The Star had an article [1] about bike theft a while back, or specifically, what can be done to reduce the likelihood of your bicycle getting stolen. Bike theft, apparently, is a huge problem here in Toronto. When I asked about bike theft at the office, soon after I bought my bicycle and was wondering whether or not to take the risk of riding it to work and locking it outside the building, people were telling me of their own experiences with bike theft. One guy had his bike stolen thrice, and one guy who bought his bike around the same time as me and was riding it to work had his stolen within the first month!
Bike theft is not just a small-time operation; a while back, the police arrested a second-hand bike shop owner, Igor Kenk, and found nearly 3000 bicycles in his house as well as garages around the city. That case made the NY Times [2] as well, where Kenk was referred to as the 'unofficial world champion of bicycle thieves' for the 2396 bikes found.
Despite cycling more than half my life, having to lock my bike is a new experience for me because I've always kept my bike inside. Personally I think the best security is NOT to have a bike lock in the first place, which means that you never leave your bike unattended. Unfortunately, we do not have the space inside our current apartment to store our bicycles (we're still wondering how to winterize our bikes in the coming months), so we have to lock the bikes outside. Moreover, the bikes we have here in Toronto are meant to be commuter bikes. We want to be able to cycle out to Wal-Mart in 20 mins instead of spending $9 on TTC tokens, so we'd need bike locks. And with the high risk of theft, we had to invest in expensive U-locks that weigh over a kilo, and cable locks. At home, we lock our bikes in the narrow alley which does not get much human traffic, but it could also make it easy for someone to cut the locks at leisure. I've also been letting my new-looking bike 'age' so it hopefully doesn't look so new and tempting. Again, a far cry from the days when Mike used to polish our carbon fibre bikes to a shine.
Tips from the article were nothing new:
(1) Invest in a solid U-lock, which is probably the only type of lock that can be uncuttable. Even so, not all U-locks are secure.
(2) One lock is not enough -- a cable is also necessary to secure the wheels, especially the front if it's a quick release. This cable is probably the easiest to cut, which is probably why we often see bikes hanging by only their frames to bike posts; because their wheels (and saddles and handlebars) have been stolen. One can always carry around a heavy iron chain that's much harder to cut through than the common light steel cables, but that's bordering on stupid.
(3) Make sure the bike is secured to something that's anchored in place. Duh.
(4) The Star's article also suggested radio frequency identification (RFID) security stickers, but the way I see it, the RFID tags won't keep your bike from getting stolen in the first place, and that's the most important part. GPS units to track the bikes was also mentioned, which I thought was even more stupid because the GPS units costs about CAD700 and includes a monthly network fee. PLUS. How do you keep the GPS unit from being stolen in the first place? At $700, I'd imagine it would be much more cost-effective to steal the GPS unit than the locked bicycle.
(5) Make the bike look cheap (no brand names or decals, spray matt paint, wrap hockey tape).
[1] In search of the unstealable bicycle, The Star, Aug 17 2008
[2] In a cyclist-friendly city, a black hole for bikes, New York Times, 21 Aug 2008
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