Speaking of bike racks, they need to put more of them in front of stores, not behind in sketchy corner. Some business in may area have bike locker boxes where you can put your own disco locker, but don’t trust them because they don’t have anything inside to lock the bike to, so all they need is to cut your lock with bolt cutter.
My schitty has very few bike-racks, and most of the ones that they do have are clearly made for children's bikes or bikes for ANTS. I can barely fit my adult bike into most of the racks and have to hope that one of the ends is free so I can twist my bike enough to lock it to the rack on its side or something. 😒
And the owner have to secure they are clean and free of stickers. One colleague's was stolen last year not because of the overriden lock but because the bike rack was manipulated in advance and the cut was covered with stickers.
I'm a fan of the loaner locks at bars and restaurants, and here's why. While I always bring my U-lock when I ride for transportation, I never bring it when I do road rides for exercise, and I don't know many roadies who bring theirs, either. However, it's very common for roadies to stop in for a beer, coffee, or lunch, and that means we need to find a place with a good patio so we can watch our bikes. But here in Seattle, sitting on the patio isn't always a pleasant experience depending on weather, and it also means we pass on certain restaurants that don't have patios. If we can borrow a handful of decent locks and then daisy chain the bikes together, then we're more likely to stop at that restaurant, and its more secure than just not locking the bikes at all while we sit near a window and *sort of* keep an eye on them.
If watching your bike is all someone does, then you will just watch it get stolen 🤦🏻 Bmx Plus did an article in the 80’s about this. Watch and see if you can catch your buddy taking it. Even when they knew exactly which guy was going to take the bike, they couldn’t catch him.
Are you sure you'd feel comfortable locking your bike with a simple lock? Especially if they are expensive bikes. I think it should become the norm for bikes not to be parked outside like cars. They are not cars. They should have an indoor space where there are people, where it is not normal for anyone to come in with huge cutters etc. if businesses doubled up as bike parking services for a handful of bikes, that would be good.
You'll get the same exercise adaptation with the added weight of a lock, just at maybe a half mph slower. It's the watts that matter. The need to somehow streamline your bike on a training ride is a cultural problem, not a practical one.
Bike valet sounds awesome! I'd invest in this 100% We have an issue in my city where they steal bikes just for the metal and turn them over to chop shops. They butcher the bikes and send them off to the scrap yard so quickly that the local cops say all the evidence is gone by the time they have a warrant to raid the place; they've raided a specific chop shop in my city multiple times trying to catch the bike thieves with no luck. Not only have two bicycles been stolen from me so far but the bicycle thieves have also walked into my yard threatening to assault me because I was standing between them and my bicycle. Luckily I was holding a heavy shovel and they thought better of it. I'd love to be able to just go out for a bike ride and not have to worry anymore. Great video!
Got my bike stolen and was able to track it to an apartment complex. Blanketed the building with posters offering a cash reward for its return. The police helped me recover it shortly after. Yes AirTags have shortcomings, but worst is having no clue where your bike is at all!
I've done this as well, accept the police initially didn't want to do anything, like guys, I can tell you exactly where it is Well, I rang them up and during this conversation, I gave the police an ultimatum, You spend 5 minutes getting my bike back or you spend 5 hours minimum doing paperwork, your choice They were suddenly somehow able to come out right away and get my bike back Police hate being inconvenienced by small tasks that their job requires, but they hate paperwork even more XD
My 2 favorite ways: - lock integrated into frame and wheel (like DOTT or dutch bikes)- means that someone with a power grinder probably needs to damage the frame or they can't ride off. This can be combined with a larger lock - video surveillance areas (a lower cost bike valet) with a face covering rule.
I'd love to hear you and Maddy return to these questions of crime and discuss the issue of assault on cyclists. In London (UK), there are increasing numbers of news stories of gangs switching to bike mugging. I suspect that perception of crime is much greater than actuality in this case -- but I've only been assaulted twice in my adult life and both cases were when I was on my bike... It would be great to have a look at what the actuality of violent crime against cyclists is and how this varies internationally...
Road rage vs. theft seems to be a more common cause of assaults on bicyclists in the US. It's not 100% effective, but not engaging with misbehaving drivers is the best way to go. Don't gesture, flip off, brake check, yell rude words, etc. -- just let the jerk go by, and live to fight (ride?) another day. People have hair trigger tempers, they're behind the wheel of a multi-thousand pound vehicle that could easily become a deadly weapon, and, speaking of weapons, if you're in the US, they're likely to be carrying a gun.
Super useful and informative information. My personal favourite is having the "bike valet parking" available in the dense city cores. A city like Halifax could benefit from that IMMEDIATELY and the cost benefit of such an offering would be easily established. Vehicle traffic in Halifax is awful and I rarely drive when I need to go into the core. Parking down there can be touch and go for your bikes but having a supervised bike parking area would alleviate almost all of the risk. Thank you again for posting this and for spending the time to create it. It is much appreciated by us dedicated commuters.
Bike valet is a great idea and would bring in more customers if they knew their bike is secured. Better yet businesses could have a space just inside not seen from outside that people park their bikes and keep them safe while shopping.
Agree to the multi-pronged approach. If im leaving my eBike for an extended time, I remove the battery & quick release controller plus lock it with a quality U-bolt.
The last gravel race I rode in, Grassroots Gravel, had bike valet. It was great. I could enjoy the post-ride event without worrying about my $4k race bike walking away. First race where I’ve seen that, and first race I actually stayed for the post ride festival.
Many big events around Seattle have complimentary or low cost bike valet, often organized by Cascade Bicycle Club ("the nation's largest statewide bicycle nonprofit"). UW Husky and SeaHawks games, Sounders soccer games, festivals, etc. It's a terrific service, and one I hope expands elsewhere.
@@Shifter_Cycling Various types of miscreants in Stockton-on Tees,high street will steal anything not nailed down to the floor. I had my cycling jacket stolen while I was sat on the chair of a local greasy spoon/cafe.
@@jw6825 bike theft was (and is) basically tolerated in bigger cities in the Netherlands. In the '90s many junkies used to fund their drug habit by selling stolen bikes to students. It was like a carroussel lol
Yeah... beater bike... not a guarantee against assholes who would take things anyway. Sure you'd loose less but you'd still have to find alternative transport back. My welded back frame with no front break cheap ass bike got stollen from aparment building floor. When I was going to uni in the morning it still was an issue. Also this screams of ... just don't dress provocatively vibe...
Nice! I use the BikeFinder GPS tracker, not so much because I think it will give me my stolen bike back, but because it includes a good insurance for expensive bikes. Using hefty, quality locks is helpful, and the extra weight doesn't matter if it's an ebike. If the bike is visibly worn and dirty that can also help. I'm also lucky enough to live in a place with rentable city ebikes, so if I'm going to out on a pub run or something, then riding a city bike means zero theft risk for me.
Here in Perth, in Australia, we have a bike registration site called Bikelinc, which is built by WA Police. This means it is fully integrated with the system, in addition to letting members of the public search a serial number of a dumped bike to match to its owner. When my mountain bike was stolen last year, I thought it was gone for good. I filed a police report and moved on with my life, got a crappy second-hand bike to use as a commute bike. Then, six months later, the police contacted me because someone had found my bike, handed it in to the police, and using the registration they were able to return it to me! It works really well. Currently, I don't use much more than a sturdy lock to prevent my bike from being stolen. The commute bike is crappy, I painted it to make it look even more undesirable, but I eventually plan on getting an e-bike which I will install a tracker and/or alarm in.
Serial number registration at point of sale helps. Project 529 & Bike Index are fantastic resources. We can use that data to add it to CPIC when it's reported stolen. Canada has way more standization than the US.
I think an easy step authorities can take is to make registering bikes with project 529 (or similar service) mandatory at retailer points of sale, and also require repair shops to check every bike that comes in against the bike registry. Seems like this step would all but eliminate bike thefts.
The online resale sites (eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree are the main ones in my area) could easily require bike sellers to provide a frame number, and remove listings where the frame number is reported stolen.
@@nbartlett6538 My bike's serial-number was just a sticker that was already peeling off after a couple of years. How would that work with this system? 🤔
Sure, but at the same time, you're now accusing every bike owner who comes in of stealing their bike. Imagine getting asked to prove your ownership of said bike every single time Imagine car drivers having to do the same thing, they'd be up in arms about it. And yet, we can look at car thefts and see all the fatal accidents involved with car thefts. Iirc, don't remember hearing about too many deaths regarding stolen bikes. You can't criminalize everyone to catch a few criminals.
I bought a second hand racing bike. It had a qr code from the same shop I bought my mtb. Do you think the first owner informed the shop he bought the bike from 8 years ago that I am now the new legal owner? Now of course, we could think of that and change the registration, but what if we don't? So you make that mandatory, what do you do now in all the years it takes till every bike is registered to its actual owner? Bikeships can check all the time, but when they have a different owner, it will almost always be a false negative, so nobody will care to do it anyway
I'm a very happy velosurance customer. Haven't had to replace a bike yet with it, but the setup process was super easy as well as including modifications for coverage.
Since she brought up cost-benefit, i think it reelevant that popular perception of bike theft in BC is that it has essentially no downside. Since most individual bikes are not super valuable and easy to unload to a broker for a quick payout, bike theft is treated as petty crime. Im not saying it accurate, but the perception among people here is that if someone steals your car, the police will do something about it, find you car, and the thief will likely face severe consequences that moght include prison time. In constrast, the perception is that if someone steals your bike, at best the police will make them return it if they didnt sell it fast enough and they will be released by a judge pretty much immediately. Bike theft feels comparable to shoplifting in law enforcement response, but the victoms are individual rather than mostly corporate businesses, so I understsnd the frustration. Honeslty, I think some kind of campaign to increase awareness around insurance systems for bike theft would benefit people, even if its just more explicit protections for bikes in standard home/tenant insureance policies. Law enforcement really isnt the answer, the main deterrent seems to be direct confrontstion with property gaurdians.
11:20 No one should be locking their bike up like this anyway. 80% of bikes I see are locked this way. You want to create as little space as possible for a thief to cut through your lock. Always fill the U-lock: lock seat post, parking post and back wheel together.
My solution, which worked for 10 years leaving my bike in downtown Toronto, was the "double-Kryptonite". (doesn't have to be Kryptonite, just a beefy U-lock) Buy 2 U-locks, lock the front, lock the back. Turns out bike thieves are lazy and would rather steal the bike next to you with just the 1 lock.
This implies to me that if you could lock your bike in the middle of a row of bikes, and put the lock in a difficult to reach place, then it would be hard to get at it.
I've got a photo of two bikes "safely locked" in front of Union Station (on Front Street). Though I'm not sure if I can call them "bikes" because there's literally nothing left but a double-triangle of metal-tubing, there's NOTHING else there, no seat, no wheels, no tires, no cables, no pedals, no screws, no stickers, nothing. Nice and safely locked. They're probably still there right now; go check. 😒
I just got back from a trip to Edinburgh. I saw a bike locked to a railing in the city center one morning with one hell of a U lock around the frame. Walked back by a few hours later and the wheels were gone. Walked that way again later on and the seat and handlebars were gone. That night, passed it again on the way to the bus stop and the fork was gone. Just a frame locked up tight to a railing. Guy could've used another u lock for sure. Maybe even a cable through the wheels. It was in a very public area too. Some people are just bold I guess. Felt sorry for that person.
@@waterbottle4782 Yeah, come to think of it, at some point, my seats starting disappearing. Now I have an actual section of bicycle chain looped through the seat and frame.
A high end folding bike is my answer. I don't commute or ride around doing errands anymore, but has never been turned away from any establishment with it. Got my Brompton for public transportation and Verge X11 for everything else. I leave my nice bikes for trail riding/mountain climb when they basically never leave my butt.
First, Tom, thank you so much for covering this topic. It's troubling how much fear of theft discourages mode shift, so it's important to help folks understand how to manage the risk of theft. I do think there is likely some empirical evidence to address your question about GPS deterrence as a function of ubiquity. All of the Stromer line of e-bikes have GPS tracking as a standard feature, so it should be possible to compare rates of theft for their bikes with bikes that have the Bosch Smart System (where some bikes will have GPS tracking and some will not). Second, it might be worth mentioning the role that theft-deterrent nuts (like Hexlox) can play in deterring bike theft. Very often, bike racks are designed in a way that makes it difficult to lock the bike to the rack through the frame. In these cases, it's super nice to have something like Hexlox on the front wheel so that locking the bike by the front wheel does the trick. There are also similar nuts to discourage theft of seats and other attachments. And there are also many motion-sensing alarms that can be attached to acoustic bikes by various means, making it a bit more difficult to cut the lock without detection. Of course, some thieves are so brazen that they don't care about alarms, but I would guess that those thieves are a minority. Finally, I note that there are also relatively inexpensive sensors that can be mounted to any door that will sound an alarm (on a linked phone and/or soundbox) when the door is opened at a defined time of day (or night). I mention this because many bikes are stolen from garages or backyards, where the thief breaks through a pedestrian door or a side gate to access the bike. Combining these Bluetooth door alarms with motion-sensing lights at the exterior door can increase deterrence.
One method that I have seen is not being discussed here and is really relevant to bikes where you need to carry special tools for repairs or electronics, i.e., converters for dynamo hub generators. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Palo Alto, California has fully enclosed cages that you can lock your bike into. This is really helpful for preventing items on your bike that are just impractical to remove every time you leave the bike from being stolen. Even with an e-bike, unless someone is watching it all time time, if it is locked up, you can still have items like batteries or other electronics stolen from it.
Well, if you take the battery with you when you park the ebike, that would be a major deterrent, wouldn't it? Are ebikes available with passcodes? We used to always take the frame fit pump, water bottles, saddle bag, and the speedometer with us. All of those have been lifted off unattended parked bikes, often just for vandalism. I've also found criminals of opportunity skip over uninteresting out of date black bikes with fenders, when locked to a rack. The overwhelming majority of bike thieves where I''ve lived, DC and East TX, aren't carrying big bolt cutters capable of cutting a multiple-wire cable. If you have to park your bike at work, just take it inside with you.
It's very common in my area to have bike cages inside apartment buildings. And it's also very common for thieves to break into these bike cages (usually located in the parking garage) and steal every bike inside; many owners don't lock their bikes because they're in a bike cage in a "secure" building). Lesson -- always lock your bike with a quality lock or locks to an immovable object if it's not inside your home.
I can't imagine spending enough on a bike to justify spending even more on insurance. I'm already violently angry about some pile of fetid feces stealing my $200 bike, there's no way I'd spend that much on a new bike. 🤷
One thing that should be mentioned about GPS is that it's about numbers. If one stolen bike is not enough to get a search warrant, if 10 people report the same address to the Police maybe that will. This would at least discourage 'professional bike thieves' from keeping the stolen bikes at home or on their property, thus hopefully making things harder for the thieves, while making a police raid on organized bike thieves more likely. AFAIK it's often about gathering enough evidence. Like, the Police may suspect some address or person may be linked to bike theft but don't have enough evidence to search them. Reporting theft with GPS data to the Police would give them that evidence. Plus, if this means thieves will have to store their bikes away from home (say in some abandoned buildings or some other location that can't be easily linked to them), that makes it easier to retrieve the bike without Police involvement. In particular, maybe some thieves leave the stolen bike locked in a publicly available bike rack or similar area. That could make retrieving the bike easier whether you take the Police route or not.
I love Bikeep. I've used it for the last 3 (4?) years. Where I live, it can also be used with a public transport card, which is even easier than the app. I think it works especially well near a shop because I don't have to worry about bringing the lock with me and I can visit shops more spontaneously when riding around.
The safest thing is to bring the bike indoors. If there was space in a cafe, a shop, etc where I could leave my bike while I'm in the building, then that to me would feel safest, as opposed to leaving it outside. The easiest example of this is bringing my bike into our offices at work. It's 100% safe, like bringing it into my house. Not only is the bike safe, but so are all of it's attachments like lights, phone holder, pannier, even stuff inside the basket, etc. I don't have to detach this stuff or even lock my bike.
The idea is that most citizens hop into cycling. It's not possible for everyone to leave their bikes in a café or shop. That just works when we are the outliers. I also prefer to have it indoors of course, and there are many parking solutions for it
@@aquejuegasI think that if each place of business had a bike rack for 5 bikes for example, perhaps even vertically on a wall to save space, it would suffice for a very long time, at least where I live. Once it doesn't suffice, new solutions can be put into place.
@@aquejuegas If cycling became that ubiquitous, car-parking would be converted to bike-parking à la Jason's videos of Amsterdam, so it wouldn't be an issue (especially since cars are so gd big and take up so much space, a single car park can provide space for 2-8 bikes).
Indoors is ultimately the only safe place. Growing up in Kansas City I slept next to my BMX bike. I had to or it would be gone. My parents hated that I kept carrying it inside through the house but you simply couldn't own a good BMX bike in that city unless you never took your eyes off the thing. The one time I slipped up and didn't bring it in was a bad day. I took it into my backyard and put it inside a screened in porch so I could go inside and grab a glass of water. Literally only a few minutes. Went back outside and it was gone. To this day I never leave a bike outside when I'm home. If I'm out riding then a U lock and cable lock it is. Litelok is the best.
Good video on showing something new for this problem. For now I have two solutions. For expensive bicycle - only use it for home room(garage) to work locker(desk) and back. Most effective solution - do not buy expensive one. My dream is Cinelli steel frame bicycle. But instead I have 200 euro French one from 1991. I went on it 1/3 of the Belgium two weeks ago and even if it will be stolen - no drama. But it is not desirable by the way it looks, yet it is very strong and durable bicycle. Old steel is real, but stealing it, not so much.
bruh lights are detachable easily. The mount stays on and is of no worth, but the light can be easily slid off. The only thing i leave on my bike is my triangle frame bag. I bring my toolset, spare tire, and lights with me every time i lock my bike
@@alienalloy604 Bruh I know, I learned my lesson and don't leave tchotchkes for the CHUDs to swipe things off of anymore. I used to assume a dirty used $10 item wouldn't get stolen off a beater bike but cretins will take anything. I have locked seatposts and wheel axles for that reason, but anyone with an allen key and some determination could still grab stuff. The valet idea makes this even more valuable.
I use a bike cover with reinforced holes in it to run cables through, have a wireless controlled horn/alarm that detects motion; I hook all the parts of the cover together in the center, hang the motion alarm on the center connection of the cover, use the wireless remote to arm it, test by pulling the cover a little letting people around know that if they touch it that 120db at 10m will fire off. Next add is a sms board that will text me if something moves or any of the other sensors detect stuff or I can text it first to ask it to give me an update of current status of any/all sensors. 3 GPS tags that all phone home on different networks if they can't figure out where they are at any given time, and also prep for launch of messages if any/all the networks they need are blocked from them. A text is also issued if the GPS wakes up and it's more than a meter from where you parked and armed it; conversely, your phone app complains at you if it tries to text your bike and it can't get a response.
I have been saying for years that by far and away, the greatest improvement in rider encouragement and theft deterrence is indoor, weather-protected, staffed bicycle parking, and that more companies should understand the benefits to their bottom lines of allowing people to bring bicycles right into their buildings and park them in a corral. When you rely on a bicycle for transportation and shopping, you are going to be OK with riding in the rain, but getting your possessions wet is not an option, so you can't load and unload your waterproof bicycle luggage without a roof over your head, unless you want everything you own and everything you buy to get soaked.
Our local GO train station spent a year and a half building an expensive, enclosed, pay-accessed room for bikes. I've never seen a single bike in there, and my daughters beater was recently stolen from the old bike racks just outside. Meanwhile, the 700 cars at the station all park for free. Infuriating.
There are few places in the UK that have bookable bike hangars. You book you time on a phone app which gives you a code to open the hangar then you put your bike in. You're supposed to use your own locks then shut the hangar which locks automatically. Later you get the code to open the hangar when you want to retrieve it and your time is up. The rest of the countries have regular long term hangars to store bikes on street level that you access with your own key. It's a shared bike garage.
Matty needs to update her perspective with Canadian policing data. Bike Index's originator (Bryan Vance), who you didn't mention (weirdly), has done a great job of convincing local police and pawnshop owners to coordinate and automatically check Bike Index for every bike brought in to a pawnshop, every bike found, AND when they're reported stolen. In Edmonton, it's now official EPS policy to promote Bike Index. The cops hand out Bike Index info & stickers. Finally, all Bike Shops are now automatically registering new bikes with Bike Index. It's working to increase recovery, and now every time someone reports a bike stolen on a Facebook group, we tell them to add it to the Bike Index stolen bike registry. It is working because the infrastructure is connected.
I have an idea every building should have 50 bike boxes lockers, just they have with car spaces... You should be able to get a court order search warrant to enter a building and retrieve bike!!!
I have bike insurance here in the UK, it covers medical and third party amongst the options I chose. Again in the UK, I’ve registered mine in a national register. It’s not often I take my bike shopping unless I can either take it in the store or walk around the shop with it.
I've been a bike agency volunteer who does bike valets and tons of people that use them love the idea and are always grateful for their presence. Unfortunately, the city seems bike valets as a "experimental" concept that needs more testing before they want to fund for events like downtown baseball games. Yet the bike valet in downtown Portland near the aerial tram is also popular and works well for some downtown workers.
It was interesting to see a Litelok X1 in the segment about loaner locks. If someone loaned you one of those you're in good shape. That said, look at the flimsy bike racks they're locking onto and also just locking up around the top tube. Once cut from the rack, the bike could be simply ridden away. So yeah, there's not one single perfect solution, so one needs to make things hard enough for the thief that maybe he moves on.
So, I like loaner lock programs just for the case where I forget my lock. I always bring it with me, except sometimes I forget to bring it. So for that once in a while where I can borrow a lock instead of going all the way back home to get mine, it's a great convenience.
Yeah that Bike Valet idea is good! I wonder how more bike friendly societies handle this, i.e. in Amsterdam? You got it, Getting hit by a car - the other day 2 miles from my house, on a road with bike lanes, a biker was struck and killed by an SUV that somehow got away! This was at PM rush hour and traffic does not move all that quickly! Then breathing in all the exhaust fumes, then, bike theft especially of more expensive bikes!
I don't live in NA, but for most of my life, I used bikes daily and it only got stolen once, insurance paid. For years I didn't even lock it because I lost the keys. Wouldn't do that today though. In my old hometown, we have a parking at the train station for bikes which is operated by people who would otherwise have problems getting a regular job. They also had a workplace and did tuneups and simple repairs.
These are great ideas! I have an ebike which I bought used for about 1k CAD, and it's by far the most valuable thing I own. Bike theft is rampant in Toronto so not only do I have it registered, when I'm at work I lock it with a large u-lock (frame to rack), a chain (frame to rack), a frame lock (back wheel to frame), and a small u-lock (front wheel to frame). It's a pain, though, if I'm honest. I wish the city of Toronto would invest more in things like Bikeep, or even just more actual heavy-duty bike racks - some of the ring-and-post bike parking can be lifted right up out of the ground. I'm on a waiting list for the secured bike parking at city hall, but I've been on that list for 8 months now and I'm not holding my breath.
I think it’s forgotten that folding bikes can prevent theft. I bring my brompton inside with me where I go. It’s very hard to steal my bike because it is always on my person
Me, too - though the issue is where I'm going somewhere I can't take it in. It's fine for commuting, and with folding bikes, there are a lot of places where you can check it into a cloakroom but some places, like most cinemas in my city, don't have that facility leaving me with the option of hoping that my very nickable bike is still there at the end of the film, or having to use some other mode of transport.
Law enforcement is data driven. If stolen bikes keep disappearing in the same places, go to the same places, and appear later some place else, the police have something to lead them to the individuals that may be involved in other crimes. That data gives law enforcement probable cause.
Unfortunately, law enforcement likes to use that data to criminalize innocent people and reduce freedoms instead of actually doing 💩 to catch thieves and criminals. Why just get money from criminals when you can get money from everyone. Government are thieves too, they're not your friend
Airtags are not GPS (unless I misunderstand). They are just BLE (bluetooth) to nearby phones. Then if _that_ phone has location enabled (which is often cell-tower based, also not GPS) now you have an approximate location transmitted. Calling that 'GPS' is quite misleading. 'GPS' would be an actual GPS tracker in the bike, sending back location data via some wide-area backhaul method like Lora or GSM.
There are times where I use seven locks at the same time. One on each brake disc, one on the brake lever, two on the frame, one cable, and one on the chain. I am enjoying the blatant overkill aspect.
You need to design a bike rack that is shielded in a way that prevents people using grinder tools on the locks, but has just enough space for someone's hands to reach down and unlock/lock. The key isn't strength but making it hard for the tool to get at the lock.
Just a note re Velosurance, it’s only available in the US.I tried to fill their form for a quote but it required a US zip code, and I live in Canada. I wrote them and they referred me to the Ontario Cycling Association but like a llot of Canadians I don’t live in Ontario.
re: the loaner lock programme My partner noticed kids leaving their bikes unlocked at our local library. She bought several locks, dropped them off at the desk, and now their available to borrow. Fits well with our library--they're supporting having a tool library, a dish library (having a party and need dishes? Don't buy paper!), and a real focus on finding ways to support the community (honestly? Librarians freakin' rule!).
Sadly, Velosurance isn't available in Canada. And I agree, bike theft is a deterrent to cycling in cities. For the most part, if we are using our bikes for errands, one of us stays with the bikes while the other pops into the store. If we leave our bikes, we have multiple locks: we take the controller with us, use a cafe style lock combined with an Abus chain lock as well as a Bordo lock to lock the bikes together. When we lock the bikes in the bike room of our condo building (with 3 locked external doors + fob entry) we add a heavier gauge Abus chain lock and take the batteries with us. It's a lot of deterrence and so far we've been fortunate. We also take pictures proving how many locks we use - just in case. It all seems a bit ridiculous that we have to use so many levels of deterrence. Our daughter had her locked e-bike stolen from the locked bike room in her condo building; it got returned about 4 months later because of Project 529. An eagle-eyed cop thought the rider didn't match the bike and was able to prove it because the bike was registered with 529 and reported stolen so we are fans of Project 529.
You left out one, what I consider important, which is the bike motion alarm. I have one and it is passable though I wish it was a whole lot louder. I have thought of building my own to increase the alarm volume by an order of magnitude. I have registered my rides (trikes) with Project 529 with tags and I use a beefy Abus U-Lock.
Motion sensor alarms are great especially ebikes that have rob7s5 racks and fenders and create a spo5 to secure them. Tiny fob to arm is easy to carry and mine even has a warning beep before it goes to full annoying blaring sounds to avoid false alarms.
I've heard of a fair amount of cases where a home owner or renter policy actually pays out for a stolen bike claim but effectively refuses to insure another bike on that policy. So cashing in a meager coupon for a stolen bike will yield you a lost policy. Velosurance sounds great but no idea what their rates are. Markel is another company offering bike insurance. Some renter's insurance allow you to add "personal item insurance" which is effectively a separate no deductible policy at an additional rate which will not effect the regular policy. Ebikes seem to be a new level of cost/liability a lot of insurers will not cover, despite covering a regular analog bike, so never assume bike theft is covered by any policy.
All of these ideas make super sense for the very expensive, easily-fenced E cargo bikes. From personal experience in my city ( Bristol UK ) I've seen them frequently supplant 4X4 tanks on the school runs...THIS IS A VERY GOOD THING. Therefore I'm not getting on my niche high horse and derriding them or your excellent ideas. It might be worth suggesting though, as an extra to your ideas in the video, buying/building a " beater " bike ( old, rim brakes, guards and panniers, BIG ASS LOCK ) for city runs when not carrying E cargo loads.
One point for the public bike lock is that it's probably super great for Universities given that most students are very broke, and probably had to scrap up some cash for the bike to begin with. Getting a good bike lock is probably another big money dump for them too, or god forbid they only use those little cable locks that a pair of snippers can break. So the public lock helps take that extra financial burden off a group that is already dealing with not having that much expendable money.
When I was in BC, Bikeep also had lockers for bikes instead of just public locks. It didn't just shelter my bike from the elements, it also made it impossible to see what type of bike it was. So a potential bike thief wouldn't know which bike locker had the most valuable bike in it which made me a lot more comfortable leaving it there. It was also pretty cheap at like 10 cents an hour or something like that
I carry 3 locks to lock up my cargo bike. Litelock X1, X3 and some cheapo Stranley. Never lock to bike racks made of pipes, or pipes in general. They can be cut super stealth and fast with a pipe cutter. I also try to lock my bike to multiple spots at once.
I had a crazy idea recently- Imagine a bike where the frame and a lock are one in the same. A portion of the frame that opens up, like the frame of a belt drive bike, that allows it to lock directly to a bike rack. That way a thief cannot cut the lock without destroying the bike. I know that they can still cut the rack and this would make the bike heavier. Regardless, someone make this!
The bar "Siboire" in Montréal, St-Henri, allows people to bring their bike inside. I've once seen a group of 20+ bikers getting in the bar with their bike! They have 30+ spots to park your bike inside. That's the first time I've seen this at that scale!
I use Velo, when my battery and a bunch of accessories were stolen off my ebike they were very helpful. The reason the whole bike wasn’t stolen is because I use 3 locks anytime I leave my bike for longer than an hour.
i think many of these are society-size solutions and if we're looking at that scale we have to understand that theft comes from need (aka poverty) and we have to address poverty directly. that discussion was lacking, especially from a criminal justice proffesor
Yeah I would’ve liked to see mention that to truly solve bike theft, or any theft, we need to address poverty. This includes housing, education, healthcare, and employment opportunities for all.
This is absolutely true, and I said basically this at the end of the video. And this wasn’t intended to be a full examination of the issue, rather a discussion of these new ideas around bike theft prevention.
You're right, we really do need to be focusing on those root societal causes, but that's not going to happen overnight. In the meantime, I think it's worth considering the steps we can take as individuals and communities to somewhat mitigate the risk of bike theft. We need a multi-pronged approach to the issue, incorporating both short-term and long-term responses.
Trackers on a bike are an attempt to stop the tide , but let's be realistic - if it's in a 'bad location' and if it's miles away ; the concept of 'getting it back' starts to fade. What's needed is genuine secure parking - at a cheap price - at a convenient distance. It can be done. Some are working on it....
If you leave your bike unlocked and unattended a opportunistic thief's thinking is that "if you are going to leave it out like that then you deserve to have it stolen and do not value your bike. "This reinforces and justifies and even motivates impulsive theft
Retail bicycle outlets need to do more to encourage young people and older adults to ride bicycles. Sponsoring bike trains to escort children on their rides to school would be a great start. Organizing volunteers, teachers and other to ride along would be a great start. Getting children out of minivans and onto bicycles would be healthy exercise, build independence and make society healthier. Fun ride should also be organized. Getting a local bike club or school to sponsor an annual event to a local park or trail would encourage both adults and children to ride bicycles. Getting local elected officials to help with sponsored activities would help to educate them about the need for safe, protected bike lanes and trails in their community. Offering space and coffee for local riders to meet up would also improve store traffic.
With respect, you're far too optimistic. Most councils and council members aren't trying to do a damn thing but get re elected. And that means playing to the masses. The masses do not care about cyclists. Therefore, if one wants to be re elected (in most cities and countries), you ignore and demonize cyclists because thats what moronic car drivers Want
"Getting children out of minivans [and independent]" I don't trust a teacher to keep my kid safe *in a classroom on a guarded campus.* It sounds like a good way to get kids "independently" thrown into someone _else's_ minivan.
As you mentioned it's a mult-faceted approach. The bike valet seems to have the best success but their locations are limited. I"ve never had my bike stolen but that's mainly because it's noticeably old, heavy, has basic components and out of style. However as I'm aging I am considering an e-bike in the near future. The downside is a massive increase in theft desirability.
I'd suggest getting a model with an easily removable battery. They don't look quite as sleek as ones where the battery is fully concealed in the frame, but removing the battery and bringing it with you dramatically lowers the desirability of the bike. Many of the batteries cost $1,000 or more to replace, and an e-bike without a battery and charger is not super desirable.
Really liked the idea of the public bike rack that also locks your bike. Speaking about guardianship, if the rack screams when someone tries to break it that would make people going by notice it and become suspicious. So the public would act as a guardian in this case, I suppose?
"the public would act as a guardian" *Yeah right.* Do you really think I'm fist fighting a possible psycho who doesn't want to go to jail, just for your bike? At best: I'm wounded, At worst: I'm wounded, and a loony DA puts me in the wrong, doesn't consider it "Self defense or defense of another", and _I'm_ going to jail. Call the cops? See you when they get here in 20 min. I'll be sure to give them the description: "Average height, average weight, ski mask, hoodie".
Bike valets aren't exactly a new idea, but one imported from Europe. It's very common in the Netherlands (where else, of course?) and to a lesser extent in park&ride format at train stations with controlled access and camera surveillance but without dedicated staff in other countries, like here in Germany. What I'm wondering about is: who buys all these stolen bikes? A bike thief might want to have one or two for himself but if the theft is out of poverty the intention will be to sell those bikes, right? Who's buying expensive, second hand bikes without any type of documentation, recipe etc.?
That "end user of bike theft" question is really, really important! And it's under researched, definitely. Where do stolen bikes go? I'd love to see an episode on that question, @TomBabin!
(One thing I noted after my bike was stolen is the loss of mobility. I was able to just hop on it on a whim whenever I wanted, but with no bike, I now have to decide if going anywhere is reeeaaally worth the hassle and risk and expense of driving since cars are overkill for almost every trip, and walking is impractical since everything is so gd far away. And of course the feeling of VIOLATION is just traumatic and leads to permanent PTSD.)
A couple of thoughts on this excellent video, Tom: I’m in Hamilton, Ontario so my observations might not apply everywhere. First of all, I do have a GPS tracker hidden on my bike so I’m glad to see this option discussed. I always wonder if the police would be willing to assist in this matter and, unfortunately, given my own lack cluster experience with having a car stolen years ago, I’ve always questioned whether or not there would be any point in asking. Having heard the feedback here, I won’t hesitate to at least try if the situation arises. Having good bike racks that a lock can be attached to is at least as important as having a solid lock for one’s bike. Sadly, here in Hamilton, bike racks are few and far between and rarely in a location that makes them either safe or useful. Sometimes when I see the locations of bike racks in shopping malls locally, it makes me want to start a business stealing bikes myself. It would just be so easy!😈 The last thing I want to comment on is your panniers. I have similar saddlebags on my own bike as well as lights and an odometer/speedometer. I feel like, if I want to take my bike anywhere where I will be getting off and leaving it, I need to strip the bike down before the bad guys do it for me. All through your video I watched your bike behind you half expecting to see somebody sneak into the background for a photo bomb and take your bike instead. Maybe I have some trust issues but, much as I love to ride, I don’t tend to use my bike for errands or basic transportation simply because I’m working on the assumption that I may only have transportation in one direction, if I do take it somewhere.
GPS integration: I've had only one bike stolen, a rental. The police know who stole it, a repeat offender, but they need evidence, so the prosecutor can prosecute, and the judge can convict. The police know where the criminal lives. In Florida, USA, GPS counts as evidence. Hey you e-bike riders, my local police told me that e-bikes are now the criminals' getaway vehicle of choice because cops can't catch 'em. Not bike theft, I mean ALL crimes. GPS would help your local police a lot in arresting known criminals and providing evidence to your local prosecutor. "At the scene of the crime..." etc. Similar to bank robbers getting away in a car with stolen license plates -- but GPS is evidence.
Authorities sometimes have a certain interest in solving crimes, but they often have no interest in returning the property to the original owner. It is therefore important to regularly photograph a bike in order to be able to document the continuation of the ownership.
I wonder how useful it would be if bikes had a transmitter ID, and police cars would always be passively in pinging mode. If a bike were reported stolen, the system in the police car would notify the officer to investigate... Basically, an updated version of cars having license plates that could be reported stolen (though, I suppose, subject to a similar criminal phenomenon of plate/pinger removal)
Having an older non-electrical bike and locking it a bit better than other bikes in the vicinity - also attach the bike to a pole or other object so it can't be taken easily - works well in the Netherlands lol
I addressed the problem by buying a $105 bike 5 years ago ($190 today) at the big Canadian Box store. Paniers and rack worth as much as the bike. $4 Dollarama lock deters opportunists. So I don't worry too much about losing it. That said, I've had crappier bikes with better locks stolen overnight. My problem is I have a "sociable" side-by-side bike for two that my wife and I use as a daily driver. Fortunately, it is heavy enough and hard enough to ride and distinctive enough to have less attractiveness as an object of theft. But I still worry about it, as I would be devastated to lose it.
I treat my bike like it's literally a pet. If there isn't a window where I can clearly see the whole thing I'm gonna try to bring it in if there's room. If they complain I say "well are you gonna watch it and make sure it don't get stolen?" Which most of the time is "no" to which I reply "alr then if you ain't finna watch my shi I am cuz I am not having it get stolen"
There are shopping centers and libraries where you can use free lockers. To lock the door of the locker you have to put a coin in it as a deposit. A conceptually similar system could be used for secured bike racks. This would be of course much cheaper and more reliable than using smartphones. And: in the Netherlands there are cities with (several) free, guarded, facilities for parking bikes.
A few years ago, my old 1982 clunker (which had been my main bike and much sentimental value because I used to it to from new Zealand to the Arctic) was stolen. I had been leaving it unlocked in front of supermarket door for over 10 years at that location without problem, but one day when I went during the day instead of evening, it disappeared. Spoke to both police and the local community public security folks who know the area neighbourhood. This area was just opportunity theft, simil;ar to bike share. Young guy leaves supermarket, sees unloekd bike and steal it to go to the park and drops it there and walks home across street. Someone else sees unlocked bike in park etc and bike gets used this way till it is eventiually left unused for very long time and public security sots it. In other areas of the city, there are organized gangs who make a business of steaaling and reselling bikes. So those are very different. So the type of theft modus operandi varies depending on where you live and local police will have a handle on this.
I had no idea thanks for the awareness and if you could just point out some other things because the other day I had a ticket, a red light ticket and I just started the bike life electric bikes. I didn’t know there was a little symbol of a bike that turns red and green And I just think if I didn’t know about it a lot of other people didn’t know about it and it should be something people should be aware of and then there are some stop lights that don’t have the site a little bicycle, red and green sign and I had to have an interaction with an officer to find this out. Why didn’t have the cycling thing and it’s because When there’s a left signal for them to go left that means it is not our time to go I believe anyway I’m still trying to learn some new stuff so it’s good that you’re bringing the awareness about the theft because yeah I wouldn’t want my bike to get stolen now especially with all The chaos is going on in the city right now and you’re right it’s not the fact of leaving the bike somewhere because I just wouldn’t leave it anywhere, but I would leave it in a place like you’re showing and I never knew they had places like this in New York City And I don’t even know what to do with a bike ticket never in my life did I think I’d get pulled over on an electric bike
I never thought this would be a downside of e-bikes. That the very idea of making it easier to ride somewhere could be counteracted by the owner being afraid to ride there because of parking security. But it makes sense. I ride a bike that is not just acoustic but also a recumbent and also DIY built with square steel tube as the main spine of the frame. Nobody suspects what it actually costs to make one and rarely someone would think they could even sell it. Plus most people wouldn't be able to ride it right away. So when I park next to some nice looking upright bikes I feel safe even with a simple lightweight lock. The probability of the thieves taking mine instead of an MTB or a nice city bike is very very low.
I’m generally not a fan of “innovative” bike racks, because they very often are designed to only work with normal diamond frame bicycles. Anyone with unusual bikes, like recumbents, tandems, fat tire e-bikes, trikes, etc often can’t use them.
Bike registration saved a person's lock and bike. They had accidentally looped my bike in with theirs. By calling the registry phone number, we avoided having security cutting the lock as we were able to get a hold of the owner to have them fix the lock. I had to pick my kids from daycare so I was on a very tight time table to leave.
Speaking of bike racks, they need to put more of them in front of stores, not behind in sketchy corner. Some business in may area have bike locker boxes where you can put your own disco locker, but don’t trust them because they don’t have anything inside to lock the bike to, so all they need is to cut your lock with bolt cutter.
My schitty has very few bike-racks, and most of the ones that they do have are clearly made for children's bikes or bikes for ANTS. I can barely fit my adult bike into most of the racks and have to hope that one of the ends is free so I can twist my bike enough to lock it to the rack on its side or something. 😒
I've found some around my city that aren't even bolted down. Why would anyone lock their bike to a rack that can just be picked up?
It's interesting that retailers value their customers but if you are a customer on a bike you are a second class citizen
And the owner have to secure they are clean and free of stickers. One colleague's was stolen last year not because of the overriden lock but because the bike rack was manipulated in advance and the cut was covered with stickers.
I'm a fan of the loaner locks at bars and restaurants, and here's why. While I always bring my U-lock when I ride for transportation, I never bring it when I do road rides for exercise, and I don't know many roadies who bring theirs, either. However, it's very common for roadies to stop in for a beer, coffee, or lunch, and that means we need to find a place with a good patio so we can watch our bikes. But here in Seattle, sitting on the patio isn't always a pleasant experience depending on weather, and it also means we pass on certain restaurants that don't have patios. If we can borrow a handful of decent locks and then daisy chain the bikes together, then we're more likely to stop at that restaurant, and its more secure than just not locking the bikes at all while we sit near a window and *sort of* keep an eye on them.
If watching your bike is all someone does, then you will just watch it get stolen 🤦🏻
Bmx Plus did an article in the 80’s about this.
Watch and see if you can catch your buddy taking it.
Even when they knew exactly which guy was going to take the bike, they couldn’t catch him.
Are you sure you'd feel comfortable locking your bike with a simple lock? Especially if they are expensive bikes. I think it should become the norm for bikes not to be parked outside like cars. They are not cars. They should have an indoor space where there are people, where it is not normal for anyone to come in with huge cutters etc. if businesses doubled up as bike parking services for a handful of bikes, that would be good.
Dustin, that's a great response that I never thought of.
Yes 100000%
You'll get the same exercise adaptation with the added weight of a lock, just at maybe a half mph slower. It's the watts that matter. The need to somehow streamline your bike on a training ride is a cultural problem, not a practical one.
Bike valet sounds awesome! I'd invest in this 100% We have an issue in my city where they steal bikes just for the metal and turn them over to chop shops. They butcher the bikes and send them off to the scrap yard so quickly that the local cops say all the evidence is gone by the time they have a warrant to raid the place; they've raided a specific chop shop in my city multiple times trying to catch the bike thieves with no luck.
Not only have two bicycles been stolen from me so far but the bicycle thieves have also walked into my yard threatening to assault me because I was standing between them and my bicycle. Luckily I was holding a heavy shovel and they thought better of it.
I'd love to be able to just go out for a bike ride and not have to worry anymore. Great video!
Do you live in South Africa?
So, a carbon fiber bike is safe in your city. Interesting. Where do you live?
Got my bike stolen and was able to track it to an apartment complex. Blanketed the building with posters offering a cash reward for its return. The police helped me recover it shortly after. Yes AirTags have shortcomings, but worst is having no clue where your bike is at all!
I've done this as well, accept the police initially didn't want to do anything, like guys, I can tell you exactly where it is
Well, I rang them up and during this conversation, I gave the police an ultimatum,
You spend 5 minutes getting my bike back or you spend 5 hours minimum doing paperwork, your choice
They were suddenly somehow able to come out right away and get my bike back
Police hate being inconvenienced by small tasks that their job requires, but they hate paperwork even more
XD
My 2 favorite ways:
- lock integrated into frame and wheel (like DOTT or dutch bikes)- means that someone with a power grinder probably needs to damage the frame or they can't ride off. This can be combined with a larger lock
- video surveillance areas (a lower cost bike valet) with a face covering rule.
100%, add to that motorcycle disc lock, since most new bikes\e-bikes use hydraulic disc brakes.
The motorcycle cover idea is a good one. I will give it a try in addition to my two bike locks.
Buy a used filthy cover, that makes it even less likely that people would look under it.
I'd love to hear you and Maddy return to these questions of crime and discuss the issue of assault on cyclists. In London (UK), there are increasing numbers of news stories of gangs switching to bike mugging. I suspect that perception of crime is much greater than actuality in this case -- but I've only been assaulted twice in my adult life and both cases were when I was on my bike... It would be great to have a look at what the actuality of violent crime against cyclists is and how this varies internationally...
Road rage vs. theft seems to be a more common cause of assaults on bicyclists in the US. It's not 100% effective, but not engaging with misbehaving drivers is the best way to go. Don't gesture, flip off, brake check, yell rude words, etc. -- just let the jerk go by, and live to fight (ride?) another day. People have hair trigger tempers, they're behind the wheel of a multi-thousand pound vehicle that could easily become a deadly weapon, and, speaking of weapons, if you're in the US, they're likely to be carrying a gun.
Super useful and informative information. My personal favourite is having the "bike valet parking" available in the dense city cores. A city like Halifax could benefit from that IMMEDIATELY and the cost benefit of such an offering would be easily established. Vehicle traffic in Halifax is awful and I rarely drive when I need to go into the core. Parking down there can be touch and go for your bikes but having a supervised bike parking area would alleviate almost all of the risk.
Thank you again for posting this and for spending the time to create it. It is much appreciated by us dedicated commuters.
Bike valet is a great idea and would bring in more customers if they knew their bike is secured. Better yet businesses could have a space just inside not seen from outside that people park their bikes and keep them safe while shopping.
Agree to the multi-pronged approach. If im leaving my eBike for an extended time, I remove the battery & quick release controller plus lock it with a quality U-bolt.
The last gravel race I rode in, Grassroots Gravel, had bike valet. It was great. I could enjoy the post-ride event without worrying about my $4k race bike walking away. First race where I’ve seen that, and first race I actually stayed for the post ride festival.
Many big events around Seattle have complimentary or low cost bike valet, often organized by Cascade Bicycle Club ("the nation's largest statewide bicycle nonprofit"). UW Husky and SeaHawks games, Sounders soccer games, festivals, etc. It's a terrific service, and one I hope expands elsewhere.
Beater Bike,that even criminals think is a piece of crap.
I agree with this, but it’s also sad to me that we can’t use nice bikes to make our lives, easier, particularly cargo bikes, or electric bikes
@@Shifter_Cycling Various types of miscreants in Stockton-on Tees,high street will steal anything not nailed down to the floor. I had my cycling jacket stolen while I was sat on the chair of a local greasy spoon/cafe.
I've had beater seats stolen from beater bikes. Bike thieves are not so discriminating.
@@jw6825 bike theft was (and is) basically tolerated in bigger cities in the Netherlands. In the '90s many junkies used to fund their drug habit by selling stolen bikes to students. It was like a carroussel lol
Yeah... beater bike... not a guarantee against assholes who would take things anyway. Sure you'd loose less but you'd still have to find alternative transport back. My welded back frame with no front break cheap ass bike got stollen from aparment building floor. When I was going to uni in the morning it still was an issue. Also this screams of ... just don't dress provocatively vibe...
Nice! I use the BikeFinder GPS tracker, not so much because I think it will give me my stolen bike back, but because it includes a good insurance for expensive bikes. Using hefty, quality locks is helpful, and the extra weight doesn't matter if it's an ebike. If the bike is visibly worn and dirty that can also help. I'm also lucky enough to live in a place with rentable city ebikes, so if I'm going to out on a pub run or something, then riding a city bike means zero theft risk for me.
Here in Perth, in Australia, we have a bike registration site called Bikelinc, which is built by WA Police. This means it is fully integrated with the system, in addition to letting members of the public search a serial number of a dumped bike to match to its owner. When my mountain bike was stolen last year, I thought it was gone for good. I filed a police report and moved on with my life, got a crappy second-hand bike to use as a commute bike. Then, six months later, the police contacted me because someone had found my bike, handed it in to the police, and using the registration they were able to return it to me! It works really well.
Currently, I don't use much more than a sturdy lock to prevent my bike from being stolen. The commute bike is crappy, I painted it to make it look even more undesirable, but I eventually plan on getting an e-bike which I will install a tracker and/or alarm in.
Serial number registration at point of sale helps. Project 529 & Bike Index are fantastic resources. We can use that data to add it to CPIC when it's reported stolen. Canada has way more standization than the US.
I think an easy step authorities can take is to make registering bikes with project 529 (or similar service) mandatory at retailer points of sale, and also require repair shops to check every bike that comes in against the bike registry. Seems like this step would all but eliminate bike thefts.
The online resale sites (eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree are the main ones in my area) could easily require bike sellers to provide a frame number, and remove listings where the frame number is reported stolen.
@@nbartlett6538 My bike's serial-number was just a sticker that was already peeling off after a couple of years. How would that work with this system? 🤔
Sure, but at the same time, you're now accusing every bike owner who comes in of stealing their bike.
Imagine getting asked to prove your ownership of said bike every single time
Imagine car drivers having to do the same thing, they'd be up in arms about it.
And yet, we can look at car thefts and see all the fatal accidents involved with car thefts.
Iirc, don't remember hearing about too many deaths regarding stolen bikes.
You can't criminalize everyone to catch a few criminals.
I bought a second hand racing bike. It had a qr code from the same shop I bought my mtb. Do you think the first owner informed the shop he bought the bike from 8 years ago that I am now the new legal owner? Now of course, we could think of that and change the registration, but what if we don't? So you make that mandatory, what do you do now in all the years it takes till every bike is registered to its actual owner? Bikeships can check all the time, but when they have a different owner, it will almost always be a false negative, so nobody will care to do it anyway
@@Ober1kenobiit’s not criminalisation, that’s just verification. Like your phone asking you to put your password in before giving you access.
I'm a very happy velosurance customer. Haven't had to replace a bike yet with it, but the setup process was super easy as well as including modifications for coverage.
I feel lucky to be alive when the meaning of “Begs the question” changed.
Since she brought up cost-benefit, i think it reelevant that popular perception of bike theft in BC is that it has essentially no downside. Since most individual bikes are not super valuable and easy to unload to a broker for a quick payout, bike theft is treated as petty crime.
Im not saying it accurate, but the perception among people here is that if someone steals your car, the police will do something about it, find you car, and the thief will likely face severe consequences that moght include prison time. In constrast, the perception is that if someone steals your bike, at best the police will make them return it if they didnt sell it fast enough and they will be released by a judge pretty much immediately.
Bike theft feels comparable to shoplifting in law enforcement response, but the victoms are individual rather than mostly corporate businesses, so I understsnd the frustration.
Honeslty, I think some kind of campaign to increase awareness around insurance systems for bike theft would benefit people, even if its just more explicit protections for bikes in standard home/tenant insureance policies. Law enforcement really isnt the answer, the main deterrent seems to be direct confrontstion with property gaurdians.
11:20 No one should be locking their bike up like this anyway. 80% of bikes I see are locked this way. You want to create as little space as possible for a thief to cut through your lock. Always fill the U-lock: lock seat post, parking post and back wheel together.
Agreed.
My solution, which worked for 10 years leaving my bike in downtown Toronto, was the "double-Kryptonite". (doesn't have to be Kryptonite, just a beefy U-lock)
Buy 2 U-locks, lock the front, lock the back. Turns out bike thieves are lazy and would rather steal the bike next to you with just the 1 lock.
This implies to me that if you could lock your bike in the middle of a row of bikes, and put the lock in a difficult to reach place, then it would be hard to get at it.
I've got a photo of two bikes "safely locked" in front of Union Station (on Front Street). Though I'm not sure if I can call them "bikes" because there's literally nothing left but a double-triangle of metal-tubing, there's NOTHING else there, no seat, no wheels, no tires, no cables, no pedals, no screws, no stickers, nothing. Nice and safely locked. They're probably still there right now; go check. 😒
I just got back from a trip to Edinburgh. I saw a bike locked to a railing in the city center one morning with one hell of a U lock around the frame. Walked back by a few hours later and the wheels were gone. Walked that way again later on and the seat and handlebars were gone. That night, passed it again on the way to the bus stop and the fork was gone. Just a frame locked up tight to a railing. Guy could've used another u lock for sure. Maybe even a cable through the wheels. It was in a very public area too. Some people are just bold I guess. Felt sorry for that person.
This was also my solution for many years until some ahole decided to just steal my seat and seatpost. Now i have use use a chain lock as a third lock.
@@waterbottle4782 Yeah, come to think of it, at some point, my seats starting disappearing. Now I have an actual section of bicycle chain looped through the seat and frame.
A high end folding bike is my answer. I don't commute or ride around doing errands anymore, but has never been turned away from any establishment with it. Got my Brompton for public transportation and Verge X11 for everything else. I leave my nice bikes for trail riding/mountain climb when they basically never leave my butt.
Not too long ago a stash of stolen bikes was found in Halifax, and IIRC a number of them got returned to their owners as they were registed
Yep, a large stash (30+ bikes) were taken from a homeless encampment recently. Police finally seem to be doing something about bike theft here
The number one thing that keeps me from riding a bike for transportation is the lack of places to securely lock up my bike.
First, Tom, thank you so much for covering this topic. It's troubling how much fear of theft discourages mode shift, so it's important to help folks understand how to manage the risk of theft. I do think there is likely some empirical evidence to address your question about GPS deterrence as a function of ubiquity. All of the Stromer line of e-bikes have GPS tracking as a standard feature, so it should be possible to compare rates of theft for their bikes with bikes that have the Bosch Smart System (where some bikes will have GPS tracking and some will not). Second, it might be worth mentioning the role that theft-deterrent nuts (like Hexlox) can play in deterring bike theft. Very often, bike racks are designed in a way that makes it difficult to lock the bike to the rack through the frame. In these cases, it's super nice to have something like Hexlox on the front wheel so that locking the bike by the front wheel does the trick. There are also similar nuts to discourage theft of seats and other attachments. And there are also many motion-sensing alarms that can be attached to acoustic bikes by various means, making it a bit more difficult to cut the lock without detection. Of course, some thieves are so brazen that they don't care about alarms, but I would guess that those thieves are a minority. Finally, I note that there are also relatively inexpensive sensors that can be mounted to any door that will sound an alarm (on a linked phone and/or soundbox) when the door is opened at a defined time of day (or night). I mention this because many bikes are stolen from garages or backyards, where the thief breaks through a pedestrian door or a side gate to access the bike. Combining these Bluetooth door alarms with motion-sensing lights at the exterior door can increase deterrence.
One method that I have seen is not being discussed here and is really relevant to bikes where you need to carry special tools for repairs or electronics, i.e., converters for dynamo hub generators. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Palo Alto, California has fully enclosed cages that you can lock your bike into. This is really helpful for preventing items on your bike that are just impractical to remove every time you leave the bike from being stolen. Even with an e-bike, unless someone is watching it all time time, if it is locked up, you can still have items like batteries or other electronics stolen from it.
Agree. Bikes are not cars and they shouldn't be parked outside like cars. They need some sort of indoor space, or an enclosure like you spoke of.
Well, if you take the battery with you when you park the ebike, that would be a major deterrent, wouldn't it? Are ebikes available with passcodes? We used to always take the frame fit pump, water bottles, saddle bag, and the speedometer with us. All of those have been lifted off unattended parked bikes, often just for vandalism. I've also found criminals of opportunity skip over uninteresting out of date black bikes with fenders, when locked to a rack. The overwhelming majority of bike thieves where I''ve lived, DC and East TX, aren't carrying big bolt cutters capable of cutting a multiple-wire cable. If you have to park your bike at work, just take it inside with you.
It's very common in my area to have bike cages inside apartment buildings. And it's also very common for thieves to break into these bike cages (usually located in the parking garage) and steal every bike inside; many owners don't lock their bikes because they're in a bike cage in a "secure" building). Lesson -- always lock your bike with a quality lock or locks to an immovable object if it's not inside your home.
@readyplayer2 bike cages in an unattended area of the building are definitely not the solution.
@@MagentaFerret-wd5vt I'd always bring my bike inside my home or work place with me. There's always a wall to lean it against.
Wow what timing! I actually opened a policy with velosurance an hour before you posted this video for my new ebike.
I can't imagine spending enough on a bike to justify spending even more on insurance. I'm already violently angry about some pile of fetid feces stealing my $200 bike, there's no way I'd spend that much on a new bike. 🤷
Please, include her more frequently on your videos. ❤ her knowledge is lovely
Centrally located bike valet is so lovely! Calgary ran it last summer but it disappeared this summer.
One thing that should be mentioned about GPS is that it's about numbers. If one stolen bike is not enough to get a search warrant, if 10 people report the same address to the Police maybe that will. This would at least discourage 'professional bike thieves' from keeping the stolen bikes at home or on their property, thus hopefully making things harder for the thieves, while making a police raid on organized bike thieves more likely. AFAIK it's often about gathering enough evidence. Like, the Police may suspect some address or person may be linked to bike theft but don't have enough evidence to search them. Reporting theft with GPS data to the Police would give them that evidence.
Plus, if this means thieves will have to store their bikes away from home (say in some abandoned buildings or some other location that can't be easily linked to them), that makes it easier to retrieve the bike without Police involvement.
In particular, maybe some thieves leave the stolen bike locked in a publicly available bike rack or similar area. That could make retrieving the bike easier whether you take the Police route or not.
I love Bikeep. I've used it for the last 3 (4?) years. Where I live, it can also be used with a public transport card, which is even easier than the app. I think it works especially well near a shop because I don't have to worry about bringing the lock with me and I can visit shops more spontaneously when riding around.
I always enjoy your thoughtful videos, and this one is extra excellent .
The safest thing is to bring the bike indoors. If there was space in a cafe, a shop, etc where I could leave my bike while I'm in the building, then that to me would feel safest, as opposed to leaving it outside. The easiest example of this is bringing my bike into our offices at work. It's 100% safe, like bringing it into my house. Not only is the bike safe, but so are all of it's attachments like lights, phone holder, pannier, even stuff inside the basket, etc. I don't have to detach this stuff or even lock my bike.
The idea is that most citizens hop into cycling. It's not possible for everyone to leave their bikes in a café or shop. That just works when we are the outliers. I also prefer to have it indoors of course, and there are many parking solutions for it
@@aquejuegasI think that if each place of business had a bike rack for 5 bikes for example, perhaps even vertically on a wall to save space, it would suffice for a very long time, at least where I live. Once it doesn't suffice, new solutions can be put into place.
@@aquejuegas If cycling became that ubiquitous, car-parking would be converted to bike-parking à la Jason's videos of Amsterdam, so it wouldn't be an issue (especially since cars are so gd big and take up so much space, a single car park can provide space for 2-8 bikes).
@@MagentaFerret-wd5vt Like a vacant wall out of the way?
Indoors is ultimately the only safe place. Growing up in Kansas City I slept next to my BMX bike. I had to or it would be gone. My parents hated that I kept carrying it inside through the house but you simply couldn't own a good BMX bike in that city unless you never took your eyes off the thing. The one time I slipped up and didn't bring it in was a bad day. I took it into my backyard and put it inside a screened in porch so I could go inside and grab a glass of water. Literally only a few minutes. Went back outside and it was gone. To this day I never leave a bike outside when I'm home. If I'm out riding then a U lock and cable lock it is. Litelok is the best.
Good video on showing something new for this problem. For now I have two solutions. For expensive bicycle - only use it for home room(garage) to work locker(desk) and back. Most effective solution - do not buy expensive one. My dream is Cinelli steel frame bicycle. But instead I have 200 euro French one from 1991. I went on it 1/3 of the Belgium two weeks ago and even if it will be stolen - no drama. But it is not desirable by the way it looks, yet it is very strong and durable bicycle. Old steel is real, but stealing it, not so much.
Bike valet also prevents theives from taking accessories too. Even if you lock it, thieves might take your light or your seat post.
I've had more lights stolen off bikes than anything.
bruh lights are detachable easily. The mount stays on and is of no worth, but the light can be easily slid off. The only thing i leave on my bike is my triangle frame bag. I bring my toolset, spare tire, and lights with me every time i lock my bike
@@alienalloy604 Bruh I know, I learned my lesson and don't leave tchotchkes for the CHUDs to swipe things off of anymore. I used to assume a dirty used $10 item wouldn't get stolen off a beater bike but cretins will take anything. I have locked seatposts and wheel axles for that reason, but anyone with an allen key and some determination could still grab stuff. The valet idea makes this even more valuable.
@@supaklaw Abus has different solutions for that(to prevent seatpost from stealing)
I use a bike cover with reinforced holes in it to run cables through, have a wireless controlled horn/alarm that detects motion; I hook all the parts of the cover together in the center, hang the motion alarm on the center connection of the cover, use the wireless remote to arm it, test by pulling the cover a little letting people around know that if they touch it that 120db at 10m will fire off.
Next add is a sms board that will text me if something moves or any of the other sensors detect stuff or I can text it first to ask it to give me an update of current status of any/all sensors.
3 GPS tags that all phone home on different networks if they can't figure out where they are at any given time, and also prep for launch of messages if any/all the networks they need are blocked from them. A text is also issued if the GPS wakes up and it's more than a meter from where you parked and armed it; conversely, your phone app complains at you if it tries to text your bike and it can't get a response.
I have been saying for years that by far and away, the greatest improvement in rider encouragement and theft deterrence is indoor, weather-protected, staffed bicycle parking, and that more companies should understand the benefits to their bottom lines of allowing people to bring bicycles right into their buildings and park them in a corral. When you rely on a bicycle for transportation and shopping, you are going to be OK with riding in the rain, but getting your possessions wet is not an option, so you can't load and unload your waterproof bicycle luggage without a roof over your head, unless you want everything you own and everything you buy to get soaked.
Our local GO train station spent a year and a half building an expensive, enclosed, pay-accessed room for bikes. I've never seen a single bike in there, and my daughters beater was recently stolen from the old bike racks just outside. Meanwhile, the 700 cars at the station all park for free. Infuriating.
Agreed
There are few places in the UK that have bookable bike hangars. You book you time on a phone app which gives you a code to open the hangar then you put your bike in. You're supposed to use your own locks then shut the hangar which locks automatically. Later you get the code to open the hangar when you want to retrieve it and your time is up. The rest of the countries have regular long term hangars to store bikes on street level that you access with your own key. It's a shared bike garage.
Matty needs to update her perspective with Canadian policing data. Bike Index's originator (Bryan Vance), who you didn't mention (weirdly), has done a great job of convincing local police and pawnshop owners to coordinate and automatically check Bike Index for every bike brought in to a pawnshop, every bike found, AND when they're reported stolen. In Edmonton, it's now official EPS policy to promote Bike Index. The cops hand out Bike Index info & stickers. Finally, all Bike Shops are now automatically registering new bikes with Bike Index. It's working to increase recovery, and now every time someone reports a bike stolen on a Facebook group, we tell them to add it to the Bike Index stolen bike registry. It is working because the infrastructure is connected.
I have an idea every building should have 50 bike boxes lockers, just they have with car spaces...
You should be able to get a court order search warrant to enter a building and retrieve bike!!!
I have bike insurance here in the UK, it covers medical and third party amongst the options I chose.
Again in the UK, I’ve registered mine in a national register.
It’s not often I take my bike shopping unless I can either take it in the store or walk around the shop with it.
I've been a bike agency volunteer who does bike valets and tons of people that use them love the idea and are always grateful for their presence. Unfortunately, the city seems bike valets as a "experimental" concept that needs more testing before they want to fund for events like downtown baseball games. Yet the bike valet in downtown Portland near the aerial tram is also popular and works well for some downtown workers.
It was interesting to see a Litelok X1 in the segment about loaner locks. If someone loaned you one of those you're in good shape. That said, look at the flimsy bike racks they're locking onto and also just locking up around the top tube. Once cut from the rack, the bike could be simply ridden away. So yeah, there's not one single perfect solution, so one needs to make things hard enough for the thief that maybe he moves on.
So, I like loaner lock programs just for the case where I forget my lock. I always bring it with me, except sometimes I forget to bring it. So for that once in a while where I can borrow a lock instead of going all the way back home to get mine, it's a great convenience.
🤔 Lot of great information. This video has me thinking more about my ebike and protection.
Yeah that Bike Valet idea is good! I wonder how more bike friendly societies handle this, i.e. in Amsterdam? You got it, Getting hit by a car - the other day 2 miles from my house, on a road with bike lanes, a biker was struck and killed by an SUV that somehow got away! This was at PM rush hour and traffic does not move all that quickly! Then breathing in all the exhaust fumes, then, bike theft especially of more expensive bikes!
I don't live in NA, but for most of my life, I used bikes daily and it only got stolen once, insurance paid. For years I didn't even lock it because I lost the keys. Wouldn't do that today though.
In my old hometown, we have a parking at the train station for bikes which is operated by people who would otherwise have problems getting a regular job. They also had a workplace and did tuneups and simple repairs.
These are great ideas! I have an ebike which I bought used for about 1k CAD, and it's by far the most valuable thing I own. Bike theft is rampant in Toronto so not only do I have it registered, when I'm at work I lock it with a large u-lock (frame to rack), a chain (frame to rack), a frame lock (back wheel to frame), and a small u-lock (front wheel to frame). It's a pain, though, if I'm honest. I wish the city of Toronto would invest more in things like Bikeep, or even just more actual heavy-duty bike racks - some of the ring-and-post bike parking can be lifted right up out of the ground. I'm on a waiting list for the secured bike parking at city hall, but I've been on that list for 8 months now and I'm not holding my breath.
With the GPS/location tracking, could it be enough of a deterrent to just put a sticker on the bike that says "this bike has location tracking"?
I think it’s forgotten that folding bikes can prevent theft.
I bring my brompton inside with me where I go. It’s very hard to steal my bike because it is always on my person
I agree, and this is why they are so popular in some cities.
Me, too - though the issue is where I'm going somewhere I can't take it in. It's fine for commuting, and with folding bikes, there are a lot of places where you can check it into a cloakroom but some places, like most cinemas in my city, don't have that facility leaving me with the option of hoping that my very nickable bike is still there at the end of the film, or having to use some other mode of transport.
Me too - it‘s great to have the bike with me. Not the reason I have it, but it was a fantastic bonus
@@drlukewhite agreed. It’s a great second bike. Or third. 😅
Part of why Brompton is so popular in London
My thoughts: registration and insurance, plus GPS tags. Those three used in conjunction would provide a massive deterrent.
Law enforcement is data driven. If stolen bikes keep disappearing in the same places, go to the same places, and appear later some place else, the police have something to lead them to the individuals that may be involved in other crimes. That data gives law enforcement probable cause.
Unfortunately, law enforcement likes to use that data to criminalize innocent people and reduce freedoms instead of actually doing 💩 to catch thieves and criminals.
Why just get money from criminals when you can get money from everyone.
Government are thieves too, they're not your friend
Airtags are not GPS (unless I misunderstand). They are just BLE (bluetooth) to nearby phones. Then if _that_ phone has location enabled (which is often cell-tower based, also not GPS) now you have an approximate location transmitted. Calling that 'GPS' is quite misleading. 'GPS' would be an actual GPS tracker in the bike, sending back location data via some wide-area backhaul method like Lora or GSM.
There are times where I use seven locks at the same time. One on each brake disc, one on the brake lever, two on the frame, one cable, and one on the chain. I am enjoying the blatant overkill aspect.
You need to design a bike rack that is shielded in a way that prevents people using grinder tools on the locks, but has just enough space for someone's hands to reach down and unlock/lock. The key isn't strength but making it hard for the tool to get at the lock.
Just a note re Velosurance, it’s only available in the US.I tried to fill their form for a quote but it required a US zip code, and I live in Canada. I wrote them and they referred me to the Ontario Cycling Association but like a llot of Canadians I don’t live in Ontario.
re: the loaner lock programme My partner noticed kids leaving their bikes unlocked at our local library. She bought several locks, dropped them off at the desk, and now their available to borrow. Fits well with our library--they're supporting having a tool library, a dish library (having a party and need dishes? Don't buy paper!), and a real focus on finding ways to support the community (honestly? Librarians freakin' rule!).
Sadly, Velosurance isn't available in Canada. And I agree, bike theft is a deterrent to cycling in cities. For the most part, if we are using our bikes for errands, one of us stays with the bikes while the other pops into the store. If we leave our bikes, we have multiple locks: we take the controller with us, use a cafe style lock combined with an Abus chain lock as well as a Bordo lock to lock the bikes together. When we lock the bikes in the bike room of our condo building (with 3 locked external doors + fob entry) we add a heavier gauge Abus chain lock and take the batteries with us. It's a lot of deterrence and so far we've been fortunate. We also take pictures proving how many locks we use - just in case. It all seems a bit ridiculous that we have to use so many levels of deterrence. Our daughter had her locked e-bike stolen from the locked bike room in her condo building; it got returned about 4 months later because of Project 529. An eagle-eyed cop thought the rider didn't match the bike and was able to prove it because the bike was registered with 529 and reported stolen so we are fans of Project 529.
I am disappointed that Shifter did not acknowledge this as he lives in Calgary, Canada.
You left out one, what I consider important, which is the bike motion alarm. I have one and it is passable though I wish it was a whole lot louder. I have thought of building my own to increase the alarm volume by an order of magnitude.
I have registered my rides (trikes) with Project 529 with tags and I use a beefy Abus U-Lock.
Motion sensor alarms are great especially ebikes that have rob7s5 racks and fenders and create a spo5 to secure them. Tiny fob to arm is easy to carry and mine even has a warning beep before it goes to full annoying blaring sounds to avoid false alarms.
Thanks for the insurance sales pitch 🌮
I've heard of a fair amount of cases where a home owner or renter policy actually pays out for a stolen bike claim but effectively refuses to insure another bike on that policy. So cashing in a meager coupon for a stolen bike will yield you a lost policy. Velosurance sounds great but no idea what their rates are. Markel is another company offering bike insurance. Some renter's insurance allow you to add "personal item insurance" which is effectively a separate no deductible policy at an additional rate which will not effect the regular policy. Ebikes seem to be a new level of cost/liability a lot of insurers will not cover, despite covering a regular analog bike, so never assume bike theft is covered by any policy.
Nice. Guardianship, cost/benefit analysis by those of diminish capability, & covers to make target less appealing.
All of these ideas make super sense for the very expensive, easily-fenced E cargo bikes. From personal experience in my city ( Bristol UK ) I've seen them frequently supplant 4X4 tanks on the school runs...THIS IS A VERY GOOD THING. Therefore I'm not getting on my niche high horse and derriding them or your excellent ideas. It might be worth suggesting though, as an extra to your ideas in the video, buying/building a " beater " bike ( old, rim brakes, guards and panniers, BIG ASS LOCK ) for city runs when not carrying E cargo loads.
One point for the public bike lock is that it's probably super great for Universities given that most students are very broke, and probably had to scrap up some cash for the bike to begin with. Getting a good bike lock is probably another big money dump for them too, or god forbid they only use those little cable locks that a pair of snippers can break. So the public lock helps take that extra financial burden off a group that is already dealing with not having that much expendable money.
When I was in BC, Bikeep also had lockers for bikes instead of just public locks. It didn't just shelter my bike from the elements, it also made it impossible to see what type of bike it was. So a potential bike thief wouldn't know which bike locker had the most valuable bike in it which made me a lot more comfortable leaving it there. It was also pretty cheap at like 10 cents an hour or something like that
I carry 3 locks to lock up my cargo bike. Litelock X1, X3 and some cheapo Stranley. Never lock to bike racks made of pipes, or pipes in general. They can be cut super stealth and fast with a pipe cutter. I also try to lock my bike to multiple spots at once.
I had a crazy idea recently- Imagine a bike where the frame and a lock are one in the same. A portion of the frame that opens up, like the frame of a belt drive bike, that allows it to lock directly to a bike rack. That way a thief cannot cut the lock without destroying the bike. I know that they can still cut the rack and this would make the bike heavier. Regardless, someone make this!
The bar "Siboire" in Montréal, St-Henri, allows people to bring their bike inside. I've once seen a group of 20+ bikers getting in the bar with their bike! They have 30+ spots to park your bike inside. That's the first time I've seen this at that scale!
I use Velo, when my battery and a bunch of accessories were stolen off my ebike they were very helpful.
The reason the whole bike wasn’t stolen is because I use 3 locks anytime I leave my bike for longer than an hour.
I have found letting the air out of the tires works good.
i think many of these are society-size solutions and if we're looking at that scale we have to understand that theft comes from need (aka poverty) and we have to address poverty directly. that discussion was lacking, especially from a criminal justice proffesor
Yeah I would’ve liked to see mention that to truly solve bike theft, or any theft, we need to address poverty. This includes housing, education, healthcare, and employment opportunities for all.
This is absolutely true, and I said basically this at the end of the video. And this wasn’t intended to be a full examination of the issue, rather a discussion of these new ideas around bike theft prevention.
@@Shifter_CyclingThank you, Tom! 🙌
I agree. Very few steal because of the thrill. When poverty is low and people's needs are taken care of, so is theft.
You're right, we really do need to be focusing on those root societal causes, but that's not going to happen overnight. In the meantime, I think it's worth considering the steps we can take as individuals and communities to somewhat mitigate the risk of bike theft. We need a multi-pronged approach to the issue, incorporating both short-term and long-term responses.
Trackers on a bike are an attempt to stop the tide , but let's be realistic - if it's in a 'bad location' and if it's miles away ; the concept of 'getting it back' starts to fade.
What's needed is genuine secure parking - at a cheap price - at a convenient distance. It can be done. Some are working on it....
If you and the homies are well armed enough, you can get that bike back.
The uni my gf goes to has a few bike valet spots. I haven't seen them myself yet, but they're apparently quite effective.
If you leave your bike unlocked and unattended a opportunistic thief's thinking is that "if you are going to leave it out like that then you deserve to have it stolen and do not value your bike. "This reinforces and justifies and even motivates impulsive theft
Retail bicycle outlets need to do more to encourage young people and older adults to ride bicycles.
Sponsoring bike trains to escort children on their rides to school would be a great start. Organizing volunteers, teachers and other to ride along would be a great start. Getting children out of minivans and onto bicycles would be healthy exercise, build independence and make society healthier.
Fun ride should also be organized. Getting a local bike club or school to sponsor an annual event to a local park or trail would encourage both adults and children to ride bicycles. Getting local elected officials to help with sponsored activities would help to educate them about the need for safe, protected bike lanes and trails in their community. Offering space and coffee for local riders to meet up would also improve store traffic.
With respect, you're far too optimistic.
Most councils and council members aren't trying to do a damn thing but get re elected. And that means playing to the masses.
The masses do not care about cyclists.
Therefore, if one wants to be re elected (in most cities and countries), you ignore and demonize cyclists because thats what moronic car drivers Want
"Getting children out of minivans [and independent]" I don't trust a teacher to keep my kid safe *in a classroom on a guarded campus.* It sounds like a good way to get kids "independently" thrown into someone _else's_ minivan.
As you mentioned it's a mult-faceted approach. The bike valet seems to have the best success but their locations are limited. I"ve never had my bike stolen but that's mainly because it's noticeably old, heavy, has basic components and out of style. However as I'm aging I am considering an e-bike in the near future. The downside is a massive increase in theft desirability.
I'd suggest getting a model with an easily removable battery. They don't look quite as sleek as ones where the battery is fully concealed in the frame, but removing the battery and bringing it with you dramatically lowers the desirability of the bike. Many of the batteries cost $1,000 or more to replace, and an e-bike without a battery and charger is not super desirable.
@@readyplayer2 Thanks for the tip. I'll keep it in mind.
Really liked the idea of the public bike rack that also locks your bike. Speaking about guardianship, if the rack screams when someone tries to break it that would make people going by notice it and become suspicious. So the public would act as a guardian in this case, I suppose?
"the public would act as a guardian" *Yeah right.* Do you really think I'm fist fighting a possible psycho who doesn't want to go to jail, just for your bike? At best: I'm wounded, At worst: I'm wounded, and a loony DA puts me in the wrong, doesn't consider it "Self defense or defense of another", and _I'm_ going to jail. Call the cops? See you when they get here in 20 min. I'll be sure to give them the description: "Average height, average weight, ski mask, hoodie".
Bike valets aren't exactly a new idea, but one imported from Europe. It's very common in the Netherlands (where else, of course?) and to a lesser extent in park&ride format at train stations with controlled access and camera surveillance but without dedicated staff in other countries, like here in Germany.
What I'm wondering about is: who buys all these stolen bikes? A bike thief might want to have one or two for himself but if the theft is out of poverty the intention will be to sell those bikes, right? Who's buying expensive, second hand bikes without any type of documentation, recipe etc.?
That "end user of bike theft" question is really, really important! And it's under researched, definitely. Where do stolen bikes go? I'd love to see an episode on that question, @TomBabin!
(One thing I noted after my bike was stolen is the loss of mobility. I was able to just hop on it on a whim whenever I wanted, but with no bike, I now have to decide if going anywhere is reeeaaally worth the hassle and risk and expense of driving since cars are overkill for almost every trip, and walking is impractical since everything is so gd far away. And of course the feeling of VIOLATION is just traumatic and leads to permanent PTSD.)
A couple of thoughts on this excellent video, Tom:
I’m in Hamilton, Ontario so my observations might not apply everywhere.
First of all, I do have a GPS tracker hidden on my bike so I’m glad to see this option discussed. I always wonder if the police would be willing to assist in this matter and, unfortunately, given my own lack cluster experience with having a car stolen years ago, I’ve always questioned whether or not there would be any point in asking. Having heard the feedback here, I won’t hesitate to at least try if the situation arises.
Having good bike racks that a lock can be attached to is at least as important as having a solid lock for one’s bike. Sadly, here in Hamilton, bike racks are few and far between and rarely in a location that makes them either safe or useful. Sometimes when I see the locations of bike racks in shopping malls locally, it makes me want to start a business stealing bikes myself. It would just be so easy!😈
The last thing I want to comment on is your panniers. I have similar saddlebags on my own bike as well as lights and an odometer/speedometer. I feel like, if I want to take my bike anywhere where I will be getting off and leaving it, I need to strip the bike down before the bad guys do it for me.
All through your video I watched your bike behind you half expecting to see somebody sneak into the background for a photo bomb and take your bike instead. Maybe I have some trust issues but, much as I love to ride, I don’t tend to use my bike for errands or basic transportation simply because I’m working on the assumption that I may only have transportation in one direction, if I do take it somewhere.
GPS integration: I've had only one bike stolen, a rental. The police know who stole it, a repeat offender, but they need evidence, so the prosecutor can prosecute, and the judge can convict. The police know where the criminal lives. In Florida, USA, GPS counts as evidence. Hey you e-bike riders, my local police told me that e-bikes are now the criminals' getaway vehicle of choice because cops can't catch 'em. Not bike theft, I mean ALL crimes. GPS would help your local police a lot in arresting known criminals and providing evidence to your local prosecutor. "At the scene of the crime..." etc. Similar to bank robbers getting away in a car with stolen license plates -- but GPS is evidence.
Authorities sometimes have a certain interest in solving crimes, but they often have no interest in returning the property to the original owner. It is therefore important to regularly photograph a bike in order to be able to document the continuation of the ownership.
Good interview and ideas. Thanks for the content. Where is your helmet?
I wonder how useful it would be if bikes had a transmitter ID, and police cars would always be passively in pinging mode. If a bike were reported stolen, the system in the police car would notify the officer to investigate... Basically, an updated version of cars having license plates that could be reported stolen (though, I suppose, subject to a similar criminal phenomenon of plate/pinger removal)
Having an older non-electrical bike and locking it a bit better than other bikes in the vicinity - also attach the bike to a pole or other object so it can't be taken easily - works well in the Netherlands lol
I addressed the problem by buying a $105 bike 5 years ago ($190 today) at the big Canadian Box store. Paniers and rack worth as much as the bike. $4 Dollarama lock deters opportunists. So I don't worry too much about losing it. That said, I've had crappier bikes with better locks stolen overnight. My problem is I have a "sociable" side-by-side bike for two that my wife and I use as a daily driver. Fortunately, it is heavy enough and hard enough to ride and distinctive enough to have less attractiveness as an object of theft. But I still worry about it, as I would be devastated to lose it.
Just reminded me to update some details on the local bike registration here.
Oh yeah I'm definitely going to start carrying motorcycle covers..
I'm from and live in Mexico and I can't imagine any of those options put in to action here. I just use two heavy locks to keep my bike safe.
Some very good info!
I treat my bike like it's literally a pet. If there isn't a window where I can clearly see the whole thing I'm gonna try to bring it in if there's room. If they complain I say "well are you gonna watch it and make sure it don't get stolen?" Which most of the time is "no" to which I reply "alr then if you ain't finna watch my shi I am cuz I am not having it get stolen"
There are shopping centers and libraries where you can use free lockers. To lock the door of the locker you have to put a coin in it as a deposit. A conceptually similar system could be used for secured bike racks. This would be of course much cheaper and more reliable than using smartphones.
And: in the Netherlands there are cities with (several) free, guarded, facilities for parking bikes.
A few years ago, my old 1982 clunker (which had been my main bike and much sentimental value because I used to it to from new Zealand to the Arctic) was stolen. I had been leaving it unlocked in front of supermarket door for over 10 years at that location without problem, but one day when I went during the day instead of evening, it disappeared.
Spoke to both police and the local community public security folks who know the area neighbourhood. This area was just opportunity theft, simil;ar to bike share. Young guy leaves supermarket, sees unloekd bike and steal it to go to the park and drops it there and walks home across street. Someone else sees unlocked bike in park etc and bike gets used this way till it is eventiually left unused for very long time and public security sots it.
In other areas of the city, there are organized gangs who make a business of steaaling and reselling bikes. So those are very different.
So the type of theft modus operandi varies depending on where you live and local police will have a handle on this.
Honestly what probably works better than GPS tracking as far as prevention goes is having one or two official looking sticker decals saying it does.
How about an anti-theft alarm inside the frame and hard to deactivate?
Bosch’s ebike system has this.
I had no idea thanks for the awareness and if you could just point out some other things because the other day I had a ticket, a red light ticket and I just started the bike life electric bikes. I didn’t know there was a little symbol of a bike that turns red and green And I just think if I didn’t know about it a lot of other people didn’t know about it and it should be something people should be aware of and then there are some stop lights that don’t have the site a little bicycle, red and green sign and I had to have an interaction with an officer to find this out. Why didn’t have the cycling thing and it’s because When there’s a left signal for them to go left that means it is not our time to go I believe anyway I’m still trying to learn some new stuff so it’s good that you’re bringing the awareness about the theft because yeah I wouldn’t want my bike to get stolen now especially with all The chaos is going on in the city right now and you’re right it’s not the fact of leaving the bike somewhere because I just wouldn’t leave it anywhere, but I would leave it in a place like you’re showing and I never knew they had places like this in New York City And I don’t even know what to do with a bike ticket never in my life did I think I’d get pulled over on an electric bike
I never thought this would be a downside of e-bikes. That the very idea of making it easier to ride somewhere could be counteracted by the owner being afraid to ride there because of parking security. But it makes sense.
I ride a bike that is not just acoustic but also a recumbent and also DIY built with square steel tube as the main spine of the frame. Nobody suspects what it actually costs to make one and rarely someone would think they could even sell it. Plus most people wouldn't be able to ride it right away. So when I park next to some nice looking upright bikes I feel safe even with a simple lightweight lock. The probability of the thieves taking mine instead of an MTB or a nice city bike is very very low.
interesting discussion, thanks for sharing!
Great content. I thought all the ideas had some merit.
I’m generally not a fan of “innovative” bike racks, because they very often are designed to only work with normal diamond frame bicycles. Anyone with unusual bikes, like recumbents, tandems, fat tire e-bikes, trikes, etc often can’t use them.
Great Video as I'm looking into getting an ebike!
Bike registration saved a person's lock and bike. They had accidentally looped my bike in with theirs. By calling the registry phone number, we avoided having security cutting the lock as we were able to get a hold of the owner to have them fix the lock. I had to pick my kids from daycare so I was on a very tight time table to leave.