Plus because my bike is my primary vehicle, I’ve customised it and kitted it out with everything I need, from rear rack to trailer mounts, I added turn signals and extra safety lights, kevlar lining for my wheels because the shit roads shred my tires.
The bike itself was expensive, but affordable, the additional kit, and the time and labour I put into making it a transport system that perfectly works for me is much harder to replace.
But I’m lucky to live in an area where you can find secure bike cages at transport hubs, and there are enough other bikes around that my clunky 30kg step through frame isn’t as desirable as a lightweight carbon fibre roadster frame when someone is going around with the bolt cutters.
My front strobe light has been stolen 8 times though.
That one is baffling. Because I keep my saddle bags on my bike at all times, so you’d think someone would take those, or at least have a rummage through them and take my tool kit or pump or stuff. Or steal any number of the expensive fixtures I have, like the tail light that plugs into my brakes, or the actual bike flood lamp that’s attached to the handlebars with a quick release scew… But no, they keep stealing the $3 headlamp I buy from the dollar store that’s cable tied onto the handlebar stem.
I live in a mid-sized city in the UK, and if I lock my bike outside, someone will try to steal it within 30 mins, almost without fail. We’ve tried getting public bike cages set up, but then motorists get shitty because those portable cages end up taking up space that cars could use.
I’ve dropped hundreds on bike locks alone, and despite this have had parts of my bike stolen when someone decided that they couldn’t get through the lock, or couldn’t cut through where I’ve secured the lock.
Plus because my bike is my primary vehicle, I’ve customised it and kitted it out with everything I need, from rear rack to trailer mounts, I added turn signals and extra safety lights, kevlar lining for my wheels because the shit roads shred my tires.
The bike itself was expensive, but affordable, the additional kit, and the time and labour I put into making it a transport system that perfectly works for me is much harder to replace.
But I’m lucky to live in an area where you can find secure bike cages at transport hubs, and there are enough other bikes around that my clunky 30kg step through frame isn’t as desirable as a lightweight carbon fibre roadster frame when someone is going around with the bolt cutters.
My front strobe light has been stolen 8 times though.
That one is baffling. Because I keep my saddle bags on my bike at all times, so you’d think someone would take those, or at least have a rummage through them and take my tool kit or pump or stuff. Or steal any number of the expensive fixtures I have, like the tail light that plugs into my brakes, or the actual bike flood lamp that’s attached to the handlebars with a quick release scew… But no, they keep stealing the $3 headlamp I buy from the dollar store that’s cable tied onto the handlebar stem.
I live in a mid-sized city in the UK, and if I lock my bike outside, someone will try to steal it within 30 mins, almost without fail. We’ve tried getting public bike cages set up, but then motorists get shitty because those portable cages end up taking up space that cars could use.
I’ve dropped hundreds on bike locks alone, and despite this have had parts of my bike stolen when someone decided that they couldn’t get through the lock, or couldn’t cut through where I’ve secured the lock.