mechBgon

Ok, not a herring, actually... a hand-held hacksaw. This was a burly double-walled mountain bike rim with a steel-bead tire. It took maybe 45 seconds to cut by hand on my first try. A cordless recip saw would've probably done it in 10 seconds.



Ni!

There is a hypothesis that the compressive force of spoke tension on the rim would bind the hacksaw blade. At the very last shred of rim, yes, it began to bind, which is why I pulled out the blade and gave the wheel a gentle kick that broke the rim. I could've broken that last scrap of rim by flexing it with my hands too.

No disrespect meant to the memory of Sheldon, but this is a potential weakness that I'm personally not comfortable with. I'm going to lock my rear wheel and frame. If you're OK with this possible vulnerability, then that's fine too

lambo_vt

I can cut through a bicycle frame in under a minute. So much for your locking theory.

mikewille

Wrecking a wheel to steal a bike frame is one thing, but wrecking the frame you're trying to steal?

JeffS

You should be embarrassed that you thought that, much less typed it.

lambo_vt

Of course I was deadly serious.

lambo_vt

Pretty much my point. To the average thief looking to steal a bike, wrecking either pretty much defeats the whole point. And that's what the average thief is looking for: a bike he can pawn or turn around on craigslist. Not a frame.

If someone's more sophisticated and is stealing for the components, your shifters, bars, brakes, etc are gone anyway. Whether or not a wheel can be hacksawed through is immaterial: if someone wants your bike, it's gone. At the very least they can totally wreck it.

mechBgon

That's a valid point. I'm mainly shedding light on the mistaken idea that a built wheel has enough tension to stop a saw, either hand-held or powered. But you're right, someone who wants to take whatever they can get could easily walk off with my bike's stem, bars & controls if they had 30 seconds, a cable cutter, and one or two sizes of hex keys. I knew a guy who had that happen to his bike back in the '90s.

anaheim flash

.....tis dark days indeed when passing strangers can say NI to an old woman....

Jeff Wills

Yes, but what... is your favorite color?

irclean

Blue. No - yellooooowwwww!!!

HappyStuffing

I'm sticking to locking wheel with frame using my U-Lock.

Its just as easy to lock both, so the question which begs is - why not?

ludwig

Here's one in action

mechBgon

LMAO

The usual answers are:

1) someone might try to use the bike's frame as leverage to "pop" a U-lock, damaging the frame in the process. My best solution to that would be to double-lock (bike anchored in two places, like in this pic).

2) locking just the wheel lets people use a more compact lock that's easier to stow and has less room for jacks and other attack tools. To lock the frame and the rear wheel, plus a decent-sized object like a parking meter, I'd pick a "long-shackle mini," a U-lock with a narrow but long shackle, and yeah, it's heavier than a pure mini and takes up more space.



^ mini versus long-shackle mini, not to relative scale but you get the idea

So those are the two sides of the coin, more or less.

unterhausen

lambo_VT and I are both guilty of thought crimes then. Both Hokies too I guess.

KLW2

I'm kind of attached to my bike so I U lock, chain and cable when I'm around town. Thought is, that it makes it too much trouble and they move on...commuting though, I have a bike locker at work.

lambo_vt

Besides, some of us can't easily lock the wheel and the frame. No big deal though.

And... Go Hokies!

anaheim flash

and there was much rejoicing

CliftonGK1

Not to keep harping on an obvious point which most of us know already, but:
If someone wants to steal your bike, it's going to happen. Unless you've posted armed guards at the perimeter of minefield in the middle of which you park your bicycle. With a laser grid alarm and targetted anti-aircraft weaponry to ward off helicopter based theft attempts. And even then, can you really trust the guards?

The reason the Sheldon Technique is particularly effective is because you have to break the bike, not the lock. Prybar, scissor jack, angle grinder, etc. attacks on the lock leave the bike in a condition where the thief can ride it away from the scene. Since most bike thefts aren't being performed by an organized ring driving around with a cargo truck ready to pick up the next haul, a thief needs to make an escape. Riding away is faster and draws a lot less attention than walking down the street shouldering a bike with a sawed in half back wheel.

EKW in DC

Yes, indeed, they did eat Sir Robin's minstrels.

Now about that coconut...

poopisnotfood

Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who.

teamontherun

Here is what I do...


so far, its worked perfectly. If someone wants it though, its gone.

mechBgon

Out of curiosity, why can't the thief break the lock when Sheldon's technique is used? Seems it would be as feasible as usual, just whip out an angle grinder and chop it. Unless Sheldon's ghost haunts them or something

Dude, your scissors is totally not protected there.

teamontherun

I fear everyday that I will come home and they wont be there.

mechBgon

If you have any roommates, it's a valid fear, too Or co-workers!

CliftonGK1

Part of the Sheldon Technique involves (like any good locking strategy) using the smallest lock possible. It's more difficult to break the lock with a pry/jack if there's no room inside the shackle to fit a tool because the space is already jammed full of wheel and lamppost.
Power grinders are another story entirely. Not much is going to defeat a power grinder.


That's another layer of security. If a thief is trying to hack through that chain, he might slip and fall, stabbing himself on the scissors.