How do you prevent someone from stealing parts off of your bike?

A year ago someone cut through a small cable that went through my bike seat to my Ulock and then unscrew my seat post and took both parts during the busy early evening on North Ave near Damen? Someone on here mentioned the Chicago Bike Selling Facebook page is full of stolen bike parts and 'coincidentally,' a kid who shall be named was selling the exact same Fizik Arione team saddle and seat post the next day on that page.

He was also selling handlebars, stems, cranks, pedals, etc.

So how do you prevent someone from parting out your bike while it is locked up in public?

I read somewhere to epoxy every screw, even those on the crank arm and chainring. I feel like this would make bike maintenance a nightmare.

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Permalink Reply by bk (aka: Dr. Mambohead) on May 9, 2016 at 2:25pm
Yes also never put your bike where humans can sense it, that works best. They can be most unethical.
Permalink Reply by Will on May 12, 2016 at 9:13am

Epoxy sounds like a bad idea, but you can accomplish nearly the same thing using silver or black-colored sealing wax (depending on your hardware color/preference). Just drip some in the bolt head when you're done adjusting. It will deter casual thieves, and you can still get at the bolt head by digging out the wax with a small hex wrench, etc.

Permalink Reply by Eric R on May 13, 2016 at 11:51am
Epoxy proponent here. It does work but it requires extra effort getting out. I use it in almost every hex keyhole.

After the angles/ lengths/ heights are set for your parts/ components then you are good to go. When I need to remove a hex bolt I drill a small hole in the middle then pop it out w a thin nail, bolt, etc. - but I'm the one removing it :)
Permalink Reply by Seri97 on May 12, 2016 at 9:24am
Check out http://atomic22.com to secure every bolt on your bicycle. https://pinheadlocks.com/store/en/ have great products as well.
Permalink Reply by Yolo Perdiem on May 12, 2016 at 9:31am

Atomic22 are allegedly out of business; people seeking replacement keys are unable to contact anyone.

Permalink Reply by Christopher Smith on May 13, 2016 at 10:50am

I would recommend using these OnGuard locking skewers for wheels and the seatpost: http://www.onguardlock.com/skewers/ (REI currently has them on sale)

They have locking bearings in them, so you would have to flip the bike upside down to unlock your skewers.  If you've used a u-lock to lock the bike up it would be nearly impossible to flip the bike.  If you have a chain tool you can lock the saddle to the frame with an old chain- some people put old tubes over the chain so you won't scratch the paint on the frame. For hex bolts, I've been told to superglue ball bearings into them.  One guy told me he just used grease to hold the ball bearing in.  Cycle Smithy sells some special replacement hex bolts that take a star bit instead of an alan wrench.  Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Ryan Stahlman on May 16, 2016 at 6:13am

Here is a new option from Pitlock for allen bolts (5, 6, 8 mm sizes):

https://www.pitlock.de/en/shop/new-pit-stopper-antitheft-for-all-bi...

I'm pretty interested in trying these out. Has anyone used them before?

Permalink Reply by MJ E. on May 16, 2016 at 6:39am

clever trick someone came up with, fill the bolt head with grease pop a loose bearing in there. then when you maintain it, you can take the bearing out with a magnet. 

some guy can do the same but less permanent than epoxy.

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