The Stolen Bike Crisis of the Okanagan

[spooker]

Stolen bikes, yards trashed, needles left all over the place, break ins ever increasing.

I'm curious when this experiment in "harm reduction" will be called out for what it really is "Harm distribution". They take the risks and harms people in the drug trade were facing and removed some of the harm and made sure a lot more of it went to honest people not in the drug trade, and yet have the nerve to talk like they are helping.

Probably as long as the "war on drugs" was allowed to go on ... though in my industry we try to "fail fast, fail often" so we can test out new solutions quickly and pivot as necessary ...

[spooker]

*removed*

[Jonrox]

This is a pretty great lock that's also quite portable - Abus Bordo Granit XPlus 6500 for $239.99 on Amazon.ca with a 4.6/5 rating with over 3000 reviews. Add an Apple Airtag to your bike and it's about as safe as you can be.
https://mobil.abus.com/uk/on-road/Locks ... -Halter-SH

[featfan]

It is a heavy duty lock with saw/ cut resistance.
You can break it open in under 60 seconds with a rachet and a nut splitter on one of the rivits.
It actually lasted around 10 seconds more than most folding locks.
One of the locks I use is the Masterlock Street cuffs.
It takes a rachet, nut splitter and a wrench to cut the rivit in around 90 seconds.
2 seconds to destroy it with a ramset shot.
Fun stuff with locks on YouTube.
LockPickingLawyer has tons of videos of him picking and breaking open locks.

[spooker]

No lock is guaranteed ... I actually have four different Abus Bordo locks ... from the original that is almost 11 years old to the XPlus 6500 120mm ... they are good locks that most thieves will pass by ...

Unfortunately locks won't address the root problem ...

[featfan]

Yup, if it looks tough most thieves will pass on the bike.
Not the ones now carrying bolt cutters, nut splitters and portable grinders or a ramset.

[Jonrox]

Fun stuff with locks on YouTube.
LockPickingLawyer has tons of videos of him picking and breaking open locks.

I’ve definitely gone down the rabbit hole with his videos a time or two… really interesting stuff.

[Jonrox]

Yup, if it looks tough most thieves will pass on the bike.
Not the ones now carrying bolt cutters, nut splitters and portable grinders or a ramset.

I figure that you usually just need to make your bike look like it’s harder to steal than the ones next to it. I feel like the Abus locks generally accomplish this.

I’m consistently surprised by the number of expensive bikes I see locked up with terrible locks.

[featfan]

Fun stuff with locks on YouTube.
LockPickingLawyer has tons of videos of him picking and breaking open locks.

I’ve definitely gone down the rabbit hole with his videos a time or two… really interesting stuff.

Me too, I am surprised at how easy some locks are able to be opened.
Very simply.

[XT225]

No lock is guaranteed ... I actually have four different Abus Bordo locks ... from the original that is almost 11 years old to the XPlus 6500 120mm ... they are good locks that most thieves will pass by ...

Unfortunately locks won't address the root problem ...

The tougher the lock, the more the thief will consider just leaving the frame and taking whatever else is easily heisted (wheels, seat, bars, etc). Pretty hard to find a lock that will protect every part of the bike from theft. Remember, a LOT of the "parts" on a bike are what these bandits want to fence them for drug money. Some are stolen for transportation but most are to sell the parts.

[LANDM]

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[spooker]

The tougher the lock, the more the thief will consider just leaving the frame and taking whatever else is easily heisted (wheels, seat, bars, etc). Pretty hard to find a lock that will protect every part of the bike from theft. Remember, a LOT of the "parts" on a bike are what these bandits want to fence them for drug money. Some are stolen for transportation but most are to sell the parts.

That might happen if a bike is left overnight in a less-trafficked area ... I do remember how a bike got "parted out" while it sat locked up in front of the old RCMP detachment on Doyle for a couple of weeks ... saw one bike on Bernard years ago where the wheels had been detached but were still locked by the cable as the U-lock went through the frame ...

Usually it's good to get the frame and the front wheel locked to the rack (or whatever is available) ... if you do have a quick release for your seatpost that's something to think about depending on how long the bike will be alone ...

There are always little things you can do to keep a bike safer than otherwise ... sometimes it's not about putting it out of sight but making sure there is plenty of foot traffic going by ... (speaking of locking up for shopping trips etc, not storage at home)

[alanjh595]

We need some of these.

[the truth]

love it *removed*

[GordonH]

Bike riders should demand better security from bicycle manufacturers.