Car got broken into, how to prevent my ebike from getting stolen

Joined
Mar 28, 2017
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So joy to me. My car got broken into a few nights ago. Stupid crooks took my honda airbag. Nice right? Smashed window and a missing airbag. I hope that thing deploys in their face... Anyway, that's beside the point...

I'm in DC and going to be leaving my bike at the metro stations around town during the day. They're busy areas so I'm not too worried about it being left where there aren't people. However, I've got 3 locks for my bike. 1 a cable lock that is primarily going to be used to lock my seat to the frame since I don't have a lock bolt. 2nd lock is a masterlock that will lock the rear hub to the frame, 3rd is a kryptonite U lock for the tires/frame with a cable also. I'm bringing the battery with me so that's safe.

My best thought of deterrent is going to be spray painting the bike to look like crap... It's a 2002 steel frame trek 800. Probably not worth next to anything. I've got a cheap $35 zoom suspension fork on the front...still thinking if I spray paint the crap over the bike and make it look beat to Shaheen it'll be safe to leave virtually anywhere. Thoughts???

Seriously considering getting rid of my honda. What's the point of an alarm when criminals can smash your window and no alarm goes off?
 
Sometimes the best alarm for a car is a silent pager alarm if you are nearby. Although less of a chance that they won't get away with your stuff there is more of a chance you can figure out who they are and maybe get them busted...

There are heavy duty chains and padlocks that are bolt cutter proof, but they are heavy (10-15lbs). Also a motion sensor with audible alarm might be helpful in a populated area. I left my motorcycle at a friends in NC and left for a week, when we returned my heavy duty "american" brand padlock had 2 chips/cracks in it where they tried unsuccessfully to cut it with bolt cutters.

Also, try to park near more expensive bikes if possible. Thieves like easy targets not challenges.
 
Paint the seat so it looks like its covered in bird shit ?
or take the seat off..and a wheel both wheels :D

All you can do is park it in a safe area and lock it short of bringing it inside with you which is the best option although it still should be locked or a Inside thief may get it.
I use 1 U-lock 90% of the time but for longer lock ups use both a 2nd twin ulock and the onGuard Beast chain lock (13 lbs) for added security.

No one is going to cut the Beast lock and go unnoticed it takes a dewalt battery powered grinder 5 minutes to cut a link and about the same using 4 foot bolt cutters
 
some links, relveant stuff mostly ovbvious by title

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=theft&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sr=topics&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=*thief*&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sr=topics&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=stole*&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sr=topics&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=gps&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sr=topics&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search
 
You should have a bike that looks less appealing to the bicycle thieves.
Have a rusted, f'ugly bicycle with no distinguishing logos (like Shimano XTR)
Then buy a good U-lock like a Kryptonite NYC U-lock
Lock your bike up properly.
Lock your bike up where approptiate.

You can use a loud audible alarm that when moved it pierces everyones ears.

You can use a gps that can text you when its moved. They are used for motorcycles, children, dogs, backpacks, laptops.

If you can try to hide everything. Hide the rear motor with rear pannier bags.
Take the battery in with you, or have it securely mounted and less obvious, like for example a water bottle battery, I know very small, unpracticle but you get the idea.
 
I have seen youtube videos of Crack/Meth Heads stealing any kind of bike, in very populated / high foot traffic areas and no one bothers them.
Any kind of lock is broken/cut/sawed by them in just a few seconds.

Only a very loud alarm and gps , but if they do disable the alarm , are you going to be able to leave your work to try and hunt them down using a GPS ?

You could team up with your local D.C. Police to have bikes that have the GPS ( Bait Bikes ) to catch as many of the thief's as possible.
Then
Find as many Politicians who would support new legislation that will put Bicycle and Car Thief's into 5 -15 year Community Service programs like...
5 years of cleaning up after Natural Disasters , Fires, and helping rebuilding communities in war ravaged places like the Middle East and Africa.

We in this Country should have 5 years work programs for bike thief's
( which are most always Crack/Meth Addicts )
and
10 Years of work programs for Car Thief's .

15+ years for Car Jackers .

... Hard Labor !
 
I picked up a few of these for cheap resold them and kept one for the ebike

Its a good visual deterrence just the sight of it keeps the bike safe.

[youtube]1ArSWkXW4kc[/youtube]
 
markz said:
You should have a bike that looks less appealing to the bicycle thieves.
Have a rusted, f'ugly bicycle with no distinguishing logos

They've gone into my backyard to steal those. Bike thieves steal bikes. It's genetic.
 
I think if you take your battery with you and you use a bolt cutter proof chain and padlock through the frame and both wheels along with a motion alarm and leave it in a populated area (near a security camera too perhaps) is about the best you can do, short of leaving it surrounded by a team of well trained rottweilers anyway. You can always throw a gps tracker on it too but I imagine a thief would find that quickly on a bike with few places to conceal it (maybe inside the seat or inside the motor controller or display). It sucks that people steal things :(

It's a shame you can't just pack the frame with c4 and retire the thief permanently :wink:
 
This Video shows how easy the bike thief's can steal your bike ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pywN558dJaU

So to stop the thief's ( after a few of them have been caught and news reports of where they end up working for at least 5 years ) ...

1 ) Bait Bikes with Police Sting Operations .

2 ) Minimum of 5 years of hard labor in a hot country for each bike stolen by the thief !
 
My bike has nearly a KwH of electricity stored on it, surely that's enough to make a bike thief very sad if applied correctly to their body.

Stupid laws :(
 
dustNbone said:
My bike has nearly a KwH of electricity stored on it, surely that's enough to make a bike thief very sad if applied correctly to their body.

Stupid laws :(

Lol, I like the way you think! Very resourceful in a Michael Weston sort of way :)
 
Haha you guys are funny. Yea. I think the fugly route is the best option...

1 u lock, a regular lock and 2 cable locks should be enough for a fugly bike...
 
Cable locks take snips and like 1 second each to cut a ulock takes more extensive tools and more noise & suspicion. I would nix the cable lock idea and use a 2nd quality ulock as a visual deterrence. Two ulocks are better then 1
 
Pewag chain, 12mm or as close as you can get to it. You have to use a grinder to get through it, and it takes many minutes with a battery powered grinder.

That, along with a lock that is bolt cutter proof, should be more than enough to deter any opportunist thieves.

You can get relatively cheap and hidden GPS trackers as well, some will respond when you text them, some will send you a text when it moves.
 
The best bike theft deterrent is to treat them the same way horse thieves were treated a century and a half ago...string them up.
 
Well I know any kind of bike can get stolen but really who's gonna want a crap fully modded trek 800 that's been spray painted all over? The only thing of value that's going to be on it will be the controller and hub motor. I've already Duct taped around the entire controller so it's a little difficult to spot and I'm going for to have a masterlock around the rear spokes/frame to lock the rear hub in place. They'd have to cut the spokes then unbolt the hub motor and cut the wires to get it off. I don't think they're gonna be that clever. There's gonna be a ton of other bikes much nicer than mine locked up at the bike racks.
 
I think you are already doing all you can to prevent theft, except maybe insure it so you can buy a replacement. I wouldn't make it look like shit. Some thieves would take that as a sign that you wouldn't report it stolen cause it isn't worth anything. Also, some scavengers who aren't actually trying to steal may think its a scrapable and just try to salvage parts. Sorry, but some crap we just have to live with..
Easy riding to you...
 
I would really suggest taking a look at the YouTube channel LockPickingLawyer . I was sickened at how much I spent on bike locks that could be defeated in under a minute, whether due to flaws or poor parts.

If you could dead short the motor so that is not rideable then they at least have to carry it our toss it into a vehicle. Makes it harder.
 
purduephotog said:
I would really suggest taking a look at the YouTube channel LockPickingLawyer . I was sickened at how much I spent on bike locks that could be defeated in under a minute, whether due to flaws or poor parts.

I've checked out some of those videos.

That's not how bike thieves work, though. They're not clever or resourceful, or they'd have more effective ways to make money. All the thefts of locked bikes of which I have ever heard a direct account involved either brute force attacks on the locks, or simple attacks on the immovable objects the bikes were locked to.

Bike thieving scum don't use lock picks, Ramset drivers, cryo gases, or any such trickery. They'll use wire cutters, bolt cutters, pry bars, car jacks, or sometimes (infrequently) grinders. But I'd be willing to bet that most of the cases of a grinder being used to cut a bike lock are either the bike's owner or a tradesman hired by the bike's owner. If a typical crackhead got hold of an angle grinder, he'd sell it before trying to use it in some kind of enterprise. It probably has more street value than the average stolen bike.
 
His bike may be shit but its wheel and controller would look good on a crackheads escape bicycle. He could double the crimes per hour ..
 
I agree with Chalo, if/when bike thieves get that smart they move up to stealing motorcycles or something. If you put a chain and padlock on that is bolt cutter proof it is very unlikely that someone will steal your bike.

Actually maybe we are thinking about this all wrong. Bike thieves are most likely all drug addicts, maybe a vial full of poisoned crack or meth left on the seat would kill two birds with one stone :)
 
Well there you go, they don't promote because they CAN'T. They would show on television all the ways the car thieves could quickly beat 'The Club' on your steering wheel, but they'd also show hidden camera footage of the thieves who couldn't handle it, thieves talking about the moment they see what they REALLY want to steal it has 'The Club' on it and that's that.

But I'm telling you, I've built most of my own bikes from junk parts in my life and haven't always painted them or done anything to make them look nice. They ALL get stolen.
 
Ha great! So in essence you're all saying at some point my bike or parts will get stolen no matter what I do... I still do want to paint the bike flat or egg shell black... Haha
 
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