Originally Posted by
base2
As a person who has a customer base that is mostly drug addicted, low income, no income, homeless persons, with no moral compunction against theft, I'll let you in on a little secret:
Where I am, things aren't that bad, yet.
eg, it's exceedingly rare that lights and saddles and wheels get stolen. Whole bikes will get stolen, and that's becoming disturbingly common, but this fits a pattern of "professional thieves" operating in the area. It also fits a pattern of most people using crappy locks, and using the poorly.
If I'm understanding you correctly, are you saying that a beater franken-bike, or a bike that looks like a beater franken-bike, is less likely to be recovered than a bike that can be identified by make/model? That's something I hadn't considered. If that's the case, then a "rust" paint-job may not be what I want.