Antique & Classic Cars Blog

It’s a little late in the year for this post. Oh well. I’ve tried to title it in a way that will be easily found from any locale, at any time. Still, just yesterday I saw a bike locked up in downtown Minneapolis that was an easy target for thieves.

Although gas prices are down, lots of people are bicycling to work and elsewhere to save money. Many newcomers don’t know how to lock up a bike securely. It matters because bikes are a high crime item.

When I was at U of M, I biked there every single day for three years. I heard of many bike thefts and observed the aftermath of many more–e.g., bikes missing wheels, seats, other parts, and occasionally, everything but a wheel because that’s all the novice lock-user secured with it.

So here’s my list of tried-in-the-field pointers. Other people may have modifications to this list, but these techniques have worked for me for almost 20 theft-free years.

First the lock. Buy a sturdy U-shaped lock. I use a Kryptonite now and had a Master during school. Don’t use a cable–a stout bolt cutter will go through it like scissors through kite string.

Quick-release items are easy pickin’s for thieves and they’ll steal anything. If you rarely need to break your bike down, replace the seat-tube release with a bolt. Yes, thieves can remove it with the right wrench but very few bother to do so (mine’s never been taken).

They will steal your front wheel. Either replace the front quick-release with a bolt-in axle or remove the front wheel and lock it with the frame and rear wheel every time you park it. Another option I used in school is a little device that replaces the quick-release lever with a special piece operated by an Allen wrench. The Allen wrench is drilled out and the portion of the release mechanism that stays with the bike has a stud through the hole so a standard Allen doesn’t work.

The goal when locking is to lock to something sturdy and to have the lock pass through (encompass) any wheel with a quick release, and the frame. I always remove the front wheel, set it next to the rear drop-out, and run the lock around the front wheel, rear wheel, and rear drop-out frame member. Have a bike shop technician show you how to remove and replace the quick-release front wheel safely.

DON’T just drape the lock over the top tube! As not to encourage more thieves, I will not explain how they overcome your lock when you do that, but it’s quickly done. A guy in my class at U of M got a brand new Specialized mountain bike stolen from the front of the Law School because he locked it this way. You don’t want a lot of empty space or play inside the lock–between the U-shaped and straight lock pieces. When you have both wheels and the rear drop-out plus a pole or bike rack in there, it’s much more difficult to overcome a good U-lock.

Finally, you get what you pay for. A really cheap dime-store U-lock is easier to break open than a high-quality (and therefore higher priced) one. Get a good one and send in the warranty card.

Ride on!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.