Bicycle Locks

[MikeSSS]

Back in the early 70's we lived in Austin, TX. A friend of a friend, a teen, had his motorcycle stolen. He found out who had it, another teen. The owner of the MC called the Austin PD, they came to the home where the MC was, saw who had it and decided to do nothing. The teen who had the stolen motorcycle was the son of a man who was prominent in Liberal politics, so his son could keep the stolen motorcycle. The owner got to keep the monthly payments for the motorcycle.

That's Austin back in the day and probably no different today. If the owner of the motorcycle had made a big deal out of it, the Austin PD would have dealt with him harshly.

We loved Austin in many ways, but the banana republic city government and PD were not things to love. The mean spirited, judgmental, intolerant, silly, frivolous and stupid culture really degraded the Austin life experience. That said, it was a good place for bicycling, motorcycling and sailing.

Just because you find your stuff and the thief doesn't mean you get it back.

 

[MadRhino]

Have bought Abus Granit X-Plus 540 and I think one of the best that I have it

Medieval weapon.
Swinging it on the remain of a 4ft chain, chasing some bike thief.

 

[miro13car]

I use ABUS bicycle lock on both my ebikes.
What was not mention here are completely different situation in all retail , big stores with all that extra personnel- guards, security because of covid19.
before I easly rolled my ebikes into Wallmart, Superstore where shopping carts are here in Calgary.
now they will not allow me.
leaving bikes outside in plain view is scary

 

[MoneyPit]

Make it easier to steal a car than your bike.

Pragmasis long-link chains are 'better' than chains with shorter links as weight-per-meter is less purely due to the longer links(fewer crosslinks). They are still heavy but less so than a comparable shorter link chain.

The long shackle 16mm DIB U lock attaches the wheel to the rack. The short one locking the wheel to the frame in back is just a backup... the chain has a noose link so only one u lock is actually needed. All this is good for about 4 minutes against an angle grinder, which is about 3 1/2 minutes longer than most locks. And its pretty pricey. But the bike cost one hell of a lot more than that so its worth it to me on a bike that gets locked up outside of shops all the time.

 

[miro13car]

bike parked inside shop, between doors for example is far less visable for thieves driving around looking for bikes.
and yes bike theft is not so random , often organized gangs.

 

[999zip999]

Just mate two phase wires together and lock up the rear end so he's think there's something wrong or put a note on it and say my battery is gone the motor shot. Yes locked up with the homeless look.
It may not be a good idea because after you have a house fire or water damage you have neighbors you never seen before helping themselves to your stuff out front when you're just trying to let it dry out or just trying to see what you have you can't leave it alone not overnight no or the first night. in California there's one fireman that wears a yellow hat that works for the fire department he has a gun what for to shoot looters and arsons.

 

[LewTwo]

I think most of the thieves in Houston are only interested if it has dually rear wheels

 

[Chalo]

I think most of the thieves in Houston are only interested if it dually rear wheels

Elbow wheels.

 

[markz]

Bling bling
eye catching

Cinder blocks come free, minus your wheels

I think most of the thieves in Houston are only interested if it dually rear wheels

Elbow wheels.

 

[LewTwo]

Cinder blocks come free, minus your wheels

LOL ....They do not waste money on cinder blocks ... a guy in our complex came out one morning last month to find is truck sitting with its hubs on the ground and those fancy 'locking' lug nuts laying on the ground next to it.

 

[markz]

Ya well he got off lucky, I watched an episode of The First 48 on cable TV, the case was probably out of Tulsa where a fella had nice looking big rims, sadly that owner paid the ultimate price.

Cinder blocks come free, minus your wheels

LOL ....They do not waste money on cinder blocks ... a guy in our complex came out one morning last month to find is truck sitting with its hubs on the ground and those fancy 'locking' lug nuts laying on the ground next to it.

 

[TDB]

Four Kryptonite U-locks to secure my bike and trailer combination. Making it too much hassle. Two alarms, concealed tracker plus a new old iphone that was a brand new warranty replacement six months ago.

Extruded electronics boxes (same as used for controllers) with a few drilled holes are a convenient way to protect an alarm from a hit to disable.

Always locked up in a very public area with plenty of foot traffic. Bike security 101. If that is not safe(r) then nowhere is.

I wonder as 5G takes over and mobile sims become data only devices (all voice will just be treated like data) that tiny hidden GPS 5G sim only gadget tracking plans will become cheap and viable.

Right now if you want to get a 4G/5G device to track your stuff its pretty expensive where I live.
Tiny hidden GPS gadgets that you could hide in your seat tube that draw power from your battery pack or have a battery inside them to last a considerable amount of time could be the answer in the future.
I hate recharging my bike externals, so I have my ebike battery wired into my front and back lights.

Everytime I go looking at them I decide they are too expensive or the gadget is too large or the price to keep them on a mobile network is too expensive to bother, but all these variables will change over time. It might even be worth while for some folks with bigger budgets now.

EDIT/ADD
I just googled around and found this plan for $5 a month for 4G GPS+data tracking, just have to make sure the device I buy uses less than 333mb a month.
https://www.cmobile.com.au/plans/c-red-5-gps-tracking-plan/

The gadgets on ebay etc that are cheap are "GSM/GPRS/2G" only but they also say 3G/4G but all the reviews say they don't work on 3G and 4G networks. In Australia 2G is gone and 3G bands are being transferred to 5G.
So looks like I would be better off concealing an old mobile 4G phone into my bike that would auto load up some tracker app than anything else.

I'm using this with a Optus long life sim. I burn up excess data on other things.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001834880994.html.
Seller takes the time to ensure the right bands for Australia. I got the right one at least. Most sellers don't have a clue.

The tracker has motion detection and will let me know if it is disturbed and the battery is good for about a month. There are plenty of places to hide it on my bike. I usually have my little dog with me and hide it in his dog house.
I also have an iPhone 7 hidden between layers in the dog house. Built in "Find My" app is accurate and responsive.

 

[onemorejoltwarden]

Chains/ locks are BS. ALL they provide is delay.
Systems prevent theft, not hardware.
I often use a cable lock that I can cut with scissors, but eyeballs connected to a brain.
At work , a fugitaboutit left on the bike rack, or no lock next to my desk.
If I have to defend my stuff, I do.
Not by proxy.
Why do folks think their proxies, chains, locks, police , insurance, substitute for the real thing?

 

[Chalo]

Any lock does the same thing: buys you some time for a thief to decide your bike isn't worth the trouble. You can work this principle from both ends. A strong lock means more trouble. But on the other hand, a weird/ugly/unusual size/hard to understand bike means less worth to a thief.

The worst thing you can do to risk theft is to ride a new-looking bike of a currently fashionable type. If your kind of bike appeals to dumb materialistic folks, well... thieves are dumb and materialistic. They'll go to lengths to get it.

https://www.fox7austin.com/news/thieves-drive-pick-up-truck-through-austin-bike-shop

 

[onemorejoltwarden]

@Chalo
"If you want to be happy for the rest of your life
Never make a pretty woman your wife.
No, from my personal point of view
Get an ugly girl to marry you."
https://youtu.be/6EqFVWzOfN8

Damn, but they're all pretty.
Now If I can just take care of them right....

 

[TDB]

Yep, we all know a determined thief will get past any measures we put in place.

The goal is to discourage them as best we can.