How do you protect your fork from theft?
 

I rode by a bus stop last night, and noticed half a bike out of the corner of my eye, at a bus stop next to my lane. So I stopped to have a quick look, and to learn from someone else's mistake.

The frame was locked to a sign post, with a pretty flimsy cable lock. The fork was gone, along with the front wheel, saddle, and seat post. Oddly, the back wheel, bars, shifters, stem and brakes were still on the bike, along with the drive train. This was a Trek mountain/hybrid bike, by the way, and probably had a decent suspension on the fork.

Somebody could have at least kept the front wheel by locking it up with the frame, or with locking skewers. I don't think there's much you can do about the seatpost (this one wasn't a quick release) or the fork, though. At least that I know of.

I would never park my bike where this one got vandalized, and I guess that's the first line of defense. Is there anything else you can do?

Well, my fork has a rack bolted to it and my cable lock that locks my front wheel to the frame (and sometimes a stationary object) goes through the rack while the rear wheel/frame are u-locked. Sure, it's sensitive to cable cutters (or someone with allen wrenches to take the rack off), but it's better than most of the bikes I see locked places with a single lock.

Glue a ball bearing into the stem's hex nut. Loop a u-lock from one of the fork arms to the downtube? Most of it seems unnecessary for the majority of towns in America.

I've never considered my fork to be a likely theft item. I always assume, perhaps incorrectly, that any bike I see picked apart like that has likely been left in an unsafe area over an extended period of time. I always figure that someone isn't going to go for a full dismantling of a bike unless they can be reasonably sure that the owner isn't coming back soon and that no one else will be paying attention to what they're doing. For that to happen, it seems like the bike would have to be left somewhere overnight and likely for more than one night. Maybe that's not true, but I do know that the only time I found parts poached from a bike of mine was when I left it parked on a college campus for weeks at a time without checking on it. Even then, I think it still had a fork. I've also seen bikes vanish a piece at a time on the campus where I work if they are seemingly abandoned, but, again, I've not noticed fork thefts.
I guess of all the parts someone could strip from my bike, I consider the fork to be a pretty unlikely target, but then maybe that would be different if I had a special fork, but I still have a hard time imagining someone coming along with the tools and the time to make that worthwhile.
But a good way to secure it if you were worried might be pitlock skewers or something similar. Of course if you haven't secured your front wheel, they could just take the fork and wheel together, but perhaps the added bother of separating wheel from the fork would make the theft less appealing. And really that's all you can ever do: make it a little harder/less desirable to steal. There are no theft proof locks.

Sounds like the bike was cannibalized because it sat in that location too long after it was abandon. We us to clean uo 20-40 of these a year at the colleges just prir to the beginning of the new school year. They were more complete when the students left for the summer, but beginning a month or so later these bikes basically became "pick-a-part" donors.

I would guess it was left over night. Even thought most people won't do anything to prevent a bike theft, and Seattle is an especially passive aggressive place, it still seems pretty brazen to do in broad daylight.

On the other hand, I suspect someone with an allen wrench set was probably walking around the university district looking for easy targets. I don't know whether the same thief took the saddle/seatpost and the fork or not, but I locked a bike up years ago and the seat was stolen. People take those, and a lot of them need a $5 tool to get. Someone with bike knowledge might have been up to minor no good, saw a shock absorber on the fork, and realized that you can undo the headset and stem in half a minute. That would even explain why the front wheel was gone and the back wasn't.

I'm not worried about this, personally. I just saw a bike that had seen hard times, and started to wonder.

I use Pitlocks.

The Pitlock headset cap can be purchased separately or as part of a set.

I use their set 02/GA, which includes two skewers, seatpost bolt and the headset cap, all using the same "pit" key. I have multiple sets for multiple bikes and ordered them all keyed-alike.

Order from Peter White Cycles or Urban Bike Tech.

It's pink. :lol:

Dont leave your bike locked up overnight or for a few days.

That's just too much. I would lock both wheels & frame, but I wouldn't even chance leaving the bike in an area where the parts get stripped off like a piranha feeding frenzy.

I've seen and read of people using portions of their drive chain as a saddle lock of sorts. Slide it into some tubing, between the seat tube and seat stays, up over the saddle rails, then push the chain pin back in to complete the loop. Someone will either have to have a chain tool or bolt cutters to get the saddle off. If they are going to take the time to do that then they'll probably either find an easier target or just take the whole bike and work on the main locking system.

See this thread for more discussion:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ary-Bike-Thief

I don't try to protect my fork. If someone has the time to disassemble my bike to that extent, they are going to get something. My fork is not that valuable. I do generally run a cable lock through the front wheel and the frame. I figure the front wheel is the easiest to pop off. Of course, they could fairly easily pop off the back wheel - I dont have enough cable to do both.

There is no such thing as a locking method to theft-proof a bike.

It doesn't take more than two minutes to remove a fork (with the wheel) from a bike.

I didn't start this thread because I'm worried about the heavy fork on my commuter bike being stolen. I felt sorry for whoever lost theirs, and it was a reminder as to how secure locks are and aren't. And that was a good time to consider the rest of the security picture.

I'm pretty impressed with tsl's solution, in post #7. If I were worried about my own fork being stolen, I'd go with that. Most people seem to agree that the best call is not to lock your bike in a bad neighborhood. It's still good to be aware, though.

Sure, its something to think about I guess if you frequent rough neighborhoods. I just gave up the idea long ago of trying to lock my bike up perfectly. Theft is a crapshoot. I use a somewhat substantial cable lock to prevent the opportunist from a quick grab and go. Beyond that, you may or may not have something that can be easily defeated by whatever the particular thief that comes along might happen to be carrying. You're right, basic locks have limits.

I like the pitlock stuff because its fairly unobtrusive and effective at keeping people for picking off parts, but I'm not going to carry around 100lbs of locking equipment and live in fear that someone might nab my bike.