Author Topic: Theft prevention  (Read 27712 times)

Brush2805

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #120 on: November 10, 2021, 09:55:44 pm »
1.8kg is a lot of ballast for a bike and it won't prevent this new problem https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-59000605 . I'm trying to think of a suitable counter-measure. Perhaps an exploding cartridge of dye fixed to the bike with a remote control, so the thieves get a good soaking. Something along the lines of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_TSR_v07m0 ?
It bit like a Skunk lock. I've always wondered how effective they are in real life.
I've gone in for the Hiplock kickstarter.

ourclarioncall

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #121 on: November 10, 2021, 10:46:03 pm »
The d1000 looks real interesting

Not sure it would be wide enough for me tho , I would want it to be able to go round modern think lampposts . I like the idea of lampposts as a place to sure you’re bike coz they are everywhere and you can’t grind through it without getting electrocuted, unlike weak street furniture and bike  rails

I guess if you could find good places to attach it too

So will the d1000 knock the the abis granit extreme off its d lock throne ? 🤔

PH

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #122 on: November 12, 2021, 10:28:05 am »
There's a story and video doing the rounds of a group of youths using an angle grinder to remove a D lock and ride off on an expensive E-bike - all the while people are standing around watching and filming.  I'm not criticising those who didn't get involved, I'm not sure I would, such things can quickly escalate. What it does show is the lack of concern the youths have about being seen or caught.

https://road.cc/content/news/thieves-use-angle-grinder-take-trek-bicycle-287619

JohnR

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #123 on: November 23, 2021, 10:28:13 am »
Vodafone have currently got some offers on trackers. While there is a bike tracker with a light and siren https://eshop.v.vodafone.com/uk/curve-bike-light-and-gps-tracker, the pet tracker https://eshop.v.vodafone.com/uk/curve-pet-tracker-pack#slate is less expensive and has currently has a half price eSIM subscription offer of £1.50/month for a 24 month contract (offer end on 29th November). The bike tracker is made for seatpost mounting but the pet tracker could be fitted anywhere using a velcro cable tie or just get the basic tracker and put into a bag that lives on the bike. Battery life is only a few days but if the tracker is in a bag then it might work with a small power bank plugged in.

PH

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #124 on: February 02, 2022, 10:52:38 am »
My long run of a couple of decades without incident came to an end on Monday when someone tried to snatch my E-Bike while I was sat on a bench next to it!  They first sat at the same bench, which was a little odd to start with as there were plenty of empty ones, then tried to engage me in conversation about the bike "how fast it goes?" "How far have you been?"  then "How heavy is it?"  I was giving vague answers, I was minding my own business and wasn't really interested in a conversation.  After asking how heavy he got up and went over to the bike as if to lift it and see, I asked him not to touch it, alarm bells started ringing in my head, I was on my feet, though at this point I still thought he was being obnoxious rather than a threat.. Then he was off, trying to wheel the bike away and mount it, I hung onto the rack (Hampered by the phone still in my hand, which I'd have been better of dropping, it ended up on the floor anyway and is in a protective case), then it all gets a bit blurred, there was a scuffle, I ended up on the floor, but held onto his leg, some staff came out from the building I was outside (Derby Velodrome) told me I could let go and basically chased him off (I don't want to seem ungrateful, but I thought when they told me to let go they'd have detained him) Police involved, they have CCTV and a good description, they've taken my coat for fingerprints because apparently it's a more serious offence if there's evidence he laid hands on me!
Still a bit shaky about it, I don't know whether to laugh or cry, there was no way he was just going to ride off on it, there must be easier ways to steal a bike. On the other hand, I wonder if I should just have let him, I acted on instinct, but these things can escalate, I'd rather have lost the bike than stabbed or kicked in the head while on the floor.  I have a sore wrist from hanging on and a grazed knee from hitting the floor, but it could have been worse. Then there's all the times when I've been sat next to the bike and he could have got away with it, I'm often sat on a park bench with the bike behind it, engrossed in a book or the phone... if, if, if...
It has reinforced my opinion, expressed a couple of posts up, that many of those who would steal bikes have no concern about being seen and recognised.
I don't want to get paranoid, I just tried a nurses lock I have kicking around but it won't go round the 60mm tyre, maybe I'll look into a bigger one. But then maybe it'll be another twenty years till the next incident.

 
« Last Edit: February 02, 2022, 11:04:28 am by PH »

JohnR

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #125 on: February 02, 2022, 12:59:48 pm »
Sorry to hear about your adventure and I suspect I would have reacted similarly. If the physical involvement results in the police actually showing interest rather than filing the report under "no action" then it could be worth the grazed knee although there's the risk that if the cupprit is identifed and charged then the magistrate will do no more than a slapped wrist.

Thanks also for the alert about one of the theft strategies. My first line of defence is deterrence. My Mercury got the Bike Register marking kit which etches a number into the paint as well as having a label but they seem to be out of stock so the new bike got the membership kit which is only a couple of sticky labels one of which is very prominently on the top tube (see photo) while the other is less prominently at the top front of the downtube. My hope is that a potential thief who is looking for a quick sell wouldn't want the hassle of removing the sticker. The next line of defence is a good layer of dirt followed by a lightweight cable lock such as https://www.wiggle.co.uk/kryptonite-combination-cable-bike-lock which should be stop a potential thief from grabbing the bike when the rider is close by.

Tiberius

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #126 on: February 02, 2022, 01:52:29 pm »
PH - A dreadful tale, that experience would shake up anybody.

If nothing else it's made me (us?) think a bit, just how brazen and opportunist thieves can be.

Very best wishes for a complete recovery.


And so to......Can anyone recommend a ring lock (nurse lock) for frames without mounting points?

Thank you.
« Last Edit: February 03, 2022, 01:47:03 pm by Tiberius »

Danneaux

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #127 on: February 02, 2022, 02:40:54 pm »
So very sorry this happened to you, PH! It is very like the snatch-and-go thefts that occur in my locale.  It is one of the main reasons I use a frame-mounted ring lock (nurse's lock) whenever I am at rest near the bike.

Trelock make a model specifically for balloon tires. It still shows a lot of clearance when used with my 2.0in Duremes and appears it could work with wider.

All good wishes, sure glad it wasn't worse. Any thief this bold seems likely to escalate their efforts.

Best,

Dan.

mickeg

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #128 on: February 02, 2022, 08:28:11 pm »
I was in my mid teens when I was not concerned about someone stealing my bike as it was only 20 feet (~7 m) away.  But the guy jumped on it and was gone, I could not run fast enough to catch him, I had left it in the perfect gear to accelerate.

I had saved a lot to buy that bike.  I am guessing that it was over a hundred hours of wages to buy it.  But that was over half a century ago so I do not recall those details much.

KDean

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #129 on: February 02, 2022, 08:35:40 pm »
I'm a Locksmith & safe Engineer by trade  & my view is to just make sure It's covered by  my Insurance ,  Sold Secure rated stuff is the hardest rating to get as It's owned by the Master locksmith Association , from Memory to achieve Bronze award it has to last 3 minutes  regardless of the form of attack including picking , Freezing , Cutting etc , The 3 minutes is normally achieved by picking . For me my bike is either next to me or in the back of the van . I use a make called Hiplock & the combination version As it's flexible & adaptable . On some makes some keys are restricted making them quite expensive & some cheap locks don't make a key blank to get spare keys .

Matt2matt2002

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #130 on: February 03, 2022, 09:10:34 am »
Sorry to hear your news PH.

I've been in similar non bike situations and they happen so quickly. But in a funny kind of way, also so slowly. I wanted to move quickly but my brain and body were in treacle.

I'm sure we'll all learn from your experience.
So thanks for sharing and best wishes for a full recovery.

Matt
Never drink and drive. You may hit a bump  and spill your drink

Andre Jute

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #131 on: February 03, 2022, 07:47:42 pm »
I'm sorry to hear about your travails, Paul.

There's something else to consider here for those of us who are a good bit older than the attacker/thief. A point comes -- and it has been my attitude all my life -- where if someone shows me a weapon, I take it off them and instantly use it on them, a weapon being anything from a fist through a knife to a firearm. The thing is, one can't be half-hearted about it, or one might get beaten up badly, and I suspect most members of this forum have had a more genteel upbringing than mine. (I've survived some violent places, including the assassins of a sovereign state, twice, and South American Nazis, because it didn't occur to them that the intellectual in the good suit who looks like Huggy Bear could be so much faster than they are.) There was a time when one could assume that the police would be on your side, but today the police in the UK appears (from across the Irish channel) to be woke and slack, and therefore likely to charge you instead of the would-be thief. And I wouldn't count on the magistrates understanding that older folk get one change to hit back, and only one chance. If the older chappie will hit back only weakly, either because he's physically not as strong as he was, or he was brought up in a more civilized era, in any event not hard enough to take the thief out instantly, resistance may result only in being beaten up worse, or even going to jail for "excessive violence" -- by the police's standards, not those of real life.

That's one of the reasons I was so keen on trying the n'lock, and why it has worked out so well for me, and why I was happy to work out another way to charge my phone on the bike than up the head tube. For those who don't know what the n'lock is, it's a clever piece of Swiss engineering that unlocks (yes, the very name is a pun on how it works) the steerer column from the stem and handlebars, so that the front wheel of the bike flops around uncontrollably (1). The would-be thief takes a faceplant within a couple of paces, and will be dazed enough for even the oldest forum member to step up at his leisure and kick the thief in the head hard enough to keep him out, or, if you are squeamish, just step on his head and knock it against the ground hard enough to keep him out while you mount your bike and ride away. I don't advise sticking around until the police arrive. Tell nobody your name and ride off, and save the bother and legal expenses.

(1) There are quite a few threads on the n'lock. Here is the original thread introducing the n'lock to the forum:
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=3930.0
And this may be worth reading too for a concise history of the n'lock:
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14207.msg105908#msg105908
« Last Edit: February 03, 2022, 08:02:55 pm by Andre Jute »

JohnR

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #132 on: February 03, 2022, 08:52:35 pm »
(1) There are quite a few threads on the n'lock. Here is the original thread introducing the n'lock to the forum:
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=3930.0
I've put the correct link to n-lock (https://n-lock.com/) at the end of that thread as the previous link was corrupted. Scaling from one of the photos suggests that the equivalent stem length (centre - centre) is about 80mm which is too short for me. Otherwise I would be tempted.

Andre Jute

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Re: Theft prevention
« Reply #133 on: February 03, 2022, 10:37:45 pm »
80mm for the fixed version of the n'lock sounds about right. There is also an adjustable version which in the straight position is 100mm, if I remember correctly. None of this means that the latest version(s) are those measurements -- it would be easy to change the blueprints to insert or remove some length in the stem in front of the part where the key is fitted, because all the critical parts of the n'lock are behind that, on the head-tube side of the stem.

Thanks for the correction, John.