Video: Gone in six seconds — thief with no tools yanks bike off railing

Since I moved to a city centre I've not had a bike pinched - that's because I never leave my bike outside!! Before then, every bike I'd ever owned had eventually been stolen - cheap lock or VERY expensive lock.

We're missing the point, it's not about the quality of the locks, it's about the dick heads doing the pinching. If Mr plod went round nicking the crooks instead of dishing out crap advice to spend more money on security then we wouldn't need locks. Take a wild guess where bikes get pinched from ? Yep, bike racks and/or common cycle parking spots in towns. Bike thieves are lazy so that's where they look. All it takes is the boys in blue to park one of their own in mufti or install trap bikes at cycle theft locations and they'd catch the sods pretty quickly. You can bet the lazy low life bike thief is not just pinching bikes either!

One day we'll be able to buy a seat post with a built in shot gun cartridge that's armed when the bike is locked and triggered when a thieves bum makes contact with the seat- oh what a great visual!

I'm Steve of Pragmasis and we've been saying for years that it's the retailers that make the sale of the (potentially valuable) bike and often offer totally inappropriate security at the time, so they are the main ones at fault when that happens. It's almost like selling a diesel car with a Jerry can with petrol in it! It's obviously not going to work, and the bike purchaser can't be expected to be an expert on security. The retailer should sell a combination that is balanced, and ideally give good advice on how to use it all - the bike and the security!

I'm afraid it's all very well complaining about lock manufacturers making heavy/expensive D-locks, but the reality is the medium-to-heavy ones are the only ones that provide a worthwhile deterrent and it's the medium ones that give a reasonable balance between security level and weight and cost for portable use in most situations. The top-of-the-range Kryptonite etc D-locks are very good, but they are also extremely heavy and very expensive, and a thief can often cut the frame if they are not used carefully even so.

The Mini D-locks offer some promise of decent security without too much weight, but they are very limited in what they will reach around as they are small.

There are no easy answers to this, I'm afraid, but whatever people do, avoiding relying on cable locks has to be a good philosophy IMHO! There are _no_ decent cable locks on the market that we know of. None at all.

Cheers,

Steve.

This is not opportunistic theft. You can tell that the bloke in the footage is checking out the bike rack, looking to see if anything is worth stealing.

If you're going to leave your bike in public overnight then a far better option than a flash lock is a crap bike. Remember that thieves steal things with the intention of selling on. If the resale value of your bike is £10 then a £1 lock is probably OK. If the resale value of your bike is £2000 then its going to get stolen whatever lock you use.

Cable Locks, no matter how thick should be banned from sale!
I had a Marin San Aselmo Hybrid stolen from outside W.H.Smiths in Croydon on Boxing Day in 2011. As all of the bike racks were full, I had to affix the bike to a metal seat, the construction of which meant I was unable to use my normal thick lock, so I put a medium security cable lock on.
Result? Bike stolen in 10 minutes. Security cameras? Upon enquiry, allegedly All pointing in the wrong direction.
I have purchased two new bikes in 2012, My No. 1 bike goes nowhere near shops or if briefly left parked has a massive Kryptonite D lock affixed and for shopping trips, I have an unfashionable cheap and cheerful upright 3 speed cycle also equipped with a substantial D lock.
A lesson to be learned here as well is don't use a good looking and fanciable bike around town. Use a cheap but serviceable machine.
What still sticks in my craw is that the Marin had a brand new Brooks B17 Copper saddle fitted and my precious Carradice Nelson saddle bag with 40 years worth of useful old bike tools in it as well.

Cable Locks, no matter how thick should be banned from sale!
I had a Marin San Aselmo Hybrid stolen from outside W.H.Smiths in Croydon on Boxing Day in 2011. As all of the bike racks were full, I had to affix the bike to a metal seat, the construction of which meant I was unable to use my normal thick lock, so I put a medium security cable lock on.
Result? Bike stolen in 10 minutes. Security cameras? Upon enquiry, allegedly All pointing in the wrong direction.
I have purchased two new bikes in 2012, My No. 1 bike goes nowhere near shops or if briefly left parked has a massive Kryptonite D lock affixed and for shopping trips, I have an unfashionable cheap and cheerful upright 3 speed cycle also equipped with a substantial D lock.
A lesson to be learned here as well is don't use a good looking and fanciable bike around town. Use a cheap but serviceable machine.
What still sticks in my craw is that the Marin had a brand new Brooks B17 Copper saddle fitted and my precious Carradice Nelson saddle bag with 40 years worth of useful old bike tools in it as well.

It's all very well saying "Use a D lock" but they are so heavy and awkward to carry.
It's about time the makers at least got around to making a lighter one that didn't weigh more than your bike and didn't cost £50.

Shocking. Manufacturers should stop selling cheap cable locks.

a) Can they tell us what make the lock was?
b) This just shows how useless CCTV is at preventing crime. I'm not putting much faith in anyone identifying the tea leaf from that video either, so it won't be much help in the prosecution.
c) I'm really paranoid now. I'll go and by some more locks.

"Officers are investigating the theft" Blimey. Normal for Norfolk?

Certainly ain't normal for Sussex.