Summer’s here, and bikes are buzzing all over our streets, and it’s a beautiful sight. Less beautiful? The upsurge of bike thefts that come with the summer months.
While there’s no foolproof solution to foil bike thieves, most bike thefts are crimes of opportunity, so you can dramatically reduce your chances of having your bike stolen by taking the following precautions:
1. Buy a good lock -- a U-lock is preferred since it is much harder to cut than a cable lock.
2. Lock both the wheel and the frame of the bike, so there’s less space for a thief to fit a hacksaw or other tool. Just locking the wheel leaves you with...just a wheel. *sad trombone noise*
3. Lock your bike to a closed-loop or extremely tall vertical object. Do NOT lock your bike to a post. We repeat DO NOT LOCK YOUR BIKE TO A POST!
4. Try not to develop “habits” with your bike parking location. For the invested thieves, they’ll mark a regular location of a bike and slate it for theft.
5. OVERNIGHT PARKING: Make sure your bike is --at a minimum-- not visible from the street. (Parking your bike on the porch is a Bad Idea). Ideally, you can bring your bike inside for the night.
See a video of a porch bike theft in action!
6. Pre-register your bike on bikeindex.org. This is a great service that allows bikes to be better identified, even after alterations might have been made to the appearance of the bike. Shops often look at these identifiers when they get used bikes into the shops.