What much is a beater bike?

I don't know what bike theft is like in other cities, but the threat is overstated in my city. If you ubolt the bike with a quality lock and chain the wheels...without leaving it out for long periods...you are unlikely to be a theft victim. A lot of thefts happen here in garages, yards and common areas of buildings - there just isn't an army of my professional bike thieves armed with angle grinders. Most theft is opportunism and strikes bikes that are poorly secured. The professional thieves hunt bigger game - scooters, motor cycles and quads.

I'd rather have insurance and enjoy riding my bike than ride a POS out of fear.

I've lived and commuted in philadelphia for near 20 years now - the only thefts were pumps and saddle bag related.

I'd actually expect the opposite - at least for someone who does a reasonable job of locking up their bike. Sure there will tend to be more total bike thefts if there are lots of bikes, but that doesn't mean the chance of *your bike* being one of the stolen will go up. If there are only a few bikes being ridden then mine will tend to stand out and even if I do a good job of locking it a thief may decide to go after it. OTOH, in cities like Amsterdam with huge numbers of bikes the thieves are likely to pick the ones that are easiest to take due to either poor locks or choice of parking spots. So a well secured bike is unlikely to get stolen if there are plenty of more tempting targets.

I've registered my bike here -- http://bikeregistry.com/ -- as well as with the local police.

Bikeregistry.com is free to register (not to be confused with the expensive bikeregister.com) and sells security label kits for $1 plus postage. The labels simply give the bikeregister website and are very hard to remove -- they break up and take a long time to get off. The idea is to make your bike less attractive for a quick sale.

I also filled seat and stem boltheads with lead solder -- just tapped it in with a hammer and punch -- and use velo orange security skewers plus a pinhead headset bolt.

I've modified a Magnum u-lock by encasing it with aluminum pipe. The weight increase is modest but it makes the lock grinder-resistant as the soft aluminum loads up the grinding wheel and destroys it. The added thickness makes it hard to grip or cut with bolt-cutters. I'm also looking to coat it with kevlar fabric to make it hard to hacksaw. It may seem excessive but most u-locks apparently can be cut in seconds with a battery powered grinder so they really offer very little security.

The Google cited Kryptonite Blog that named Philadelphia as the worst city for bike theft is seven years old. The methodology used appears to be a mishmash of somebody at Kryptonite's cherry picked anecdotes and a vague reference to "proprietary" data:

Extract from the blog:
"...that’s what the data tells us. This list is compiled by our proprietary data….input from our regional managers, hundreds of shop visits, input from colleges and universities we talk with, our customer service interactions (both over the phone/email and at events) and data from police in various cities."

IOW: a big bag of baloney.

I've seen Philly ranked as the worst city for theft before...my only real comparison points are Tampa, Pittsburgh and Sarasota. I didn't fear theft any more or less in those cities. If you lock your bike well in Tampa, you'd have your bike waiting for you. Same as Philadelphia. I've heard stories of angle grinder targeting bike thieves in Chicago and LA...if that's true (and I havemy doubts), Philly is certainly not the worst city for theft. When you read the facebook philly theft page, it's almost always a bike stolen from a yard/common area...or one left for long periods of time.

I've told this story before...my Merckx with campy c-record came to me after being locked up with a rather crappy u-bolt in North Philadelphia (temple U) for 3 months. A Merckx lasted 3 months with a ubolt below the level I'd use in a higher crime area of the city.

My advice: Use two locks. Buy a GOOD chain, one that can't be cut in 3 seconds, and buy a U-lock. I usually use one to lock my bike to whatever (signpost/rack/etc) and the other to lock my pannier and back wheel to my rack/bike.

Good chains can't be cut in 3 seconds. Bad chains CAN be cut in 3 seconds. Bad U-locks can be cut in 3 seconds with the same tool. Honestly, the hardest thing I've ever had to cut off of a bike was a cheapy cable lock. We were trying to cut it with bolt cutters, it didn't work. You need cable cutters for those things.

I commute with a Huffy and never lock it up..........

http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/...psfwv6w5dc.jpg

I moved Out of the big cities ..

Wow, you're hardcore! I've never heard these of these tricks before. Have you come up with them yourself or are they well known techniques where you live?

I don't quite understand the aluminium pipe one though. You cover the shackle in the pipe?

That video made it look like pretty much any lock is useless against some big enough bolt cutters.

Is there such a thing as a bike lock alarm? Where if the lock is broken, a circuit is broken and thus a car alarm type sound goes off?

I don't leave my bike in an area where I really have to worry about bike theft. But if I did, I'd probably either ride a non-tempting beater and/or remove the front wheel and seat to make it less tempting.

Otherwise I think the next best defense would be a tracking device so you can at least hope to recover the bike.

We use locks not to stop people from trying to steal our bike, but to make the bike take more time and effort to steal. I'm new to cycling but even I have already seen my share of improperly locked bikes that a thief would quickly choose over mine. It would take a thief maybe 30 sec. to cut my cable, another 2 min. to cut the U-lock, and maybe another 2 min. to disable the frame lock that prevents the rear wheel from rolling - so about 5-6 min. to steal my bike vs. a couple of other bikes nearby that he could steal in less than 5 sec. because the owner locked only the front wheel and it's a quick-release.

Not exactly but Cycliq is taking preorders for their new Fly12 camera that doubles as a headlight and alarm.

Maybe check out a bike registry - there's a national one and there are bunch of other registries at the local level:
https://www.nationalbikeregistry.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bike_registry

Yeah, there are are least two different bike alarm type locks on Kickstarter right now, Lock8 and Bitlock are the ones I looked at.

The other thing you can easily do besides remove the front wheel is remove the seat and pedals and take them with you.

Quick release pedals like these make that simple:

Amazon.com : MKS Promenade Quick Release Road Pedals : Bike Pedals : Sports & Outdoors

Well, yesterday, I just decided I didn't want to carry a lock that weighed half as much as my bike. So I left it at home. I had a couple of things planned not requiring a lock, then heading to the building supply store.

The bouncer (greeter) at the door pointed me to the rack outside. I explained that I didn't have a lock. So, he said I could leave my bike in customer service. I just didn't want to leave my new $1500 bike up there with no guaranteed continuity of people there. So, I just left.

I don't know if they changed policies. Never had a policy, or what. But my bike was clean and dry, and they have wide aisles where I would not have been any more intrusive than people pushing around monster sized carts with awkward loads sticking out.

Well, strike another locally owned local business off the "bike friendly" list.

Conversely, the building supply store"greeter" may be glad to have rid the store of a prima donna who just didn't feel like leaving his transportation outside like everyone else.

For me it really depends on how long I'll be away from my bike. If it's a very quick in and out errand, I'm completely fine with locking up. If a stop requires more than a few minutes the bike goes in with me. I live in a college town just outside out of Chattanooga and bike theft lately has gotten worse. I've already had one stolen from a rack so I'm not taking any chances with my nice bike. Can't bring the bike in? Then I guess you don't want my business. I will note that most businesses in this area are aware of the growing theft problem so I've never had an issue.

Another alternative would be to get a heavier bike/lighter lock combo to obtain a suitable weight ratio that meets your persnickety requirements.:)

I've cut through cables with cable cutters. The first time I did it, I was astonished at how easy it was. It was like using scissors through paper. Never rely on those cables in high theft areas, because thieves do carry cable cutters to prey on people who don't know better. The weird thing is that they don't carry wrenches.

Aaron, I think that while that Merckx lasted three months without being stolen, the owner got lucky. The longer you leave a bike out, the more opportunity you make for thieves, and this story doesn't prove that leaving a bike out is a safe practice, unless you're locking an English 3-speed.

That would get stolen around here. Each market is different, with different bikes being more or less desirable.

Although I work at a large university, my college is at a satellite location a mile or so from the main campus and theft of locked bicycles is virtually unknown. The exception is abandoned bikes. They'll sit for month or so and then will slowly be stripped of all removable parts. The frame will then remain for six months or so, after which I assume maintenance removes it. They're always low end bikes, so I'm never tempted to arrange a rescue.

Tom - properly locked bikes don't get stolen around here...maybe NYC is different.

I guess you're right. I hear Boston is still as bad as NYC.

I don't know why I even bother to lock it at all when I'm in Dallas. So different from the big coastal cities.

I usually use a $10 cable lock to secure my $1000+ vintage bicycle when I am downtown. Last night I somehow left my keys in the lock. I was gone for about three hours and my bicycle and keys were still there. Wondering where I live? I live in Osaka, Japan, where high end bicycle thefts are rare. Couldn't imagine this turning out the way it did, if I was in a big city in America.

Fortunate small town
 

Luckily in my town there were only nine bike thefts last year, all involving kids taking other kids' unlocked bikes of the lab and were later recovered.
I always secure the frame and rear wheel with the U-lock (don't like Sheldon method for some reason) and I use a separate keyed cable lock for the wheel. I have a permanent cable securing the seat. All accessories get put into my trunk bag.
Overly cautious for small town, but it beats being a victim.