3 ms·

Yep, my first pick on a standard lock took fairly little time. If you're talking about something like a normal house door lock, even a beginner picker, with dar

Yep, my first pick on a standard lock took fairly little time. If you're talking about something like a normal house door lock, even a beginner picker, with darkness as a cover, can get through without risking the sound generated by an entry through physical force. My view is that you choose lock cores based on how difficult you want it to be to pick before it makes more sense to resort to destructive entry. For a bike lock on the street, a few minutes of picking won't look much different to pedestrians than someone simply struggling with their own bike lock. But destructive removal is much more obvious. (Unless it's a physically flimsy lock, or even a beefy one with a simple bypass vulnerability)

vkou 6y ago
> But destructive removal is much more obvious. It's much more obvious, but nobody is going to give two craps about you taking an angle grinder to someone else's bicycle lock. Bystanders don't want to get involved, and police don't pay any attention to bicycle theft.
- ineedasername 6y ago
  That depends-- it's not a great idea to confront a thief, but I think there's at least a fraction of the population that would walk on for a bit & then call the police, and if there's a unit in the area it might at least take a drive-by. Or the thief might be unlucky and have a cop stumble on their effort. So, yes, destructive lock removal can still be fairly safe for the thief, but there is still a lot of increased risk if you employ a proper lock that would require an angle grinder, and most thieves probably don't bother to carry around tools like that and will simply move on to one of many ample opportunities for an easier target: A handheld compound bolt cutter will cut through inferior locks faster than opening with a key, so why bother bringing bulkier more obvious tools that increase risk even a little bit? It's not about whether your bike can be stolen: it almost certainly can. It's about making other targets more attractive.
  - sunshineforever 6y ago
    That's why I have an alarm that clips to the disk brakes. They're considered motorcycle alarms but work on anything with disk brakes. It also stops the back wheel from turning.
- gnicholas 6y ago
  A neighbor of mine recently posted on Nextdoor about his bike being stolen from the Safeway in Menlo Park. Apparently two men looked on from their Teslas and did nothing while the thief used bolt cutters to remove the lock. A nearby woman did go after the thief, but unsuccessfully. The bike was worth several thousand dollars. I am thinking of getting a Boosted Rev (escooter, $1,600) and have wondered how I would secure it when going into stores. It seems as if any lock under $120 can be snapped by 3-foot bolt cutters (and the more expensive ones can still be easily picked). I think I would probably get a decent u-lock and also a lock that makes noise and is triggered by even slight motion (to draw attention if someone is fiddling with it.
  - jjeaff 6y ago
    How does one know that the person trying to cut a lock off isn't the owner of said lock that simply lost the key? And if someone calls the police and they show up, and it is actually the owner of the lock, how does that owner prove it to the cops?
- intergalplan 6y ago
  My experience is that the cops don't care a bit about thefts into the mid thousands, even if there's a high likelihood the culprit and their car, probably including the plate were caught on camera multiple times. "We'll have your report for insurance in a week. No, we're not even going to make a couple phone calls to investigate." Hell, one time a small company I worked for had five figures of gear stolen in a break-in... and then several other businesses in the area did, too. Well over $100,000 (retail) of equipment stolen by the end. Multiple cameras at multiple businesses caught them, including their van and plate number. The cops did the same, "yeah, yeah, here's your report, we don't care" until someone called them while sitting directly behind the van in question and told them they'd found the guys and to get off their asses and do something. AFAIK nothing was recovered anyway, but I think they were at least arrested. Yay? I honestly don't know what they do aside from give out traffic tickets and harass people.

vkou 6y ago

> But destructive removal is much more obvious. It's much more obvious, but nobody is going to give two craps about you taking an angle grinder to someone else's bicycle lock. Bystanders don't want to get involved, and police don't pay any attention to bicycle theft.

ineedasername 6y ago
That depends-- it's not a great idea to confront a thief, but I think there's at least a fraction of the population that would walk on for a bit & then call the police, and if there's a unit in the area it might at least take a drive-by. Or the thief might be unlucky and have a cop stumble on their effort. So, yes, destructive lock removal can still be fairly safe for the thief, but there is still a lot of increased risk if you employ a proper lock that would require an angle grinder, and most thieves probably don't bother to carry around tools like that and will simply move on to one of many ample opportunities for an easier target: A handheld compound bolt cutter will cut through inferior locks faster than opening with a key, so why bother bringing bulkier more obvious tools that increase risk even a little bit? It's not about whether your bike can be stolen: it almost certainly can. It's about making other targets more attractive.
- sunshineforever 6y ago
  That's why I have an alarm that clips to the disk brakes. They're considered motorcycle alarms but work on anything with disk brakes. It also stops the back wheel from turning.
gnicholas 6y ago
A neighbor of mine recently posted on Nextdoor about his bike being stolen from the Safeway in Menlo Park. Apparently two men looked on from their Teslas and did nothing while the thief used bolt cutters to remove the lock. A nearby woman did go after the thief, but unsuccessfully. The bike was worth several thousand dollars. I am thinking of getting a Boosted Rev (escooter, $1,600) and have wondered how I would secure it when going into stores. It seems as if any lock under $120 can be snapped by 3-foot bolt cutters (and the more expensive ones can still be easily picked). I think I would probably get a decent u-lock and also a lock that makes noise and is triggered by even slight motion (to draw attention if someone is fiddling with it.
- jjeaff 6y ago
  How does one know that the person trying to cut a lock off isn't the owner of said lock that simply lost the key? And if someone calls the police and they show up, and it is actually the owner of the lock, how does that owner prove it to the cops?
intergalplan 6y ago
My experience is that the cops don't care a bit about thefts into the mid thousands, even if there's a high likelihood the culprit and their car, probably including the plate were caught on camera multiple times. "We'll have your report for insurance in a week. No, we're not even going to make a couple phone calls to investigate." Hell, one time a small company I worked for had five figures of gear stolen in a break-in... and then several other businesses in the area did, too. Well over $100,000 (retail) of equipment stolen by the end. Multiple cameras at multiple businesses caught them, including their van and plate number. The cops did the same, "yeah, yeah, here's your report, we don't care" until someone called them while sitting directly behind the van in question and told them they'd found the guys and to get off their asses and do something. AFAIK nothing was recovered anyway, but I think they were at least arrested. Yay? I honestly don't know what they do aside from give out traffic tickets and harass people.