5 ms·

The problem of thieves is such a downer though. Against all kinds of bikes, really takes both the joy and the utility out of it. Same with owning a scooter and

by tjoff 3y ago

The problem of thieves is such a downer though. Against all kinds of bikes, really takes both the joy and the utility out of it. Same with owning a scooter and similar vehicles. And even if you have good and safe parking at home and at the office (great!), which will cover the vast majority of trips it still limits the usefulness of a vehicle to be so tied up. Yes, there are solutions/mitigations/compromises. But expensive and heavy locks suck and the ever present thought in your head planning a good parking spot etc. kills the joy of it.

analog31 3y ago
Murphy's law for bicycles: All bikes weigh 35 pounds, because the lighter the bike, the heavier the lock needed to secure it.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- jerlam 3y ago
  This rule doesn't work for ebikes that can weigh 70 pounds unloaded.
- wl 3y ago
  If you’re riding a bike you’ve actually weighed, the bike should be in your sight or locked up at home. If you’re leaving it locked up in public, that should be a different, far less valuable bike.
  - analog31 3y ago
    Oddly enough I'm the rare exception. I weighed my bike (21 pounds, hardly a lightweight), but it's thrown together from old parts, and hopefully not a theft magnet. But also, I'm conscious of the actual level of bike theft in my locale, and am not particularly worried about it. I can always park it next to a nicer bike with a less secure lock.
wpietri 3y ago
I feel that one for sure. I live in San Francisco and was a dedicated cyclist. I had 6 bikes stolen in my first years here. But I was stubborn, got cannier, and kept the 7th long enough for it to look scruffy. Which let me keep it for years. But then it got stolen while locked up behind a 12-foot fence and something went out of me. I just gave up. I still make occasional trips on the Lyft bikes, which are fine. And I've been thinking about getting another bike. But especially with e-bikes, which are much more expensive and therefore much better theft targets, I just can't sign myself up for years of fretting about theft.
- c-cube 3y ago
  I haven't tried but I'm curious about them: would a foldable (e)bike do it for you? You just don't leave it outside at all! I've been eyeing the Bromptons but without a commute it's harder for me to justify the cost.
  - wpietri 3y ago
    Yeah, if I had a commute, I'd think about a foldable, although I struggle with the look. But a big use case for a bike for me is recreational distance riding, which is sounds like they're not great at.
  - pigscantfly 3y ago
    I had a foldable e-bike for two months (was great) in SF before it was stolen. Someone saw me ride up to my house and enter the basement entrance where I kept it locked to a pole in a utility closet. Later on, they grabbed a food delivery bag, told another tenant they were making a delivery, got buzzed into the building, and stole the bike. They didn't get either battery, but I haven't bought a bike since.
    - wpietri 3y ago
      Very sorry to hear this, but I appreciate the tale as a warning.
  - abeppu 3y ago
microtonal 3y ago
I have insurance with a tracker. It costs about 10 Euro per month. If the bike is stolen, they first try to find it with the tracker. Bikes with trackers are usually put temporarily in public space close to where it's stolen during a cool-off period to check if the tracker is still operational/followed. Usually the insurance will just recover the bike from this cool-off spot. If the insurance company cannot find the bike through the tracker, they'll buy you a new bike. Besides that, the rule is to always make your bike the least attractive to steal. Use two locks eg. a ring lock through the rear wheel and a chain lock through the front wheel, frame, and attached to something stationary (so they can't through the bike in a van and break the locks later). In general it's also good to put it in places where someone would notice if anyone tries to steal the bike, but not so busy that no one would notice and feels responsibility. Bonus points (remember the 'least attractive' rule), put it in some place where there are bikes that are much easier to steal (eg. not attached to a fixed object). But expensive and heavy locks suck and the ever present thought in your head planning a good parking spot etc. kills the joy of it. It's also a cultural/facilities thing. Eg. in The Netherlands many cities have bike parking with supervision and nobody minds if you attach your bike to eg. a lamp post. And most cities have plenty of lamp posts, so no real planning necessary :).
- tjoff 3y ago
  I haven't seen such insurance, looks favorable. Bikes here are pretty much uninsurable (my opinion) and while I happily get a tracker I have zero hope of it being useful. If you don't want a crappy bike you are going to stand out, guaranteed, and double locks won't deter. Lamp posts is exactly what I had in mind, you can only have one to two bikes per lamp post. So depending on your destination you have your goto and a few backups ready planned. Yes, double locks and a lamp-post in a public place will probably be good enough during the day, it is still such a hassle.
  - microtonal 3y ago
    That kind of insurance is easy to get here in The Netherlands, of course it may be more difficult elsewhere. Eg.: https://www.anwb.nl/verzekeringen/fietsverzekering https://www.anwb.nl/verzekeringen/fietsverzekering
kjkjadksj 3y ago
Just put your bike on your renters or homeowners insurance. Mine is covered for theft with zero deductible.
- abeppu 3y ago
  If your bike is stolen and you actually make a claim, does that make your homeowners insurance more expensive going forward?
  - somerandomqaguy 3y ago
    On that same vein, is there a limit of how many times you can make a claim on stolen bikes?
  - kjkjadksj 3y ago
    Not in my experience. Premiums only go up when I add more things covered e.g. specifically by zero deductible vs the general deductibles.
brnt 3y ago
Although love of the new is gaining territory here too, let me share some once universally accepted Dutch advice: thou shalt ride an old clunker worth no more than the lock you secure it with.
entropicgravity 3y ago
Having rode motorcycles and an ebike scooter in the past, both of these have an integrated lock for the handle bars. This means a thief can't just cut the lock and roll the bike away because the handle bars are locked at an angle. The thief then has a choice of carrying the bike, breaking the handle bar lock, or awkwardly picking up the front tire and dragging it. All of which takes time and is obvious to on lookers and in the case of breaking the lock then the bicycle frame is now worthless. I would like to see more ebikes include an integrated handlebar locks in their ebikes. Cheap and effective.
- Aulig 3y ago
  When my bike was stolen, they drove up with a large van, threw a bunch of bikes in the back, and drove away. A handlebar lock wouldn't do much here unfortunately.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
amelius 3y ago
Have you tried a U-lock?
EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y ago
There are many downers actually, none of which mentioned in that poem. People opening car doors right in front of you. Oil patches on roads. Dogs. Heat strokes. Inhaling all the nastiness that a car somewhat protects you against. But in countryside I imagine it could be very nice. Pity I never lived in countryside and never going to be.

by tjoff 3y ago

analog31 3y ago

Murphy's law for bicycles: All bikes weigh 35 pounds, because the lighter the bike, the heavier the lock needed to secure it.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
jerlam 3y ago
This rule doesn't work for ebikes that can weigh 70 pounds unloaded.
wl 3y ago
If you’re riding a bike you’ve actually weighed, the bike should be in your sight or locked up at home. If you’re leaving it locked up in public, that should be a different, far less valuable bike.
- analog31 3y ago
  Oddly enough I'm the rare exception. I weighed my bike (21 pounds, hardly a lightweight), but it's thrown together from old parts, and hopefully not a theft magnet. But also, I'm conscious of the actual level of bike theft in my locale, and am not particularly worried about it. I can always park it next to a nicer bike with a less secure lock.

wpietri 3y ago

I feel that one for sure. I live in San Francisco and was a dedicated cyclist. I had 6 bikes stolen in my first years here. But I was stubborn, got cannier, and kept the 7th long enough for it to look scruffy. Which let me keep it for years. But then it got stolen while locked up behind a 12-foot fence and something went out of me. I just gave up. I still make occasional trips on the Lyft bikes, which are fine. And I've been thinking about getting another bike. But especially with e-bikes, which are much more expensive and therefore much better theft targets, I just can't sign myself up for years of fretting about theft.

c-cube 3y ago
I haven't tried but I'm curious about them: would a foldable (e)bike do it for you? You just don't leave it outside at all! I've been eyeing the Bromptons but without a commute it's harder for me to justify the cost.
- wpietri 3y ago
  Yeah, if I had a commute, I'd think about a foldable, although I struggle with the look. But a big use case for a bike for me is recreational distance riding, which is sounds like they're not great at.
- pigscantfly 3y ago
  I had a foldable e-bike for two months (was great) in SF before it was stolen. Someone saw me ride up to my house and enter the basement entrance where I kept it locked to a pole in a utility closet. Later on, they grabbed a food delivery bag, told another tenant they were making a delivery, got buzzed into the building, and stole the bike. They didn't get either battery, but I haven't bought a bike since.
  - wpietri 3y ago
    Very sorry to hear this, but I appreciate the tale as a warning.
- abeppu 3y ago

microtonal 3y ago

I have insurance with a tracker. It costs about 10 Euro per month. If the bike is stolen, they first try to find it with the tracker. Bikes with trackers are usually put temporarily in public space close to where it's stolen during a cool-off period to check if the tracker is still operational/followed. Usually the insurance will just recover the bike from this cool-off spot. If the insurance company cannot find the bike through the tracker, they'll buy you a new bike. Besides that, the rule is to always make your bike the least attractive to steal. Use two locks eg. a ring lock through the rear wheel and a chain lock through the front wheel, frame, and attached to something stationary (so they can't through the bike in a van and break the locks later). In general it's also good to put it in places where someone would notice if anyone tries to steal the bike, but not so busy that no one would notice and feels responsibility. Bonus points (remember the 'least attractive' rule), put it in some place where there are bikes that are much easier to steal (eg. not attached to a fixed object). But expensive and heavy locks suck and the ever present thought in your head planning a good parking spot etc. kills the joy of it. It's also a cultural/facilities thing. Eg. in The Netherlands many cities have bike parking with supervision and nobody minds if you attach your bike to eg. a lamp post. And most cities have plenty of lamp posts, so no real planning necessary :).

tjoff 3y ago
I haven't seen such insurance, looks favorable. Bikes here are pretty much uninsurable (my opinion) and while I happily get a tracker I have zero hope of it being useful. If you don't want a crappy bike you are going to stand out, guaranteed, and double locks won't deter. Lamp posts is exactly what I had in mind, you can only have one to two bikes per lamp post. So depending on your destination you have your goto and a few backups ready planned. Yes, double locks and a lamp-post in a public place will probably be good enough during the day, it is still such a hassle.
- microtonal 3y ago
  That kind of insurance is easy to get here in The Netherlands, of course it may be more difficult elsewhere. Eg.: https://www.anwb.nl/verzekeringen/fietsverzekering https://www.anwb.nl/verzekeringen/fietsverzekering

kjkjadksj 3y ago

Just put your bike on your renters or homeowners insurance. Mine is covered for theft with zero deductible.

abeppu 3y ago
If your bike is stolen and you actually make a claim, does that make your homeowners insurance more expensive going forward?
- somerandomqaguy 3y ago
  On that same vein, is there a limit of how many times you can make a claim on stolen bikes?
- kjkjadksj 3y ago
  Not in my experience. Premiums only go up when I add more things covered e.g. specifically by zero deductible vs the general deductibles.

brnt 3y ago

Although love of the new is gaining territory here too, let me share some once universally accepted Dutch advice: thou shalt ride an old clunker worth no more than the lock you secure it with.

entropicgravity 3y ago

Having rode motorcycles and an ebike scooter in the past, both of these have an integrated lock for the handle bars. This means a thief can't just cut the lock and roll the bike away because the handle bars are locked at an angle. The thief then has a choice of carrying the bike, breaking the handle bar lock, or awkwardly picking up the front tire and dragging it. All of which takes time and is obvious to on lookers and in the case of breaking the lock then the bicycle frame is now worthless. I would like to see more ebikes include an integrated handlebar locks in their ebikes. Cheap and effective.

Aulig 3y ago
When my bike was stolen, they drove up with a large van, threw a bunch of bikes in the back, and drove away. A handlebar lock wouldn't do much here unfortunately.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

amelius 3y ago

Have you tried a U-lock?

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y ago

There are many downers actually, none of which mentioned in that poem. People opening car doors right in front of you. Oil patches on roads. Dogs. Heat strokes. Inhaling all the nastiness that a car somewhat protects you against. But in countryside I imagine it could be very nice. Pity I never lived in countryside and never going to be.