^^^I'm in this camp^^^

Building a reliable stealth/beater bike is one thing, but purposefully ruining a nice new bike is rather coarse.

I'm firmly in the make it ugly camp. :)

My bike isn't a "beater" and it isn't ruined, it probably works better now than the day I bought it. I mean really, no one has to know if your bike is expensive or not, or what type of components you have. Why do other people have to know that?
I can assure you that painting a bike flat black and removing (or hiding) component logos does not change the performance of the bike at all. All it does is give you peace of mind that your bike wont attract too much attention.

I take pride in my accomplishments, not in stuff I buy at a store. :)
So yeah I make my bikes ugly, I'd rather have an ugly bike that I can ride, than a pretty bike that was stolen and someone else is riding.:)

I can see both sides of the story. Its truly a glass half-full/half-empty thing. :)

On the topic of intentionally making your bike ugly to theft proof it, that reminds me of when I was in college. One of my TAs had a nice new white bike but there was some black spray paint around the headtube lug work. I asked him if there was a problem with his frame, he said no but that he had already had two bikes stolen in the past year so he was going to make this one more ugly.

Another college friend had a really ugly rusty single speed bike. I think it had 24 inch wheels, was bigger than a small kids bike but smaller than full size. He rode it everywhere for over a year, did not ever lock it. And on campus to not lock up a bike for over a year without theft was virtually unbelievable. Finally he blew out a tire and had to buy a new tire for it. Within a week someone stole it for the tire.

I live in a college town where bike theft is bad near campus, but the further you get from campus the safer your bike is. I rely on low cost cheap locks for my expensive bikes, but mostly ride far from campus. When I go near campus I am more inclined to ride my rusty errand bike that I paid $5 for at a garage sale than I am one of my good bikes. I put a lot of new parts and newer tires on it so it has some value, but the old steel handlebar does not have any paint on it any more, the rusty patina on it likely aids in theft prevention.

I was using a rather stout cable lock for a long time, the combination sort, this is also what I carried on tour. On tour I didn't have to carry ANY keys, didn't want one for my lock either. I used this same combination cable lock around town when commuting but only ever locked it outside of stores, most often while grocery shopping, lots of foot traffic.

One time while stopping in at a grocery store on my way to work the combination lock malfunctioned, wouldn't open. I went into the store, bought a $5 hacksaw and sawed through the cable. Total time lost including finding and purchasing said hacksaw - about 15 minutes. Took me about seven minutes to saw through the cable, first time I ever did that. With minimal practice I could do it in under five. No-one among the many people passing by questioned what I was doing.

Since then, I only go with one of the higher-rated u-bolts, I'm not really concerned that its overkill most places.

OK, as long as no one realises that them two Ortleib panniers just lift right off the rack ( :eek: ) I'm good.....

+1

The only bike I've had stolen was probably worth $5 at best, if they had asked for it, I would have given it to them. And it LOOKED like it was worth $5, too. So painting over logos, etc., may or may not accomplish anything there.


On our randonneuring rides, generally, in small towns, we leave bikes unlocked at convenience stores and don't have a problem. But there's a first time for everything, too. Seems like I have heard of one of our local riders having a bike stolen way back when, and I've heard of one whose tandem was thrown in the street and damaged, although not actually stolen. One rule of thumb for me: If people are leaving $30,000 pickups in the parking lot unattended with the engine running, your bike is likely to be okay there. Otherwise, a cable lock will keep the random hobo or teen from hopping on it and riding off.


On the prank videos- no idea if those are real or not. Suffice it to say, a LOT of pranks have the potential to backfire, and hiding around a corner and hollering "Boo!" at people could very well get you shot, especially with strangers. So whether real or not, not too prudent.

The comment by Sharpshin above reminded me that on one trip I saw a cable that been cut and left.

I could not figure out why they bothered to cut the cable, they should have been able to lift the bike and cable off of the parking meter, as the post was pretty short.

my guess is either to ride the bike (wheels couldnt turn with cable lock) or also that lock looks like the one on our car rack, a thule one, the end looks just like ours, maybe it was from the car rack we see in the photo and they took a bike or two.

Probably ran the cable through the back wheel and frame, meaning even if you lifted it off, if you didn't have a truck or van to toss it in, it is still fairly hard to steal.

It is how I locked my bike up everywhere outside of Reykjavik in Iceland, and many areas in the Netherlands and Belgium. In fact, nothing but a rear wheel lock was rather ubiquitous in those last two countries.

Nice detective work! Notice what looks to be a black Velcro strap on the ground behind the car. Perhaps that was keeping the front wheel from spinning while the now missing bike was on the rack. Or maybe it was used to prevent the bike from swaying.

I have been lucky. The last time a bicycle of mine was stolen was 1985, so 32 years ago. But since then, I have been fairly assiduous about locking up, including when I tour. I use a medium or heavy duty U lock.

I don't always lock up my bike in rural settings. As others have mentioned, be aware of your surroundings, and trust your spidey sense!

I am more concerned about theft while I am at home, as most of the time, I use my touring bike for commuting, recreation, and hauling groceries. When I park in a sketchy neighbourhood, I use a U lock and a cable.

I experienced my first significant theft only three days ago. I locked my bike using the U lock + cable while visiting a bad part of town. When I returned two hours later, my carbon seat post and Brooks saddle were gone! Arg!! Also, my LED flashing light was strapped to the post.

Expensive mistake!

Note to self: in the future, secure the saddle by looping the cable lock through the railings!

ouch. Quelle drag.

I tend to take a U Lock, the cable thing that came with U lock to go through front wheel, and another combo coil lock to go through the seat rail and back wheel. Plus a milk bag over the seat itself.

touch wood

The photo of my Bridgestone errand bike above in post number 55, you can see that there is a thin cable wrapped around the seatpost. It is not much of a cable, but hopefully it is enough to prevent that kind of loss. That bike has a quick release on the seatpost, but a thief would also need to have a wrench to disconnect the cable from the top bolt that holds the saddle to the seatpost.

When I toured Pacific Coast, I also used a cable like that to physically attach my Brooks to a bolt somewhere on the bike frame. On that tour I was concerned about theft in the campgrounds.

I have been using two cheap thin cable locks to encircle (vertical) both sets of panniers. This keeps the panniers closed and locked to the racks and one or both of the cable locks go through a bike rack or around a post.

Both cables are easy to cut if someone really wanted to steal the bike. I consider them more of a nuisance locking measure than a serious security solution. They will stop casual theft but not someone determined/professional from stealing my bike. My next big tour is up the Rhine river, down the Danube river and a train to Prague to ride down the Elbe river next summer. I am considering a heavy duty chain lock for that trip as I will spend a great deal more time off the bike.

As to making my bike look less valuable to prevent theft, great idea but I think having a full touring rig outfit kind of defeats the attempt. Nothing screams "expensive" more than matching Ortlieb front back and handlebar panniers. Having said that; I did buy a 2015 Specialized AWOL Comp in flat black with black lettering on black...well you get the idea. It certainly does not yell "HEY LOOK AT ME!!!" ;)

ABUS BORDO GranitX Plus. Heavy, but works.

I had a bike stolen by an airline at the beginning of a tour. It was boxed, and in the box were also my handlebar bag and a sleeping bag. I learned later that my bike was probably stolen at the arrival airport, Frankfurt. Several other passengers on my flight had checked luggage stolen, too. Obviously no lock could have prevented the theft of my bike. I had planned on biking from the airport to my friend's home, a 4 or 5 day ride. Instead, I took a train. After my bike hadn't turned up within a few days, we took off on our planned tour, which was mostly in France. I correctly concluded early on that I would never see my bike again. I borrowed an old bike that my German friend had. The frame was far too big for me but I survived. We didn't camp, however, since I had no sleeping bag. It actually turned out to be one of my favorite tours. I eventually got some reimbursement from the airline and from homeowner's insurance.

I had a warmshowers guest whose bike was stolen during his tour while he was visiting a friend in Chicago. I don't know the circumstances, but his panniers and other gear were not on the bike when it was stolen. He got another bike and continued his tour.

Can you expand a bit? (I'd assume that it is difficult to support a given claim amount...) Some people, I am told, claim expensive electronics in their luggage...

Chicago must be a tough place. We were riding (loaded) around the downtown area a few weeks ago not far from the train station, and stopped at a sandwich shop for lunch. I cabled my wife's and my bike together, lacing the cable through our wheel so the bikes could not be rolled away. A woman taking a break in front of her office building told me that that was not a safe way to do it, and to find a post to lock the bike to. Two guys standing nearby who overheard our conversation came over and said "listen to the lady". My wife was inside waiting for me. The woman told me to ahead and get my order in, and she would stay by the bikes until I returned. I told my wife what to order for me, and went outside, which led to a great conversation with the woman until my wife returned with the goodies. I thanked the good Samaritan, and we moved the bikes to an outdoor seating area where we could watch them. She had me convinced:)

Airline lost luggage liability on international flights was lower at the time of the theft than it is now. The insurance company initially calculated that they owed me nothing, saying that bikes depreciate at the same rate as cars. I appealed their decision and I got an estimate for my stolen bike from a local bike shop where I had purchased a new bike. The estimate was substantially higher than the value the insurance company tried to use. Eventually, the insurance company took the bike shop's estimate and subtracted the sum I received from the airline, as well as the amount of the policy deductible. I still lost a lot overall.

FWIW to anyone headed that way I had it on good authority in Glasgow last year to never let my bike out of my sight.

Where in Glasgow you are most likely to have your bike stolen - Glasgow Live

I would still like to live there for a while tho...