I (unfortunately have some
I (unfortunately have some experience with this topic.
A few years ago I bought a brand new ~$900 hybrid DF bike from a shop in Melbourne city centre. I rode it home and took it shopping the next day back into Melbourne city. I locked it to a large stainless hoop set into the footpath by the council specifically as a bike locking post. I locked it with a Kyrptonite cable lock designed for motorcycles with about a 12mm cable. This park was on the busiest street in Melbourne at 10:00AM on a Saturday morning with literally crowds of people around. I was gone 30 minutes and it was also gone when I came back.
It is hard yo imagine what they did to get it but they took the bike, helmet and $200 cable lock! I gave up biking for a few years out of disappointment with humanity. I ride a Ducati motorised bike and it has a proximity ket, immobiliser and a loud alarm with an RF pager in my pocket that tells me if my bike is touched, moved or sat on so I can rapidly "have a discussion" with anyone interfering with it. A bit paranoid but so far so good.
Here is a couple of my ruminations about bike security.
1. Any thing can be stolen if they want it enough.
2. I think Cruzebikes are more secure than the average as people have pointed out that they are unusual, harder to ride. It will discourage the opportunistic joy rider or someone who sells entire bikes to second hand stores. They of course can be stolen for components.
3. A good strong lock that locks both wheels to something relly solid is the best bet BUT it is no guarantee. A lock that is strong and hard to cut or pick is useful and something that professional theives are not familiar with can also help.
4. Where you live, where you ride and where you park your bike make a big difference. Be vigilant. My wife worked for CSIRO (Government science agency) and they provided a roofed and very secure cage to encourage biking to work. Someone stole or copied the key to this and emptied it of about 15 very expensive bikes in broad daylight!
5. It seems that locking the bike in a way where the lock mechanism is hard to get at helps a lot. A bit of thought when locking can be very useful. You can google security camera video of bike riders locking their bikes to metal poles with a strong lock BUT the post is not tall and there is no top on the pole. Theives just lift the bike and lock up off the pole and walk off with it to cut the lock at their leasure.
6. If you do some research into this (because you are a little paranoid like me), the general advice from people who live in risky areas can be summarised like this:
6.1 Never let go of your bike or keep it in your sight. This is of course hard to do in many areas.
6.2 have the same bike as everyone else. Like parts of Europe. be prepared to lose it.
6.3 My favourite method is to have a ratbike. Keep your good bike for rides whare you never leave it and have a cheap, disposable bike that looks like it has no value or any valuable parts on it. I think the original trend of "fixies" that have no gears and very few components originated from this. Fixies now of course are a fashion statement and can have $$$$ spent o them and nice leather seats and alloy parts - to steal.
Having said that, I cannot see going back to a DF bike; ever. Maybe I need a Quest painted matt black with toxic waste stickers on it. Hack up the components with a dremel. Get torn camoflage seat material and spray fake rust paint on the wheels and keep the Silvio for fast weekend rides ;-)
Questions????
1. Has anyone used a system like Datadot to identify the bike and components. My wifes Subaru has this as standard but the system fails as the dots are not really looked for if the machine is parted out. I think most stolen bike in Australia end up whole in Pawn/secondhand shops and they are just not checked for any ID.
2. There are GPS based trackers for cars and motorbikes. The new model Scorpio alarm for motorcycles shows you where your bike is on a map on your mobile phone so you can follow it and alert the police (or a few of your tough mates). The power requirements and size make them hard to use on bikes. Is there any useful electronic system that people have experience with?
Finally don't use any lock with a barrel that looks like this:
It seems that a thief can simply jam the tube from a bic biro ball point pen into the lock. The plastic shatters on the lock pins and forms a key. Harley Davidson used to use these for igniton keys and found out how insecure they are. Many bike lock manufacturers used to use them but have changed to a more secure key design.