bluehills3149

I've commuted in NYC for 15 years and only had one bike stolen - a Benotto which I just re-painted with all new decals and some sod must have followed me home and took it right out of my apartment hallway- leaving all my other more valuable bikes alone but I guess bling is popular. Touch wood, my old Centurion Ironman with a hodge podge of de-branded components has never been touched - and the (DT swiss) wheels are quick release which I can never be bothered to lock anymore.
I have a theory that large bikes (mine is 58cm) are not theft targets in NY as they do not make popular delivery bikes but maybe I've just been lucky. So I think your Trek is perfect - a bit beater, huge frame but rides well.

noglider 

It's your call, of course, but since the Trek is to be enjoyed, it might be OK to risk it a little. I commute on a 1974 Raleigh International. This is how I lock it. I use a top-end Kryptonite lock for the frame and one wheel. I use a cheapo cable strung through the lock and the other wheel. It would be easy for a thief to steal the cabled wheel, but I've been doing this for over 40 years and never had a wheel stolen.

Can you see this picture?

Chr0m0ly 

Yup, the picture is visible. That's esentually how I plan on locking mine. I think enough people use only one lock that two locks would keep me safe most of the time.

Chr0m0ly 

I'm planning on these two





But hey, I've had a bike stolen before, and if I need a big New York chain then I'll get a big New York chain.

noglider 

I had a big New York chain. I think it weighed eight pounds. I'm just not going to carry that. I usually leave my lock at school, because I don't even want to carry that. I think it's three pounds.

greg3rd48 

Yep, that NYC lock weighs a ton and when I do use it I sometimes ride with it slung across my chest. When I am not worried about theft I also use a thin comb cable lock or just flip the bike over for quick "in and out" errands where I can see the sidewalk. So far so good.

Chr0m0ly 

BEHOLD!!!

I have created... A...


CREATION!!!!


I looked up uglifying you're bike and settled on a combo of inner tube and bar wrap for protection and stealth factor.

Front rack with panniers I made a while back add to errand running capability, and I capped it all off with a cateye headlight from back in the days of incandescent light bulbs.

noglider 

Hey, good work. Someone tells me he drapes a garbage bag over his bike when locking it up. I think I'll try that. He says it makes the bike look trashy.

zukahn1 

Great build and nice looking you did a great job. I would have went with a nicer hard frame vintage MTB with stock bars and nice thumbies for shifting..

BFisher

Ha! I used to have the winter pants and jacket to match that front bag!

Best of luck commuting in NYC.

Chr0m0ly 

I need to take a test ride tomorrow, but I'm pretty happy with the look.
I decided not to try to make it look like it's in worse shape, or like a lower tier bike, but just to make it forgettable. If it's in a rack your eyes just slide over it.
I think the ergo bars with old school aero brakes help a lot. The previous owner had put regular hoods over the aero levers, and it's perfect! Not classic, not new, just kinda old and janky.
I'm going to pull the fluted seat post for a black anodized one next and I'm toying with replacing that long reach cyclone rear mech with an alivio I pulled off a dumpster bike. Make it look like it’s already had the good stuff stolen off it...

nlerner

I like the extra-long weaponized fender struts!

bear_a_bug 

Looks....great? I think you'll be good to go in terms of camouflage. Did you pick up those bags at American Science and Surplus up north on Milwaukee Ave? They had tons of those East German bags up there a few years ago for < $5 IIRC and I snagged half a dozen and made a set of panniers myself. Did yours have the plastic/rubber lining inside? I noticed some did, some didn't.

iab

Trashy chic?

ascherer 

Form following function...I hope you'll trim the fender struts. I had some long ones when I was commuting on my Peugeot and snagged them on my shoes and leg.

Chr0m0ly 

Fender strut casualty!

Yup, still need to trim, I just wanted the fender line just so.

I just got back from a booze run for tonight's party, and loaded up the front and back. It rides sooo sweet with the weight balanced out.

ascherer 

Well, that didn't take long Walk it off, soldier.

Love the vintage Cannondale bags. I use one of the front bags on my Rando-ish bikes. They were really good.

Chr0m0ly 

It took some repuzzling of the low rider rack, but I've gotten them a lot closer to horizontal. This Axium front rack... It's "universal" design appears to only be true if you have a straight fork. I don't recommend this for vintage rides.
That said, it's better than it was, and I'm hoping the panniers won't want to hop off quite so much...

Velo Mule

Nice job on the bike wrap. It make it look more like a NYC bike. Uglified. You might want to put an old bike chain from the seat stay to the seat rail so that your seat doesn't get stolen. I had that happen and did not enjoy the ride back home.

The biggest thing is not the bike but the city. Watch out. There were 29 cyclist deaths in 2019. I had a friend that was on his motorcycle get hit by a ambulance. No doubt, they were justified in being in a rush, but really, He spent a few days in the hospital and survived. The bike did not. An old Norton unfortunately.

I don't know how NYC compares to other big cities. To me it seems worse than others, perhaps because there are so many pedestrians, cars, cabs buses and truck all trying to share the same space.

Chr0m0ly 

That's a good point, it's a LOT tighter here.

I think the next step is a ton of lighting. Well, I have new brake cables and pads in the mail, but lighting after that. I already use head and tail lights, and a reflective vest, but I'm thinking rim lights, and doubling up on head and tail lights.

I ride defensively already, I learned that on a motorcycle myself.

I'm pretty lucky though. I'm RIGHT next the the bike path on the west side of Manhattan, so I hop on that and head south till I parallel my destination. Keeps me out of the worst of the traffic. That path is crowded too though. This is a big machine of a city.

noglider 

Chr0m0ly it's time to update the location in your profile.

I keep meaning to put the dynamo lights back on my bike. I took them off when I overhauled the bike. I've had dynamo lights on two bikes, and the setup worked great. I suggest you consider it. You would think the bolted-on lights would get stolen, but they don't. Thieves carry various tools but not wrenches. Or they just don't want the lights. It's great not needing to charge lights. I just roll and the lights come on. They shut off after a few minutes because the lights have a standlight circuit with a capacitor. I leave them on in the day because why not. A hub dynamo is great because the resistance is imperceptible.

reducedfatoreo

Great looking build! I've also got a sleeper that's a commuting beast—I went with a Cannondale ST that's got paint flaking off in droves. Like noglider I got a dynohub to be visible and to see on some poorly lit sections of the Hudson path. While I don't need it all the time, it's nice to have touring gearing for those loaded-down Fairway trips (RIP) and for when the topography hits on the bridges or in Upper Manhattan/Bronx.

One suggestion to make logistics more efficient is change out the skewers for security ones—Pinhead, Pitlock, whatever, just make it hard to take things off. With security skewers and bolts I'm down to a Kryptonite mini-u lock that goes in my back pocket, and I'm usually locked and unlocked really quickly. In 10 years nothing taken off the bike except a Rixen and Kaul handlebar mount. (Sans bag, that's an odd thing to steal!) That's anecdotal, of course, but as has been mentioned, most crimes are crimes of opportunity, so just make your bike harder to steal than the next one.

Ride defensively, but confidently. Have fun, and be safe!

Chr0m0ly 

I could take that crappy saddle anymore so I put a Brooks on my bike.
I've got a chain, chin tool, and shrink tubing in the mail to secure it to the bike. I plan on plastic bagging it while parked to hide it a bit as well.
Pinlocks are a GREAT idea! I'll have to order some of those 👍
I also got sick of my plastcraptic pedals and I have a pair of MKS SP11's on the way...
The low-parts made the riding uncomfortable, and the flat peddles without toe clips are dangerous.

Keeping this bike stealth is turning out to be harder than I thought!