Originally Posted by
smasha
I'm just reading through this, and thinking there'd be a price-point where it would make sense to use "security bolts", and add a 5mm hex "security bit" and driver to my kit.
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The thieves in my area are mostly opportunists. The nicest looking bike that is also the easiest one to steal is the one that goes missing. But, I am basing that on living near a major university campus. There are some thefts of the higher end bikes but you see very few higher end bikes on campus. Many if not most of the bikes are decades old.
A neighbor is a bike mechanic, works at a bike shop on campus. He said that a couple decades ago when higher end brifters were rare, high priced, and every weekend roadie wanted the latest, that there was a string of burglaries where the thief would use a cable cutter, cut off all cables near the levers, remove the stem cap, loosen the two stem bolts and steal the handlebar/stem/brifters off of the higher end bikes. It probably took less than two minutes, if a short stem cap bolt was used it might have taken less than a minute to get some expensive parts.
But that is the only time I can think of that a security bolt like you cited would have actually prevented a theft, in the case I cited if you used that on the stem cap bolt. It is rare when I hear of something attached to a bike with several bolts being stolen instead of the entire bike.
When touring, I use bolt on skewers instead of quick release, as I am assuming the thief it an opportunist without a 5mm allen wrench in their pocket and my front wheel is often not protected with my lock. But I am most certain I would lose the special key if I used a skewer like the Pitlock. Thus, I only use the common bolt on skewers that any 5mm allen wrench will work on, keep a spare 5mm wrench with my spare tube to make sure I do not get stranded by a flat.