seanpee

Fellow New Yorkers,

Just wondering how you lock up your prized fixies? Just putting the finishing touches on my new bike and really don't want it to disappear.

Any and all tips appreciated.

RubberDucks

if Im just about town I just use a U-lock through the rear and triangle. but if I plan on leaving it overnight ANYWHERE. I chain it up with a square link chain min u-locked to the front wheel( and I take off all my lights)... also I keep my bike in a stairwell at work by the front door of the restaurant and I lock it up to the banister... one of the cheapo delivery bikes got stolen out of it and im not takin any chances...

jakerock

In NYC anything that can be removed from a bike, will be removed from your bike.
It is just matter of time, urgency, and opportunity.
You have to think like a thief and try to frustrate yourself.

If I am leaving my ride outside for more than 5 minutes in a place that I cannot see it, it gets two U-locks and sometimes a krypto chain. I have heard about putting paraffin wax or solder or whatever in your allen bolts as well, but havent done it myself.

PedallingATX

Dude NYC is so awesome

You get to pay tons of $ for rent, not see grass (w/ the exception of parks) and have to worry constantly about people stealing your stuff. Yep, sounds great haha.

Seriously, Jake, you ride around w/ all that crap in your bag? How do you move? That's like 20 lbs worth of steel.

jakerock

I usually only have to ride around with a mini-u, but yes, I will carry whatever I need to to feel like I am being responsible to my ride. NYC has given me alot, but also stolen from me. I dont want it to get my bike.

ploit

i commute to work in union square and lock my bike up all day at one of those nifty bike shelters the city has been putting up (nyc has been doing some great stuff for cyclists the past few years-- more bike paths, more bike stands, removing some of those big bump things on the manhattan bridge, etc.). i use two u-locks and a mini krypto cable. rear u-lock + cable locks my saddle, wheel, and frame to the bike stand. second u-lock locks front wheel and frame to the stand. haven't had any problems with this setup yet. i don't lock my bike outside overnight, ever.

PedallingATX

I think if I lived in NY I would definitely have a real beater bike. Depending on the budget, a beater can take many different forms. I just hate riding w/ a bunch of stuff in my backpack. I would do just about anything to avoid taking more than one U-lock with me.

I guess bike theft is everywhere, though. We have had a lot of ads on CL here in Austin about bikes being stolen. Usually out of someone's garage, though.

I would think that NY wouldn't be that bad b/c there are always so many people around. Seems like the best place to leave a bike is the most crowded place.

drainyoo

I personally never lock up my bike. I built it up and put a lot of love into so it means too much to me to leave it on the street.

Get a beater if you need to lock up the bike and ride the good one when you don't.

jollysnowman

I'm in Austin like you, and that's exactly how my previous bike got stripped. It was even a lowly NEXT walmart bike.

Now I use a u-lock and cable. Overnight gets two u-locks, and when I have some disposable cash, I'm buying a Kryto chain.

I actually was in NY last week, and a lot of bikes had at least two u-locks.

bbjones232

nobody looks at/gets involved with anything here

PedallingATX

snowman--where did this happen if you don't mind me asking?

I don't ever lock my bike up for more than an hour or two at a time...tops. And usually in busy places. I would never lock my bike up outside of a 2 hour movie, for example, and when I take it to work I bring it inside.

I guess I have decided that if someone wants to (and has the tools) to steal my components, they can have them. The frame is the most important part of my bike. If I have to risk someone taking my alex/formula wheels, so be it.

jollysnowman

Inside my girlfriend's "secure" apt complex in West Campus at UT. So much for cameras and a gate. The manager got mad at me when she caught me telling prospective residents not to live there lol. Granted, I left it overnight and that complex must have a thief living there or something because there've been many bikes "tampered with" and several series of tire slashings, and she also lives in West Campus, so yeah.

Being in college with only a bike, my bike gets locked up everywhere, from campus to the grocery store to other people's apt complexes, often for hours at a time, sometimes overnight. I have to be a little more careful when locking it up.

On topic: Lock your bike with other bikes, especially bikes that aren't secured as well as yours. You're kind of screwing the other guy, but that's life sometimes.

akkando

I keep wanting to try one of these with the hardened steel plates.


https://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...4&category=111

I use one small Krypto Evo U lock for the frame because it is light and because it is small it is harder to use leverage attacks against it and a cable lock for both tires. I lock the U lock through the frame and the rear wheel if I have enough room to do so.

Most people here use those huge Krypto chains for their bikes here. I think its too heavy and refuse to use one but there must be a reason people use it.

I don't do anything to lock my seat and on the 4th of july when I got back to my bike it was 2/3 off the my bike and I think someone tried to take it even though it is cheap. They must have thought they were going to get caught and that was the one time I didnt bring a multi tool. Had to ride home with a loose seat pointed up my ass.

My friend says secure your seat like this

https://sevenonefixed.blogspot.com/20...your-bike.html

Yo!

If you're looking for a krypto chain, check this out:

https://www.bikeregistry.com/estore/p...ca15ab3ae70c86

I started a thread ab it, but I just bought one and they kick ass. The krypto chain is cool with the 6 sided links, but at $100+, it's just too expensive.

This one I bought is $40 and case hardened quad chain with a monoblock lock. It's a great lock for the price. I have a 30" waist and can wear it snugly around my waist like a belt, so the extra 5lbs of gear isn't all that noticeable.

PedallingATX

snowman- yeah, I'm lucky to have a car. If I didn't have a car, I would be locking my bike up for longer periods of time in sketchier areas. For example, when I have to go to Southeast Austin to buy crack, I usually take the car.

akkando

Most people can't tell if it is a thief taking the bike or the owner. There is a video floating around on youtube of a guy locking his bike up and then breaking the lock later with bolt cutters and angle grinders in crowded places in broad day light and no one says ****. If anyone does, tell them you lost the key.

PedallingATX

yeah i've seen that video and it blows my mind. I don't know if I would necessarily confront a thief, but I would probably at least call the cops. Or maybe just yell something out like "HEY, YOURE STEALING THAT BIKE" that way everyone would turn and look and the guy would probably run away.

Unless he pulled out an M16, in which case everyone is ****ed

In Austin, it seems like most bike theft occurs at residences of some sort. I like to think that if someone was jacking a bike outside of like Whole Foods, that people would say something...but I donno...

queerpunk

I've been living and locking in NYC for years.

If I'm going to be leaving my bike outside for a while it gets the big U Lock. If I were doing it in the same place day after day, it would get the chain around both wheels and the frame. But most of the time I just use my mini U. When I was occasionally riding my Pog and Felt around town I'd manage to get the Big U through the front wheel, downtube, and LOOK pedal - which was kind of like locking up the rear wheel.

There are some places where I hate locking up, but usually I'm locking up with my sweetheart. Two bikes, two mini Us, plus a cable through the wheels is all we usually do.

Once you live in NYC, be as careful as you need to until you get a sense of where you should and shouldn't. Don't lock up in Union Square. Don't lock up to scaffolding. If you're everydaying it, make friends with the guy in the coffee cart fifteen feet away and tell him not to let anyone mess with your bike. Lock up near other bikes, and have a better lock. Thieves are pretty opportunistic and indiscriminate. They did not steal your bike because it was nice. They stole it because it was easy to steal.

Lots of bikes have been recovered, so if yours gets pinched, tell all the bike shops roughly in the area, spread the word, and there's a chance that you'll get it back. A teammate of mine just got his track bike back after like eight months. A guy I worked with got his back after four or five months. And I can probably think of like four or six others where the word had been spread, the bike had been spotted, and good folks stepped up to help out. Bikes returned to owners, sometimes giving forty or sixty bucks to whatever poor sucker was riding it. They didn't steal it, they just bought it 'cause they needed it and didn't know better.

akkando

I hear a mini U lock is ALWAYS better than a large U lock as the large U lock provides more leverage for an attack? True or False? You might want to always use the smaller U Lock as I believe it to be safer (and lighter to carry)

queerpunk

the big u gets the frame and front wheel and it's a thicker, bigger lock.

Roy G. Biv

This is good advice.
If you have a bike that really care about in NYC then it should never see a lock.

Build up a beater on the cheap.

jakerock

Proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7zb8YXrmIA

[edit] Akkando mentioned this already I think[/edit]