texasphil

I want this to be an educational learning thread.
Location: street pole, bike rack, concealed or in the open?
Lock: brand, type, cost, locked yes - no?
bike: costly, beater, mid, newer, older, brand?
anything you've learned from the experience?

Growing up every bike I that I remember was stolen so this might help others. That was before these new uber-locks by kryptonite and onguard. Some things that i've learned, Don't use hardware store chains and padlocks or any lock that can be cut with bolt cutters. What's your story?

truman

They took mine - my 1st MTB and my tandem -from under the deck in my back yard. They were concealed but not locked. The lessons learned were that security through obsurity is not much better than no security at all, and that a big dog is not a deterrent, if he's not trained or naturally territorial.

DataJunkie

I had an old schwinn bike stolen when I was 16.

I had left it leaning outside my father's trailer. Moral of the story: always lock up especially in a trailer park.

jeff-o

They walked into my open garage and rode away with it. I got it back, though!

old and new

Depends on all the circumstances; where the bike's stolen, the type of location, school lot, seen or unseen parking place... In NYC for example, it doesn't matter. It WILL get stolen if the thief chooses a particular bike.
Bolt cutters are one thing. Some locks can resist them. Many good locks, bike specific ones are resistant to hammering or picking. A compressed propellant : A/C refrigerent for example, other compressed substances can be un-leashed in such a way as to render the lock beyond freezing , as brittle and vulnerable as glass. Enter New York City,a stand-out, not the only, certainly the best example, the stats. are astounding.

texasphil

so far 4 bikes with 0 locked, if the theif was located were they known to you (neighbors kids friends or something)

I'm wanting to hear personal experiences

cc_rider

About 12 years ago. The bike was unlocked but sitting in a locked shed in my backyard. Someone broke the shed lock and took only the bike.
I had a bike lock, but I forget the type. Bike was an inexpensive Trek 720 hybrid.
Never saw that bike again. I used the incident as an opportunity to upgrade to the 750, which I still ride.
Never had another incident with the shed, which we replaced a couple of years ago. Now the bike is usually kept in the back of my locked car.

habernac

I've never had one stolen, but was very close once. I ran into the convenience store and left my Redline BMX bike outside, unlocked. I saw a guy grab it and put it in the back of a pickup truck. I sprinted out and pulled my bike out of the back as he was peeling away from the curb. To this day, I have no idea why I didn't take his license plate down. It was a bully from Jr High. The convenience store clerk chased me as well as I still had a Coke in my hand I hadn't paid for. He was very understanding in why I didn't stop to pay.

To this day, I never leave my bike unattended if it isn't locked. I have owned more than 20 bikes, and have never had one stolen.

sweetnsourbkr

Location: walking on the street
Lock: n/a
bike: $100 toys-r-us
anything you've learned from the experience?

Yes, never oppose a 300 lb mexican threatening to stab your ass. I'm glad I didnt.

mconlonx

Location: bike rack at subway stop (Malden T stop, Orange line, Boston MA)--public place, in full view.
Lock: Trek 1/2" cable lock, I think it was something like $19.95.
bike: Van Dessel SuperFly bought online for $500 or so.
anything you've learned from the experience? Get a decent lock, police don't care about stolen bikes, save receipts for when you talk to your homeowner or renters insurance provider. Listen to what locals say--a homeless guy watching me lock this bike up with this lock about 3 mo previously in a completely different location warned me that the cable lock was no good because he'd seen people jacking bikes locked with cables with a ratcheting pruner of some kind.

Buglady

This thread is making me want to keep my bikes in the living room forever.

cccorlew

From my garage in a nice suburban neighborhood. Kids left the door open. My highly customized but generally cheap Mtn bike, taken. My way cool Cannondale road biek left behind.
We now lock teh bikes in the garage with a cheap cable. Real thieves would get them, but casual ride-off thieves of opportunity will be somewhat thwarted... we hope.

The Figment

First one...1982 DiamondBack Mtb Took bike into 7-11 with me (In Berkeley Ca.) as I came out I had the bike in one hand while I was putting something in my pocket.Next thing I know my world goes sideways,Crackhead smashes me in the face,knocks me off my feet,snatches bike outta my hand and rides off,leaving me with a very black eye and broken glasses. This was in broad daylight!

Second one...1991 Miyata Ridgerunner,all tricked out...Someone pryed the door off my shed and took the bike while I was at work,left all the Craftsman tools (A very big toolbox) but took the bike. Its six years later and I'm still keeping my eye open for it!!

CBBaron

A couple years ago I lost 4 bikes out of my garage in two different instances.
The garage was locked but they broke a window then opened the garage from the inside. The bikes were not locked inside the garage.
I replaced the windows with glass block which reduced visibility into the garage and made it much more difficult to break in. I also now lock any bikes not being used every day. I probably should lock all my bikes.

Craig

why2not

I had a nice mtn bike years ago in college. Left it cable locked on campus to a bike rack & got a little to drunk & caught a ride home overnight. Next morning there was only a cut cable laying there. I later heard that it was spotted in a fraternity house.

I now ride cheaper bikes & they look like crap. A little primer here, a decal there. I subcribe to the theory that if someone really wants your bike, they'll get it, so make sure that they don't want it.

old and new

A bit drastic but that's what I do. Not on account of the theft aspect, more so others. In a high crime hood I did and if I was out and about on it, I stayed on it. It depends where one lives.

HardyWeinberg

My 10 spd Huffy Santa Fe got stolen out of my folks' back yard. The gate was even closed!!!

ECDkeys

I had given my bike, some GT mtb, to my sister when she went to college. It was on a trunk rack behind the car when she and my parents parked the car at the dorms to move in. They made one trip in with stuff and came out to find the bike gone. Moral of the story: move-in day is a thief's wet dream; leave nothing unattended.

CliftonGK1

Early 90s Trek 2100 with Aerospokes and aero bars, outfitted for tri-racing.

Stolen from my basement in Cincinnati. Bike was not locked, but the house was locked. Bike was not visible through the basement windows. Thieves were part of a greater Cinci metro area fencing ring which really knew what they were after. My cheap-o Skil power tools: untouched. My Dremmel cordless with about a zillion bits: gone. My beater MTB which was hanging right next to the Trek: untouched. The trainer wheelset for the Trek: untouched.

Thieves knocked out a basement bathroom window to get in, and left through the basement back door.

tlc

Bicycle security products are a joke. With the right tools you can defeat them all in seconds. Most D-locks can be opened with a biro FFS.

Even low-end mororcycle stuff is crap. I cunningly threw my keys down a drain once, with my bike secured to a steel railing with an Oxford Revolver. It took me 5 minutes to defeat the key mechanism with a swiss army knife. This is in the middle of town, hundreds of passers-by, not one of them gave me a second glance, much less stopped to interfere with what looked obviously like a crime in progress.

If you want a padlock/chain that's actually going to have a theif sweating over, you're talking well upwards of £100 and about 10KG of metal - not exactly practical to carry around on a pushbike.

At home my bike is bolted to the brickwork outside the back door - no-one's getting it without a portable grinder and about ten minutes of sparks flying. The dog sleeps about a meter away inside the door and alerts me whenever anyone even thinks about opening the garden gate, 30m away.

At work I bring it into the office.

Anywhere else I use a flimsy chain and hope for the best. I'm never away from it for more than a few minutes.

My advice - paint it Sh*t-brown and strap a wicker basket to the front...

Sawtooth

They somehow climbed up to a 2nd story balcony (admittedly not that hard) and tossed my beloved cannondale F1000 to its fate and the waiting meth head accomplace below. If I ever see that bike, someone is going to pay!!!!!!!!!!!!

caloso

'85 Schwinn World Sport. One night I drunkenly left it unlocked behind some bar in which I was getting drunker still.

Lesson learned: don't be a drunk.

evblazer

Bridgeport Connecticut Train Station bike rack. Right in front of the metro north policy station
Chain lock don't remember the brand but it was $@#$@ heavy and had thick square metal links. Lock was cut somehow. Didn't really look that closely it was 11pm and I just wanted to get home. Probably was that dang taxi drive that changed me $30 to drive me home.
Used schwinn I got second(tenth?) hand.
I learned never to park my bike at that train station again. I went to fairfield train station about 6+ miles away and parked there. In fact I found they had some sweet bike lockers that costs $25 a _year_ and got one even though I didn't live there, I could use one as long as I had a train pass from there. Now that is bike security! I mean it still could have gotten stolen if I had a bike worth something but there was a bike rack right nearby with lotsa expensive bikes with 1/4" cable locks for them to take.
At home the bikes are inside the house. To protect from our horrible weather down here and from thieves. Most people think our house is a water pumping station because is so dwarfed by all the neighbors so that offers some protection.

Flimflam

2006: X-mart (Canadian Tire) bike locked up with an OnGuard ulock, Sunday afternoon in my backyard (between 2pm and 6pm). I got it back, they couldn't defeat the lock I guess and dragged it across the street to leave it at a pizza place. They ransacked my wedge bag full of tools, but left the bag and all vulcanized glue (the bag was just lying on the floor when I got there) and took my saddle, but not the seatpost. Peculiar behaviour IMO, I was just glad as hell to have not lost my bike.

The dragging and the ulock in the rear wheel/frame bent a spoke, but other than that, she was still OK.

Lessons learned: Never assume broad daylight reduces risk, and always lock to something else or put it in a more concealed location (I could've brought it up on to the deck out of plain sight).

Edit: I store all my bikes indoors when at home, or bring my bike into the office when at work. I rarely have to leave my bike locked up in public for long, luckily.

AFPJ

I was a 12 year old in San Antone, Texas. I stopped on my new GT Pro Performer in an Albertson's parking lot. A kid my age comes up and asks if he can ride it; of course, I said, "sure". He promptly hauled azz over to his father's truck, threw it in, and they slowly drove off. I learned something that day...