If you enjoy riding your bike to work or school but are worried about having your equipment stolen while you are away from it, you need to make sure that you protect it in the proper ways. Having to replace it can be a very costly hassle.
First of all, get a U-lock. The overwhelming majority of stolen bikes are locked with a cable or chain, or aren't locked at all.
The cheapest U-lock is better than the best chain. Hardware or fitness stores usually carry entry-level U-locks for around fifteen dollars.
Remember, a bike being unlocked is a bigger factor in whether it gets stolen than how expensive the bike is. Of course actually using your lock sounds like a no-brainer, but one can't count how many people have lost bikes that they left unlocked "just for a minute."
Lock your bike religiously. If you're at a store and there's nothing to lock your bike to, at the very least lock it to itself.
That is, lock the frame to a wheel. That way, someone can't ride off on your bike, although they could still throw it in the back of a truck and drive off with it.
Put the U-lock through the frame, not just through a wheel. If you lock just a wheel, a thief will simply remove the wheel and walk away with your frame.
For best protection, put the lock through both the frame and the front wheel when locking it to anything. Be careful about the ends of bike racks.
Some bike parking racks are constructed with simple nuts and bolts on the ends. If you park your bike on the end of one of these racks, a thief could disassemble the end of the rack with a tool, and slide your equipment right off it.
By the same token, also check to make sure that the part of the rack you are locking to, is solid and not broken at the top or bottom. Never park on traffic signs overnight.
determined thief can take the sign off the top of the pole, and then slide your bike over the pole. Don't park it overnight in public at all if you can avoid it.
If your ride is expensive and you have to leave it parked in public overnight or for a long time, consider getting a second, less expensive "beater bike" for those times. That way it will be less likely to be stolen, and if it is, you won't be quite so heartbroken.
Though you may not want to, paint over expensive brand names or scratch them off. Simply adding stickers won't fool a thief into thinking it is old or low quality, although it may make it easier to identify if it is stolen.
If your bike is expensive enough to have a serial number, write it down now. If it does not have its own serial number, add your own numbers to it.
Engrave your state ID number into two places on the frame, such as under the bottom bracket and on the down tube. You can get a cheap engraver at a hardware store.
The reason you're engraving into two places is because if a thief is smart enough to try to file your numbers off, he might not be smart enough to think that there could be a second set of numbers after he's found the first. Some local and campus police departments will stamp your ID number for free, and put a registration sticker on the down tube.
Sure, the registration sticker would be easy for a thief to remove, but the point is that when thieves even see the registration sticker, they may avoid stealing it because they know that it's registered and has your ID number stamped into it, so it'll be harder to sell. Some cyclists are wary about having them registered, because then if they get harassed by the police for any reason, the police could ID them with the state ID # etched into it.
No matter what method you decide to use, make sure you protect your property. You can save yourself lots of grief down the line if you do.
Author Resource:-
Ronald Pedactor is a fitness trainer. He has been coaching athletes for more then 20 years. He recommends the bestelliptical bike to achieve your highest biking performance.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.massagebyben.com/articles/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites 