What are the best anti-theft tricks around?

Archibald

that wouldn't be your bike i see constantly chained to the parking sign in little collins st out front of the menzies tavern, would it?

oh, and i use kryptonite brand bike locks - you need a plasma cutter to get through them!!

titnee

abegold

Make sure you have the newer type Kryptonite lock! The older bike locks with a round key head are worthless, can be EASILY and QUICKLY picked, opened with the butt end of a BIC pen. Kryptonite had a free exchange program for the round keyed locks. Many thieves know this all to simple trick. Trade in your old lock!

peter nap

oh, and i use kryptonite brand bike locks - you need a plasma cutter to get through them!!

Not really. A Dremil with a cutoff disk zips right through ...but they are still pretty good!

Archibald

guess I heard wrong then...

peter nap

I expect you heard what everybody else heard. I thought the same thing for a long time. I bought a bike at a police auction and it had the rear wheel locked to the frame with one.

I tried to pick it. No good. I tried a hacksaw and bolt cutters and hardly scratched it. I do a lot of gunsmithing and back in the old days, we used the cutoff disc's to remove the hammer spur on revolvers. They are HARD steel...anyway, I tried it and it cut just like a charm.

One other thing that will cut them are the diamond impregnated wire saws. Hopefully, thieves don't catch on to that soon.

Ny Cykel

Ok I have a couple suggestions.

Do not, leave the bike unlocked, ever, any lock is better than no lock.
The best Bike Lock can be Cheep. Say $15

It's like this. You can buy the biggest toughest solid chrome u-bolt lock for $100 and if you cant lock the bike its no good.
You NEED to run a cable through both wheels and the frame and around some big fat pole, at least 9 feet tall.

Go to WIRE ROPE in the yellow pages
Drive to it, or ride.
Buy at least a 3/16 Stainless Wire Rope, just a short piece, go home and try to cut it, if you think you need 1/4" diam or bigger, then go ahead.
Go back after you decide. It has to be stainless.
Tell the man you want a 6 foot Stainless Cable with small loops CRIMPED on both ends with heavy steel crimps, If you tell em its to lock a bike they will make it cheep, tell em youre lifting somethng heavy, it will be ugly, it will be very strong.
Buy a roll of electrical tape, dress it up.

I have all kinds of power tools, I made mine real fancy, wraps around my seat posts , not too heavy, that big assed pad lock is the heaviest part.

You see, Stainless has less tensile strenth than good steel, but it is a bear to cut.
Think on it. I had mine made at Rocky Mountain Wire Rope and Rigging,
Don't kid your self, fancy names and chrome are just frosting on the top.
I will try to get a picture, mine looks very, very nice, and its light.

Ny Cykel

Archibald is right, my son in law has one of those ever popular rechargable 3" grinder, cut it in about 45 seconds.

wiggles

My favorite anti-theft was simple, pure revenge. This is back in my teen years...

A kid stole my old bmx bike. The thing was a hunk of junk, single speed, backpedal breaks, etc. But god damn I loved it so much. It wasn't worth much, but still, it was my first bike. I had all my falls on that bike, I learned to ride on it. It was basically part of who I was as a rider. I was heartbroken when it got stolen.

So, I was lucky enough to find out who did it (he had a big mouth), and he only lived a mile or so away. So, I found his car at night during winter, and poured a 2 litre bottle of coca cola on the roof racks. It froze, but melted by morning. Along with the paint.

I figure, if he steals my bike, I can steal his car's paint job. I never did get the bike back, but I think I got the point across. I never had another bike stolen in my home town either

__________________
"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."

sogood

Surely they are not that good. Or there won't be any bicycle thefts to report...

__________________
Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

sogood

That's what the LBS guy told me in all honesty. He told me to forget about those commercial locks. Just go to a yachting place and ask them to make up something just like what you said and use it with a solid padlock. The weak link here could be the padlock...

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

brokenbikes

Having my DH bike stolen from my locked garage was a kick in the guts, to say the least. Miracle of miracles, I got it BACK a couple weeks later, and 2 of the 3 dropkicks that stole it are BACK in jail (for the same crimes that put them in there in the first place...)

I'd say the most effective anti bike theft device would be a vicious dog tied to it...




Hmmm, maybe something a little MORE vicious...

__________________
I love to ride my bikes... now if only I had some skill.....

www.weridebikes.com

Rockslayer

hmmmm what if you lock your bike properly like this?

mds2076

I keep all mine inside the house where I can see them...so far in the laundry, kitchen, computer room. Next one goes in the bedroom.
I do not let any of them out of my sight and if someone won't let me take my bike into their house they can go and get fucked.

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1995 Trek Y22
1996 Trek Y33
1997 Trek Y5
1998 Trek Y33
1998 Trek Y22
1999 Trek Y Superlite 200