colo. 3spd man

I work in an LBS in Denver and get ( whats the best way to disguise my bike question. ) We have bike savvy thieves in this town and many are willing to do anything to make nice rides less attractive Thanks for any advice that I can pass on.)

kk4df

Duct tape? Put some saran wrap underneath to keep the tape from sticking when you decide to peel it off.

urbanknight

I debadged my Litespeed and rode on plain 32h 3x wheels with silver rims. Made it look rather cheap, which was what I was going for.

Sixty Fiver

Remove all the QR's and get a better lock.

Stripping off the big assed decals so many bikes have is also a good idea as they just scream "STEAL ME!"

jgedwa

dork disk, full reflectors, and a set of Huffy decals.

jim

Little Darwin

Sell them bikes made from the same factories in Taiwan without the big name neon decals. Any thief so stupid that duct tape or other quick fixes will make them look elsewhere won't look at any bike without the names blaring from the top tube and down tube.

Also, let them know that 32 spoke wheels are fine for all but high end racers... and that anything over Tiagra level components is low bang per buck spent... Replace the carbon forks with some nice chromoly forks.

Then have a dump truck of gravel piled in your parking lot... Have your customers throw several hands full of gravel at their bikes to keep them from looking too new. Be sure to rotate the bike for nice even distribution of paint chips. Kick stands, spoke protectors and reflectors will complete the look.

Ideally, the customers absolutely need high bling bikes... So, tell them to keep them for when they won't be leaving their bike somewhere, and also sell them the cheap bike that is only marginally worse for hundreds of dollars less for their commuting... even more profit in this method.

Jynx

urbanknight

That reminds me, paint the bike in primer.

bkaapcke

Ride a recumbent. They're too easy to spot, too tough to sell. bk

HopliteGrad

Hello, I started a thread on this very subject just the other week. This blog and Make Magazine also have useful tips.

In summary you can

• wrap old innertubes
• go overboard on reflective tape
• spraypaint messily with garish colors like pink or puke green
• remove the emblems and stickers of your nice brand
• use Huffy stickers
• use an antiquing kit to add real or fake rust on anything shiny
• slash up your saddle or use an old one
• add rusty/bent cosmetic hardware, like racks
• wrap it in duct or electrical tape
• remove all the quickreleases and replace with plain vanilla bolts
• park it next to a less-securely locked nice bike

I recently did all of this and it is a super fun project. My bike looks *terrible* now.

HillRider

1. Rattle can spray paint job in whatever color is on sale at Wal-Mart. The more garish the better.

2. Commute on a real POS bike, not a good one in disguise. Save your good bike(s) for rides where they won't be parked out of sight.

coldfeet

Man, if I had to start doing this, I'd take a cheap ass lock, and use it to secure the bike in a vulnerable spot. Then I would take the good, heavy, U-Lock, and hide behind something nearby.
https://yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2008-02-08

Sledbikes

being a former thief myself all of the above work well another deterent is splatter paintjobs like 80s style.

huffy stickers arent much of a deterent you have to bring it down to the Wallmart level like Murray,supercat, and bratz

the best is spray paint the whole bike one color tires and all avoid the ovious like the brakes

bellweatherman

Dear BikeForums users,
Bike thieves aren't as stupid as you guys think. You're just going to go through all that trouble of making your bike look like **** for nothing. The best deterrent is a lock. Or just drive yo ass.

j0e_bik3

go down to target/wal/k marts and look at the BSO's (bicycle shaped objects), and paint and sticker YOURS to look like one of those.

I saw a really nice road bike all dressed up as a huffy, and it took a CLOSE look to see that it was actually a nice bike ,...either that or it really WAS a fully nervex lugged huffy with a complete campagnolo group and sew-ups!

StephenH

"Bike thieves aren't as stupid as you guys think."

They were stupid enough to steal my $100 mountain bike with the bad brakes.

Sledbikes

crackheads steal anything they stole my friends rainbow startlet bike and that was one gay ass bike with the unicorn bannana seat and everything

relyt

Getting rid of the decals is good, because if they try to flip it on Craigslist it will be harder to sell without a big brand name for advertising. But if they are looking to something to flip for a quick bag of crack, they will take it anyway. Conspicuous brand names on the components are also good to remove. Note that this also lowers the resale value when (if) you want to sell the bike yourself.

Otherwise, just get the best lock you can and hope. They will steal anything, even real POS walmart bikes with flat tires. Happens around here all the time. A good u-lock and a cable lock for the other wheel is the best you can do.

HopliteGrad

What about engraving the bike? I put a "if found please contact XXXXX@XXXXXX.com" message on there, using my spam trap email address. Bright, ugly, and sends a clear message. I think.

Az B

I thought this was a great idea, so I went right out into the garage with my engraving tool and engraved the frame everywhere. Top tube, bottom bracket... the whole thing.

Do you know how to repair carbon fiber?

Az

Little Darwin

It is so stupid to do all of the crap... Go to a police auction where they sell off stolen bikes that they couldn't locate owners for, and what do you see? *Mart bikes... piles and piles of *Mart bikes.

Read through CL and see what stolen bikes people are trying to recover... 30 year old Schwinn Varsities... Bikes that people barely bothered to lock when they were new. Magna's and other similar high zoot names abound... You rarely see someone hunting for a stolen Orbea or even a Trek 1000...

If you simply must ride a $3,000+ bike you need to do something, since it is a magnet for thieves... but, go ahead and set $500 aside to buy a bike that you don't worry so much about that you give yourself a coronary every time you have to let it out of your sight. You'll also enjoy your $3,000 bike a lot more on the weekend and on your evening rides if you ride something else to compare it to.

Pig_Chaser

Why not try another tact. Instead of disguising, intimitade any would be thieves. Put a big old "Protected by Smith and Wesson" bumper sticker and maybe a "Never mind the Dog, Beware of owner"

Try hanging some of those bull testicles you see on trucks under the seat or rear rack, that would be cool.

tellyho

Don't ride a multi-thousand-dollar bike anywhere it could be stolen.

j0e_bik3

thanks, that was good

Joshua A.C. New

Jynx beat me to it! The full article is here.