Great video Chris - I think your balanced view on these things is very justified. On law and enforcement here in the UK it’s less about the former and more about the latter. If you notify the police about a stolen bike they do little more than get a crime reference number for you. There are bike theft rings here and the police need to realise the impact this sort of loss has on people and treat it as seriously as other crimes.
Hi Chris! Local Detroit Boy here! (Lafayette Park resident, year-round bike commuter.) Loved your recent video on biking in the Motor City. 2024 was not a good year for me, bikewise. In March, I was struck by an automobile--I came out of it relatively uninjured, my steel-frame commuter/cyclo bike didn't fare as well. In August, my vintage racer was stolen--from the hatch of my car, in our building's "guarded" parking lot. Police reports made--not recovered. (We now hire a different security company.) Nevertheless, I would agree you that Detroit is a relatively safe city for bike-theft, at least in the central neighborhoods. As long as you have your urban smarts about you.
A couple stories about bike theft: About 15 years ago, while living in Cleveland, OH, my bike was stolen from in front of a public market. It later showed up for sale on Criaigslist (very big at the time). After considering various means of retrieval (an off-duty cop who worked security at my workplace offered to "run back-up".), I decided the best method was to just pay the asking price, and consider it "ransom." However, not once but twice I tried to arrange a meeting, but the "seller" never came to the door. I think they must have recognized me as the legal owner. And a couple years ago, here in Detroit, I was riding my racer (the one that was stolen in August), when I ran into the owner of the bike shop from which I had purchased the commuter (above). He asked me if I still had it--"no, I was just riding the other"--turns out, the owner of a different bike shop had contact him--someone had come into their shop trying to sell as bike; they suspected it was hot; knew that my guy's shop sold that brand, and had contacted him about it. A tight community, which, for the most part watches out for one another.
I just saw Aventon has a new model (the Abound SR) that has a lot of security features - an alarm, GPS, locking kickstand, passcode/keyless battery, remote locking, and geofencing. Hopefully that kind of stuff will make it to more bikes.
In france and other countries in europe new bikes are sold engraved and registered, we can engraved old ones too. If thief wants to sell it, buyers will know and if police find the bike they will know who's the owner. Many bikes have been recovered after being stolen, but the police have never been able to find out to whom they were returned. And they is something I love, it's HEXLOX. These are magnets that fit into the allen key holes, they require specials keys. They can be used to secure bike accessories such as wheels, saddles, or anything with an allen key. Not cheap but i fell more secure with that
I’ve had a bike stolen 2 times in my life, and both times the bike was stolen from my home. First time it was an apartment patio. Dude climbed up to my back patio and cut the lock. Second time it was in a bike lockup room in my apartment building. Someone, maybe a tenant or a criminal who snuck in targeted my bike and used tools to strip everything that wasn’t locked down.
It will be interesting to see if Ebay's (UK) ban on selling secondhand ebikes and batteries will reduce the thefts here. ATM I live in one of the worst areas for bike theft: "Freedom of Information request revealed there were more bike thefts in Colchester than any other police district in the county in 2023."
@@Radders123 yeah it was about the e-bike fires that were happening, especially with custom e-bike builds and even some Chinese imported e-bikes, which defeats the purpose, as those business sellers on eBay that are selling the exact imported e-bikes that are currently selling on eBay. I've never known in my past 10 years or so of being an e-bike user of any of the well-known and established brands that supply e-bike batteries such as Bosch, Haibike and Specalized to name but a few of ever having battery fires.
Hey Chris, welcome to metro Detroit. I've watched your videos for a long time. Apparently my notifications got turned off somehow. Cool to hear you moved to the Detroit area and you are now near me. Do you have a store here now? I would love to visit you if you do. Greg
Spark Cycleworks puts VIN numbers on their e-bikes/e-moped so you can register and insure them like a regular vehicle. ● If you have a 12v bike there are motorcycle trackers you could mount to the bike; thieves would have to know what they were looking at/for to distinguish it from just part of the bike. ● Motorcycle Disc-Lock (with the long curly Reminder Cable) fit some bikes. ● Handlebar Throttle/Break Locks can add an additional layer of annoyance for thieves. Also get brightly colored locks so thieves can see them and hopefully give your bike a pass. Hello Tempo sounds like a good deal.
Hi, FYI, Amazon sells a handle bar extension (C$18). That's where I have my mirrors and phone caddy mounted. And there is still room for other stuff like a ringer bell, etc. Regards
Handlebar Throttle/Break Locks make for a good deterrent or second lock. * Motorcycle Disc-Lock (with the long curly Reminder Cable) should fit bikes. * If you have a 12v bike there are motorcycle trackers you could mount to the bike; thieves would have to know what they were looking at/for to distinguish it from just part of the bike. * Also get brightly colored locks so thieves can see them and hopefully give your bike a pass. * Spark Cycleworks puts VIN numbers on their e-bikes/e-moped so you can register and insure them like a regular vehicle. Hello Tempo sounds like a good deal.
I have found that frame lock is a lot more work to get it of and it make bike a lot harder to take bike than just cut boke lock and pedal away. BTW in Oslo i saw lot of bike with out seat posts as suspension seatpost with good sadle could easy cost around 400 usd
Important topic a really great video! What are y'alls thoughts on taking your bike into a store, e.g home improvement store, grocery store. One should not do it at rush hour but maybe early morning. It is a little weird to do, eh?
What about a fund to hire private investigators to uncover and bust professional bike theft rings in major cities? We might find that a small group of a dozen or so people might be behind most bike thefts in a lot of cities, or at the very least, providing a network for petty theifs to fence stolen bikes.
Ebikes having a power source could electrify the bike to provide a mild shock to would-be thieves. Similar to an electric livestock fence. System could be activated/deactivated via remote control, or bluetooth using a phone app.
Yes to allowing secure bike storage in exchange for a reduced number of automobile spaces. The urbanist push to do away with mandatory parking minimums really frustrates me because we shouldn't be giving developers something for nothing.
This idea is the opposite of how one would successfully change behavior. The first rule of behavior modification: consistent consequences. It's highly unlikely that anyone would be shot the first time they stole a bike. Or the second. Or even the 100th. By making the punishment severe, you lessen the chances that it will be implemented. If you want to change behavior, make the consequences easy to meet out and relatively low stakes for the person who has to implement them. Making bike theft annoying is going to go a much longer way than making it a capital offense.
Great video Chris - I think your balanced view on these things is very justified.
On law and enforcement here in the UK it’s less about the former and more about the latter. If you notify the police about a stolen bike they do little more than get a crime reference number for you. There are bike theft rings here and the police need to realise the impact this sort of loss has on people and treat it as seriously as other crimes.
Hi Chris! Local Detroit Boy here! (Lafayette Park resident, year-round bike commuter.) Loved your recent video on biking in the Motor City.
2024 was not a good year for me, bikewise. In March, I was struck by an automobile--I came out of it relatively uninjured, my steel-frame commuter/cyclo bike didn't fare as well. In August, my vintage racer was stolen--from the hatch of my car, in our building's "guarded" parking lot. Police reports made--not recovered. (We now hire a different security company.)
Nevertheless, I would agree you that Detroit is a relatively safe city for bike-theft, at least in the central neighborhoods. As long as you have your urban smarts about you.
A couple stories about bike theft:
About 15 years ago, while living in Cleveland, OH, my bike was stolen from in front of a public market. It later showed up for sale on Criaigslist (very big at the time). After considering various means of retrieval (an off-duty cop who worked security at my workplace offered to "run back-up".), I decided the best method was to just pay the asking price, and consider it "ransom." However, not once but twice I tried to arrange a meeting, but the "seller" never came to the door. I think they must have recognized me as the legal owner.
And a couple years ago, here in Detroit, I was riding my racer (the one that was stolen in August), when I ran into the owner of the bike shop from which I had purchased the commuter (above). He asked me if I still had it--"no, I was just riding the other"--turns out, the owner of a different bike shop had contact him--someone had come into their shop trying to sell as bike; they suspected it was hot; knew that my guy's shop sold that brand, and had contacted him about it. A tight community, which, for the most part watches out for one another.
I just saw Aventon has a new model (the Abound SR) that has a lot of security features - an alarm, GPS, locking kickstand, passcode/keyless battery, remote locking, and geofencing. Hopefully that kind of stuff will make it to more bikes.
In france and other countries in europe new bikes are sold engraved and registered, we can engraved old ones too. If thief wants to sell it, buyers will know and if police find the bike they will know who's the owner. Many bikes have been recovered after being stolen, but the police have never been able to find out to whom they were returned.
And they is something I love, it's HEXLOX. These are magnets that fit into the allen key holes, they require specials keys. They can be used to secure bike accessories such as wheels, saddles, or anything with an allen key. Not cheap but i fell more secure with that
I’ve had a bike stolen 2 times in my life, and both times the bike was stolen from my home. First time it was an apartment patio. Dude climbed up to my back patio and cut the lock. Second time it was in a bike lockup room in my apartment building. Someone, maybe a tenant or a criminal who snuck in targeted my bike and used tools to strip everything that wasn’t locked down.
It will be interesting to see if Ebay's (UK) ban on selling secondhand ebikes and batteries will reduce the thefts here. ATM I live in one of the worst areas for bike theft:
"Freedom of Information request revealed there were more bike thefts in Colchester than any other police district in the county in 2023."
I didn’t know about that policy. Good for eBay.
Doubt it'll make too much difference for the bigger players, often bundled up in vans and off in to Europe
@@Radders123 yeah it was about the e-bike fires that were happening, especially with custom e-bike builds and even some Chinese imported e-bikes, which defeats the purpose, as those business sellers on eBay that are selling the exact imported e-bikes that are currently selling on eBay. I've never known in my past 10 years or so of being an e-bike user of any of the well-known and established brands that supply e-bike batteries such as Bosch, Haibike and Specalized to name but a few of ever having battery fires.
Hey Chris, welcome to metro Detroit. I've watched your videos for a long time. Apparently my notifications got turned off somehow. Cool to hear you moved to the Detroit area and you are now near me. Do you have a store here now? I would love to visit you if you do.
Greg
Spark Cycleworks puts VIN numbers on their e-bikes/e-moped so you can register and insure them like a regular vehicle. ● If you have a 12v bike there are motorcycle trackers you could mount to the bike; thieves would have to know what they were looking at/for to distinguish it from just part of the bike. ● Motorcycle Disc-Lock (with the long curly Reminder Cable) fit some bikes. ● Handlebar Throttle/Break Locks can add an additional layer of annoyance for thieves. Also get brightly colored locks so thieves can see them and hopefully give your bike a pass.
Hello Tempo sounds like a good deal.
Hi,
FYI, Amazon sells a handle bar extension (C$18). That's where I have my mirrors and phone caddy mounted. And there is still room for other stuff like a ringer bell, etc. Regards
Handlebar Throttle/Break Locks make for a good deterrent or second lock. * Motorcycle Disc-Lock (with the long curly Reminder Cable) should fit bikes. * If you have a 12v bike there are motorcycle trackers you could mount to the bike; thieves would have to know what they were looking at/for to distinguish it from just part of the bike. * Also get brightly colored locks so thieves can see them and hopefully give your bike a pass. * Spark Cycleworks puts VIN numbers on their e-bikes/e-moped so you can register and insure them like a regular vehicle.
Hello Tempo sounds like a good deal.
I have found that frame lock is a lot more work to get it of and it make bike a lot harder to take bike than just cut boke lock and pedal away. BTW in Oslo i saw lot of bike with out seat posts as suspension seatpost with good sadle could easy cost around 400 usd
Important topic a really great video! What are y'alls thoughts on taking your bike into a store, e.g home improvement store, grocery store. One should not do it at rush hour but maybe early morning. It is a little weird to do, eh?
What about a fund to hire private investigators to uncover and bust professional bike theft rings in major cities? We might find that a small group of a dozen or so people might be behind most bike thefts in a lot of cities, or at the very least, providing a network for petty theifs to fence stolen bikes.
Bike racks should have universal locking interfaces that allow you to lock the bike connected to an app on your phone.
Vandalism is another issue. Brokem lights, stolen seat, etc.
Ebikes having a power source could electrify the bike to provide a mild shock to would-be thieves. Similar to an electric livestock fence. System could be activated/deactivated via remote control, or bluetooth using a phone app.
Yes to allowing secure bike storage in exchange for a reduced number of automobile spaces. The urbanist push to do away with mandatory parking minimums really frustrates me because we shouldn't be giving developers something for nothing.
In Beijing, China, I never lock my bike. Nobody ever tries to touch it.
yea, yea Chinese junta
Much stronger punishments for stealing bicycles. Just like they had for stealing a horse in the Wild West…
This idea is the opposite of how one would successfully change behavior. The first rule of behavior modification: consistent consequences. It's highly unlikely that anyone would be shot the first time they stole a bike. Or the second. Or even the 100th. By making the punishment severe, you lessen the chances that it will be implemented. If you want to change behavior, make the consequences easy to meet out and relatively low stakes for the person who has to implement them. Making bike theft annoying is going to go a much longer way than making it a capital offense.
Swap the seat with a spike maybe?
Like that idea. Small, short, lightweight anti-theft device.
OR, maybe even a bare tube that simply cannot be sat on!
Vigilance.