How to make your bike unattractive to thieves?

Link doesn't work for me. Says "my" Gmail account is unavailable.

A bike parked for that (implied) length of time could be served as well by a nice layer of sphagnum.
Safer for the rightful owner as well.

This should be better.
A thief would have to be pretty determined to get past that many bees.

Whoah, there's a chamois cream I'd stay away from - special nectar-based recipe, I'd warrant.

simple,

don't wash it,
put stickers on it,
let it rust.

also poop on the saddle every time you go inside, or use

^^^^ the link doesn't work since it's internal to your gmail.. however I imagine the image was like these?:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bees+swarm+bike&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1024&bih=690

I've got a label printer at work, so was considering making some large "Super Gay Bike Club" decals. Not sure if that'll just mean I'll get my bike trashed instead though.

You could try a bit of rust effect on the frame, like so:

http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol11/?pg=76&u1=texterity#pg76

Or the designer rust job:

http://www.bikerumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/rusty_3.jpg

Or if you have the time chuck the frame in the sea for a while, like this:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gSsMxD-h088/S1893LdujqI/AAAAAAAAAyk/OvWNzh4umeY/s1600-h/dirtybike1.jpg

^ liking the barnacles! Tres beau Rodney!

Here are those paedo stickers I mentioned. Nice:

new company logo? ;-)

Ha! Hope you enjoyed your hols fella :)

I discovered recently on making my bicycle very unattractive to thieves by doing something very simple; installing a rack.

I notice this when I locked up my bicycle at my usual spot, I saw a gangs of kids non-nonchalantly looking at the row of bicycles and taking photos of the "idea" one to steal, even one with yellow kryptonite lock.

They point blank ignored my bicycle simply because of the rack:

Win.

or because it's hideous.

hey mate, yeah it was good. Been slammed since I got back... How are you?

Ed - your bike makes me sad! Do you always have Redbull cans on the rack?

VanUden - that's ShinChan, great cartoon.

hey mate, yeah it was good. Been slammed since I got back... How are you?

Ed - your bike makes me sad! Do you always have Redbull cans on the rack?

Slammed as in busy not mashed up? I'm good dude, cracking on with setting up the business and bringing a more sophisticated air to Peckham's riot babies.

VanUden - that's ShinChan, great cartoon.

Cool! I had no idea. I just saw a cartoon kid pissing blood and thought it was so wrong it was hilarious. Got them at a street market that sprang up around my mate's wedding when he married his long term girlfriend in her village near the Burmese border (he's an English teacher, has been living in Thailand the past 8 years). Thanks for clarifying ShinChan sumo, these will go on my bike with pride and hopefully help to put off any would be thieves!

Slammed as in busy not mashed up? I'm good dude, cracking on with setting up the business and bringing a more sophisticated air to Peckham's riot babies.

Yeah busy. Good to here your getting on, still need to catch up at some point.

VanUden - that's ShinChan, great cartoon.

Shin Chan peeing blood on a pizza no less. I actually have a sticker of Shin Chan flashing his willy on my beater. brb I'm taking a pic.

Edit: Here it is

pink paint work also helps

I've never been in a situation that a bike built like this would be needed but I think there really cool. Do you just warm up superglue to get rid of it for ball bearings in seat post clamps etc?

"How would you go about putting your average thief off looking twice at your bike when locked up outside?"

It's also about where you park rather than what you park - choose somewhere where there's always people about and use 2 locks.

I've never been in a situation that a bike built like this would be needed but I think there really cool. Do you just warm up superglue to get rid of it for ball bearings in seat post clamps etc?

Nail polish remover but you have to leave it for about 10 mins or so.

Shin Chan peeing blood on a pizza no less. I actually have a sticker of Shin Chan flashing his willy on my beater. brb I'm taking a pic.

Edit: Here it is

Lol!

Hey Guys, I've searched the forum for similar threads and I don't think this has been covered and it may help others in my situation (or maybe its just me...) so here goes:

I'll be off to uni next year and i'm looking to buy a solid frame to build up which will last the 3+ years of university life, however i've heard plenty of horror stories about stolen bikes. So here's the brief... i need to make by bike look unattractive to your average bike thief...

so far i've decided loosely on an on-one macinato, and i'm thinking about stripping it (i'm not exactly a huge fan of that paint job) to make it less attractive to thieves. I've also toyed with the idea of applying a rust effect, but i don't know if this will damage the frame or stop me from being about to lacquer it (?). Personally i think this will improve the looks but i would think the brain of your average bike thief might not be able to compute that sort of opinion...

other than frame choice, i was wondering if anyone had any opinions on any other kit to go with it which is understated and relatively cheap, but reliable e.g solid rims (probably not deep section). I'm also going to be splashing out on decent locks etc.

I appreciate any ideas you guys have got...

Cheers,

Sam

Don't buy a new bike. If you only need it for 3/4 years there are plenty of decent 2nd 3rd 4tth hand frames... No point in buying a new one then ruining it?!
Build it up with loads of mismatched parts.
Don't leave it anywhere you wouldn't park a car for more than 4 hours.
Get a decent (couple of) lock(s)..............