Anyone Else Getting Paranoid About Bike Theft?

I know we are all probably aware that bike theft has seen a huge increase over the past few years, something which I've always tried to guard against as much as possible.

I've just been reading in our local paper about what must be a targeted bike theft, where £17,000 of bikes and equipment has been stolen from a private house by some toe rag(s), including a PInarello dogma 60.2. This bad news was topped off by a recent discussion with a copper who said if you think its bad now, wait until the clocks change! Just the kind of reassurance you need!

Fortunately, I've reduced my collection by a fair number but naturally I've kept the best. A couple are in the house, as many as I can get away with The rest are in a shed which is always locked. Its also covered by a security lamp and we have 2 dogs who go off like a box of fireworks if they hear something at night. We also live at the end of a road so its not easily approached without been seen. Even so, I'm thinking about adding a padlock, a shed alarm and fitting shackles inside the shed and chaining up the bikes.

A pretty sad state of affairs, but from my experience its never harmed to be a bit paranoid.

I had a Pinnacle Evo 2 cross country bike stolen a couple of years back from my parents house. It was about a year old, gutted.

My friend had his 24" DJ bike stolen and it was well locked up too, albeit outside chained to a bike locking area!

Im at uni at the moment and we currently have 5 bikes in the living room. 3 of one housemate, one of another and mine. They are all locked together. Our house was broken into last year, and my housemate lost his phone, ipod and laptop. Cant take any risks.

Funnily though, the houses either side of us were broken into on a "nearly" monthly basis last year. Yet its only happened to us once. maybe my knife wielding housemate scared them off for good!! :shock:

As long as the Rourke is inside you're OK! :shock:



On a slightly more serious note, have you thought about a 'sold secure' bike specific shed?
Also, I have heard it is a good idea to keep a sacrificial bike around that someone can take without too much difficulty.

I have had one of these for years.This chap is now two and a half years old.Weights in at 45 kg and he lives outside at night .
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74418119@N ... 4498264872

I added a movement and IR sensor to my garage which is another zone on the house alarm.

WORST THEFT I've encountered was on a club-run two years ago despite several bikes being locked together,
a transit van pulled up into our local cafe stop and opened the back doors and quite literally threw in a load of our bikes
and bloody drove off! We were unaware of this at that time but was told by an old guy who was parking up.

Van had no number plates fitted :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: and was never caught.

All my bikes are in the house which are locked up :roll:

It's a worry for sure, the time and money we tie up in our bikes.

Modern technology doesn't help; geotagged photos, strava/mapmyride/gps logged rides, ebay location details, facebook etc.

Facebook says you're at XYZ forest on your MTB, your GPS site says you went out from home and back on your road bike and they know you're not in!

I'm a Londoner and as a result I take no risks with bike security. LOTS of people are too complacent in my opinion and use pathetic locks and are then saddened when their pride and joy is stolen. I used to commute from Croydon and watched almost every bike chained up there get parts stripped off them at some point. Mine used to get tampered with at least once a week, basically scumbags checking out the locks for later. Even when the bike wasn't there, I used to leave my locks in place and they'd get tampered with, presumably so I might turn up with a smaller emergency lock that they could cut easily.

I urge anyone who uses their bike regularly to step back and look at their security. Seriously, if you think you can cut though it, a thief will do it for you.

Every lock has its weakness. It's just the way it is: D-locks can be prised open with a scissor jack, braids (even thick ones) can be cut with side-cutters, chains can be cropped with quite small hand croppers, locks can be picked. If you leave your bike somewhere all day every day then make sure you've got two locks on it. Two different locks so you need two different tools to cut them off or to be able to pick two different types of lock barrels. Get big fat OTT locks and they live where you park your bike because they're too heavy to carry.

DO NOT use quick release fasteners on your commuter. You DO NOT need them and they simply enable a thief to quickly take your wheels and saddle. Don't expect a braid to stop anything more than chancer, just swap it all for nutted or hex fittings.

For a few years now I've successfully used a D lock round a bike stand through the back wheel and frame, then a thick motorbike braid with a padlock style shackle to lock it. This goes round the bike stand and through the wheels and frame. Sounds excessive? Well it's the only bike there that has never been stolen or had anything taken off it and it takes 30 seconds to lock it all up.

Obviously don't advertise on the internet where you live and commute, but do think about locking your bikes to something sturdy at home too. If they're in the shed, have at least a good bracket bolted through the side of the shed that you can chain the bikes to. At home, again, you don't need to worry about the weight, so my only advice is get an excessively thick chain that will make your mates laugh.

If someone really wants something they will get it. Ultimately, a battery angle grinder will cut through even the best chain on the market in seconds and there's not much you can do about that. The best you can do is be the best locked up in the area and the thief will walk past and try it on someone else's bike.

firedfromthecircus":1rlahqqv said:

As long as the Rourke is inside you're OK! :shock:



On a slightly more serious note, have you thought about a 'sold secure' bike specific shed?
Also, I have heard it is a good idea to keep a sacrificial bike around that someone can take without too much difficulty.

Click to expand...

Yep the Rourke is always kept indoors and never left out of sight when I'm out

Jonny69":2kgx2p4n said:

enable a thief to quickly take your wheels and saddle.

Click to expand...

I agree with everything you've said. The majority are opportunists who will generally target the easiest to steal. One thing that I never realised until recently was how they are targeting Brooks saddles :shock:

Like the old saying, if it ain't nailed down, they'll have it away :?