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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

#121

Post by zimpenfish »

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…

Yeah, if I lock mine up anywhere in London (even in workplace bike stores), I always use three (different) locks. Faff and heavy to carry but, touch wood, no-one has stolen a bike of mine yet in 20 years.

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

#122

Post by pjmlp »

emaginniss wrote: post #109
pjmlp wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And finally, have your bike look used. That doesn't help, we used to joke with an aquaitance of mine that it was a miracle that his bike still worked, and he used to reply at least it wouldn't attract the attention of thieves, until the day he got stolen.

Were you ever able to find your acquaintance?

The bike, that is what I get by not proofreading.

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

#123

Post by jareklupinski »

henryaj wrote: post #111
Freak_NL wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These days not having an e-bike is probably one of the easiest deterrents. Next step seems to be to avoid design bikes like Van Moof. And finally, have your bike look used. Then again, my bike is probably not the first one they'll consider, given that it has a 70cm frame making it all but impossible to ride for anyone under 195cm (being 200cm myself). If you steal a bicycle you have to be able to sell it, and given t…

On the contrary, VanMoof promise to get your stolen bike back within two weeks or they replace it. Had mine stolen in London; they located it the same day and got it back to me the following week. Combined with an AirTag hidden discreetly in the frame and I'm unafraid of locking it up basically anywhere.

for a fee https://www.vanmoof.com/en-US/peace-of-mind

but i could see a world where I own two of these and not even bother locking them anywhere, just constantly get one 'stolen' while i ride the other, and cycle (ha) between the two?

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

#124

Post by spicybright »

henryaj wrote: post #111
Freak_NL wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These days not having an e-bike is probably one of the easiest deterrents. Next step seems to be to avoid design bikes like Van Moof. And finally, have your bike look used. Then again, my bike is probably not the first one they'll consider, given that it has a 70cm frame making it all but impossible to ride for anyone under 195cm (being 200cm myself). If you steal a bicycle you have to be able to sell it, and given t…

On the contrary, VanMoof promise to get your stolen bike back within two weeks or they replace it. Had mine stolen in London; they located it the same day and got it back to me the following week. Combined with an AirTag hidden discreetly in the frame and I'm unafraid of locking it up basically anywhere.

Wow, how does a company manage that? GPS? How do they have a legal right to determine who actually owns it?

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

#125

Post by spicybright »

fy20 wrote: post #35
aigo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I had a bike stolen 10 years ago from an underground garage, they just ignored the locks and cut through the rack

Had 2 stolen so far, cut the bike lock off. I buy my bikes around $50 each or fix up side of the road ones. Basically disposable, given that I enjoy the process of fixing.

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

#126

Post by spicybright »

usrusr wrote: post #82
aigo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Off topic, but this reminds me of that bit from Trailer Park Boys where they steal a rack. So good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODIkw4MAeVg

(language warning if you've never seen the show)

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

#127

Post by spicybright »

healeycodes wrote: post #41
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…

> It seems the only way to protect against theft is to ride an old bicycle. I like this blog on that topic: https://calpaterson.com/bicycle-threat-model.html > One father I know had his primary-school-age daughter "decorate" his commuting bicycle with girly stickers and pink glitter. If anyone examines his bicycle closely he looks like a complete loon but I think his motivation is right: it's going to be much less ap…

Bonus points, he'll get to embarrass her when she gets a bit older with it!

This is a good idea though. Anything that makes your bike identifiable is a good deterrent.

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

#128

Post by spicybright »

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.

If you want to lose even more faith in security, the Lock Picking Lawyer on youtube has videos of him opening/breaking into almost any kind of lock you can imagine.

https://www.youtube.com/c/lockpickinglawyer

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

#129

Post by trulyme »

jareklupinski wrote: post #123
henryaj wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, VanMoof promise to get your stolen bike back within two weeks or they replace it. Had mine stolen in London; they located it the same day and got it back to me the following week. Combined with an AirTag hidden discreetly in the frame and I'm unafraid of locking it up basically anywhere.

for a fee https://www.vanmoof.com/en-US/peace-of-mind but i could see a world where I own two of these and not even bother locking them anywhere, just constantly get one 'stolen' while i ride the other, and cycle (ha) between the two?

> We can only recover or replace a stolen bike if the Theft Defense system was armed and the Kick Lock was properly engaged when your bike was stolen.

They also recover the bike only up to three times in 3-year timespan. Still, sounds like a great service!

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

#130

Post by mbg721 »

trulyme wrote: post #129
jareklupinski wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

for a fee https://www.vanmoof.com/en-US/peace-of-mind but i could see a world where I own two of these and not even bother locking them anywhere, just constantly get one 'stolen' while i ride the other, and cycle (ha) between the two?

> We can only recover or replace a stolen bike if the Theft Defense system was armed and the Kick Lock was properly engaged when your bike was stolen. They also recover the bike only up to three times in 3-year timespan. Still, sounds like a great service!

That sounds like two more times than anybody else would recover it.
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