The Chainlink

Public Service Announcement - Cable Locks!

The CSBR interrupts your regularly scheduled threads about helmets, head injuries, reckless cyclists, reckless drivers, and the physics thereof, to bring you the following announcement.

As of noon on May 9th, the CSBR has received 29 stolen bike reports for the month of May. More than half of them (16) were "locked" with some form of cable (cable w/padlock, combination cable, or keyed cable). The most recent report was for a $5000 bike locked to a bike rack in the Loop with a combination cable lock.

Nobody on the chainlink still thinks it's OK to lock their bike with a cable lock, do they?

Carry on...

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on May 12, 2013 at 12:34pm

Simple & effective.

David P. said:

...perhaps a little (laminated?) card that can be left with a bike with a bit of text and a few illustrations stressing the importance of good locking, and showing how to do it.

Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on May 12, 2013 at 2:36pm

So can cable locks. 

Michael A said:

"locking skewers" can easily be defeated with a $20 tool.  

 

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on May 12, 2013 at 2:39pm

I like it.

Thunder Snow said:

Simple & effective.


Permalink Reply by Josh L. on May 13, 2013 at 10:39am

Well some people don't' want to carry the weight of two u locks.  That's why I now use a cable lock (after some punks removed my front tire a few weeks ago with an allen wrench, before they were caught).

I think it is very, very unlikely that your skewers or cable lock will be removed to steal a wheel. You will dramatically reduce your chances of a stolen wheel using these approaches. Also Amazon sells unlocked skewers for $15 which at a minimum should be used to remove your quick release skewers. Quick release skewers with no lock are an invitation to steal for street folks.

It is difficult to sell individual wheels as the market is very limited.  Wheels/tires are model/brand/size specific because at least on good to high end bikes you need to match.  The odds of selling a single tire/wheel on ebay/craigslist in chicago is low, and shipping them is $45.  So there just isn't enough money in it for the serious guys.  

Wheels are typically not something that serious bike thieves - the kind that carry tools to break through skewers and cable locks - go after.  It's 8x more lucrative to steal an entire bike.

I AM SURE IT HAS HAPPENED SOMEWHERE BUT I THINK IT'S VERY UNLIKELY!  

Permalink Reply by David P. on May 13, 2013 at 11:16am

How about a similar card, but with images of bad/good/best locking techniques?

Permalink Reply by dan brown on May 13, 2013 at 3:30pm

ha ha. not very "Smart" - that is a sucker pole

Mike F said:

Is this the proper way to lock up?
Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on May 20, 2013 at 7:07am

May 20th @ 7:00 am:

59 reported thefts for the month of May.

31 of them were some form of cable lock (cable w/padlock; combination cable; keyed cable) 53%

15 of them were not locked. 25%

 78% of reported thefts (5/13) were either not locked or locked with a cable.

Permalink Reply by John Greenfield on May 20, 2013 at 11:07am

Putting aside the gender politics of this ad (it ran in female-centric Momentum magazine, so I assume the cool women who run the mag don't consider it to be sexist), it's disturbing that they're promoting a flimsy cable lock as "secure."

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on May 20, 2013 at 11:09am

I agree.

John Greenfield said:

Putting aside the gender politics of this ad (it ran in female-centric Momentum magazine, so I assume the cool women who run the mag don't consider it to be sexist), it's disturbing that they're promoting a flimsy cable lock as "secure."

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on May 20, 2013 at 12:42pm

Jeff,

Not a good strategy. I don't have an exact percentage, but a large number of cable locks are snipped with lots of people around and plenty of eyes on the bikes. I think it possible that some thieves even use the presence of the crowd for cover.  It's probably my biggest assumption that the info collected by the Chicago Stolen Bike Registry ended up disproving-- glad I decided to poll for it, otherwise I might  still be spouting the same misinformation.

Jeff Schneider said:

I tend to rely less on locks and more on choice of parking spot to reduce chances of theft.  I don't park at train stations or bars, for example, and try hard to put the bike where it is in view of a lot of people (any of whom a potential thief might think is the owner).  My thought is that any lock can be defeated, so it's best not to be a target in the first place.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on May 20, 2013 at 12:47pm

I forgot to lock my bike in Chinatown once; bike was still there 2 hours later.

Jeff Schneider said:

Second aside:  I once left a good bike unlocked, leaning against a traffic sign on the corner of State and Randolph for about 90 minutes (I just forgot to lock it!).  There are always lots of people standing around and walking by that spot.  Nobody touched the bike.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on May 20, 2013 at 12:50pm

I forgot to lock my bike in front of the Dominick's on Chicago Avenue once. I got lucky. Luck is a bad anti-theft strategy.

Alex Z said:

I forgot to lock my bike in Chinatown once; bike was still there 2 hours later.

Jeff Schneider said:

Second aside:  I once left a good bike unlocked, leaning against a traffic sign on the corner of State and Randolph for about 90 minutes (I just forgot to lock it!).  There are always lots of people standing around and walking by that spot.  Nobody touched the bike.

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