What precautions do you take to keep your bike from being stolen?

[Helene2013]

Someone we know (indirectly) just got her 2 bikes stolen in her car. She's a para-Olympian and those are her working tools. They were in her car, on the training site parking.

That got me to thinking do you take any precautions with your bikes - at least away from home?

As for us, our bikes were a huge expense to us and we try to protect our "investment" as much as possible. When they are in our SUV they are attached to a wood plank (to keep them straight). Binders are tied around them to keep them from moving. When we know we'll have to be out of the car, even if we see them, we put a bed sheet over them (at least it hides what it is - especially the models), sheet is same colour as our inside colour - so blends well. Our windows are tinted but we also lock them through the frame with a chain that is locked to an eyelet in the SUV trunk. I don't think a burglar would go through all this trouble to get to our bikes. Unless he is a professional and really wants our bikes. The harder our game, the less likely we'd get our bikes stolen.

We rarely leave our bikes without surveillance but if we do, it is only to go for a meal or if mandatory. Most of the time, one of us will stay in the car while the other runs an errand.

We can't prevent everything but we surely are trying. We did insure our bikes separately from our home insurance (basic home insurance only covers up to $3000 total for all bikes) for something like $144 per year for the 2 bikes. Better be safe than sorry.

So you do anything special?

[Irulan]

Bike theft is rampant in my community, to the point of utter disgust with local law enforcement, and being terrified and hyper vigilant.

Not at home- we rarely leave bike unattended and if we do, we typically have usually two different Kryptonite cable with large key locks through the frames and both wheels. If the bikes are on the hitch rack, that rack is locked into the receiver and the cables get locked to the hitch which is welded to the vehicle. If we are using the roof rack, all this cable stuff gets routed like a nest around the frames and wheels and the bars. That being said, we were downtown the other day at REI on a busy Saturday and I didn't want to leave them un watched.

I would not leave my bike visible IN my locked car. It would be nice to think that is safe but it doesn't appear to be. A nice ellsworth was swiped out of the back of a pickup truck locked topper at a trailhead recently, while the owner was out running.

I am utterly, totally paranoid in my home town. At least once a month there is a "stolen bike alert" on FB. Our goal is to make the thieves chances as difficult as possible - hence the multiple cables ( Kryptonite ones are difficult to cut as they flatten) large locks that can't be cut with bolt cutters, and a tangle that will slow them down.

At home, we have all the bikes cabled together with a 12'er. If they want to try and drag that mess out of there...
They are drug addled, organized opportunists.
Forty five thefts in 28 days, 6 guys arrested. First arrests for property theft I've read about in ten years.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/oct/15/police-six-arrests-made-in-south-hill-burglary/

Our homeowners' covers our bikes.

[lph]

I ride bikes that nobody wants :-)

[rebeccaC]

I'm conscious of the problem and take normal precautions.....locks, cables, covering in back of car etc. Having insurance helps with my stress worry and hopefully all 4 won't be stolen at the same time, leaving me at least one to ride.

maybe it's about having enough bikes so you still have some/one to ride :)

[Crankin]

I truly don't worry about it. I've left my bike locked in my car uncovered, many times, at work (both in good and bad neighborhoods). If we are traveling and our bikes are on the rack, we have a very heavy duty lock system that locks them to the rack. If I am out somewhere and I have to go inside to get food, I will ask someone I'm with to watch my bike.
When I commute, I leave my bike unlocked in an entry/stairwell that only employees of my clinic use. The entrance is connected to the hospital the building is part of, but says employees only.
DH used to have a system similar to Helene's in his old SUV, but we never covered the bikes when we used it.
Maybe I'm naive, but I just don't worry about this. There is bike theft here (in the suburbs, not talking about the city). I've gone in for lunch in a couple of places with racks, without a lock at all, but these were places sort of out in the middle of nowhere. I have left my bike locked to the public rack in Concord center many times. I used to worry, but since that is not productive, I don't anymore.

[azfiddle]

We keep our bikes inside in storage /laundry room. When I ride to work, I keep my bike in my classroom. When we travel, we put on a couple of locks- cable and u-locks- on the bikes on the rack.

If I'm driving with the bike on the rack, and making a quick stop at the store, maybe I'm too casual, but I usually just use a cable lock wound around the bike and the rack. Sometimes I put it into the back of our car (Honda Fit) with tinted windows, and lock the car, but don't usually cover the bike. If I'm riding my bike and stopping at the store, I wheel it around inside unless someone in the store asks me to leave at the front where they'll watch it. If I'm riding my Surly specifically to go grocery shopping, I'll bring a u-lock.

Biggest worry- riding alone and stopping to refill a water bottle at a convenience store where it's just not easy to bring it inside. Sometimes I just won't stop if it's a more questionable neighborhood. But I try to avoid those anyway if I'm on my own. Some places I feel okay just running in to get water.

[smilingcat]

I ride bikes that nobody wants :-)

yup one of the best way to keep your bike from being stolen. Or make your bike look like the kind no one wants. It does wonders in protecting your bike.

[shootingstar]

I always lock my bike wherever I go. Always. But that's no guarantee of course. Admittedly my frequently used bikes, tend to be a bit dirty... One thing for certain, who wants a bike with toe cups...?

I actually worry about my bike components stolen --'cause I've had a saddle stolen, bike lights that I forgot to take off stolen, stolen water bottles..

I heard from someone in Toronto who had his bike stolen...at a cycling meeting where there a lot of bikes parked and locked...

[lph]

As an odd apropos - I found my son's mtb standing in the work room with the rear wheel halfway off, crooked in the frame. It looked like he had tried to put it on but given up, and just balanced the frame on top. I asked him, and he said "oh, it was like that when I fetched it at X's place downtown. I noticed when I was cycling home"... :-o
I think someone had removed the rear QR, tried to steal the rear wheel before noticing it was locked. Then my son blithely rode his bike 10 km home without a rear skewer... I assume the wheel fell out of the frame when he lifted it up the stairs.