This past year there was a thread about Sheldon's lock strategy



that went on to mention how it wasn't perfect.

No surprise, there's nothing that a determined thief can't get if he really wants to. There are even videos on youtube about it.


I can empathize with a victim of bike theft, but in reality, there aren't that many bike stolen compared to how many are in use

The City of vancouver has on it's pages, some bike facts, and one of them shows that there are over 60,000 trips per day taken on bikes in Vancouver. That's almost 22 million trips per year.

Some local press published stories about how many bikes are stolen in a year in Vancouver. About 1700 from 22 million trips. Of those 1700 stolen, police recover about 1000 of them, but very few owners can collect them because very few people know what their the bike serial number is!

Since I've heard from people who have had their bikes stolen from their homes, I called the cops to see how many were stolen from homes. About half the bikes are stolen out of homes. So if your concern is with your bike being stolen while out and about, cut that 1700 in half.

To confirm what I've observed over the years, I went out to look at bikes on the street and how they were locked. Out of 100 bikes, only 2 bikes were locked up right. I saw 8 bikes unlocked, and unattended.

I read a story about bike theft in Vancouver where a woman was upset that her vintage bike had been stolen while she was shopping, but she didn't even lock it up when she left it!

I see many people refuse to pay for a lock that would be cheaper than an insurance deductible, cheaper than the replacement of a front wheel and would cost less than half the amount one would spend on a replacement rear wheel.

Most bikes were locked wrong with a cheap lock that could be cut in seconds.

Most bike thieves are junkies wanting a quick fix that could be paid for with a bike that works that is sold very quickly to a fence.

Bikes are stolen because it's a quick and easy thing to do. Thieves want to make money from your bike. They don't want to spend too much time unlocking it or "stomping it". If it's locked right, with a good lock, a thief will move over to the next bike that's easier and quicker to steal.

All that said, it's a bummer for a bike to be swiped. No one likes it and it happens. Despite precautions, it can still be stolen, so keep things in perspective. There are as many bikes owned in a city as motor vehicles, yet three times as many motor vehicles are stolen as bicycles. A bike costs far less than a car and is still just a machine. It can be replaced. A stolen bike isn't the end of the world. New bikes are cool too.

I find it hard to listen to complaints about theft when the owner didn't use a good lock, didn't bother to lock it at all, and doesn't even know the serial number of the bike.