Originally Posted by alanbikehouston
In my city, the police don't investigate the theft of a bike. But, damaging a city-owned parking meter or a city-owned "No Parking" sign would be a felony.
Not being investigated doesn't make it not a felony. Do you really think the police investigate every broken sign.
Originally Posted by alanbikehouston
And, it would be a felony requiring loud power tools, as there are no manual tools that could damage the beefy steel poles used by the city of Houston.
Streed signs are easily defeated by taking the sign off the top and pulling the bike lock and all over it.
Originally Posted by alanbikehouston
You are worrying about what an imaginary crook might do if he had unlimited time, no fear of prison, and thousands of dollars worth of power tools. Houston is one of the most crime-ridden cities in the civilized world. In fact, the crime rate in Houston may disqualify Houston from being part of the "civilized world".
The bike messengers who work in inner city Houston are up against some of the most skilled crooks to be found anywhere. And, the downtown bike messengers talk with each other, especially about whose bike has been stolen and how. And, what the messengers agree on is this: no messenger in Houston has ever lost a bike when the owner was correctly using the "Sheldon Brown" method, combined with a beefy steel post set in concrete.
In real life, crooks go after the easy targets. Of every hundred bikes I see locked up in Houston, 95 could be stolen in under one minute using silent, cheap, portable tools. So, no "real world" crook is gonna invest in expensive power tools to go after the other 5 bikes. Why bother? Last summer, I saw two $3,000 Cannondale bikes locked behind a museum. They shared one $5 cable lock. Every city is full of these sorts of "free" bikes.
You think it would be easy to defeat the "Sheldon Brown" method by cutting the tire and rim. You are right. It would be easy on a workbench, in a bike shop. But, lock a bike to a parking meter on a public street. Then, go after that tire and rim. And, remember, a REAL crook is gonna be hacking away on the tire and rim while also looking over his shoulder for the bike's owner and the police. Texas law says the owner of property has the right to KILL a thief if the owner is trying to stop the theft of his property. Good reason for a crook to be looking over his shoulder.
My guess: cutting the rim while on your knees on a public sidewalk will take you ten or fifteen noisy, sweating minutes. And, you will have ruined the rear wheel of the bike. You will be walking away with your "loot", not riding away. And, as you walk slowly down the street, you will look exactly like a guy who just stole a bike.
Most crooks in Houston pawn the bike within thirty minutes of the theft to avoid being caught with stolen property. No pawn shop is gonna take a bike without a rear wheel. One more reason why no one in the Houston cycling community has ever seen a bike stolen where the crook cut the rear tire and rear wheel.
One of the reasons that many people lock their bikes with ONLY a $10 cable lock, is that some moron told them that "any crook can steal any bike, no matter how expensive a lock is on it". That advice confuses theory with reality. And, the reality is, the "Sheldon Brown" method combined with a "gold" rated lock around the rear wheel and a "silver" rated lock around the front wheel guarantees that crooks will just walk on by, looking for the bikes using only cable locks or u-locks from Master lock and other fake lock makers.
If crooks don't have power tools why waste money on a $90 lock? Won't a 25 dollar one work just as well??
15 minutes of loud sweaty work to clip a rim with bolt cutters? On your knees? hacking away? You didn't even bother to read did you? Noone is talking about using a hacksaw.
You once saw two bikes locked up poorly last summer? Houston must be a veritable garden of eden for bike thieves.
You're pretty good at laying waste to your own arguments as well as your strawmen. How about actually adressing the issues raised.
The wheel could be cut in a matter of seconds.
This could be done with bolt cutters probably the single most common tool of bike theft.
If the thief really needed a rear wheel an unlocked one from a well secured bike could easily be had.
Thieves steal bikes without wheels all the time. Both rear and front(front is probably more common in a large part because more bikes are locked that way.)
If you are locking to something more easily defeated then a basic u lock why spend money on a super fancy one?