A cable lock wont stop a 5 year old from stealing your bike. Maybe that's why you never let it out of your site for more than 2 minutes. Let me give you an example. My brother gave me a bike that he had left sitting in a storage unit when he moved out of state. He had left a keyed cable lock on it, and since I didnt have the key, I would have to use my own lock if I wanted to keep the bike outside. I didnt want to leave his lock on there, because I didnt want people thinking I had stolen it. I attempted to pick the lock with a metal nail file, but I was unable to pick it. So it would seem that it was a fairly decent lock, right? Wrong. I have a tool left over from fixing the brake lines on my wife's car, that is known as a tube cutter. In case anyone does not know what this tool is or does, I will explain it. It has two discs that are sharp and do the cutting, and a knob which you turn to tighten or loosen the tool. What you do is open it up wide enough to fit around the tube you want to cut, then tighten it and rotate it around the tube until it cuts through. It is not made for cutting hard steel or anything solid, only for cutting very thin tubing, such as brake lines and the like. Soft metals. Well, I used it to cut through my brother's cable lock in less than a minute. And I'm not even a thief. I know that someone who is a thief has probably already come up with the idea, because if you want to steal something, you will think of a way to do it. On my bike, I use a very heavy steel chain and a case-hardened padlock. I went to Lowe's and asked for 3 feet of the heaviest chain they had. It would take a very powerful electric tool to cut through it. And because my padlock is case-hardened, it resists cutting, which probably means it would require a power tool as well. I have lived at my current residence for almost a year, and my bike has not been stolen. I go to Walmart or any place else and chain it up outside to something secure, and leave it for as long as I need to be in the store or wherever. I think that if you cant trust it out of your sight for more than a few minutes, you're either SERIOUSLY paranoid, or you need to move. You also need something better than a cable lock.Unless your bike is in your locked garage, never let it out of your sight for more than 2 minutes. Carry a cable lock for use during those 2 minutes. Out of sight is ok if you have an alarm, and you're not more than 25 feet from your bike. Then it can be out of your sight for 5 minutes as long as you're close enough to hear the alarm.
No, I didnt. I figured a cable lock would be enough, and the fact that noone around here would really know how to ride it, I mean come on, hopping on it and trying to pedal away would be fairly difficult, I figure they came by with a truck while I was at work. Now, I use a U lock (The OnGuard), much harder to cut through, I leave my bike always in a line of sight if I cant lock it to something. You guys are right though, if someone wants it bad enough, they'll get it. The cell phone is an extra tool to recover it when that happens (people in the computer security field know, you cant stop a hacker, if they want in bad enough, they'll get in, so firewalls have moved from prevention to detection > reaction). However making the bike as unappealing as possible to steal (alarm, strong locks, etc.) will help a LOT (at my new job now, the bike sits in a chain link fence area with barbed wire all along the top, only way to get in or out is with a key card, and theres two cameras watching the bike/smoking area.)
Sure, someone can cut my frame. But when its sitting outside of my house, my wife or myself is going to hear it. And when I am out, I always park my bike in the most visible place possible. You would probably think this is the opposite of what should be done, but think about it. Not many thieves are going to have the cajones to cut a bicycle in half with a hundred or more witnesses. Having a cheap lock makes it easier to steal, regardless. If I were a thief, and I saw your bike with a cheap lock and a cheap alarm, I would take it. I guarantee you that. I dont even care about the alarm, because I am going to break the lock before the alarm even goes off. If I were a thief, and I saw my bike with a heavy steel chain and padlock, I would have to decide whether I wanted to do the amount of work it would take to cut the frame in half, or find something easier to steal. But a bike with a cable lock and cheap alarm (if the lock is cheap then the alarm is too, is what every thief that sees your bike is saying to himself), no problem. I would steal your bike in a heartbeat if I were a thief. Thieves dont care if you are only away from your bike for a minute or two. Thats long enough to break or cut through a cheap lock. If a tube cutter can cut through a cable lock, bolt cutters surely can. And like I said, I have lived at my current residence for almost a year, and no one has successfully messed with my bike yet. I even forgot to lock it up one night and didnt realize it till I went out to work on it again the next day. It was still sitting right there, untouched.
There was another guy on the forum here, I forget who, but he did just that. Went to work, pulled up, parked his bike outside but didnt lock it, removed his bumblebee and took it into work with him, came out, bike was gone. What good is the engine with no bike to re-attach it to? Thieves will take a bike with or without an engine, and it doesnt matter if it looks like a piece of crap or not, they will still take it if they want it. Also, I wouldn't be going around showing so many people how easy it is to remove. The first time you are in a rush or think you're only going to be a minute or two and dont bother taking your engine off (and it could happen, people do get busy or lazy sometimes) your engine will be gone.
Ya that was me! They would have taken my bike engine or not. Atleast all i had to do is buy a new bike and a $10 bracket that bolts on the bike with just one bolt and holds the whole kit on the bike! You can use a lock instead of a r-pin to so noone can take you kit off!
I've had my kit up and running for about 2 months now, and I was paranoid about my bike getting stolen. After a few break downs and bent spokes/rims broken chain and what not I woulda laughed at someone if they tried to take it. But now this china girl is running like a champ. The only place I'd worry about my bike would be where I live. Wife says it can't be inside so on the patio it goes, first floor but we got almost a 6 foot fence to climb over so if I hear a bump in the night they'll meet my friends Smith and Wesson.
