Stopping your bike getting nicked

[andyoxon]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/2010/sep/13/bike-thief-stolen-tips
Bike thief tells how to stop your cycle from being stolen

Owners of bikes costing more than a few hundred quid should always take them indoors. Whenever Aziz's crack dealer got wind of an expensive bike locked up in the area he would send Aziz out to fetch it. Thieves also watch where expensive bike are regularly parked. For anyone with outdoor parking, he recommends riding a cheaper bike.

 

...for high risk areas I guess.    In Oxford (or certain areas of oxfordshire towns), I just wouldn't leave a bike of any significant 'value' to me locked & unattended.  Have an old, non-attractive road bike for leaving outside shops/restaurants/pubs etc., for any length of time.

[Brucey]

this is absolutely my strategy.  However it means that I end up doing most of my miles on a pretty rotten looking bike.  I am concerned that it will look 'good enough to nick' whenever it gets painted or otherwise titivated.

cheers

[De Sisti]

Mudguards, rack, some road scuzz (I never knowingly cleaned it), and having a small frame bike have probably been effective.

I figure, without having any evidence but this is the internet, that there are three types of thieves. The amateur opportunists who just see a random bike that they like and have the means to take it, or the more professional types who will either target high-value bikes or simple rely on bulk. A friend of mine lost her Halfords piece-of-shit (which tbh, she was happy about, it had unresolvable gear commitment issues, and the handlebars worked loose every other day). That wasn't stolen purposefully, it only cost about £90 and wasn't close to being worth that. It was born for the back of the garage.

She did get that back*, and it was a bulk theft, there was a house up the road whose garden was filled with bicycles. The best way for bikes not to get nicked, of course, would be for people to stop buying stolen bikes.

*no initial thanks to the Met, who first raid was foiled by the fact the miscreant didn't answer the door when they politely knocked.

What's the third type?

[mzjo]

There is one thing not mentioned but which I am sure has directed the choice of thieves on at least one occasion that I know of and that is having automatic pedals, double-sided and without platforms. in the case I am thinking of in fact they were usable with ordinary shoes because they were Look free arc pedals that had a built-in platform but it was enough to probably point the thieves in the direction of my hideous Raleigh mbso and my neighbour's mixte frame utility bike with it's 5s gears and dt friction shifter (value near zero, except that it was his only work transport!).
If I wanted to go a bit further it would be my Micro Look pedals that are crap and for which the cleats are no longer available. Of course it wouldn't sway the decision of a professional but it would help to dissuade a casual thief.
The real pro will have your pride and joy even if it is safely locked away inside at home or in a garage (given the price and portability of certain folders this is quite a consideration; portability cuts both ways!). 

[ian]

Mudguards, rack, some road scuzz (I never knowingly cleaned it), and having a small frame bike have probably been effective.

I figure, without having any evidence but this is the internet, that there are three types of thieves. The amateur opportunists who just see a random bike that they like and have the means to take it, or the more professional types who will either target high-value bikes or simple rely on bulk. A friend of mine lost her Halfords piece-of-shit (which tbh, she was happy about, it had unresolvable gear commitment issues, and the handlebars worked loose every other day). That wasn't stolen purposefully, it only cost about £90 and wasn't close to being worth that. It was born for the back of the garage.

She did get that back*, and it was a bulk theft, there was a house up the road whose garden was filled with bicycles. The best way for bikes not to get nicked, of course, would be for people to stop buying stolen bikes.

*no initial thanks to the Met, who first raid was foiled by the fact the miscreant didn't answer the door when they politely knocked.

What's the third type?

Sorry, individual opportunists, selective professionals (stealing high value bikes), and bulk-stealing professionals (emptying racks into the back of their van).

I'm not sure about the clipless pedals, it's not unusual to see such equipped bikes in London being ridden, if somewhat awkwardly, by people without the requisite footwear.

[Kim]

I'm not sure about the clipless pedals, it's not unusual to see such equipped bikes in London being ridden, if somewhat awkwardly, by people without the requisite footwear.

Indeed.  I'm sure we've all had reason to ride a bike without the right shoes on occasion, and while it's far from confidence-inspiring, it's usually okay for "Can I have a go mate?" purposes or riding round the block to see if your latest fettling attempt has been successful.  I don't see why it wouldn't be perfectly sufficient to get a bit of distance from the scene of the crime.

Also, I note that non-cyclists are often completely unaware of the concept of clipless pedals, as evidenced by the not-uncommon remarks that the pedals on my recumbent are "a bit small".  I'm sure that many of the opportunist thieves are similarly ignorant.

[grams]

A friend had his brakeless track bike stolen and found it abandoned a short distance away, which he attributes to the thief being unable to ride it.

[orienteer]

How about removable pedals like MKS, would thieves notice the lack of pedals before they nicked it?

[Rupert]

I was thinking about purchasing a Tracker and installing it inside the frame via the B/B.  Surprised it hasnt been mentioned (yet). Has anyone tried one?

[hatler]

Does anyone do the name and address card stuffed up the handlebar end (other than me) ?

[hatler]

I was thinking about purchasing a Tracker and installing it inside the frame via the B/B.  Surprised it hasnt been mentioned (yet). Has anyone tried one?

Nope. I think that business model suffers from the "It won't happen to me" effect.

[Kim]

How about removable pedals like MKS, would thieves notice the lack of pedals before they nicked it?

They'd probably notice when they tried to ride off on it, at least.  Assuming of course they weren't just going to chuck it in the back of a van.

[Kim]

Does anyone do the name and address card stuffed up the handlebar end (other than me) ?

I wrap my name and address around the bottom bracket cartridge when I've had reason to remove it.  Same principle.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Remember Charlotte and Julian's Sekrit Bunkrr was raided while they were away? Their bikes were found in the hands of an LBS where they were being done up for sale. So name and address in the frame is a bit like saying "More nice stuff at this address."

[ian]

The 'operation' near us was selling them in bulk to markets and bike shops (and I can only assume they knew full well what they were buying). They didn't care what they were stealing. Everything from Halford's specials through little kids' bikes to a tandem. Apparently, they were collecting them in the garden until they had enough to fill a Luton van. The little scrote and his delightful friends had emptied our bike shed (my bike was in our shed). I wouldn't mind, but you could see the stuff he'd nicked by peering over the fence.

Unfortunately for him, he nicked my neighbour's kids' bikes. Our neighbour was about seven feet tall and evidently made a persuasive argument for the return of the contents of our bike shed.

The Met finally stopped knocking and raided the house less politely. I'm not sure much happened to the thief, other than he disappeared. His parents, who had failed to notice forty bikes in the back garden (or the pile of sawn-off DVLC clamps), were apparently prison officers.

[quixoticgeek]

I wrap my name and address around the bottom bracket cartridge when I've had reason to remove it.  Same principle.

How do you do the label? I've been planning to do this on the next BB service.

I was thinking about purchasing a Tracker and installing it inside the frame via the B/B.  Surprised it hasnt been mentioned (yet). Has anyone tried one?

The problem with a tracker, is that unless your bike is made of Bamboo, it's basically a Faraday cage... Then you have to remember to keep it charged.

I've been thinking about adding a tracker, but have yet to work out a good way to do so.

J

[Kim]

I wrap my name and address around the bottom bracket cartridge when I've had reason to remove it.  Same principle.

How do you do the label? I've been planning to do this on the next BB service.

Laser printed paper sandwiched between two layers of weatherproof transparent (think one step down from 'helicopter') tape.  It's what I had to hand that seemed least likely to turn into an unreadable mess when wet.

Laminated label printer tape (the outdoor-rated stuff) would be even better.


Cudzo's point is an interesting one.  I suppose it comes down to whether the bike gets sold on as-is (in which case being able to prove ownership is potentially useful) or stripped for parts.  I doubt anyone's going to remove a bottom bracket unless they really need to, though, where a bar-end is likely to come off to remove the controls.  Of course, you could just put a phone number or email address or something that doesn't identify a physical location.

To the one-up-from-opportunist crim, having stolen something is surely advertisement enough for more goods at the same address, as long as you wait long enough for insurance to do its thing.  We're damned if we do, damned if we don't.

[Cudzoziemiec]

To the one-up-from-opportunist crim, having stolen something is surely advertisement enough for more goods at the same address, as long as you wait long enough for insurance to do its thing.  We're damned if we do, damned if we don't.

But if they've stolen it off the street, they don't that address. Even if they've stolen it from a Sekrit Bunker, they don't necessarily know the address of the associated dwelling.

Of course, you could just put a phone number or email address or something that doesn't identify a physical location.

Seems to do the job on both counts. 

[Cudzoziemiec]

Also, how effective do people think those "Bike Register" and similar stickers are?

[Kim]

Also, how effective do people think those "Bike Register" and similar stickers are?

They're (along with the associated frame marking) worth the price I paid for them.

[ian]

Also, how effective do people think those "Bike Register" and similar stickers are?

You do occasionally get the bike back if the police stumble on a garden full of them. I'm not sure they stop people nicking them, otherwise they wouldn't be piled up in someone's back garden in the first place.

[mzjo]

Hang the buggers by the short and curlies over the city gate until the crows have picked out their vitals. Doesn't deter them much of course but it does at least provide a bit of sadistic relief to the long suffering cyclist! Bicycle theft, one of those crimes for which I would willingly bring back capital punishment

[Pickled Onion]

A friend had his brakeless track bike stolen and found it abandoned a short distance away, which he attributes to the thief being unable to ride it.

Stop me if I've told you this story before... in the 1980s I was working as a cycle courier, in the days when everyone rode an "ATB" and hipster fixed riders were not yet a thing. I was in Leicester Sq waiting for the next job, chatting to another rider and some little scrote walked up and was looking at the other rider's bike. When I pointed this out, he calmly said "wait, and watch". The scrote jumped on the bike, got halfway across the square, failed to find the brakes, tried to stop pedalling and found himself thrown to the ground in an embarrassing heap. The guy wandered over, picked up his bike while the scrote shouted "You fahkking keep it mate, it's a fahkking deff-trap, I ortta fahkking sue you!"

[fd3]

How about removable pedals like MKS, would thieves notice the lack of pedals before they nicked it?

Once parts are missing from a bike the vultures start circling. 

[Rupert]

I always try and keep my bike within eyesight and dont always lock it if I can see it.  That is not always possible though.

I was in a cafe at one time and a plain white van pulled up right next to where my bike was.  The driver got out and opened the side loading door.  I was expecting my (locked) bike to be loaded into the van and although I could have quickly got outside to rescue my bike, I just wrote the number plate down on a piece of paper instead.  In the end though, the driver just walked away from my bike and all was well. Thankfully I am lucky enough to know someone who has direct access to the DVLA database so a quick phone call can soon get me the information I need to trace any vehicle and has been useful more than once in the past.