You're doing it wrong! Bike lock edition
Thankfully I live in a city that has very low property crime rates. That wasn't the case in the last couple of cities I lived in and to be honest I am very surpised that the property crime is so low here in Chiang Mai where the population is more than a million. It is tough to say why this is but I am happy it is true. In Krabi (which is in the same country of Thailand) I had 3 separate houses broken into and a wide variety of things stolen from me. I once had a motorbike stolen right in front of my business in broad daylight and in full-view of the CCTV cameras. There is also a police station within sight of this location: This is how little the thieves in the south are concerned about getting caught.
My new friends up here in the north tell me that I have gone overboard with my security on my bicycle and to be fair I think they have a good point because the bike is only worth $300 or so but I suppose you could say that I have been traumatized by the place I lived before. Anyway, I encountered this earlier today when I was shopping at Tesco.
Can you understand what is wrong with this guy's security precautions? Let's zoom in a bit
That, my friends, is a quick release on the tire. It is designed for making the tire very easy to change without tools, it also means that I, or anyone else can have that tire off of the thing in about 10 seconds. The owner of this thing has attached only the front tire with the chain. The front tire is the least valuable part of a bicycle because typically all the expensive parts are contained on the back and of course the frame is usually the most valuable part of any bicycle.
Now the bike in this picture is worth even less than my bike so I would imagine that the dude could probably not lock it up at all and still be ok, but I think he (or she) would probably be pretty sad to come back to this.
Once when I was in college I attached my relatively valuable bike to a bike rack AND attached the front tire to the U-lock as well. I left my apartment one morning to discover something similar to this.
source
i've never been a fan of street bikes so no, this is not my bike nor my picture
Even though my friends tell me I am overdoing it I actually travel with a U-lock and a chain. The U is for the front tire and the frame and the chain secures the back tire also to the frame. Maybe I am overdoing it but I also have a GPS tracking chip hidden inside the frame so if someone does take my bike, i am going to know exactly where it is and perhaps turn up with all my pals from ninja school and take the bike back :)
That's just me. I am probably over-concerned about security, but I also feel quite confident about leaving my bike unattended when I do have to leave it somewhere. I would much rather overdo it than get robbed!
TL;DR
If you are locking your bike with just the front time to something and especially if you have a quick release on your front tire (and you likely do) you are doing it wrong :)
I don't think your over doing it. You work too hard for your money to just hand it away.. sometimes a little at a time or one part at a time! lol. Quite the opposite, I have seen where people have either left their bikes or lost a key or code and the bike just sits there forever. Rusty and sometimes with the rubber tires completely dry rotted off the bike! Sweet post! made me chuckle a lot.. :-D
Nice! Those GPS chips are really cool. Albuquerque is pretty bad in certain parts for stolen bikes and cars, you have to practice smart security around here. I hope no-one takes your bike, but at the same time, I would love to hear about how you and your buddies kicked some jerk's ass and took your bike back.
last night I was at a birthday party and a lot of the patrons were off-duty police officers. I did not lock the bike up there :) I don't think anyone is going to steal my bike because honestly, it isn't a very high profile bike at $300 new. We'll see. I think it would be fun to have 30 guys turn up who are at some level of trained lethal and see what happens. But I still would rather it not :)
You can't leave anything lying around these days and it is good signs if things aren't being pinched regularly. Always have something more or better than the other bikes as it will be a deterrent. I like the idea of a chip so you can always get it back if it goes. maybe after a bit more training you would welcome a recovery expedition to get some practice in.
It's always good to read you because your messages are positive, as long as I have my coffee in the morning ... I'm really happy to always have my regards and my regards.
lool call me up if that ever happens
That last picture reminds me of a trip I took with my family to Washington DC when I was a kid! There was a bike outside the subway station that looked just about like that. I think they even took the front tire in that case though too. I could tell what was wrong with the picture at the top as soon as I looked at it. I think it is never a bad thing to be safe. If the extra work to lock everything up doesn't bug you, you shouldn't worry about what others think.
yep. I don't think anyone is judging me and I also agree that this is a very safe city, but I am more of a better safe than sorry type dude because I have ended up quite "sorry" at many times in the past.
I feel the same way and I can only imagine! I have grown up and lived in pretty safe areas luckily.