I lock my bike with a single u-lock around the back wheel (bike theft happens at the college I go to, but its not too bad). But now I got a shiny new bike to commute on to replace my mongoose beater that broke down, and I was so paranoid about it getting stolen that I had an idea. Whenever I lock my bike up, I turn the brake lever adjustment ALL the way down so the levers hit handlebar before the brakes engage. Only takes a couple seconds, and I have more peace of mind knowing that if my bike is stolen the thief will at least be scared ****less when they discover the brakes don't work on their getaway ride. Hopefully a few broken bones will be involved as well.

Lots of bikes have non-functioning breaks. They still get stolen.

Now what I want to do is put a taser in my saddle. Press a button and it's disabled and you go for a ride. Then when you lock up press the button again to set to stun. Good luck to that thief. Nobody ever wants to get tasered there. But I think it'd all end very badly as soon as I went down a rough road and the jarring worked the switch. And I'm pretty sure I'd end up with criminal charges against me if somebody tried to lock up to the same rack.

This is incredibly stupid and you should stop now before you get yourself hurt as a result of your own actions.

1. It won't in any way prevent bike theft.
2. There is a very, very real risk that, for whatever reason, you forget to reengage your brake someday and wind up getting yourself or someone else injured.

I do this occasionally but not often. I also loosen the rear QR skewer so the wheel rubs and jams onto the chainstays. I also shift the chain to the largest cog and chainwheel and then loosen the shifters so the bike is poised to shift. But none of this is a substitute for locking the bike, and it may not slow a thief at all.

Once someone tried to steal my bike and a dangling bungie got caught in the wheel, and the thief dropped the bike and left it. Obviously, he wasn't a very serious thief.

Lots of thieves throw the bikes in vans, etc. Won't deter any serious thief.

Most "poor" people ride Wal-Mart bikes with wheels so bent they can't even set up the brake calipers. Not just poor people are stealing bikes for sure, but a large segment of our population in New Orleans are quite used to dragging their feet to stop.

When I lock up my road bike I have a trick for ENGAGING the front brake so hard on the wheel that it cannot be removed. So I use a top-notch lock on the rear wheel and frame along with my trick to capture and retain the front wheel. I don't leave that bike outside for more than a few moments at the store tho and try to keep one eye on it from inside.

My advice for keeping your bike is no secret: Get a lock that requires a torch or power tool to cut and lock to something that requires a torch or power tool to cut. Then stop worrying.

Would't work for me I would forget to turn it off.

At best, all this would do is lead to a bike crash far away from where you locked your bike. Either way, your bike would be gone.

j.

If anything , the opposite ... crank the brakes tight so the wheel wont turn ..

a Frame mounted Ring Lock does this, by closing it's hasp around the back rim .


Better : disable the whole bike by locking it to something that wont move.

Please always use a GoPro aimed at you when you get this system up and running. The resulting footage from a malfunction would be worth the price of admission.

I sometimes need to stop at convenience stores on recreational road rides to get more to eat or drink. I put my bike in top gear and use the adjusting barrels to lock up the brakes.

Beyond that, I keep my eyes on the window as much as possible and get in & out quickly.

When snow skiing we used to put one ski and pole in one spot and the others in another spot to prevent easy theft.

For your bike, what about just popping the front wheel off and taking that with you into the office, convenience store, or whatever?

Yup, the serious guys work in teams and block the view of potential witnesses with a van or truck. Wheel locks and similar strategies are worthless against them.

Threads like this always make me sad. They bring out the worst in people. How would you feel if you were somehow privy to your best friend or your spouse or anyone for that matter that you had some regard for talking gleefully about possibly injuring (or worse) another human being for the crime of being a dirtbag? Maybe not so bad if you posted in this thread. What if the dirtbag they were hoping would wind up in the ER was you?! Really, it isn't rocket science. Lock your bike with what is known to be a quality locking instrument, appropriate to the level of risk faced. A 30lb motorcycle chain is not an appropriate lock for a suburban WASP enclave. Beyond that, "let go and let God"... I'm serious. I'm not at all religious or spiritual, I'm making a conceptual point. Once you have done what is reasonably responsible, your homeowners insurance will have to do the rest if the unthinkable happens. No need to see the thief be maimed for the crime of being a dirtbag theif. Folding bikes are another option but IMO none work as well as my beloved Giant Halfway that broke in half... ... but was replaced by Giant. Alas, not with another 1/2way... they are no longer made .

H

Been a very amusing day for me at BF today ... first I read about a fellow clyde that thinks he should wear a jock strap while riding, and now this.

A lack of brakes will only make the theif ride faster, and trust me, he likely does not give a whit about any damage he may do to your bike while doing whatever is necessary to stop his forward progress. If they're not scared when it comes to stealing a bike, they won't be scared while riding a brakeless bike.

Anybody able to find a link to a video of Dan Aykroyd playing a toy salesman selling plastic bags?

For a tourer, commuter, or utility bike, make your bike look poor - even if it is actually not. For example don't clean it except drive train. Best if you use a quality, but old or second hand bike. It will adequately do the job, it will look worn out, and it would have low market value. No thief will look at it, and you wouldn't get very upset it's got stolen. Then, an ordinary lock would buy more peace of mind than a top-notch lock. Oh, no one would envy you, but you'd get what you need in an economic and pragmatic way.

The Dutch exaggerated this but I'm not suggesting that.

"nu" means "now"

Whoa, hold on there. If someone steals a bike and injures themselves riding off, that is *their* fault. The owner has no obligation whatsoever to make their bike safe for *others* to ride. It's much the same for my fixed-gear -- if someone attempted to steal it while I wasn't around, and then flipped themselves over the handlebars and broke their neck because they didn't know how to ride one, how bad should I feel?

Regardless, I think we both agree that disabling the brakes is an idiotic and ineffectual way to prevent theft, and that good locking and vigilance are a better strategy.

I used to drop my chain to discourage rideaways all the time. I used to do the "put it in high gear" method posted above also. Now I usually just go ahead and lock it.

Sometimes I do leave the Fixed gear Free Spirit unlocked out front of sbux just to see if some tweaker will try to ride off on it and crash but no takers yet. I don't think I'd have any moral qualms about laughing my ass off and possibly beating at least half the living daylights outta anyone that did crash my Free Spirit.

As for brake disabling, Seems like many bike thieves would know how to ride brakeless and if they don't there's a good chance your bike will be broken as the thief piles into something, so not that good a deterrent.

There is a difference between an inept dirtbag bike thief hurting themselves severely in the act of riding off with your functional and properly maintained (albeit unsecure) Cannondale, and their meeting a with mishap as a result of deliberate sabotage on the part of the bike owner! The fact that there is a debate shows haw far we have to go to get to the stars. There is the case of a home-owner that was sued by a burglar who attempted to enter the home through a skylight. The frame of the skylight failed and the burglar was paralyzed in the fall. The homeowner was deemed negligent and they won't likely own another home ever again if I know American lawyers like I do. Did the homeowner sabotage the skylight deliberately, or was it simply lack of upkeep? It didn't matter in that case and it wouldn't likely matter whether or not a bike thief met with serious injury on a defective bike due to deliberate intervention or from negligence, the injured party needing to be made whole would be the matter before the court. Heaven help the formerly Middle Class bike owner who sought to go beyond the normal resources of locks and/or vigilance to win the war on property crime. Heaven help them now and heaven help whats left of them after the legal vultures pick them clean of financial assets.

H

Citation? Cuz I believe you're thinking of this case.

A brakeless fixie with clipless pedals...I would just love to watch some dimwitted looser steal one and crash while trying to ride it away with regular shoes and no brakes. I would feel more sorry for a damaged bike then a bike thief.

Near as I can tell, I'm one of only three riders in "da pawk" that have brakes. One of the other ones lives with me, and the other guy owns a bike shop. So ya, wouldn't work here.

M.