The best bike Lock and how to use it properly

[kap]

Seacrest wrote:
ride a crappy looking bike.
works for me.

Funny, I was thinking of frankensteinizing (is this a word?) the bike myself.

[Mac1337]

In the end it comes down to how much weight in chains and locks you are willing to carry around.

[OWC Jamie]

My sister had her brand new bike stolen from the rack at the front main entrance to the mall. Noontime. Summer.
Actually, they stole the whole rack to get her bike. 4 bolts left sticking up out of the concrete.


Link and lock cutters aren't hard to find.
Anyone putting a keyed lock on a hasped door is now welding steel shrouds over the locking mechanism to thwart the lock cutters.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Black Landlord wrote:
Counterintuitive, but reviewing ~600 reports has shown that locking up in a place with lots of people around and eyes on the bike does not seem to afford more protection-- many many thefts happen in broad daylight, in places where there's no way the theft could not have been observed by someone (these are almost always cable lock thefts-- for the few that aren't, there's no way to eliminate user error).

How are bikes with cable locks stolen, bolt cutters on the lock or cable?

[Racer X]

Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
[quote=Black Landlord]
Counterintuitive, but reviewing ~600 reports has shown that locking up in a place with lots of people around and eyes on the bike does not seem to afford more protection-- many many thefts happen in broad daylight, in places where there's no way the theft could not have been observed by someone (these are almost always cable lock thefts-- for the few that aren't, there's no way to eliminate user error).

How are bikes with cable locks stolen, bolt cutters on the lock or cable?
Yes, cheap bolt cutters from Harbor Freight will do just fine. If you have 2 guys and a pickup truck, I'll bet you can be on your way in about 12 seconds. One drives while the other hops out, snips the cable, and tosses the bike in the bed and they speed off. You could do it with on eand take maybe 15 seconds.

And with the cordless impact wrenches they make these days, unbolting a bike rack from the concrete is pretty easy and quick.

The only 100% sure fire way to guarantee that no one can steal a bike from you is to not own one.

Heck, if someone wanted to steal your house they could. It would take some serious effort, but they could. An entire beach was stolen in the Carribean.

[kap]

Carrying two heavy duty U locks on a light weight aluminum bike isn't that bad. Again, the whole point is to discourage the thieves due to time consuming.

BL,
Do you have any statistic on stolen 'bents? Personally, I think their odd shapes alone is a strong deterrent.