Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by T.C. O'Rourke on April 12, 2010 at 9:02pm

It sounds like a lanyard-- a cable looped through the wheels and u-lock-- would have prevented the wheel thefts you reference... or at least shifted the theft to other bikes :(

I think cross locking --using a u-lock *and* separate cable lock-- is as good if not better than 2 u-locks.

Howard, I don't recall ever seeing a cross locked bike on the SBR. Have you? Can you generate reports from the data on that site?

Anecdotally, I do think u-lock cutting type theft is on the rise and predict an explosion this summer...

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Permalink Reply by Moc Artsy on April 13, 2010 at 3:47am

Has anyone tried an alarmed lock? I think they are mainly with cable-type systems and would have to be used with a u-lock, but evidently they sound even when only moved. I can see how these might be more annoying than helpful, especially if the bike owner is in a noisy bar, but they may have a deterrent effect.

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Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on April 13, 2010 at 3:53am

People snake wheels because they are easy to get so any kind of lock or cable is going to slow them down and shift the theft to the next bike in line.

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Permalink Reply by Bryan D on April 13, 2010 at 4:10am

I use two u-locks (front frame and wheel to bike rack, back frame and wheel to bike rack, if there's room) and I have a thick cable that I snake through my seat and rear wheel and attach that to the rear u-lock.

It might be overkill, but when a bike thief is sizing up the options on the block, I'm pretty sure mine looks like it's more work than it's worth.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan L on April 13, 2010 at 6:24am

I usually lock my New York U-lock through front wheel and frame to rack with a cable through the rear. Sometimes it is hard to accomplish if there is not an actual bike rack to lock to. The problem with some of these group rides is that there is hardly a rack for one bike let alone racks to accommodate 30+ bikes. When my wheel was stolen I was unable to get the ulock through both the front wheel and frame, my cable did not reach as well. This is just how it is when multiple bikes need to lock up in an area with zero racks available.

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Permalink Reply by T.C. O'Rourke on April 13, 2010 at 7:09am

Howard, I just read through 10 pages of theft reports on the Stolen Bike Registry without seeing a single one which listed that both a U-lock and separate cable lock were used.

In addition, there is no way to indicate both or cross locked under "lock type".

I am going to respectfully disagree with your assertion that using a lanyard or separate cable lock in addition to a U-lock is of little help. Both prevent wheels, saddles or whatever it is looped around from being stolen without *some* kind of tool. The cable lock is another thing to cut, slowing down the theft, albiet slightly.

Reconsidering my previous post, I think that using 2 *modern* style u-locks, the shackles of each must be twice, or four cuts total, is vastly superior to one each U & cable locks.

But answering the question, using a cable/cable lock to secure wheels is a good idea.

H3N3 said:

Many, many, many.
No way to filter for them though-- will have to ask Paul if we can reflect cross-locked bikes somehow in the stats. I think one of the most recent two or three is one such though, for example. There's a "stats" page but it does a not-so-great job of telling the story as people select the wrong thing more often than I have time to thoroughly edit (for example about one out of 3 victims select U-lock when no U-lock was compromised to steal the bike-- we've tried various changes to the way the choices are presented but nothing helps).

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Permalink Reply by T.C. O'Rourke on April 13, 2010 at 7:36am

H3N3 said:

I did say that you can't search for cross-locked bikes-- not sure how that resulted in a "disagreement."

I meant that the cross locking data isn't easy to enter and therefore spotty.

H3N3 said:

The very top listing at the moment is a cross-locked bike-- how could you miss that?"

D'oh!!

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Permalink Reply by Ryan L on April 13, 2010 at 7:46am

My greatest issue when talking about locking techniques is that there is one incredibly vital bit of info that is never discussed. Using two crappy u-locks Vs two New York U-locks is drastically different. All a cable does is slow someone down and require them to have more tools. It's all about slowing them down. I believe no lock is impenetrable but some are easier to defeat than others no matter how you use them.

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