7 ms·

As a fellow dutchman, duct-tape the shit out of everything on your new bike. If you're really brave even partially paint it in a hideous color (purple or someth

by dtech 9y ago

As a fellow dutchman, duct-tape the shit out of everything on your new bike. If you're really brave even partially paint it in a hideous color (purple or something). You'll still have a bad looking bike, but at least it will be mechanically much nicer than your fifth-hand rusting omafiets. Since I started doing that I never had a bike stolen in 15 years, despite living in Rotterdam and Utrecht (big cities) and buying 3 new bikes in that time.

rollingpebbles 9y ago
There should be vinyl wrap for bikes that provides a paintable, duct-tapeable substrain for camo tape and radioactive fuchsia and orange also camo ejaculation. Flat (no shine) paint makes a bike even less attractive. PS: I had a old/ugly bike that I had for 16 years in Davis, CA that I still locked and it was stolen from an apt complex the one and only time I forgot to lock it. There are thieves whom ride around in cargo trucks stealing bikes wholesale, in addition to people whom just "borrow" bikes and dump them whereever.
- bamboozled 9y ago
  The idea for Amsterdam is to make the bike look unique, not always unnatractive, the more homogenous looking and mechanically sound, the more attractive to thieves. Amsterdam is a smalll place so having a fluro green bike with a number plate of your name welded to the frame is a good deterrent.
  - mschuster91 9y ago
    Take care with welding - not every material likes welding, and especially not home-made welding without proper stress relief. Drilling for rivets is also dangerous when done incorrectly. You do not want to be riding at full steam when the frame cracks, it's nasty.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - slackingoff2017 9y ago
      Really though it's probably mild steel which is not heat-treatable. Mild steel fairly weak (for steel) but it doesn't get much stronger or weaker from heat exposure and isn't brittle. High carbon, stainless, and fancy stuff is where you can run into problems. In general you won't see this on car or bike frames, too expensive in bulk. If it's a newer bike it's probably aluminum which you can usually still weld with impunity. If it was high grade alloy the heat could matter, but as far as I know nobody cares that much about bike frames. Heat treatment, or "seasoning" in the case of some aluminum is expensive. Source: used to cut up old bikes and weld the frames into crazy chariot contraptions we would tow around
    - xapata 9y ago
      > frame cracks Steel is real, man. It'll bend, not break. But in seriousness, yeah, I was following very closely behind a fellow who snapped his fork jumping over a bump in the road. I almost went over him. Despite the helmet, he lost memory of the accident. I called an ambulance for him and left my number. He called me the next day asking what had happened. It was a nice aluminum frame, looked in good condition. Always check carefully for hairline fractures when buying a used aluminum bike.
  - Cthulhu_ 9y ago
    There's a specific brand of bikes that does just that (welding plates with an ID to it) from production, like https://www.fietsenwinkel.nl/bsp-bold-2016-heren-sale https://www.fietsenwinkel.nl/bsp-bold-2016-heren-sale and https://www.fietsenwinkel.nl/batavus-quip-heren https://www.fietsenwinkel.nl/batavus-quip-heren
  - mcv 9y ago
    Maybe that's why my filibus cargo bike keeps not getting stolen. I'm often fairly sloppy about locking it to something. It's heavier than a regular bike, though, you a thief can't easily pick it up.
- semi-extrinsic 9y ago
  Protip: "Plasti Dip" spray paint is like vinyl wrap on a spraycan, it comes in all sorts of matte (or even sparkly!) gaudy colors. I think they even sell a desert camo tri-pack. I've seen it sold in car part/accessory shops in Europe.
  - pizzetta 9y ago
    There is also hydro-dipping"[1] It's usually used to add complex graphics to irregular surfaces, but I imagine they could make "ugly' irregular patterns for something like to this to make it unique and unwanted. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrographics_(printing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrographics_(printing)
- askvictor 9y ago
  Kind of surprised that bike manufacturers don't offer new bikes painted to look old and crappy, as an option, or as an after market service
  - ramy_d 9y ago
    Like jeans!
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
agumonkey 9y ago
I used to believe my ugly old cheap bike would never be stolen. I was wrong.
- Cthulhu_ 9y ago
  There's the other part of theft; if someone got their bike stolen or lost, some people just steal another.
  - agumonkey 9y ago
    Fair point, althought some people told me a third option: metal frame reselling; apparently it's worth a few bucks; that was the only valuable part on this (everything else was plastic or lowest quality possible)
teekert 9y ago
I think it still is most important to make sure you can't carry the locked bike away. It's mostly tool-less homeless people roaming the streets at night looking for an opportunity imo. Only bikes I got stole were not locked to a pole because I forgot or assumed I would be back in a minute and wasn't. I agree about the shitty-ness, it is less likely to attract attention and you feel less bad leaving it out on the streets but I think most people would prefer to ride a nicer bike if only people with keep their hands off your property.
- mcv 9y ago
  There are also professional thieves with good tools and a van they quickly load up with everything that's not sufficiently nailed down.
mcv 9y ago
Anything goes, as long as your bike doesn't look like it's the most expensive bike in the rack. Some people, particularly teenagers and students, can be quite creative in dirtying up their bike. A friend in school had glued sand to her bike, and then painted it. Quite a unique look. But it got stolen anyway, and when she found it, the thief had scraped all the sand off. But there are many reasons why a bike might look ratty. The owner really could have had that bike for a long time, it could be second-hand (or more likely fifth-hand or something), it could have been stolen, it could have been found in the trash and refurbished, it could have been ratty'd up to prevent it from getting stolen, or it might be someone's artistic expression. But in big cities it's certainly not unusual that the lock is the most expensive part of a bike.

by dtech 9y ago

rollingpebbles 9y ago

There should be vinyl wrap for bikes that provides a paintable, duct-tapeable substrain for camo tape and radioactive fuchsia and orange also camo ejaculation. Flat (no shine) paint makes a bike even less attractive. PS: I had a old/ugly bike that I had for 16 years in Davis, CA that I still locked and it was stolen from an apt complex the one and only time I forgot to lock it. There are thieves whom ride around in cargo trucks stealing bikes wholesale, in addition to people whom just "borrow" bikes and dump them whereever.

bamboozled 9y ago
The idea for Amsterdam is to make the bike look unique, not always unnatractive, the more homogenous looking and mechanically sound, the more attractive to thieves. Amsterdam is a smalll place so having a fluro green bike with a number plate of your name welded to the frame is a good deterrent.
- mschuster91 9y ago
  Take care with welding - not every material likes welding, and especially not home-made welding without proper stress relief. Drilling for rivets is also dangerous when done incorrectly. You do not want to be riding at full steam when the frame cracks, it's nasty.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - slackingoff2017 9y ago
    Really though it's probably mild steel which is not heat-treatable. Mild steel fairly weak (for steel) but it doesn't get much stronger or weaker from heat exposure and isn't brittle. High carbon, stainless, and fancy stuff is where you can run into problems. In general you won't see this on car or bike frames, too expensive in bulk. If it's a newer bike it's probably aluminum which you can usually still weld with impunity. If it was high grade alloy the heat could matter, but as far as I know nobody cares that much about bike frames. Heat treatment, or "seasoning" in the case of some aluminum is expensive. Source: used to cut up old bikes and weld the frames into crazy chariot contraptions we would tow around
  - xapata 9y ago
    > frame cracks Steel is real, man. It'll bend, not break. But in seriousness, yeah, I was following very closely behind a fellow who snapped his fork jumping over a bump in the road. I almost went over him. Despite the helmet, he lost memory of the accident. I called an ambulance for him and left my number. He called me the next day asking what had happened. It was a nice aluminum frame, looked in good condition. Always check carefully for hairline fractures when buying a used aluminum bike.
- Cthulhu_ 9y ago
  There's a specific brand of bikes that does just that (welding plates with an ID to it) from production, like https://www.fietsenwinkel.nl/bsp-bold-2016-heren-sale https://www.fietsenwinkel.nl/bsp-bold-2016-heren-sale and https://www.fietsenwinkel.nl/batavus-quip-heren https://www.fietsenwinkel.nl/batavus-quip-heren
- mcv 9y ago
  Maybe that's why my filibus cargo bike keeps not getting stolen. I'm often fairly sloppy about locking it to something. It's heavier than a regular bike, though, you a thief can't easily pick it up.
semi-extrinsic 9y ago
Protip: "Plasti Dip" spray paint is like vinyl wrap on a spraycan, it comes in all sorts of matte (or even sparkly!) gaudy colors. I think they even sell a desert camo tri-pack. I've seen it sold in car part/accessory shops in Europe.
- pizzetta 9y ago
  There is also hydro-dipping"[1] It's usually used to add complex graphics to irregular surfaces, but I imagine they could make "ugly' irregular patterns for something like to this to make it unique and unwanted. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrographics_(printing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrographics_(printing)
askvictor 9y ago
Kind of surprised that bike manufacturers don't offer new bikes painted to look old and crappy, as an option, or as an after market service
- ramy_d 9y ago
  Like jeans!

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

agumonkey 9y ago

I used to believe my ugly old cheap bike would never be stolen. I was wrong.

Cthulhu_ 9y ago
There's the other part of theft; if someone got their bike stolen or lost, some people just steal another.
- agumonkey 9y ago
  Fair point, althought some people told me a third option: metal frame reselling; apparently it's worth a few bucks; that was the only valuable part on this (everything else was plastic or lowest quality possible)

teekert 9y ago

I think it still is most important to make sure you can't carry the locked bike away. It's mostly tool-less homeless people roaming the streets at night looking for an opportunity imo. Only bikes I got stole were not locked to a pole because I forgot or assumed I would be back in a minute and wasn't. I agree about the shitty-ness, it is less likely to attract attention and you feel less bad leaving it out on the streets but I think most people would prefer to ride a nicer bike if only people with keep their hands off your property.

mcv 9y ago
There are also professional thieves with good tools and a van they quickly load up with everything that's not sufficiently nailed down.

mcv 9y ago

Anything goes, as long as your bike doesn't look like it's the most expensive bike in the rack. Some people, particularly teenagers and students, can be quite creative in dirtying up their bike. A friend in school had glued sand to her bike, and then painted it. Quite a unique look. But it got stolen anyway, and when she found it, the thief had scraped all the sand off. But there are many reasons why a bike might look ratty. The owner really could have had that bike for a long time, it could be second-hand (or more likely fifth-hand or something), it could have been stolen, it could have been found in the trash and refurbished, it could have been ratty'd up to prevent it from getting stolen, or it might be someone's artistic expression. But in big cities it's certainly not unusual that the lock is the most expensive part of a bike.