Pretty good article on bike theft and locks (includes interviews with 'typical' bike thieves)

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Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on September 17, 2013 at 8:05am

It is a pretty good article. I also agree with the conclusion that the thieves interviewed didn’t care about sharing their trade secrets because they know many bikers wouldn’t follow their advice anyway. Bike shops sell a bunch of good u-locks; the Sheldon technique has been known for decades; and yet easily stealable bikes abound. It's why more than half of the reports to the Chicago Stolen Bike Registry are either bikes which are unlocked in back yards, garages and porches or locked with a cable lock.

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Permalink Reply by Bez on September 17, 2013 at 8:43am

I think the lock brackets thing comes in as part of the ease of use.  For you, running the CSBR, you aren't going to care since you always have your lock anyway.  For the average or new user, weight and convenience can factor in to whether or not they carry their lock.  If your lock is always mounted to your bike, you don't have to consider whether or not to grab it when you leave for a quick run to the store or whatever.  

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Permalink Reply by Rich S on September 17, 2013 at 8:51am

When I started at UIC a few weeks ago I was really nervous. Not anymore after seeing the way people lock up over there. I'm usually one of the few that's double u-locked although I did see a bike with the brooks saddle u-locked to the frame. 

So far I've spoken to 2 kids as they were unlocking nice looking bikes with cables. One was totally dismissive as it could never happen around here. The other was surprised. I encouraged him to research online rather than take my word for it. I've seen his bike with a u-lock since. While it won't stop Jimmy in this article it'll hopefully allow him to keep his bike! 

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on September 17, 2013 at 9:10am

Thanks for posting.  One can never have enough information or reminders.

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on September 17, 2013 at 9:11am

Thanks-- the rationale is explained in the article, no great puzzle there-- my point was only that he places waaaay too much emphasis on it.

Bez said:

I think the lock brackets thing comes in as part of the ease of use.  For you, running the CSBR, you aren't going to care since you always have your lock anyway.  For the average or new user, weight and convenience can factor in to whether or not they carry their lock.  If your lock is always mounted to your bike, you don't have to consider whether or not to grab it when you leave for a quick run to the store or whatever.  

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Permalink Reply by Drewbacca on September 17, 2013 at 10:53pm

Don't tell "Bug-Out" but,

I learned a really cool trick to bust those "potato" locks while in the navy... you basically just take two open ended wrenches of about the same size (think 1/2" or 9/16"). Place one prong of each wrench underneath the arch of the lock, creating leverage... push the closed ends together, and snap.

Unfortunately, we often had to do this on our own locks once a key was misplaced... it was quicker than waiting for the ship's security to come down with bolt-cutters. I think I went through at least five locks, before wising up and buying a bunch of locks with matching keys and have a couple of trusted friends share the same locks (we never lost all the keys at once and could always make more copies). 

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