why do new york city cyclists have to spend 1/5 (I am being very generous) of the price of their vehicle to protect it? if there was an "epidemic" in new york where it was guaranteed that if you bought a car that costs $500 or more it would get stolen (or at least parts stolen off of it) if it is parked on the street, do you think the police would be so lax about stopping such epidemic?

it's friggin' ridiculous. I would love to ride to work everyday... I could right now, but I would spend those 8 hours working worrying if my bike was going to be downstairs when I got off.

why don't we invent a "LoJack" for bikes?
https://www.lojack.com/
it would be super small and I would actually be willing to pay 1/5 of the price of my bike for it... as I am sure you would too.

I thought I was safe the the Kryptonite chain lock. Then the thieves hacksawed through my frame in order to steal it. It was an old Bianchi road frame with the braze-ons already sawed off. Cheap components, too. Those ****ers did all that work just to ruin the frame and walk away with a decent rear wheel and crappy seat.

If I ever catch a thief trying to steal a bike, god have mercy. The pain I will inflict on his body will make Tarantino cringe.

That lojack idea is brilliant.

If I ever have the cash and connections to the underworld, I'm going to hire a gang of thugs to go around beating the crap out of bike thieves.

But yeah....a bike LoJack would be sweet.

couldn't we just use the same type of GPS system that cell phones use?

c'mon, there has to be at least one rocket scientist or brain surgeon on this board.

there was a german company called bergwerk that offered GPS chips in their frames.


"Not to mention that all of the Bergwerk bikes come with a bike finder chip. This is a GPS chip that is installed in the frame of the bicycle, so if your bike were stolen, you would be able to track it down."

https://www.dirtragmag.com/articles/a...=stuff_reviews

A GPS chip would almost be cool...unless it was me trying to make a getaway.

yeah I get hella worried about theifs... even if they don't get the frame they can still chop out the hubs or jack the seat or swoop up my stem and bars or brake... Bikes are vulnerable. Best bet is to lock it inside in a place that is safe and secure. Even if someone doesn't steal your bike, they could just kick the back wheel and you're out of $200!

If you live in NYC and your bike gets stolen the chances of ever getting it back are almost 0%.

The police will take a report just to appease you but they won't bother doing a thing about it.

That's why you have to spend the $80-90 for a Kryptonite NY Chain & Lock plus whatever other measures you can think of (short of never locking up your bike).

As someone that has never even considered locking a bike outside in NYC up until now, how prevalent *is* theft anyway? I've had two bikes stolen in my life (both out of garages), but I keep hearing horror stories of bikes getting evaporated even when locked up with enough steel to rebuild the terminator.

I'm looking at building a steel fix just to avoid parking my nice roadie on the street (plus, it's carbon, so it's bound to get smashed if locked..) Am I insane to even consider an even slightly nice frame? Should I be looking at a smashed beater to avoid the grip of the theftman?

-s

Here's an idea:
There are small circuitboards that are about 3" square. Connect this to a small gps device and hook it up somehow to a motion sensor. When the bike is moved a large amount, the gps unit is activated.. it could pick up a wifi signal and email you.

I'm not kidding. It is possible.

a folding bike could be an option- just fold it up and take it with you! I have a Dahon Impulse and when I go to work on it I just keep it locked in my office in a locked file cupboard. Anyone wants to take it they have to get past me first.

NOW you're talking... that is totally possible.
I'm on it.

DO NOT LOCK YOUR BIKE UP OUTSIDE IN NEW YORK CITY!!!
it's as simple as that. that is the only way to ensure that someone won't steal it... off the street, that is.

I've had a bike and my gfriends bike parked in the street for ovedr 8 yrs. 1 stolen seat, 1 stoled rear wheel (totally my fault), 2 attempts to cut through kryp[toflex cables, but no luck on their part. if you have an ugly bike, chain the seat and tape it, square chain and american lock (better than the kryptos in my opinion (or multilock even better, but 80 for the lock itself), around rear wheel and frame, cable around front wheel, rebuild your headset, super glue the hex bolt on stem. no problem. on the other side of the coin, just 2 months ago a crazy neighbor destroyed both bikes b/c he didn't like the m parked in fron tof his building. he then cut em loose with a grinder, which i saw. this 1 super bad event in 8 yrs aint so bad, but im still pissed, on the positive side, someone left a worksman foldingg bike out with the garbage several weeks later. several weeks after that I fouind ajnother big wald basket. done. karma. i mean he destroyed EVERY part of theose other bikes. still looking to replace my g-friends too.

i would go for it, also rattlecan the whole thing, even tires. this makes it lot less liikely to get stolen and perhaops yuo will see the part riding by one day like my friend did. most bike theives, unless they are nice bikes, seem to be neighborhood kids needing a part

It's sad that people have to be like that... ah well. I'm not planning on storing it on the street overnight, just when going out and about for drinks/dinner etc, so I think I'm slightly less at risk, but we'll see.

If I come back and post here pissed in a few weeks, we'll know how THAT worked out

-s

when I say New York, I am mainly referring to Manhattan.
Brooklyn (as well as the other boroughs) is ok for the quick lock-up (dinner, drinks, etc.).

it's quite true that (especially in nyc), if someone has their mind set on stealing your bike, they can do it, no matter what lock you use. i've seen busted krypto chains, including the "nyc fuggehtaboutit" model.

it's said that since you need dramatically different tools to bust chains and ulocks, it's not really likely for thieves to carry both, so if you use both a chain and ulock, your bike will be passed up for another.

i've got a length of bike chain securing my seat to my frame on my fix. not really a huge deterrent, i know, but it'll stop some idiot whos just out stealing parts for the hell of it. my stem can still be removed quickly with just one hex wrench, but i haven't really thought up an attractive solution for that one yet.

anyway, if i'm just running down the street to the deli to pick up a sandwich, i'll use the ulock. i can pretty much see the bike the whole time.

if i'm out shopping or whatever in the daytime and need to leave my bike outside on a populated street for up to an hour or so, i'll lock it with the krypto nyc chain. i can get the chain through both wheels and the frame, and around a small post.

if it's night time, or i'm locking the bike any longer (read: trips to the bar), i'll use the krypto chain as described above and the krypto u-lock through the rear wheel, frame, and whatever i'm locking to.

never ever leave your bike locked in a public area overnight. no matter how crappy, everything will get stolen.

also, the less "empty room" you leave in the locked area, the less leverage thieves have when they're jacking it open with a crowbar or whatever. thus, if you're just locking with a ulock, don't just loop it around the top tube and a signpost, loop it around a frame tube, wheel, and whatever else you can to hold the bike as tightly to the signpost as possible.

this sounds extreme, but it's effective - lock your bike up high.

for instance, if there's a 10 foot tall railing/fence in front of a building, scaffolding, or some other kind of secure structure (lots of buildings have these large fences in front of them), hang your bike up high (hook the bars over the top of the fence), then climb up and krypto chain it.

this works because thieves need someplace to stand for a period of time to saw a lock, and they need to be standing on the ground to effectively gain leverage to pry open a ulock. you only need to be able to climb up there for a minute to lock and unlock it.

Yeah but will this work if only one part is stolen ? Not the whole thing?

Heres a loophole and a huge disadvantage.

"With this Recovery Warranty, if your vehicle is stolen and not recovered within 24 hours, LoJack will refund the purchase price of your LoJack system up to the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP)."

The success rate is 90% but still there is that 10% they won't find it.

If they can't they only refund you the purchase price of the system.

Huge loophole.

Everyone likes to talk security after a crime but how many bother to register their bikes and record the serial numbers?

I go to police auctions and buy 10 bikes at a time of all makes and models for as little as $1 each. I ask the officers why the owners never claimed their bike and they respond that many bike owners do not record the serial number so there is no way to prove which bike belongs to them.

Recently a friend had a bike stolen. She had etched a phone number on the side of the down tube. That was enough of an identifiable mark to get her bike back.
Enjoy

Funny that the GPS LoJack idea should come up again, as this and another anti-theft alternative was recently being discussed in this thread as well.
Someone should really do this.

I'm still worried about locking up in the city. Used to not do it at all, but I keep ending up in situations where I've got to. So I threw down the 80+ bucks for the Krypto chain and lock, and occasionally use it along with a Krypto cable. And I'm still ascairt that someone's gonna steal the bike! I don't know how to get over this paranoia.

rent-a-thug

there was an article a few years ago that I read in a british motorcycling magazine, about these guys you could hire for a few nights in a row and leave your nice new shiny sport bike in some sketchy parking lot while they hid in a van parked near by and monitored it. If a theif came by and got as far as breaking the lock on the bike and tried to wheel it away the guys in the van would jump out drag him back in, beating the crap out of him while another guy drove the van to the other side of town where they would dump the would be theif.

I thought it was an awsome idea, but costly and pointless other than teaching theives in high crime areas to be more aware when trying to steal a bike..

an old trick i learned from my dad...slide a playing card with your name/number on it inside the seat tube. if someone ever sees it- like a mechanic- maybe they'll call. if not, at least you have a way to positively id your bike should you ever find it. oh, and i agree...never lock your bike outside. a friend of mine went into a bodega to grab a drink, and during that short time someone walked up with a 2x4 and cracked his u-lock open. how did he know? one of the ten people outside the store who stood there and watched the whole thing told him...

https://webdocs.nyccouncil.info/textf...TOKEN=13217703

https://www.transalt.org/press/askta/041019.html

anyone know if this has been passed yet? i think this could be the answer we've all been waiting for...

i've considered commuting to work (when i used to have a job) and parking my bike in a garage (and paying the monthly fee), but in reality it would be easier for the criminal to get away by stashing my bike in the trunk of an suv.

i've got my bikes insured, registered with the nypd, and appraised by my lbs. they can be replaced, but it took me over 6 months to build each one...i'm not going through that again. lojack for a bike would be rad.