Bike Thief Advises How To Prevent Your Bicycle From Being Stolen

guardian.co.uk:

Omar Aziz started stealing bikes when he was 17 and carried on until he finally weaned himself off crack cocaine at the age of 29. Now he wants to make amends. He is volunteering in his local area and he agreed to advise Guardian readers how not to get their bikes stolen.

Read the whole story: guardian.co.uk

Comments

[research]

03:57 PM on 09/14/2010

How about we put tracking rf transmitter in them?

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/08/04/immobitag-a-radio-frequency-identification-device-for-your-bike/

the LoJack personal tracker would probably work,

http://www.lojack.com/SafetyNet/Documents/SN%20Competitive%20Grid.pdf

[BluWoman]

02:55 PM on 09/15/2010

If they could make it cost efficient then that would be a pretty good idea.

[research]

02:03 AM on 09/17/2010

30$ per month, 99$ to sign up. go to the links....

[Uproar]

12:24 PM on 09/14/2010

Don't park your bike in Manhattan. Then it won't get stolen! You need one of those heavy-duty, 40-pound, $100-dollar chain locks to tether your bike to a pole in Manhattan. That only secures your bike - the seat, and anything else will still be stolen unless you are sitting right next to it, watching it. We can only ride our bikes up and down the West Side Highway bike path. We can't ride it somewhere, and get lunch, because that means we can't see the bike, and it will get stolen. We don't have those chain locks, as they are so ridiculously heavy and expensive. I would gladly pay a few bucks to store my bike in a locker of sorts, which they should have at every corner. The city would also make money off that.

[spytheweb]

11:16 PM on 09/16/2010

Here's a good idea for a business, bike watchers. Watch someone's bike while they have lunch for $5.00 or while they visit a shop. Design a portable bike rank that you can lock down, hold maybe 6 bikes.

[Toddynho]

07:56 AM on 09/14/2010

Amsterdam is the capital of bike theft. I have friends there who have had a number of bikes stolen over the years and decades, they then give up on paying full price for something that will one day be stolen, and end up further fueling the black market by purchasing a stolen bike. The canals are littered with stolen bikes too. Some problems, when not tackled early, spiral out of control.

[Blow In]

07:33 AM on 09/14/2010

Bicycle thieves would go out of business very quickly if "honest" people stopped buying stolen goods.

[BluWoman]

02:56 PM on 09/15/2010

Some people are kleptomaniacs; nothing will prevent them from stealing.

[capitaldysfunction]

05:49 AM on 09/14/2010

I've had one bad bike experience. The guy got the serial number off the bike (while on a bus carry rack, I think). He reported it to the police as a stolen bike. About a year later he identified the bike locked outside my work place. He called the police and the bike was held for about two weeks in police custody while both of us presented proof of ownership to the police. Unfortunately for this thief, I had full proof of purchase. The thief didn't.

What galls me to this day about the episode was simply that no action was taken by the police against the perpetrator of this attempted fraud. His only "proof of ownership" was the statement "I won the bike" as a prize.

[Toddynho]

07:52 AM on 09/14/2010

That's an interesting story, I didn't know they'd go to those lengths and plan that far ahead for a bike. I always assumed it was an opportunity lead criminal activity. Brings me back to my original post: the public flogging of bike thieves could only benefit society. I jest, but only lightly.

[Blow In]

07:59 AM on 09/14/2010

The reason the police didn't take any action is that it would require some effort to do so. That's all I will say about that.

[spytheweb]

03:57 AM on 09/14/2010

I had my bike stolen in Korea. I felt bad for a very long time. Now if i caught someone stealing my bike i don't know what i will do to them. I have had my bike for 27 years and i just might kill someone who steals it. Here in NV you never know who's armed. Some of the bad guys, but also some of the good guys.

My bike lives inside and i use a u lock through the wheel and frame. My bike in Korea had a cheap cable on it. My bike now:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3572/3515132796_a3402d00b2.jpg

I wonder if this guy was ever caught stealing bikes? Being caught one time and broken bones might have cured him.

[spytheweb]

04:01 AM on 09/14/2010

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3572/3515132796_a3402d00b2.jpg

[williamina]

12:06 AM on 09/15/2010

gay

[spytheweb]

06:01 AM on 09/16/2010

Gay? Explain.

[J Accuse]

01:02 AM on 09/14/2010

Everything I know about bicycle theft I learned here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd63P7mYXzo

[ecotopian]

05:48 PM on 09/13/2010

You know, I could have told you this and I have never stolen a bike. I have, however, had bikes stolen so I know to use really good locks and cables.

[MrBadExample]

05:08 PM on 09/13/2010

Here's a video from a group called Bike TV--Hal the bike mechanic grades bike lockups:
http://www.streetfilms.org/hal-grades-your-bike-locking/

Longer term, if you're in NYC, you should push your employer for sheltered parking. In NY, the city passed Intro 871,  which mandates commercial landlords to provide safe bike lockups indoors.
http://www.transalt.org/newsroom/releases/3374

Personal experience: don't waste your time with cable locks--go with a heavy-duty chain or the bar lock. lock down both wheels if you want them there when you return. And don't forget to lock the seat.

I always put a small padlock through the 'spider'--it means the thief has to walk the bike away.

[time2impeach]

10:15 PM on 09/13/2010

I had my bike stolen off a well-traveled sidewalk in NYC on a weekday mid-afternoon. It was locked to a fixed steel grating, through the wheels and frame. When I reported it to the police, they told me that there were groups operating with vans -- they cut the locks, pop it in the van, and drive off.

I thought those days had come and gone -- wrong. So I got a folder and now I take it inside...

[Toddynho]

05:07 PM on 09/13/2010

Just be easier if we'd start whipping bike thieves in public squares on Saturday afternoons. Corporal punishment carried out by those who have had bikes stolen...

Oh, and we can whip computer programmers that makes a viruses as well.

[Just4theHalibut]

11:14 PM on 09/13/2010

I am not normally a violent person but I would stand in line of victims taking revenge. Personally, I think there are special circles in hell reserved for bike thieves and computer virus developers.

[Sawyer99]

02:06 PM on 09/13/2010

And that is why I moved from London to the USA... the police actually do their job here

[marianproletarian]

03:56 PM on 09/13/2010

Police here don't do anything when your bike is stolen. Small potatoes.

[ecotopian]

05:45 PM on 09/13/2010

In what city? Not in any I have lived in.