mechBgon

I find that with an LS mini, it's pretty much filled up by a post and two stays, though:



Ohhh, I get it now

ch9862

I agree, but it still makes me uneasy. I often find myself attaching my bike to some thickish sign post, forcing me to choose either frame or rear wheel. I always choose the frame. Perhaps it's a bit irrational, but I'd rather risk someone stealing my wheels than them having to have some form of transportation handy to pick the whole bike sans the rear wheel. And I don't even have brifters on my commuter .

Others may know more though.

fuzz2050

That's the true beauty of the Sheldon Technique, is although the lock only goes through the rear wheel, it effectively locks the frame in place. A thief can not remove the rear wheel, not the frame.

Schnayke

you all need to read his whole locking a bike section.

ch9862

I think one of us is missing something, and if it's me - I can't see what. Some shrubberies, perhaps ?

Others may know more though.

Schnayke

Go lock your rear wheel up though the rear triangle and then try to take just the wheel off. I can save you time and say outside of your rear seat stay having a gap in it, you will not be able to pull it out. Becuase the lock will have to pass though the rear triangle.

Bekologist

I can usually get the wheel and one stay by the bottom bracket around a post with the krypto not-quite-a-long shackle mini. bigger than the evo mini.

anaheim flash

and how do you know he's the king?.....

because he hasn't got **** all over 'im

Rollfast

It's okay if you want the bottle cage that much...

Rollfast

I had a U-lock on my old 1995 Schwinn Classic Cruiser and locked it to the stairwell once.

The thief just yanked it and broke the wood. I got it back at fair time when the guy was bragging to all the kids about the lowrider he was going to make and of course, the kids told the LBS owner about this neat bike and he knew only two were sold in this town and who owned them.

He's in the jailhouse now...

EKW in DC

So there is some justice in this world!

irclean

Help! Help! I'm being oppressed!

jrich179

So of the people here who have had bikes stolen, has anyone lost a bike while using the Sheldon method? Not even remotely suggesting it's failsafe, but I don't think I've heard a story yet regarding that.


edit: by the way, I don't have to lock my bike, for I am an enchanter. There are some who call me....Tim.

atcfoody

See the violence inherent in the system! See the violence inherent in the system!

EKW in DC

"She turned me into a newt!"

"A newt?"

"I got better."

neil

In addition to a decent lock setup, I try to organise short but frequent blackouts wherever my bike is locked up. It's worked so far.

Serously, though. Making your bike harder to steal than the one parked next to it is far more important than making your bike nearly impossible to steal. For more sophisticated thieves, value enters into it, but for most opportunists who don't know a lot about bikes, an easy-to-steal Supercycle is better than a hard to steal Marinoni, and that same Supercycle that looks fresh from the store will look more appealing than a well-used by still mechanically sound Miyata.

teamontherun

I just dip my security chain in a gunpowder/wax solution so if any power tools try and cut it, the whole thing flashes creating a ton of smoke and a blind scared thief.

closetbiker

I think we may be forgetting what Sheldon said on his web page

Some will object that felons might cut the rear rim and tire to remove the lock. Believe me, this just doesn't happen in the real world. First, this would be a lot of work to steal a frame without a useable rear wheel, the most expensive part of a bike, after the frame. Second, cutting the rear rim is much harder than you might think. Since the rim is under substantial compression due to the tension on the spokes, it would pinch a hacksaw blade tight as soon as it cut partway through. Then there are the wire beads of the tire, also difficult to cut.

He didn't say it couldn't be done, just that it would be difficult to do it and then the second most expensive part of the bike that is needed to sell the bike is gone.

I agree with his assessment that a thief going to all that trouble to get a bike without a rear wheel, just wouldn't be too likely to happen

jrich179

Also worth noting is that OP was testing the saw technique, with some expectations based on what people here hypothesized, as well as having advanced knowledge of the forces present in a bicycle wheel. That said, he was more or less expecting the saw to bind at some point, whereas a simple thief (because a "good" thief would likely opt for another bike) in a hurry will likely get the blade pinched abruptly in mid-stroke, possibly snapping the blade. Not to mention the rupturing tube being a pretty good scare. Obviously, making sweeping generalizations about a bike thief's aptitude, sight unseen, is a good way to get a bike stolen, but I wouldn't count on these test results will be replicated by the neighborhood rockhead.

mechBgon

Having done it myself, I don't agree about it being difficult. Actually, if I wanted to get through the rim faster, without resorting to power tools, I know another very quick, quiet method that I will not be disclosing here. Anyhow, the point of the thread (the, uh... Holy Grail? ) is to give people an accurate idea of how resistant the rim is to attack, so they can make well-informed decisions about using whichever method they want to. Mission accomplished.


I see some BF members stating that thieves will steal parts off of parked bikes in their area, so the inverse (stealing a bike minus one part) seems plausible, at least in high-risk areas. In my area, the risk is probably not very high, but I'm not very tolerant of risk so I prefer to lock both the wheel and the frame. To each his own

This is my primary lock, if anyone's curious just how low my risk tolerance is. 7.5 pounds of supersized New York Faghedaboudit, often accompanied by a smaller Kryptonite U-lock for the front wheel, frame, and second stationary object:


serious lock is serious.

closetbiker

OK then. I'll bet we can all agree that a determined or professional thief will find a way to steal anything.

I bet most thieves are not pros that carry a wide variety of tools but a few opportunists carrying bolt cutters or jacks, maybe both.

I wonder how many are carrying hack saws and are willing to sacrifice a rear wheel to obtain the rest of the bike?

mharter

Another factor I consider when locking up is chain grease getting on the lock, then spreading to other stuff when the lock is put in my bag. If the lock touches the chain, it's bad news.

Matt

closetbiker

So, I've been thinking. I now theft is a problem, but just how bad is it?

I guess if bikes aren't registered, we really have little idea how many bikes are out on the streets at a time. As well, since many thefts are not reported (because it's not really going to help recover the bike) we don't know how many thefts there are. Therefore, we can't really get a scope of the problem. Everybody has a story, but if your bike hasn't been stolen, no one hears that story.

Of course, I wouldn't expect a bike to last for long if it isn't locked up, but I see so many examples of bikes that are using the worst quality locks, sometimes bikes are locked to themselves (or some other ineffective manner of protection), that I wonder how these last on the street.

closetbiker

I just did a bit of checking and I've found reports that say the Vancouver area has about 17,000 cycle commuters and about 1600 bikes stolen each year. Further to that, almost 95% of bicycle riders do so recreationally, so those 17,000 commuter bikes on the street only represent a possible 5% of the bikes out there. So (I'm sure my math is wrong here) that means 1600 out of 340,000 bikes go missing. That's less than one half of a percent of the total, isn't it?

I'll bet most of the thefts are near the downtown core that has a large population of druggies with bolt cutters looking to cut a lock and sell a bike for $20 so they can buy a rock. I'll bet the next largest contingent of thefts belong to thefts from homes where other items were stolen. I'd imagine the next largest group of bikes stolen are those where the bike was locked up poorly, or not at all, and some kid comes along and wants to go for a ride.

Just how bad is this problem if you're careful, park in a relatively secure area, and lock it up right? (considering there are relatively few pros out there and there's not much you can do to stop them)

anaheim flash

So? We have ridden since the snows of winter covered this
land, through the kingdom of Mercea, through--

Where'd you get the coconut?

We found them.

Found them? In Mercea? The coconut's tropical!

What do you mean?

Well, this is a temperate zone.

The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin
or the plumber may seek warmer climes in winter yet these are not
strangers to our land.

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

Not at all, they could be carried.

What -- a swallow carrying a coconut?

It could grip it by the husk!

It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple
question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a 1 pound
coconut.

Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master
that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here.

Listen, in order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow
needs to beat its wings 43 times every second, right?

Please!

Am I right?

I'm not interested!

It could be carried by an African swallow!

Oh, yeah, an African swallow maybe, but not a European
swallow, that's my point.

Oh, yeah, I agree with that...

Will you ask your master if he wants to join my court
at Camelot?!

But then of course African swallows are not migratory.

Oh, yeah...



(i have contibuted NOTHING to this thread....my apologies everyone)