Originally Posted by
Garfield Cat
Even "beater-bikes" get stolen. Thieves are smarter than you think. Do you think you can beat a person at his own game?
Originally Posted by
DanBraden
Heh heh, So very JADED!!!
Come on, SOMETHING is better than NOTHING, right?!? It's not like we're talking about criminal masterminds afterall! These are bike thieves, mostly desperate morons in search of an easy target. The harder you make it, the less likely they'll succeed.
Making a biker ugly doesn’t mean a thing to someone who is stealing it for a joyride or just to steal something. Making the bike look ugly won’t fool cheap thievesm, and won’t fool the people looking to steal good bikes for good money.
Originally Posted by
blacknbluebikes
a lot of delivery bikes here in NYC are wrapped with old inner tubes and tied off with electrical tape. guarantees that crappy look you're seeking...
Originally Posted by
DanBraden
Oh, WHAT!!! That's a pretty neat idea, though I don't know about the smell... I've seen a lot of the "uses for old inner-tube" comments and they're always shims. I would LOVE to see an example of this, do you have any handy?
I had a couple frames I treated this way …. Not to keep them from being stolen but because I always locked them up to random objects---light poles, mail boxes, street signs, railings, trash cans---If I needed to lock my bike somewhere there would be foot traffic but with no bike rack …. And I got tires of getting nicks in my paint.
Originally Posted by
PaulRivers
The point is to make it more hassle than it's worth to steal it. You can never completely win. But a thief that is planning on reselling the bike that would have to spend a few hours getting it into usable shape, that's going to make it less worth the risk of stealing it.
Here’s the thing—if the bike is a cheap bike, people won’t steal it to sell … unless you park in the crack-hood, where people will steal something worth $20 to sell it for $5 to get a couple hits.
Otherwise, people steal your bike for a cheap ride …. A cheap thrill (“I stole it!!”) or to sell—but only to sell if it is worth a couple hundred. Even stupid thieves can do basic math. Risk versus reward.
A bike which can fetch a hundred or two hundred by just peeling off some tape …. Sure. I bike which is worth $50 will sell for $5 or $10 …. Not even worth messing with a serious lock. A bike which will sell for more …. Then you start getting into bolt-cutter/angle-grinder realms.
You don’t want a bike stolen? Get a fat chain and a big lock. If it is not a really big-name bike and not a really good model, the cheap thieves won’t bother with it because of the lock and the real thieves won’t risk getting arrested for a cheap bike.
People whose bikes get stolen? People who have cables instead of chains, cheap chains, easily pickable or breakable locks, people who leave their bikes out of sight of the general public for long periods of time, and people who lock up expensive bikes in places where people look for bikes to steal.
If your son locks up Any bike on a college campus, he is taking a fair risk. If the bike is the worst bike in the rack he has better odds … but no serious thief will be fooled. If it is Not a high-end bike, he is better off. If it si (and you make it seem it may be …. )
If your son is sure to lock the bike with a fat chain and big lock (doesn’t need to be That “big” and “fat” so long as it is a serious hardened chain and a stout lock that cannot be readily picked or smashed—I am speaking figuratively) then his chances are better.
It depends on where he leaves it on campus, and for how long. It depends how big the school is and how remote.
Personally I’d save my money on the bar tape and get a solid lock and chain And a good U-lock. No one is going to pick a double-locked bike first.