You could always just buy a telemetry tracking system:

https://www.sirtrack.com/

There aren't prices on that site, but I'm guessing it would only cost $2000 - $5000

who are these thieves? i've never seen one, but obviously they are everywhere, and how much money can they possibly make for their effort? where do they unload their cargo?

could you tell me how you registered your bikes with the popo?

a few bike shops round here have flyers from the PD regarding that info.
If not, I'm sure you can walk into a precinct haus or call 311..

Yeah---I was wondering about this myself. Has anyone here ever laid bait and played vigilante on their own bike? After having 2 bikes stolen in the past couple of years, I've been tempted to do that.

I think about it from time to time, but I'm not that big (strong) of a person (6'1" 150lbs...skinny). But if one had some friends who were big, and have been in fights more than once.

It's probably a time thing, you'd never know when a theif would cruise by, might take hours or weeks.... and you'd want to watch the bike the entire time somehow...

After losing two bikes from "secure" locations, I've got the serials on all of mine...Oooh, except the Bridgestone and the Columbia. I should get on that.

https://list.massbike.org/archive/200403/0074.html
https://list.massbike.org/archive/200403/0109.html

call your local precinct...

https://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/phone.html

All you people who are considering 'vigalante' justice in response to stonle bikes and bike theives, her is a little story, which is true, BTW. I was a cloase friend with this guy.

My friend had a couple of bikes stolen, cheap POS bikes, bot a big deal. He got into BMX riding, and his bike was stolen. Obviously he was pissed off. His plan was, to leave a bait bike at a signpost in his nieghborhood, and steak it out. This neighborhood was a little bit of a crime area.
While he waited with a U-Lock and a 3' section of chain, a would be thief started to take the bike. He brust out of the bushes, and attacked the guy with this 3' section of chain and U-lock. The thief ended up really messed up, broken jaw, concussion, missing teeth.
He was arrested, and convicted on assaut and battery charges with a deadly weapon and intent to kill. He went away for 18mos, due to being on probation for tresspassing charges brought on upon but skating boarding in an area where skateboarding wasn't allowed. (signs which said 'no skateboarding')
The thief got off on a petty theft charge, no jail time, small fine. He also won a large settlement from my friend's family.
Who got taught a lesson here?
If you catch a thief red handed will the cops really care? I don't think so.

His problem was he stuck around for the cops to show up.

Uhh, no. The guy (thief) i'd him. Plus there were witnesses. A savage beating with a chain doesn't go unoticed. (or quietly)

I've read on this board that people put glue in the bolt so a hex wrench won't go in. The theory is that it takes a little while to pick the glue our with a knife, so it will slow down thieves. I don't know how well it works.

Making friends with doormen is never a bad idea; I lock my bike in front of the same doorman building every day, and it hasn't been touched. I'm sure a lot of bike security in NYC does seem fate-based, but I feel like having a consistent parking space is safer and smarter-- it gives me peace of mind while I'm at work all day.

roughing someone up (bouncer style) or a savage beating with weapons are two different things...
I'd say your friend really flew off the handle by going after a guy with a board and a chain.

if one has the energy/anger to go to all the trouble of placing bait, doing a steak-out and beating some random dude up, it seems to me there is a better option:

set up the bait, do the steak-out, take pictures of the guy breaking the lock, stalk the thief (carefully) to wherever he goes, then call the cops with the street address. i know a lot of us hate the fuzz, but -- as BostonFixed pointed out -- legitimate revenge can be a lot more effective than angry punches to the face.

word.

My suggestion for parts being stolen while the bike is chained up is...........Red locktight on every bolt possible. If this is done correctly (completely clean and dry threads on both the bolt and what you are threading it to) the only way to take them off is with heat (blow torch) and a wrench with a very large handle for leverage. When I worked as a motorcycle mechanic we used red locktight on every bolt and nut on Harley Davidsons without anything falling off, and if you know anything about H-D that is an IMPRESSIVE feat.

I bet some people still got their Harley Davidsons and parts stolen off it though huh ?

It wasn't best way to keep it safe. To me you can keep a bike a lot safer than any car or motocycle if you do it the way I said. Its impossible for the theif to steal the bike.

Harleys are definately a hot item with theives nowadays with all of the media exposure of choppers and idiots on tv using large hammers to make everything fit on their "Custom" choppers.

But, I don't know if anyone really understands the stregth of red locktight or green locktight distributed by Honda motor corp for that matter. That tip is to be used if you MUST have the bike locked outside. It doesnt matter what you do to try and ensure that your bike is not stolen, if the thief really wants to take it, he/she will. You just have to make it as difficult as possible.

hey. as a newcomer to ny, I have a newcomer question. There are a bunch of different kinds of bike chains for sale on ebay & elsewhere. Is there a big difference between these, holding constant how they are deployed or whatever? So, like, the difference between a chain w/ hex links versus, uh, trapezoidal links ..? or "heat -treated" versus "triple heat-treated boron manganese steel" ? or is that mostly marketing fluff or for real? and what about this lock question--mini U lock from kryptonite or others (as long as that crazy ball point stuff doesnt work) .. or what kind of regular lock ..?

any thoughts on these matters? much thanks & sorry if this has already been covered

Most NYers seem to like case-ahrdened chain of one brand or another (most brands being reportedly comparable) with a big American Lock padlock. I myself really like my Onguard Ultimate Mini U-lock, but I also carry a long heavy-duty cable to loop through my front wheel. If my front wheel was worth more, I'd carry another U-lock to lock to to the frame.

My bike by rights should have been stolen by now, I only use a cable lock (specialized hard lock wrapper slim), but it's an old road bike with all the empty cable stops on it, the cheap-ass hubs don't match, and I rattle canned it white. The best part of the bike is probably the selle italia seat (not quick release). I usually have it locked up outside my school where there's almost always someone outside smoking nearby. Then it is Boston too. Bike theft seems like less of a worry here, there are still kypto locks all over the place that can easily be bic'd. It's always comforting to lock your bike next to a really nice bike that only has a bicable lock keeping it there. I wouldn't leave my bike at the Landmark center at night, I always see broken/cut locks over by the T stop behind there.
so to sum it up:
ugly bike - coasting -brakes + vigilant smokers = still have my bike

Boston is in the top ten for bike thefts. It's true that there's still a lot of old Kryptos floating around though. I expect that's true most places, though.

i left my bike outside when i slept at my buddy's house and the next morning it was gone... we looked around and it was only 100 feet away behind a tree. it scared the sh1t out of me