Disguise your bike ?

[Blue Hills]

Yes. In my only at-fault collision I said "I am not admitting liability, but the facts are that your car was stopped a red light and I drove my car into the back of it." It was hard not to add "sorry" at the end.

Oh, and by the way, good karma is sometimes returned. Though they were perfectly entitled to make a claim on me, but their car already had a number of dents and I never heard from them.

At the risk of sending the thread off thread (but continuing a theme) I once ran into the back of someone at a roundabout one night (too much faith in German ABS) - it wasn't terribly hard but I would have thought would have left some sort of mark - to my surprise the car I had hit drove maybe 200 metres up the road, someone got out, looked at the back of the car, got back in and drove off without saying a word to me. I never even saw their face. Puzzled me no end. Mentioned it to someone and they reckoned that perhaps the "injured party" shouldn't have been where they were/was having an affair or something.

 

[Blue Hills]

Indeed. I was looking at a lot of bikes around UCL yesterday and another trick I noticed is a poorly done respray, often in matte black or an offputting colour like brown. You see some clearly decent bikes disguised with flat paint, dirt and electrical tape. Shabby or tatty seems to be the urban camouflage of many city cyclists.

Well Is suppose anyone who knicked it would have to do a more persuasive sell to the buyer, or trust they were in the know about quality bikes, but to tell the truth whenever I see bikes that parked in London I take a closer look - it pretty much advertises that the bike is a valued brand.

 

[Jody]

Until insurance companies start to publically hurt these people, it will continue.

Difficult one. Until insurance companies recognise how much the people who are not at fault are left out of pocket, then trying to maximise the claim cost will continue. You get paid less than the car is worth, even when buying like for like and also left with the hassle of travelling to look at numerous motors, using both time and money. Completely agree with stamping out fraud but a lot of ordinary folk are encouraged through being screwed because of a companies profit margins.

 

[ColinJ]

Where can I find this theft hotspot data? Would like to check out my local area and regular haunts to see if I am risking being hit. I kind of suspect the crime hotspots coincide with common sense, i.e if you lock your bike in that dingy alleyway at the side of the benefits office on signing on day then you are saying goodbye to your pride and joy!

Somebody had a bike stolen from a farmhouse cafe that we went to on a forum ride. It was off the beaten track and used by lots of cyclists. Some toerag in cycling kit apparently just walked up to an expensive looking bike, got on, and rode off on it. I have also heard of expensive bikes being nicked from several other remote cycling cafes so the thieves obviously know where cyclists tend to go.

I heard of a family who were on holiday in the Highlands. They were in the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest town and had driven down a long farm track to get to their accommodation. They got up in the morning and found that the whole family's bikes had been taken from the rack on the back of the car!

It does make sense to avoid leaving your bike in dark alleyways etc., but I wouldn't assume that anywhere is safe unless you or someone else in your group is actually with the bike at all times.

 

[ColinJ]

There's also a surge in August and September as bikes get carted off to university cities to be flogged cheap to unsuspecting freshers.

Or stolen from them!

I went with my stepdaughter to her interview at Sheffield university. While she was being interviewed I walked around the campus and spotted some bike racks. There were locked front wheels with bikes missing, locked bikes with front wheels missing, broken locks (with entire bikes missing!) and securely-locked bikes which had been vandalised.

My mate's son was going to Sheffield uni the following year. I heard that his mum was going to buy him a bike to get around the city so I suggested that it would be a good idea for him to ride something cheap, and effectively disposable. The advice went unheeded and he got an expensive mountain bike. It was stolen in his first couple of weeks there ...

 

[mjr]

Or stolen from them!

Oh sure, but I don't live near a university city, so that doesn't inflate my nearest town's figures. The new building of the local college has quite a big cycle park, but it's another design of those plastic things that only lightweight racers will fit in - not the trade bikes, old Pashleys and new Somersbys that are fairly popular here. Blooming daft designers who don't cycle

 

[reppans]

...As bike theft is on the up I was wondering if this is a viable option to deter thieves.
I use my bike for commuting / shopping etc but constantly worry whether it will be there when I walk out of the shop..

A Brompton has eliminated my theft concerns... also makes a decent utility shopping cart and touring luggage trolley.

 

[Bimble]

... also makes a decent utility shopping cart and touring luggage trolley.

Expensive shopping cart!

 

[reppans]

Expensive shopping cart!

Yeah but, it'll beat the store-provided one's in the aisle races.

 

[Will Spin]

Probably still got wobbly wheels though!

 

[Mb49]

Gold rated locks , don't make it easy for them,

 

[Grant Fondo]

Anyone done this ? If so, how and what did you do ?
Hi all,
As bike theft is on the up I was wondering if this is a viable option to deter thieves.
I use my bike for commuting / shopping etc but constantly worry whether it will be there when I walk out of the shop.
Yes, I lock it but will making it look old, tatty, a pile of rubbish not worth nicking help to deter theft ?
If anyone has done this please let me know what and how. Pics, links and advice and your thoughts much appreciated.
And thanks in advance.

No need to constantly worry just lock it up and chill

 

[mjr]

Gold rated locks , don't make it easy for them,

Fixed that for you. Does Gold rated mean they use the common power tools on them yet? Also, rating isn't enough: you still need to lock the bike up properly, which plenty of people seem to fail at, securing only a wheel, or leaving tons of room to attack the lock with a tool.

 

[Blue Hills]

Fixed that for you. Does Gold rated mean they use the common power tools on them yet? Also, rating isn't enough: you still need to lock the bike up properly, which plenty of people seem to fail at, securing only a wheel, or leaving tons of room to attack the lock with a tool.

best/worst thing I ever saw was someone using a passably decent D lock to link the cable with a loop at each end that's meant to provide additional security for a wheel. The cable may have passed through both wheels but the D lock very definitely didn't go through the frame at all. Had to have a few looks to believe that anyone had done anything so barmy. In London - not sure how long it stayed there - maybe no thieves noticed/could believe their luck.

 

[Mb49]

Fixed that for you. Does Gold rated mean they use the common power tools on them yet? Also, rating isn't enough: you still need to lock the bike up properly, which plenty of people seem to fail at, securing only a wheel, or leaving tons of room to attack the lock with a tool.

How do gold rated locks make it easy for them? Their gold rated by the insurance companies.