Originally Posted by
Avion
They need to use nice road bikes with good bicycle locks, otherwise all you are going to get are punks.
In my experience, most bike theft is by people who don't really know crap about bikes just taking what they find in the street or in someone's yard. If they get scared away by sting operations, that's worth a lot.
As for the pro thieves targeting high end stuff...the pros are more careful and harder to catch. Personally, I wouldn't leave a $1,000+ bike unattended, anyway.