Sad reminder - lock your wheels
 

This is yet another reminder that bolt on wheels offer very little protection against theft:

http://www.craigslist.org/sfc/bik/63070920.html

Seen way too many wheels stolen in the city recently.

Either lock them to the frame, use a cable or get some of them fancy locking track bolts. Please don't assume that just cause it takes a small tool to remove your wheels they're safe.

yep, im all about the chain and u-lock.

next step is an attack dog.

Many the day I lament the world passing me by as I sit in the backwaters of Northern NY. Then I think how I often ride down to the local grocer, lean my bike against the wall outside the door and go shopping.

30 minutes later it'll still be there.

ha ha I was just thinking the same thing about living in small-town Ohio.

Sucks :( This happened to me before, with quick release wheels yoinked in broad daylight... that was a nice welcome to the big city world for me. In college in a small town, I routinely left my bike unlocked, had it stolen once in 4 years but got it back cause it was such a small town.

My proposal is that we give police an opportunity to get the brutality out of their systems... whenever they catch a bike thief!

i just never park my bike by itself....i always find some gorgeous cannondale etc... and lock it right next to it figuring that no matter what my bike will pale in comparisson and wont get a second thought...maybe this is dumb...but it allows me to sit in class knowing that my bike is locked up in one of the worst neighborhoods in the country

why do people lock their front wheel and leave the back free?
i want to slap people every time i see this...
think about which will cost more to replace...

gally-
Yea, but think about which wheel is easier/quicker to steal, especially if you have a QR front.

I've just started hauling the front wheel around with me. I figure, if they're going to take the bike, they're going to have to carry it, then go find another wheel, or at least go and jack someone else's front wheel. Just as long as I can make 'em work for my piece o' crap beater. And plus, I was getting sick of dealing with the U-lock AND the krypto-cable. Too much crap and work IMO.

You know, growing up we didn't have to lock our bikes. I remember leaving mine out without concern. And yet I can't imagine doing that today. Wild.

Anyhow, I lock my front for two reasons: my rear is nutted and my front is QR. It's QR secured by a hose clamp, but still QR. Who's to say which is easier to get off, a hose clamp or 15mm nut?

But secondly, I think stupid bike thiefs at this point have been conditioned to look at the front. If the front is locked to the frame most will move on.

Just my theory.

So you are the person that keeps locking up their bike next to my CAAD!:lol:

CHEERS.

Mark

I strap my U lock around my rearwheel and my seattube, two birds with one stone, and as soon as I get my new wheels (next week) I'm going to start locking up my front. I'm thinking mini krypto.

I stick my U lock around both seat stays and through the rear wheel and rack. It looks unsafe on first glance, but it locks up the frame AND back wheel AND rack with plenty of room left to fit around a post.

how many innocent phil hubs must be lost before people realize they’re not safe anywhere, for any amount of time?

I keep my nice hubs in a box on my shelf.

when i can find a post that's not too wide, i'll lock both wheels with my chain - tho when i'm feeling truly paranoid i bring a u-lock specifically for the back wheel.

i had a chuckle back at monster track when i ducked out to check on my bike, and ran into a couple of people doing the exact same thing.

I'm not sure if I read this on Sheldon Brown's site or somewhere else, but I simply use a mini lock to lock up the back wheel. As long as you lock it up inside that rear triangle, you don't have to worry about locking the frame up as well. I was really tired of seeing nicks all along the lower end of my seat tube. Of course, I'm only lucky so far that I still have a front wheel, but at least it's a bolt-on. ;)

I saw a Marin roadbike with full Campy Veloce, aero rims, qr front wheel... sitting on a rack on campus last weekend for two nights straight. It was locked up in the way you describe. I can't believe the owner was crazy enough to leave it there, it was 10 feet from where I had my wheels robbed in daytime.

Er... I don't mean to disparage your locking strategy at all, it's a good one :), it just reminded me of something.

It amazes me how many people don't lock their wheels in SF, especially when they have really nice hubs. Have these people never seen the homeless bike mechanics at Duboce & Market? I see those guys wrenching on stuff all the time, and their shopping carts are often stuffed full of wheels. The crackheads are definitely hip to allen wrenches, at minimum.

If it's going to be longer than 5 min, I'll pop off the front and lock it with the rear. Takes 20 seconds and I know I'll be able to ride home.

Any of you tried using these security screws?
http://www.mcmaster.com/param/images...dtrigroove.gif
http://www.mcmaster.com/param/images...headoneway.gif
http://www.mcmaster.com/param/images...91870a148a.gif
http://www.mcmaster.com/param/images...eadspanner.gif

Where do you get those? I've seen skewers with the second type of heads, but don't know where I could get them...

I've seen these used on bathroom-stall doors. I'm pretty sure once they're screwed in that can't be unscrewed. not that I'm in the business of removing bathroom-stall doors...

I have successfully tackled those screws before. When I was a freshman at New Jersey Institute of Technology (talk about a rough neihborhood) our dorm room door handles where fastened down with them. It would cost us 10 bucks if we lost our keys or locked ourselves out and needed someone to open the door for us. I took 4 of those fasteners off with the biggest flat head I can find from a fellow dorm mate and ALOT of elbow grease. After that we would break into other people's dorm room's for good ole college pranks :D

I lock my frame and rear wheel to a poll. for the front, I use the krypto qr replacer or a hose clamp.
I also dont lock my bike by itslef anywhere for too long. If I am at a show or something, there is always someone out there keeping an eye on her.