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What happens to your bike after it’s stolen

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Re: What happens to your bike after it’s stolen

#41

Post by bike_index »

zht wrote: post #7

So what is the solution to bikes getting stolen? It seems like we cannot really make locks that are cheap enough to manufacture to prevent thieves from stealing bikes/harvesting them for parts. Do we put GPS trackers on all bikes? Can we enforce harsher punishment for bike thieves?

Register your bike. https://bikeindex.org

We've successfully recovered thousands of bikes (three in the past two days!). We've made it easy to id stolen bikes, and more difficult to sell stolen bikes - which makes ultimately bike theft less appealing.

GPS trackers are great - but unfortunately, they have yet to meet these vital requirements: easy to charge, difficult to remove, waterproof, cheap enough to put on everyone's bikes.

Re: What happens to your bike after it’s stolen

#42

Post by witten »

_nullandnull_ wrote: post #31
zht wrote: post #7

So what is the solution to bikes getting stolen? It seems like we cannot really make locks that are cheap enough to manufacture to prevent thieves from stealing bikes/harvesting them for parts. Do we put GPS trackers on all bikes? Can we enforce harsher punishment for bike thieves?

> Routinely opened with a Bic pen jammed into the keyhole (from the article). This one model of locks. That was fixed in 2004. The whole first paragraph is fluff. The author does not know how bikes are actually stolen. I had a nice bike and lived in NYC. I used the New York Fahgettaboudit Mini [1] and a small cheap chain for the front wheel. The Fahgettaboudit has anti-theft protection up to $4,500 in US. If you are…

Honest question: Do you know anyone who has successfully redeemed the Kryptonite anti-theft protection?

Re: What happens to your bike after it’s stolen

#43

Post by bike_index »

erispoe wrote: post #6

I wonder to what extend the intensity of bike theft will incentivize bike users to buy and use bikes of low value. I have conflicting anecdotal experiences about this. I lived in Rotterdam, where bike theft is intense, but where people usually ride cheap bikes every day, and where you know you can buy a cheap bike to someone in the street, for a price as low a ten euros. Bikes are a cheap commodity in Rotterdam. In S…

As someone who doesn't have a car and is broke, investing in my bike makes a lot of sense - public transit costs 100/month[1], my transportation bike cost 800$ and my yearly cost to maintain it is 100$ (tires, tube, chain). Therefore, in the first year, I save money.

My bike is fast and convenient for getting around, which makes it a reasonable alternative to other transportation methods (it's faster than traveling by car within the city limits of Chicago).

In contrast, a ~100$ bike is much slower and more expensive to maintain. Suggesting only fools ride nice bikes is short sighted.

We need to make bike theft less profitable instead of telling everyone to ride shitty, impractical bikes.

[1] in Chicago - http://www.transitchicago.com/travel_information/fares/unlim...

Re: What happens to your bike after it’s stolen

#45

Post by thrownaway2424 »

dreamdu5t wrote: post #34

This article is incorrect. Kryptonite U-Locks cannot be picked with a bic pen. That hasn't been the case since 2005. That was only a certain model, and once made public they fixed it and offered free replacements.

"Certain model" means literally every Kryptonite U-lock, except for the New York series, made prior to 2005.

Re: What happens to your bike after it’s stolen

#46

Post by jschwartzi »

witten wrote: post #42
_nullandnull_ wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Routinely opened with a Bic pen jammed into the keyhole (from the article). This one model of locks. That was fixed in 2004. The whole first paragraph is fluff. The author does not know how bikes are actually stolen. I had a nice bike and lived in NYC. I used the New York Fahgettaboudit Mini [1] and a small cheap chain for the front wheel. The Fahgettaboudit has anti-theft protection up to $4,500 in US. If you are…

Honest question: Do you know anyone who has successfully redeemed the Kryptonite anti-theft protection?

Do you know anyone who has unsuccessfully done so?

Re: What happens to your bike after it’s stolen

#47

Post by bambax »

> You can rip off a bike and trade it for a $50 bag of drugs pretty easily

> The components, meanwhile—the lights, seats, handlebars, derailleurs, and brakes that turn a frame into a ridable bike—can go for hundreds of dollars each on the black market

If the whole bike sells for $20, how can each component sell for "hundreds of dollars each"???

> her $8,300 Seven Mudhoney disappeared

I didn't know bikes that expensive even existed.

So maybe the parts that sell for "hundreds of dollars" come from $8k bikes, and bikes that sell for 20 bucks are the cheap ones; but the article isn't clear on this.

It seems that owners of $8k bikes should refrain from buying parts on the black market, and that they can afford the small overhead (but added security) of only buying from legitimate dealerships?

- - -

Regarding the problem of bikes steal, is it better or worse to have a system of public bikes that can be rented for cheap? Paris (and London, and many other cities) have a system of public bikes that are available everywhere and that are very cheap to rent; I know those bikes get stolen (or broken) sometimes but they cannot really be resold as you can't legitimately "own" one.

It would be interesting to compare the numbers of bike thefts for cities that have public bikes versus ones that don't.

Re: What happens to your bike after it’s stolen

#48

Post by lpsz »

Scoundreller wrote: post #28
schrodinger wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think bait bikes are a good solution. Put out a few normal looking bikes with gps trackers in them, and have stiff fines for those who get caught. Making locks safe against an angle grinder isnt really feasible, but making someone think twice before even trying because it's a bait bike might work.

I used to wonder why people would often use a natural gas main as a locking point. Now I realize that it provides a decent defence against angle grinder attacks (or at least gets any thief some public safety or trumped-up terrorism charge).

Interestingly enough, intentionally setting a trap (even on your own property that you expect to be burglarized) has been ruled to be unlawful unless your life is in danger.

"The law has always placed a higher value upon human safety than upon mere rights in property."

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katko_v._Briney

Re: What happens to your bike after it’s stolen

#49

Post by jschwartzi »

jzwinck wrote: post #23
bootload wrote: post #19

"... Fortunately for Rosa, the Darlings were also allegedly fencing electronics, allowing the owner of a stolen iPad to track his missing tablet to the same apartment via an iPhone app connected to his iPad’s GPS. ..." Would be a nice hack to build something like this. How would you embed a device like this into into a frame & other parts? Comments: "... Ryan Scheel: Might it make sense to put a GPS device in bikes e…

If you are serious, the answer is to make the device a 1" tube that fits into the steer tube of most bicycles and can receive and transmit RF via the top cap (which would be plastic rather than the usual metal). Easy to conceal, near-universal fit (for bikes from the last 10+ years), sufficient space for a battery, radio, no visible parts. Charge using the tube as ground and the top cap bolt as hot. The problem is, i…

If you use an M2M or data-only plan, your monthly costs would be around $20.00 a month, not including the server that receives the GPS data. The only problem is that the cops won't do anything even if you provide them with the GPS data.

Re: What happens to your bike after it’s stolen

#50

Post by neotek »

bambax wrote: post #47

> You can rip off a bike and trade it for a $50 bag of drugs pretty easily > The components, meanwhile—the lights, seats, handlebars, derailleurs, and brakes that turn a frame into a ridable bike—can go for hundreds of dollars each on the black market If the whole bike sells for $20, how can each component sell for "hundreds of dollars each"??? > her $8,300 Seven Mudhoney disappeared I didn't know bikes that expensiv…

The difference is between a junkie quickly selling a bike to get a fix as fast as possible, and splitting the bike into components and knowing the right people to buy them.

The junkie doesn't give a shit about tearing the bike down and getting the best price, he just wants to shoot up and will take whatever he can get.

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