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I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

cyclingtips.com

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Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#81

Post by BrandoElFollito »

josefresco wrote: post #74
ThePhysicist wrote: post #26

Slightly off topic, but I think bike thieves are becoming more and more professional recently. Here in Berlin many now use small cordless screwdrivers with a custom gearing mechanism that operates a bolt-cutter. With that they can even cut through thick steel-bar type bike locks in a few seconds, without making any noise. I saw that in a police report lately but I can't find a link with a photo of the device now, unf…

Two (lame) lock stories below: We inherited a bike with a cable bike lock around the handlebars. The local bike shop was able to cut through it easily with bolt cutters. My truck came with a locking hitch. I recently forgot my keys and a family member pried it off with a crowbar in 10 seconds. Security theater.

I locked my bike at th eoffice and lost the key. Went to security, they gave me a bolt cutter.

That was the first (and only) time in my life I used a bolt cutter and it took me maybe 30 seconds to cut the cable. Now it would have been 10 seconds because I know where to cut.

I would not say that thi sis security theater, it is to avoid the passer-by who would steal your bike on a whim. I have no idea what percentage of thiefs this is .

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#82

Post by usrusr »

aigo wrote: post #27
ThePhysicist wrote: post #26

Slightly off topic, but I think bike thieves are becoming more and more professional recently. Here in Berlin many now use small cordless screwdrivers with a custom gearing mechanism that operates a bolt-cutter. With that they can even cut through thick steel-bar type bike locks in a few seconds, without making any noise. I saw that in a police report lately but I can't find a link with a photo of the device now, unf…

We have had this level of professionalism in London for some time now. It's not necessarily true that you must ride an older, uglier bike, though this will work. All that is needed is to be the least stealable bicycle in the rack. In my case this means two locks of different kinds. It's a big deterrent and they will move on to other, easier targets. If you can avoid being the lowest hanging fruit, you will probably b…

> All that is needed is to be the least stealable bicycle in the rack.

So true. Many people seem to imagine bike locks as an arms race between owners and thieves, but it's an arms race between owners and other owners. The role of thieves in that arms race is more like that of a judge than like that of a participant. Well, unless they refuse acting in that role and just pick up the entire rack...

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#83

Post by globular-toast »

kuschku wrote: post #75
globular-toast wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erm.. my non-e-bike costs well over a thousand euros! But I guess e-bikes have made "normal" people consider spending that much money on a bike. People into biking have always been spending this much money on bikes although oddly it seems to surprise many people, even though they'll happily pay 10x that for a car that requires fossil fuel to do anything.

As someone who never owned a car or drivers license, and who has been cycling for her whole life: no, thousands of euros for a regular bicycle is not normal.

I didn't say thousands actually (also specifically said it wasn't normal). It's just that I own a fairly mid-high end road bike (that I bought 10 years ago) that cost more than €1000. I used to ride a road bike that cost around €800 as my commuter bike until it got stolen. The quality at this price point is definitely worth it, with diminishing returns above it. I would strongly recommend upgrading to a road or town bike at this price point as it's such a huge improvement and will last you decades.

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#84

Post by usrusr »

kuschku wrote: post #75
globular-toast wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erm.. my non-e-bike costs well over a thousand euros! But I guess e-bikes have made "normal" people consider spending that much money on a bike. People into biking have always been spending this much money on bikes although oddly it seems to surprise many people, even though they'll happily pay 10x that for a car that requires fossil fuel to do anything.

As someone who never owned a car or drivers license, and who has been cycling for her whole life: no, thousands of euros for a regular bicycle is not normal.

Meanwhile, for enthusiast bikes, 10k€ has stopped being exotic. I do blame it on e-bikes, because enthusiasts will happily pay whatever is required to distance themselves from whatever the average consumer does.

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#85

Post by analog31 »

ThePhysicist wrote: post #26

Slightly off topic, but I think bike thieves are becoming more and more professional recently. Here in Berlin many now use small cordless screwdrivers with a custom gearing mechanism that operates a bolt-cutter. With that they can even cut through thick steel-bar type bike locks in a few seconds, without making any noise. I saw that in a police report lately but I can't find a link with a photo of the device now, unf…

My bike is protected by anti-theft aesthetics (tm). Also, parking next to nicer bikes with less secure locks. This really hit me when I got said bike from an auction, it had a cable lock attached to it, and when I got it home, the cable lock was gone in about 15 seconds based on comments I had read in a web forum.

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#86

Post by nathanm412 »

namdnay wrote: post #69
executesorder66 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> cordless screwdrivers Do screwdrivers typically have cords? And if so, what for?

Probably not a native English speaker. They mean a cordless driver/drill

Electric screwdrivers with not much more torque than a human hand can apply are pretty common and small. They spin much faster than I can turn a screwdriver and stop before they can strip any screw. With the right gearing and modification, I can see one easily cut through a bike lock.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=cordless+screwdriver&iax=sh...

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#87

Post by kuschku »

globular-toast wrote: post #83
kuschku wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who never owned a car or drivers license, and who has been cycling for her whole life: no, thousands of euros for a regular bicycle is not normal.

I didn't say thousands actually (also specifically said it wasn't normal). It's just that I own a fairly mid-high end road bike (that I bought 10 years ago) that cost more than €1000. I used to ride a road bike that cost around €800 as my commuter bike until it got stolen. The quality at this price point is definitely worth it, with diminishing returns above it. I would strongly recommend upgrading to a road or town…

I’d honestly consider 800€ already enthusiast grade, but I’m interested. What does your 800€ bicycle have that mine doesn’t have?

For reference, I’m currently using https://www.boc24.de/p/bocas-bari-trapez/217333/ (which I bought at 320€ on sale) with some changes (B&M 100 lux front light, seat post with suspension), and I don’t think I’d get any major improvements with other changes.

Due to cycling in city traffic, I need to be able to instantly switch gears at standstill, so a derailleur would be a downgrade compared to the hub gearing I’ve got, and upgraded hub dynamos would bring me just 2-5% more performance, which isn’t really useful.

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#88

Post by kuschku »

usrusr wrote: post #84
kuschku wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who never owned a car or drivers license, and who has been cycling for her whole life: no, thousands of euros for a regular bicycle is not normal.

Meanwhile, for enthusiast bikes, 10k€ has stopped being exotic. I do blame it on e-bikes, because enthusiasts will happily pay whatever is required to distance themselves from whatever the average consumer does.

It’s honestly entirely foreign to me, I grew up in an environment where everyone cycled, but that meant most bikes were somewhere between omafiets (old, used bikes) and very cheap mass produced bikes. To me a bicycle is a mode of transportation, not a sports device or a lifestyle product.

What would they even do with such a bike?

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#89

Post by lr1970 »

My anti-theft device is my Brompton foldable bike. It folds down to a small package in 10 seconds and I take it with me anywhere I go including buses, trains, etc. It came with a nice black zipper cover. One cannot see that there is a bike inside. This helps with some pesky ticket masters on trains.

Re: I became the internet’s most notorious bike thief

#90

Post by pjc50 »

kuschku wrote: post #88
usrusr wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile, for enthusiast bikes, 10k€ has stopped being exotic. I do blame it on e-bikes, because enthusiasts will happily pay whatever is required to distance themselves from whatever the average consumer does.

It’s honestly entirely foreign to me, I grew up in an environment where everyone cycled, but that meant most bikes were somewhere between omafiets (old, used bikes) and very cheap mass produced bikes. To me a bicycle is a mode of transportation, not a sports device or a lifestyle product. What would they even do with such a bike?

Like NFTs, the important question is not "what can you do with it" but "how much did you spend on it". It's a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
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