Bike theft

[trader4less]

How bad is bike theft?

Are there places that you definitely do not want to park your bike that are not so obvious?

[Psycluded]

In the Montgomery, AL area, it's not too bad, but I know in Atlanta they've had stretches of time where there were crews using 2x4's to just pick bikes up off the street, driveways, parkinglots, etc. and into the back of a waiting truck. Off they go, and in 24 hours, your bike is in parts on eBay.

Someone ever did that and I -found- them, well... one of the things on my agenda would be burning their eyebrows off with the back tire of the new ride I'd get from my insurance claim. >_<

[trader4less]

So going to the mall or the movies is a big risk.....??? doooohhhh

[Psycluded]

Just take some precautions, is what I was told. Most of the time if you use a cover with grommets so you can lock it down onto the bike, thieves will skip it, since a) they can't readily tell what type of bike it is, and most bike thieves will stick to one type or another and b) it's not an "easy" mark, since they'd have to move the cover first. Make the bike harder to take, and chances are it won't get taken.

That being said, I've parked mine at the local mall for 30 mins to an hour at a time with nothing but the wheel lock on, in a veryt conspicuous place close to the entrance (where there's lots of foot traffic) and never had any problems other than curious pedestrians. [:)]

[trader4less]

I have a manx I do the same. I was looking into the Scorpion paging system...may give me some piece of mind!

[black9]

do wheel locks incress the chances of your bike not getting stolen by alot? or are they something thats like easy for thieves to brake or take off?

[zarakand]

I think the key is to keep it where there's a lot of foot traffic and make it time consuming for the theft to occur. Parking in a mall parking garage on the fourth floor is not a good idea, as two co-workers of mine discovered much to their dismay. They returned from a movie and no bikes!

The front disc-lock is a great detterent, but someone said if they really want your bike all they have to do is put some sort of plate/disc rolly-thingy under it (don't you love my specifics) and just roll it out.

[Sev]

I seem to recall a while ago hearing about a lock that would keep your front brake level held to the handlebars. Effectively holding the brakes on while you're gone.
One of the bikes show I went to they ziptied all of the brake levers so the bikes wouldn't move when people say on them. But when you sit on a bike you yank the front wheel straight, turning the whole bike into one big lever and shoving the bike to the right. They all moved across the floor over the course of the day, and the guys had to cut the zipties to move them back.

Personally I just make a point of parking where lots of people walk are going to be walking around. Or, at work right next to the guard house. Hehe, perfect spot as it's all of 10 steps to get from my bike to the guards.
When I worked at shoppers I parked it where I could see it from the front window.

The key is to make it as annoying as possible to steal.

[iwannadie]

seems it would be easy enough to just cut the front brake line, if your stealing it your not worried bout it. you would only need to ride it a short distance without the front brake. not sure how effective a front brake lock would be as its very easy to cut the exposed line. a disc lock is a much better way to keep it from rolling off.

also parking in a crowd doesnt mean noone will mess with it, people usually dont get involved with what others are doing. someone stealing a car is usually alot more obvious having jimmy the door open and stuff. but with a bike it just looks like some guy is checking/fixxing something on his bike. doubt anyone would notice/care if they saw someone hot wiring a bike in the middle of a public area.

if i were a bike thief(cough) i would go after the bikes in a public setting, you look alot less suspicious than lurking around a bike in a dark corner. aslo gives you a nice big crowd to blend into if things go bad. always have a helmet too when stealing the bike, noone would question you. maybe some one should test this theory out one day and see what happens lol. have a friend park their bike somewhere then someone else go nose around it for a while see if anyone cares.

I seem to recall a while ago hearing about a lock that would keep your front brake level held to the handlebars. Effectively holding the brakes on while you're gone.
One of the bikes show I went to they ziptied all of the brake levers so the bikes wouldn't move when people say on them. But when you sit on a bike you yank the front wheel straight, turning the whole bike into one big lever and shoving the bike to the right. They all moved across the floor over the course of the day, and the guys had to cut the zipties to move them back.

Personally I just make a point of parking where lots of people walk are going to be walking around. Or, at work right next to the guard house. Hehe, perfect spot as it's all of 10 steps to get from my bike to the guards.
When I worked at shoppers I parked it where I could see it from the front window.

The key is to make it as annoying as possible to steal.

[black9]

when I do get my first bike (1 or 2 months) i will probably be a somewhat less of a target then most considering im going to have a 250.