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The economics of stolen bicycles
Interesting article on the US situation, but the same principles would apply here. Don;t know if anyone remembers, but there was a spate of thefts from Sydney CBD offices last year.
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you have to wonder sometimes. was it a swag of treks that went missing from canberra? high end mtb's and the people who ride them tend to turn up in the same spots, but like the article says you string enough together and anything becomes worthwhile. a drive over to WA or sticking a few on a truck if you had a mate set up to take them. it sucks because replacement is so so much more than what you can huck a 2nd hand one. bike exchange or revs or someone should set up something like for cars where serial numbers are tracked and to sell on-line you need to state the number.
I had a mate in Manly have his bike stolen last week. It was a 10-year old Giant hardtail that was hardly worth anything even when brand new. I'm actually surprised anyone would even bother to steal it! I gave it to him six months ago to free up space in my garage, lol...and I'd have felt guilty charging any money for it.
I used to be on a committee in Manly investigating petty crime and community safety.
Drinkers staggering their way home from the Pub see an unsecured bike somewhere and will take it just to get home. Your mates stolen bike will probably have been dumped somewhere in Manly Vale or Balgowlah. Crappy bikes have no resale value and are not worth taking except to help get to sleep quicker.
These same people will smash your car window for the $2 coin they see on the dashboard (because a $2 scratchy could turn it into a small fortune).
From what I was told it was actually locked up though, which takes a bit more effort. It was left locked somewhere in Manly for a couple days, and then disappeared overnight.
Oh well ... Lesson to them that no matter how cheap it is, keep it in the garage! At least it wasn't an expensive bike.
Not much more effort. Most locks people use slow a thief down by 30 seconds at the most.
True Hawkeye, but it should at least stop casual theft from a drunk trying to get home quicker!
I knew a guy that used to deflate his tyres each day so that it would be a slow getaway for any opportunistic thief. Pumping up tyres takes longer than cutting a lock.
He normally also undid his quick release on the front wheel.
I also used a similar tactic to prevent my Subaru getting stolen in NZ where theft was rampant. Thieves were good at getting around alarms and immobilizers. Unplugging two of the spark plug leads and swapping them around while parked up saved my car many times. Engine won't run and fire properly and what's wrong isn't obvious. Only had to deal with busted locks and smashed windows.