spare chain and leave it there permanently.

Yoshi

I have a piece of spare chain wrapped in an inner tube going through my seatstays. I know it won't stop a determined thief however I think most thieves who are stealing saddles are opportunistic and probably won't have a chaintool with them.

space_robots

I wish you could replace the hex bolt with a torx.

slopvehicle

the other option (as discussed here) is to superglue BBs into the bolt heads...

Moximitre

thats a cool idea Yoshi, I may have to steal it.

baxtefer

solder is next to impossible to get to stick in a bolt head.
dolface had a whole thread about it about a year ago. with pictures.

sivat

I'm sure you can. You can probably even get a security bolt. You just need to find a good fastener shop.

humancongereel

complex. but good idea.