Crackhead’s bike security tips

Posted on September 14, 2010 by .
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Omar Aziz was hooked on crack for 13 years and stole bikes to feed his habit. He explains how to protect your bike from thieves.

Sad bicycle wheel

Guardian: Bike thief tells how to stop your cycle from being stolen.

Some takeaways from the article:

  • Cheap locks are next to worthless.
  • Video security is next to worthless, as Jym personally experienced when his bike was stolen in full view of a security camera.
  • If a thief has his eye on a locked bike, he’ll flat the tire or otherwise disable the bike so the owner will come back for it later, and the thief can work on the bike at his leisure.
  • Thieves watch for expensive bikes locked at popular bike parking locations.

 

 

Via Militant Cyclist.



See also:

  1. Bicycle security tips
  2. Pro bike thieves on how to lock your bicycle
  3. San Francisco: Bike theft sting
  4. Bike locked by thief; What to do?


  • Anonymous

    Great tips for bike thieves.

  • Andy

    I disagree about the cheap locks. In the big cities, that may be the case, but in small cities or rural places, a cheap lock is plenty. Around here, the type of lock really doesn’t matter if you leave a bike out at night, because a thief will have plenty of time without being seen to work on the lock.

  • Andy

    I disagree about the cheap locks. In the big cities, that may be the case, but in small cities or rural places, a cheap lock is plenty. Around here, the type of lock really doesn’t matter if you leave a bike out at night, because a thief will have plenty of time without being seen to work on the lock.

  • Anonymous

    Not a lot of added detail. I do use cheap locks for “just a minute” security.

  • http://www.jacobmartinez.net/ Jacob Martinez

    Who cares about bike security tips, I want a crackhead to teach me how ride a bike with one hand while pulling and steering another with the other hand. I think that would come in handy and it’s hard but I’ve seen them do it.

  • http://twitter.com/gussynichols Luke N

    Totally agree with this. I know i leave my bike upstairs (i’m in a basement) unlocked all day long. It stays there all the time. The only time it got stolen was when i left it at home, and thought it was at work with me.

  • http://www.cyclelicio.us/ Cyclelicious

    The thieves already know this stuff.

    Here’s a bonus tip: Cheaper u-locks locked around just the downtube or top tube of a sturdy bike can be defeated by using the bike frame itself as leverage. Lift the bike and forcefully rotate the frame to break the lock.

  • Andy

    If your bike has thick enough tubes to break open a u-lock, than the lock is probably worth more than the bike anyway :D