I'm willing to bet that maybe 50, 60 percent of them - minimum - were locking their bikes up wrong. At least another ten percent were locking it up right, but to the wrong thing.
No, those locks are useless in NYC. Thieves literally carry angle grinders and bolt cutters with them.
U-locks are maybe 1% more effective than chain locks. Thieves of opportunity take bikes with cable locks, but the professional gangs take the bike they want regardless of other factors.
It's got three cables leading to a single lock, so you have to cut three different cables. Normally, not much of a deterrent. However, each cable has a wire in it that, when cut, sends an alert to your phone while at the same time blaring the loudest alarm possible from the lock itself. This will deter more casual thieves in urban areas, and hopefully lead to more bike thieves getting caught. It won't eliminate bike stealing, but it'll make it a much more hardcore crime because it draws so much more attention, and if given the choice the bike thief will always steal the one without this lock. Also, if I were the company making this, I'd offer free replacement for any cut cables, because I imagine this lock would be rather expensive.
There is a business opportunity there. Just as NYC has paid parking garages why not have a paid bike parking area?
I would imagen that something akin to the storage system used in Japan would be great. That said there is most likely some strange union law against it.
Get one of those folding bikes and take it inside the building with you. Or get some super crappy bike that no one would want.
This. If I was commuting by bike in an area that is known for bike theft, I'd get the cheapest possible bike that would get the job done reasonably comfortably under the assumptions that a) no one would want to steal such a cheap-ass bike or b) even if it was stolen, it was such a cheap-ass bike that it's no huge loss on my part.
It's got three cables leading to a single lock, so you have to cut three different cables. Normally, not much of a deterrent. However, each cable has a wire in it that, when cut, sends an alert to your phone while at the same time blaring the loudest alarm possible from the lock itself. This will deter more casual thieves in urban areas, and hopefully lead to more bike thieves getting caught. It won't eliminate bike stealing, but it'll make it a much more hardcore crime because it draws so much more attention, and if given the choice the bike thief will always steal the one without this lock. Also, if I were the company making this, I'd offer free replacement for any cut cables, because I imagine this lock would be rather expensive.
No one would even look if they heard the alarm.
As for the phone alert, it takes less than 10 seconds to steal the bike, so your cell phone alert is useless.
The thief would just smash the speaker and keep going.
Finally, the police arrest these professional thieves all the time. The punishments aren't harsh enough to deter them at all.
I took bolt cutters to my old bike lock (the key broke off in the lock) when I got a new one. It was one of the fancy ones with the kevlar and rubber composite over a steel wire. It took me the better part of a minute to work through the outside shit and even get at the chain itself. If this thing can make somebody spend more than a minute on it while it's screaming at them at maximum volume, than it's doing a stellar job.
The goal isn't to be completely unbeatable, it's to make it as much of a hassle and a risk on as many levels as possible such that bike thieves will always go for other bikes without this lock.
I took bolt cutters to my old bike lock (the key broke off in the lock) when I got a new one. It was one of the fancy ones with the kevlar and rubber composite over a steel wire. It took me the better part of a minute to work through the outside shit and even get at the chain itself. If this thing can make somebody spend more than a minute on it while it's screaming at them at maximum volume, than it's doing a stellar job.
The goal isn't to be completely unbeatable, it's to make it as much of a hassle and a risk on as many levels as possible such that bike thieves will always go for other bikes without this lock.
What kind of bolt cutter? The guys here use ones that are a good 3 feet long.
I took bolt cutters to my old bike lock (the key broke off in the lock) when I got a new one. It was one of the fancy ones with the kevlar and rubber composite over a steel wire. It took me the better part of a minute to work through the outside shit and even get at the chain itself. If this thing can make somebody spend more than a minute on it while it's screaming at them at maximum volume, than it's doing a stellar job.
The goal isn't to be completely unbeatable, it's to make it as much of a hassle and a risk on as many levels as possible such that bike thieves will always go for other bikes without this lock.
I don't know what kind of lock you had, or if you were doing things wrong. I've seen guys with bolt cutters pop a cable lock in one clamp.
This video was made with a set of crap-ass bolt cutters. There is no lock that you can put on a bike that can't be defeated by hand tools within 5 minutes. Power-tools are worse.
Yeah, mine weren't quite that big. Maybe a foot and a half long handle? The leverage has to be pretty crazy on those big ones.
Gah, there has to be something, though. Doing some quick research, it seems the U-lock type locks are the toughest. I wonder if there is a shape or pattern you could use on the lock itself which would make it impossible to get a standard pair of cutters around them? Maybe like a square pattern of four bars with a vaccum-sealed composite cover, creating a shape that bolt cutters can't easily latch around, and with the wire so that when you cut one bar, it starts wailing? Also, you could have a good strength-to-weight ratio with a star shaped pattern of extruded metal fins.
Bleh, maybe you should just wire the lock up to a bomb.
There is no way to stop bike thievery in New York short of actually putting police resources into catching them and making the punishments severe enough to actually act as a deterrent.
Yeah, it seems to me that if bike stealing is an industry large enough that there are dedicated professionals with vehicles and specialized power tools, that shit needs to be stamped out. Crime like that usually funds other, far more harmful crime.
Yeah, it seems to me that if bike stealing is an industry large enough that there are dedicated professionals with vehicles and specialized power tools, that shit needs to be stamped out. Crime like that usually funds other, far more harmful crime.
There is zero interest in the US in actually fighting that level of crime.
If I had may way, you would spend the night in JAIL if you threw a cigarette butt or chewed gum on the sidewalk.
Bike thieves should get some ridiculous number of community service hours, probation, and heavy fines. Repeat offenders should get JAIL.
Yeah, it seems to me that if bike stealing is an industry large enough that there are dedicated professionals with vehicles and specialized power tools, that shit needs to be stamped out. Crime like that usually funds other, far more harmful crime.
There is zero interest in the US in actually fighting that level of crime.
If I had may way, you would spend the night in JAIL if you threw a cigarette but or chewed gum on the sidewalk.
I dunno about that, but seriously, minor but profitable crime is the groundwork on which organized crime is built. It's mostly drug crime, of course, which could be solved just by ending prohibition, but shit like this puts money into underground circulation where it buys guns and tools for way scarier people. Not to mention any kind of omnipresent crime creates an oppressive atmosphere in the populace and reduces their trust in government and law enforcement.
One of the ways you might be able to seriously cut down on bike theft would be to come up with some way of encouraging reporting bike thieves. Like, if you come in with footage on your phone of a dude stealing a bike, or the license plate number of a van, and they catch the guy, cash reward! Then you put a few bike thieves through some super public trials (it's fairly easy to get a media frenzy going in the US) and people will start calling in.
Smokers are a tiny percentage of the population here, yet cigarette butts are the majority of the litter. Fuck them. A nice $500 fine per butt would generate revenue and cut down on the litter. A night in jail as an option instead of the fine might make them think twice about throwing their shit on the sidewalk.
As for the bike thieves, petty crime basically isn't investigated here. At all. Ever.
Smokers are a tiny percentage of the population here, yet cigarette butts are the majority of the litter. Fuck them. A nice $500 fine per butt would generate revenue and cut down on the litter. A night in jail as an option instead of the fine might make them think twice about throwing their shit on the sidewalk.
As for the bike thieves, petty crime basically isn't investigated here. At all. Ever.
It seems to me that with a giant population with cell phones, there shouldn't ever need to be real investigation, with the proper incentives put in place.
Totally down with shitting on smokers though. In my group of acquaintances there is only one person who smokes who also isn't a total asshole.
Smokers are a tiny percentage of the population here, yet cigarette butts are the majority of the litter. Fuck them. A nice $500 fine per butt would generate revenue and cut down on the litter. A night in jail as an option instead of the fine might make them think twice about throwing their shit on the sidewalk.
As for the bike thieves, petty crime basically isn't investigated here. At all. Ever.
It seems to me that with a giant population with cell phones, there shouldn't ever need to be real investigation, with the proper incentives put in place.
If your bike is stolen and you find it on Craigslist, the NYPD will not even come with you to retrieve it no matter how much evidence you have.
I was thinking of starting a private security company that solely deals with that sort of thing. We validate your evidence, you pay us, we come with you to get your shit back. I imagine we would do a lot of business with people who used GPS to find their stolen phones.
Comments
U-locks are maybe 1% more effective than chain locks. Thieves of opportunity take bikes with cable locks, but the professional gangs take the bike they want regardless of other factors.
It's got three cables leading to a single lock, so you have to cut three different cables. Normally, not much of a deterrent. However, each cable has a wire in it that, when cut, sends an alert to your phone while at the same time blaring the loudest alarm possible from the lock itself. This will deter more casual thieves in urban areas, and hopefully lead to more bike thieves getting caught. It won't eliminate bike stealing, but it'll make it a much more hardcore crime because it draws so much more attention, and if given the choice the bike thief will always steal the one without this lock. Also, if I were the company making this, I'd offer free replacement for any cut cables, because I imagine this lock would be rather expensive.
As for the phone alert, it takes less than 10 seconds to steal the bike, so your cell phone alert is useless.
The thief would just smash the speaker and keep going.
Finally, the police arrest these professional thieves all the time. The punishments aren't harsh enough to deter them at all.
The goal isn't to be completely unbeatable, it's to make it as much of a hassle and a risk on as many levels as possible such that bike thieves will always go for other bikes without this lock.
This video was made with a set of crap-ass bolt cutters. There is no lock that you can put on a bike that can't be defeated by hand tools within 5 minutes. Power-tools are worse.
Gah, there has to be something, though. Doing some quick research, it seems the U-lock type locks are the toughest. I wonder if there is a shape or pattern you could use on the lock itself which would make it impossible to get a standard pair of cutters around them? Maybe like a square pattern of four bars with a vaccum-sealed composite cover, creating a shape that bolt cutters can't easily latch around, and with the wire so that when you cut one bar, it starts wailing? Also, you could have a good strength-to-weight ratio with a star shaped pattern of extruded metal fins.
Bleh, maybe you should just wire the lock up to a bomb.
If I had may way, you would spend the night in JAIL if you threw a cigarette butt or chewed gum on the sidewalk.
Bike thieves should get some ridiculous number of community service hours, probation, and heavy fines. Repeat offenders should get JAIL.
One of the ways you might be able to seriously cut down on bike theft would be to come up with some way of encouraging reporting bike thieves. Like, if you come in with footage on your phone of a dude stealing a bike, or the license plate number of a van, and they catch the guy, cash reward! Then you put a few bike thieves through some super public trials (it's fairly easy to get a media frenzy going in the US) and people will start calling in.
As for the bike thieves, petty crime basically isn't investigated here. At all. Ever.
Totally down with shitting on smokers though. In my group of acquaintances there is only one person who smokes who also isn't a total asshole.
I was thinking of starting a private security company that solely deals with that sort of thing. We validate your evidence, you pay us, we come with you to get your shit back. I imagine we would do a lot of business with people who used GPS to find their stolen phones.
Reporting them doesn't mean anything and has zero effect.