Two dimensional bike security

[nuttycyclist]

...
I hate this situation.  The cyclist inside me just cannot accept that I'm going to have to let this go, but I really don't know what more I can do.
HELP!

Every day, when you see the bike, lift the lock off the bollard and replace it on a bollard 3 bollards away.  Just far enough that he knows the bike is being moved.

[ian]

I spent several minutes with him pointing out the sheffield stands less than 100 metres in either direction.  I showed him how to shorten his cable by wrapping several times round his top tube if he really wanted to lock to that bollard. 
He grinned at me a lot. 

Some people have a loose reality interface. I used to work with a guy like this. I'd tell him to do something, explaining it carefully, and he'd grin and nod enthusiastically throughout. And then go and do something else. I'd ask him why, he'd shrug. Eventually had to fire him, and he just grinned and went back to his desk. He did win the office's most-likely-to-be-a-serial-killer award several times. Unchallenged.

Anyway, you can jiggle the interface and you might get through, but I wouldn't expect it.

Possibly, of course, he's just relying on the horrid colour scheme to put off any potential thief. It's put me off.

[fuzzy]

Insurance job- trying to get it nicked to claim over inflated valuation and buy better bike.

'But I DID lock it to solid street furniture!"

[TimO]

Insurance job- trying to get it nicked to claim over inflated valuation and buy better bike.

'But I DID lock it to solid street furniture!"

I'm not sure an insurer would accept that without some evidence, like a cut lock.

[Wowbagger]

Insurance job- trying to get it nicked to claim over inflated valuation and buy better bike.

'But I DID lock it to solid street furniture!"

I'm not sure an insurer would accept that without some evidence, like a cut lock.

You could always cut a lock off someone else's bike and use that as evidence... 

[itsme]

Did he have a key for the lock?  If not then he wouldn't be able to do much more than pretend to lock the bike to a bollard (other than buying a lock of course).

[marna]

I'm not sure an insurer would accept that without some evidence, like a cut lock.

My insurance says that it's happy with a broken lock, or the receipt for the lock. (Or possibly the key for the lock will also do - I can't remember.)

[rower40]

Maybe he stole the bike in the first place.  Easy Come, Easy Go...

[Basil]

I did worry at one point that I was interfering with some sort of sting opperation.

BTW  It wasn't there today.

[Tourist Tony]

Was the lock?

[donpedro]

[Cudzoziemiec]

How long does the guy leave it there for? Is it there all day or only for 10 minutes at a time? Of course we know it would only take 10 seconds to knick that bike, but no doubt the owner feels secure. And that's what's important, innit?

Slightly off topic, I happened to be in my local police station last night (a story for another time, I haven't been a naughty boy, not really, though my son did take a fancy to the chief inspector's jasmine garland) and there on the wall was a board with crime statistics for the area. Last year 60 motorbikes were stolen, 14 cars, but only 3 bicycles. 

[Basil]

How long does the guy leave it there for? Is it there all day or only for 10 minutes at a time? Of course we know it would only take 10 seconds to knick that bike, but no doubt the owner feels secure. And that's what's important, innit?

Two - three hours in the middle of the day, which is why I tend to see it at lunch time.

[Pete]

Interestingly, only one of the locks is actually hooked round anything other than the bike (the butterfly stand at the extreme right of the picture) .... 

Mind you, that lot probably weighs a ton or two...

[ABlipInContinuity]

Interestingly, only one of the locks is actually hooked round anything other than the bike (the butterfly stand at the extreme right of the picture) .... 

Mind you, that lot probably weighs a ton or two...

My partner (bike geek that she is threatening to be ) spotted an unlocked bike just by Manchester Piccadilly gardens. She though someone must have stolen it, rode it there and left it. It was leant on a sheffield stand next to a bike with no wheels.

It was an Apollo BMX in good condition.

In hindsight I think she was right and we should have taken it to a police station. Doing that didn't occur to me at the time. 

[Basil]

I'd not seen the bike since the last picture, so I assumed it had either been nicked at last or the owner was no longer visiting.

But lo, it is there again today and guess what?
Not only does the cable actually pass through the frame, but it is also wraped several times around the top tube in order to shorten it.

By George, I think he's got it!   

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

This



is just up the road from me. I've left a note written on the only bit of paper I had (a ticket to last night's performance of Eurobeat) pointing out it would be very easy to just lift the cable over the handlebars and take the bike away.

[Basil]

I've resurrected this old thread as there is this bike that is often parked near my work and it is annoying me.


To steal this bike.
1) Undo QR
2) Lift forks through lock.
To add front wheel to your swag
3) Using a spoke key, undo the 4 spokes.
or
3a) Snip the 4 spokes, take wheel to LBS and get them replaced.

[rachel t]

I've resurrected this old thread as there is this bike that is often parked near my work and it is annoying me.


To steal this bike.
1) Undo QR
2) Lift forks through lock.
To add front wheel to your swag
3) Using a spoke key, undo the 4 spokes.
or
3a) Snip the 4 spokes, take wheel to LBS and get them replaced.

4) acquire an unlocked QR front wheel front from a nearby bike & ride away

[SlowCoach]

I'm not sure what the fuss is about. I regularly see a Surly long haul trucker complete with S & S split couplings on one of my local cycle racks. Sometimes it has a £5 cable lock holding it there - sometimes the cable lock is through the front wheel.

I always take the opportunity to lock my bike on the other side of the Sheffield stand. I'm happy in the knowledge that no-one is going to bust my D lock and street cuff when the Surly is there for the picking.

The interesting thing is that there have been several bike thefts there recently. The thief's modus operandi is to go down to the indoor market and buy a hacksaw from the hardware stall if he sees something interesting. He then hacksaws through the locks with his back to the cctv cameras the whole time and his hood up. There's been a vintage Claud Butler, a Galaxy and a Specialized Allez nicked to my knowledge - so its not the bling bso that gets nicked. I reckon the owner of the Surley must lead a charmed life. To add insult to injury - the set of bike racks is immediately opposite the front door of the City Police Station.

[drossall]

My Mum's bike, from when she was a kid, just had a steering lock.  Apparently she cycled it away more than once, forgetting to unlock it, with predictable crashing results!

When I was a kid, I forgot the cheap chain lock I had put on before I went into a shop, and rode away.

The lock just broke with no effect on me whatever...

[greenmeansgo]

I'm not sure what the fuss is about. I regularly see a Surly long haul trucker complete with S & S split couplings on one of my local cycle racks. Sometimes it has a £5 cable lock holding it there - sometimes the cable lock is through the front wheel.

I always take the opportunity to lock my bike on the other side of the Sheffield stand. I'm happy in the knowledge that no-one is going to bust my D lock and street cuff when the Surly is there for the picking.

I subscribe to this school of thought also. It's playing the game of having the most securely locked up/ bike value ratio compared to the bikes in the vicinity. All the people I know who have left bikes locked up and had them stolen, have used cable locks. They're just too easy to get through with bolt cutters.

[Basil]

Thread resurrected yet again.
This time I was the idiot.  I came out of Bournville library today to find this.



Oops. 

Well, it had been a long day on trains and stuff. 

[Polar Bear]

Lady luck sure did smile upon you today then.   Glad that you still have the bike.   

[Kim]

Not seen this thread before (it was before my time), hilarious and tragic in equal doses.

Thread resurrected yet again.
This time I was the idiot.  I came out of Bournville library today to find this.

That lock's way too sturdy for Birmingham, good thinking to make up for it by not attaching to the bike.  I expect you'll be purchasing the obligatory Poundland cable lock in the morning.