Stolen bikes on hitches, or stolen hitches
There was a lot of reports of
stolen Kuat bike racks (no bikes on it, just the hitch itself!) My Kuat Sherpa has a locking pin through the hitch socket, but I'm guessing it could be popped off with a long crowbar, or cut with a bolt cutter. Since my rack is lightweight, 35 pounds, I don't leave it on the car unless I'm transporting a bike or during the ride itself. Putting the rack on takes less than a minute -- otherwise, it's hanging from two hooks on the garage wall.
Long chains for locking to the rack.
The cable locks for racks are a "two minute dash into the store", or a "low traffic, I'll be okay, I hope" lock. Cables can be snipped a few strands at a time with quality electrician diag cutters, and nobody would notice.
I did worry about leaving two expensive bikes on the car while stopping for lunch, etc, so I purchased a
9 foot ABUS 10KS chain with a sturdy cloth sleeve installed. (A rope around two bikes and through the car towing loop was a bit under 9 feet. This is enough to easily lock up, but harder for a bolt cutter to get leverage against the ground.)
ABUS chains by the foot!
I see it's still around $110 for 9 feet. I think I paid about $90 in 2019.
This chain weighs about 16-17 pounds! I shopped at Harbor Freight and got a $7 small canvas tool bag for it. Perfect!