C&V locking question
 

I'm rebuilding a '72 Atala Record Professional and outfitting it with vintage Campagnolo hubs, derailleurs, cranks, and shifters -- along with a Brooks Record Professional saddle. I live in a relatively crime-free small town and currently lock my bike up using a u-lock through the rear triangle and a cable wrapped around the front wheel. I also have a lock for my saddle. Never any problems.

But what about parts like expensive Campy derailleurs and downtube shifters that could be removed? What do people do when they have to park their bikes with expensive components? I know this is a good problem to have... just looking for tips beyond the obvious one of parking it where you can see it at all times.

Thanks

I never locked my full Campy bikes outdoors. I'd take them in.
If the place didn't like that, I'd leave. But most places were amenable.

If I absolutely had to leave a bike outside, I'd take a different bike, I think.

YMMV.

I've taken bikes inside a grocery store when I forgot a lock. Nobody said boo.

I live in a similar town, I just use cable locks with combos so I don't have to take (and lose) a key. If I were leaving a bike for a significant amount of time in a less safe place, I would take a heavier lock, or an "undesirable" bike. My favorite around town bike is an old Ross Europa. With a front basket, it is very unattractive to a thief. $25 delivered to my door, so i just use a "don't walk off with my bike" lock ($8 at the hardware store).

My wife leaves her CX *** commuter at our hospital all day locked with a thick cable/combo. Even overnight sometimes.

In the end, if a thief really wants your bike, they are going to get it. Watch bike theft videos on YouTube sometime.

I'm sure someone will immediately counter this with security cam footage of a thief stripping a bike clean in broad daylight with his boxed vintage Campy tools, leaving only a bare frame and the wheels behind, but this very neatly fits in the "things I never even thought of worrying about" category of bicycle concerns. And I won't worry about it again tomorrow.

I leave my Paramount locked outside work on the occasions I decide to ride it in. Big office plaza away from the main streets, minimal traffic outside of those who work there. I don't walk out at the end of the day wondering if it'll still be there or not.

In short (here comes the blasphemy) I believe we vastly overrate the desirability of most of our bikes (and in this case, their components) to your typical thief. The drug-money-seeking opportunist is looking for an easy target. Grab and go. Put my Abus-Bordo-secured Paramount next to a cheap-cable-locked box-store 29er, insert Sketchy Joe the Snatch-and-Grabber, and my bike is still gonna be there when I come out. And I doubt he's gonna look at the four-hole Campy FD and say "oh hey, they only made that one year, eBay here I come!"

Some here will say I'm whistling past the graveyard (or whatever the appropriate cliche' might be). I figure lock it well and don't leave it overnight gets the job done in most places. NYC or similar? Apparently handcuffing it to your wrist is the only viable option.

...And the high-dollar vintage bike thief who bought his Porsche with the proceeds from red-hot DeRosas and Jack Taylors? Pretty sure that guy's a myth.

If a good bike ain't under my butt, it is stored properly inside my cottage. Leaving something valuable outside, unattended even though it is locked, is not a good idea - even in Canada. My Atala Pro is on display at a local bike shop, as is a couple of other nice old rides that I don't ride much.

Unfortunately, seat posts are often just a 5mm Allen key away from liberation.
Skewers ( when a front wheel is removed to make a tidy loop for the lock) disappear.
My son lost a taillight, still has the mount though...

25 years ago in Paris I lost a frame pump outside the Pompidou center.
Just was not thinking like a crook.

I'm sure it varies by area, but mostly thieves are interested in simple straightforward BIKE thefts, with potential for quick sales, rather than various components with dubious resale potential.

Yes, they will steal saddles if its easy enough, and same with wheels, but as a rule the bike thief's clientele isn't the kind that buys cranks and pedals.

So, use some common sense, a good lock or locks, and don't sweat the little stuff.

...I guess that to someone like me, Alameda is close enough to Oakland and the rest of the Bay area that I would never describe it like that.:) I never worried too much up here in Sacramento, until I worked for a few years at the Bike co-op here, and got to meet the endless parade of people looking for saddles, seatposts, wheels, and beater bikes to replace what had recently been stolen from them. But it was never about Campy components, IIRC.

Kinda like a doctor who specializes in emergency medicine has a skewed view of what's statistically going on out in the world in terms of the overall rate of carnage, because he gets to see the worst of it.:(

My suggestion, and it is only that, is that you not ride something as a commuter that you lock up outside anywhere for much longer than 20-30 minutes (using the method you've described). That's why god has given us all those 80's hardtail mountain bikes that you can buy for a hunnert bucks and overhaul, install a rack, and fly under the radar so long as you don't make them look too shiny. Old 3 speeds are also good for this, but they are getting harder to find in that price range where you won't care as much if it gets liberated.

For someone to steal a derailleur they would need to remove the chain, shift cable, and unscrew it. Thats a lot of work for a derailleur.

I simply dont have components that would be worth such an effort to steal so its never been an issue to consider.
When my bike is hanging next to a dozen others on a trail, its almost always the oldest technology. While i consider it to be better than some current tech, there will almost always be bikes which appear more appealing. Same deal for components.

Keep in mind that many C&V bikes are actually valued less than "modern bikes".

So your very expensive vintage components look almost FREE next to a nice Campy Super Record 11 spd Carbon fiber EPS groupset.

Be careful of when, where, and for how long you lock your bike. But otherwise, get a good lock, and enjoy riding your bike. Stress about things like those elusive Strava KOMs, not the people ogling your bike.

My next-door neighbor's boy had the Campy skewers stolen off his bike. It does happen. We may overvalue components or we may not, but if a thief values something then whether we do or not makes no difference.

I don't leave my bikes where theft is likely. If I must lock it somewhere for a while I don't take one of the nicer ones.

If I run errands, I take my Huffy, and use a cable lock when I go into a building, but I do live in a low crime town . My other bikes are ridden with the club (when we stop, lots of eyes are on bikes), when I ride alone, it's out and back. Bikes are hung on a wall rack in my "Man Cave". The Huffy is in the outdoor shed, for easy access.

My rides are mostly out and back so locking is not an issue - though when riding alone I do carry a key lock and a chain, cut to belt length, around my waist. If I really need to stash the bike and walk back to the car, at least the bike has a ghost of a chance. That 1.5 lb chain is also good weight for training. When I drive a bike to work (going to ride after work, on the way home) I lock the bike to the trunk rack while it waits for the fun to begin. I also am in a parking lot off the beaten path and I park just outside the main entrance and the CCTV. No worries there either. If I'm heading to more worrisome places the bike goes inside the car, across the back seat.