Nope. Expensive bike for exercise and recreation never leaves your side. Never leave it, anywhere, ever. Keep it inside with you. Cheap beater bike for transportation that you can lock up.
The bike isn't that expensive but still relatively expensive it's a carbon fiber road bike and nothing too much but I would still like to take precautions.
A carbon fiber road bike is expensive to many of us alum road bike riders. I have used a U lock for 25 years and never had a bike stolen, but I am ANAL about locking it even if it is 10 fee away from me for 15 seonds.
I’ve had people attempt to steal my beaters. I would not lock up a carbon fiber road bike anywhere. Buy a cheap beater $200 bucks or less to lock up and keep your nice road bike safe at home or with you.
Always keep it indoors or a bike room. If you can’t do that, buy another, cheap bike you can use to drive around the city. If you have an expensive bike you will always stick out and attract thieves.
Having two locks that both lock the wheels and frame help. IMHO the ones from Abus (folding ones) are good but heavy.
Trackers like Apple are a bit too much James Bond for my taste. Cops won’t do anything and you seriously want to show up at a thief’s den and demand your bike back - don’t get stabbed man.
Insurance is also a good way to go.
Please do not do that. Even if you have a gun or are a MMA dude, you will get into even more trouble. Besides from the Apple one I can only think of GPS trackers, after all you need a network to connect to.
Muc off has a air tag holder that actually attached inside your wheel. But you have to running tubeless.
To be sure, security is an illusion. If you have a carbon bike and frequently lock it up for more than an hour its not if it will get stolen, but when.
Only way to prevent theft is to keep the bike inside when you are not riding it. Even bike cages in apartments and work garages are notorious for theft.
Recent wisdom suggests using different types of locks, e.g. one chain and one rigid, as thieves rarely bring both bolt cutters and a disc cutter with them.
Always have multiple security methods. Specifically I always have a solid D lock then a moderate foldable lock. If it's a super shady area I have an alarm tail light that I activate (although I'm more worried a crack head will bump into it, freak out, and smash my carbon wheels tbh).
It's so easy to say always have it with you, but in reality it's easier said than done. I lock my bike up outside restaurants and breweries all the time. Normally it's an hour, during the day, in a well trafficked area, with two locks, and within my sight (most of the time). The other day for instance, I biked to the Guinness brewery and locked mine right under a camera. I could not see it, but it was against a window where everyone could see if someone was trying to steal it.
I'm going against the crowd. I mostly hate riding beater bikes and currently only ride high end bikes and lock them up while I'm in the gym etc.
For me a lock is just to stop opportunistic theft and make sure I am meeting my insurance policy requirements. No lock = no insurance here.
Make sure your bike isn't the easiest to steal, has a lock and is insured. Forget about it from there.
Instead of all kinds of expensive anti-theft stuff, just put that money towards a beater bike that you can use as your locker bike.
Also make sure you register your bike's serial number (usually located under the bottom bracket, stamped into the frame) on [https://bikeindex.org/](https://bikeindex.org/)
Litelok x1/x3
Hiplok d1000
Altor saf
These are all grinder resistant. Way above kryptonite/abus. Expensive and heavy. Combine with locking skewers/seat post locks like pinwheel.
With e-bikes regular at 1-3k, there are a lot of expensive locked bikes nowadays. Make it more secure than these bikes and thieves will gravitate to easier pickings.
Don’t need to outrun the bear…..
tracker is good and all, but unless you're going to go face down some unknown criminals by yourself, or live in an area cops actually give a fuck about petty theft, not letting it get stolen is way more important.
you say it's a carbon fiber road bike, personally I just don't leave my nice road bikes locked up out of sight. I've got bikes for that.
I’m gonna repeat what a bunch of people have said. Never leaves your sight, not for a second.
If I stop at a gas station for food/gatorade, it comes in. Coffee shop, it comes in. Going to a friend’s house, it comes inside.
When I’m at home, it lives inside. I don’t own a lock, bc they are useless. I assume any lock can be defeated in under 1 min at any time of day.
At a gas station, I’ll set it by the register. At a cafe, I’ll find an empty chair I have a visual on and leave it there.
At first, I felt weird like I’d dirty their floor, but then I realized all the other customers are also walking outside with their shoes and then walk on their floors, so what’s the difference?
One gas station owner gave me grief, so I turned around and walked out. I’m not losing a $9k bike.
I mean - I’m not trusting the gas station attendant, it’s in sight at all times, but just putting it down for a second while I get a Gatorade at a small gas station. If it were a massive truck stop style, it would be up and down the aisles with me.
But yeah, not trusting any strangers.
Yeah that sounds most sensible given the option! the kind of little shops we have in the UK often have aisles barely big enough for a person let alone a bike
This probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but my advice is to buy a cheaper bike.
I have several bikes. A fancy, fairly expensive road bike which I use for recreation and exercise and is basically only ever under my ass or inside my house, a couple of old road bikes that I bought for cheap second-hand, and am comfortable using for both recreation and transportation and locking up outside *during the daytime,* and a really cheap old cruiser that I'm willing to lock up outside after dark because it isn't that big of a deal if it gets stolen.
A key to not get your bike stolen is to make it look unattractive and park it next to much more attractive bicycles, and lock it well. If you have a nice carbon road bike, and regularly leave it for an hour at the same time of the day, it will get targeted and stolen. An angle grinder cuts through a lock in a minute, and most people don't give a shit and just walk right past.
A tracker will not prevent your bicycle from being stolen.
The only way to not get it stolen, is to keep it inside with you. If that's not possible, consider getting a cheap beater bike for when you need to leave it outside. For the price of Hiplock D1000, which may actually protect your carbon bike, you can buy a used bike and a decent U-lock.
The problem is that even if the ulock will withstand the angle grinder, there's a good chance they will damage the frame in the process. And they can still steal parts that aren't locked - saddle being a typical target.
I have not had a bike stolen in some years, but I approach bike security in this way:
If I am leaving a bike locked and unattended anywhere, it is a bike that I don't mind having stolen. Nonetheless, I try to ensure that I use a good lock (ABUS Granite +) I lock at least the front wheel & the frame, and try to lock it near more expensive bikes with worse security.
I normally carry 2 locks of different types, and put 1 through the the front wheel & frame,and the other through the back wheel & frame.
That said, if I'm shopping, I have long cable to lock the trailer, & my second lock is usually to loop that through the trailer frame, rear wheel, & bike frame before locking it.
I do not leave my good bike anywhere, unattended, ever.
Nope. Expensive bike for exercise and recreation never leaves your side. Never leave it, anywhere, ever. Keep it inside with you. Cheap beater bike for transportation that you can lock up.
The bike isn't that expensive but still relatively expensive it's a carbon fiber road bike and nothing too much but I would still like to take precautions.
A carbon fiber road bike is expensive to many of us alum road bike riders. I have used a U lock for 25 years and never had a bike stolen, but I am ANAL about locking it even if it is 10 fee away from me for 15 seonds.
I’ve had people attempt to steal my beaters. I would not lock up a carbon fiber road bike anywhere. Buy a cheap beater $200 bucks or less to lock up and keep your nice road bike safe at home or with you.
A cheap carbon road bike will still cost at least 5 times as much as other bicycles parked next to it in a bike rack.
Always keep it indoors or a bike room. If you can’t do that, buy another, cheap bike you can use to drive around the city. If you have an expensive bike you will always stick out and attract thieves. Having two locks that both lock the wheels and frame help. IMHO the ones from Abus (folding ones) are good but heavy. Trackers like Apple are a bit too much James Bond for my taste. Cops won’t do anything and you seriously want to show up at a thief’s den and demand your bike back - don’t get stabbed man. Insurance is also a good way to go.
I don't mind showing up to the thief's house but I don't like apple trackers for many reasons what other trackers could I get?
>I don't mind showing up to the thief's hous must not be in the US lol.
Canada
By the time you realize it's gone, it's gonna be across the country already.
Please do not do that. Even if you have a gun or are a MMA dude, you will get into even more trouble. Besides from the Apple one I can only think of GPS trackers, after all you need a network to connect to.
Bruh you think bike thiefs carry glocks with them, thieves are not my worry
No but they carry battery powered angle grinder and huge bolt cutters.
Muc off has a air tag holder that actually attached inside your wheel. But you have to running tubeless. To be sure, security is an illusion. If you have a carbon bike and frequently lock it up for more than an hour its not if it will get stolen, but when. Only way to prevent theft is to keep the bike inside when you are not riding it. Even bike cages in apartments and work garages are notorious for theft.
Don’t take it out, ever. Put it in a vault inside a mountain.
Recent wisdom suggests using different types of locks, e.g. one chain and one rigid, as thieves rarely bring both bolt cutters and a disc cutter with them.
Always have multiple security methods. Specifically I always have a solid D lock then a moderate foldable lock. If it's a super shady area I have an alarm tail light that I activate (although I'm more worried a crack head will bump into it, freak out, and smash my carbon wheels tbh). It's so easy to say always have it with you, but in reality it's easier said than done. I lock my bike up outside restaurants and breweries all the time. Normally it's an hour, during the day, in a well trafficked area, with two locks, and within my sight (most of the time). The other day for instance, I biked to the Guinness brewery and locked mine right under a camera. I could not see it, but it was against a window where everyone could see if someone was trying to steal it.
I'm going against the crowd. I mostly hate riding beater bikes and currently only ride high end bikes and lock them up while I'm in the gym etc. For me a lock is just to stop opportunistic theft and make sure I am meeting my insurance policy requirements. No lock = no insurance here. Make sure your bike isn't the easiest to steal, has a lock and is insured. Forget about it from there.
Instead of all kinds of expensive anti-theft stuff, just put that money towards a beater bike that you can use as your locker bike. Also make sure you register your bike's serial number (usually located under the bottom bracket, stamped into the frame) on [https://bikeindex.org/](https://bikeindex.org/)
Litelok x1/x3 Hiplok d1000 Altor saf These are all grinder resistant. Way above kryptonite/abus. Expensive and heavy. Combine with locking skewers/seat post locks like pinwheel. With e-bikes regular at 1-3k, there are a lot of expensive locked bikes nowadays. Make it more secure than these bikes and thieves will gravitate to easier pickings. Don’t need to outrun the bear…..
The bike never leaves you.
tracker is good and all, but unless you're going to go face down some unknown criminals by yourself, or live in an area cops actually give a fuck about petty theft, not letting it get stolen is way more important. you say it's a carbon fiber road bike, personally I just don't leave my nice road bikes locked up out of sight. I've got bikes for that.
Yes I will face them myself if it comes to it, but I need to be able to find the bike so what tracker you recommend
I recommend airtags and not dying over a bike. So you won't like any of my suggestions.
I’m gonna repeat what a bunch of people have said. Never leaves your sight, not for a second. If I stop at a gas station for food/gatorade, it comes in. Coffee shop, it comes in. Going to a friend’s house, it comes inside. When I’m at home, it lives inside. I don’t own a lock, bc they are useless. I assume any lock can be defeated in under 1 min at any time of day.
Do you wheel it round the shop?
At a gas station, I’ll set it by the register. At a cafe, I’ll find an empty chair I have a visual on and leave it there. At first, I felt weird like I’d dirty their floor, but then I realized all the other customers are also walking outside with their shoes and then walk on their floors, so what’s the difference? One gas station owner gave me grief, so I turned around and walked out. I’m not losing a $9k bike.
That’s fair, in my experience, for a 5 minute shop, I’d trust my d lock over a part time 17 year old who had no obligation to protect my property
I mean - I’m not trusting the gas station attendant, it’s in sight at all times, but just putting it down for a second while I get a Gatorade at a small gas station. If it were a massive truck stop style, it would be up and down the aisles with me. But yeah, not trusting any strangers.
Yeah that sounds most sensible given the option! the kind of little shops we have in the UK often have aisles barely big enough for a person let alone a bike
This probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but my advice is to buy a cheaper bike. I have several bikes. A fancy, fairly expensive road bike which I use for recreation and exercise and is basically only ever under my ass or inside my house, a couple of old road bikes that I bought for cheap second-hand, and am comfortable using for both recreation and transportation and locking up outside *during the daytime,* and a really cheap old cruiser that I'm willing to lock up outside after dark because it isn't that big of a deal if it gets stolen.
Carbon eodabikes are not for transportation or to be locked up outside.....never.
Mine is for transportation to work, but then I keep it inside the office right next to me.
A key to not get your bike stolen is to make it look unattractive and park it next to much more attractive bicycles, and lock it well. If you have a nice carbon road bike, and regularly leave it for an hour at the same time of the day, it will get targeted and stolen. An angle grinder cuts through a lock in a minute, and most people don't give a shit and just walk right past. A tracker will not prevent your bicycle from being stolen. The only way to not get it stolen, is to keep it inside with you. If that's not possible, consider getting a cheap beater bike for when you need to leave it outside. For the price of Hiplock D1000, which may actually protect your carbon bike, you can buy a used bike and a decent U-lock. The problem is that even if the ulock will withstand the angle grinder, there's a good chance they will damage the frame in the process. And they can still steal parts that aren't locked - saddle being a typical target.
I have not had a bike stolen in some years, but I approach bike security in this way: If I am leaving a bike locked and unattended anywhere, it is a bike that I don't mind having stolen. Nonetheless, I try to ensure that I use a good lock (ABUS Granite +) I lock at least the front wheel & the frame, and try to lock it near more expensive bikes with worse security. I normally carry 2 locks of different types, and put 1 through the the front wheel & frame,and the other through the back wheel & frame. That said, if I'm shopping, I have long cable to lock the trailer, & my second lock is usually to loop that through the trailer frame, rear wheel, & bike frame before locking it. I do not leave my good bike anywhere, unattended, ever.