How to make your bike unattractive to thieves?

Or, more ming than bling!

How would you go about putting your average thief off looking twice at your bike when locked up outside? Maybe badly rattle can it with a couple of nasty looking colours like beige and grey. Or strip some parts of paint completely and let it go a bit rusty. Cover it in tape or perhaps stick a comedy accessory to it like a plastic flower. Any thoughts on what would make a thief leave your bike alone and move on to the next?

Reason I ask is I'm toying with the idea of building a conversion and have found a nice 853 frame that's a bit scuffed up and scratched but structurally sound. If I were to buy all parts to go on it second-hand I could keep the cost pretty low but get a really nice bike out of it. So it could actually be very light and a great bike on the inside but really unattractive to thieves on the outside.

(P.S. Excluding tynan's faecal method.)

tape? stickers? throw paint stripper or nitromors on it?

tynanpaste™

^ no! naughty!

Grow some plants on it.

I like it. Don't wash your bike, water it.

dent the toptube non-struturally;=) no resale value

Put a stand on it.

PM Edscoble

Or, more ming than bling!

How would you go about putting your average thief off looking twice at your bike when locked up outside? Maybe badly rattle can it with a couple of nasty looking colours like beige and grey. Or strip some parts of paint completely and let it go a bit rusty. Cover it in tape or perhaps stick a comedy accessory to it like a plastic flower. Any thoughts on what would make a thief leave your bike alone and move on to the next?

Reason I ask is I'm toying with the idea of building a conversion and have found a nice 853 frame that's a bit scuffed up and scratched but structurally sound. If I were to buy all parts to go on it second-hand I could keep the cost pretty low but get a really nice bike out of it. So it could actually be very light and a great bike on the inside but really unattractive to thieves on the outside.

(P.S. Excluding tynan's faecal method.)

So you don't need to do anything to it then, right?

I don't really like the idea of making my bike look shit. Just try to lock it up well (after having already been stolen and recovered once), and remove the seatpost and saddle if I'm going inside anywhere for more than half an hour or so. Put some duct tape on the seatpost so I its quick to slide in at the right height again... Also try to put in inside whenever possible.

PM Edscoble

snigger

was thinking similar.......

Ask mister Foffa

Buy it from Halfords and then follow Ed's advice.

Fenders/Mudguards

So you don't need to do anything to it then, right?

I don't really like the idea of making my bike look shit. Just try to lock it up well (after having already been stolen and recovered once), and remove the seatpost and saddle if I'm going inside anywhere for more than half an hour or so. Put some duct tape on the seatpost so I its quick to slide in at the right height again... Also try to put in inside whenever possible.

Sorry, if you go inside for more then half an hour, you take your seatpost out?

Crazy.

It's bad enough carrying my helmet around, let along a freaking seatpost and saddle!

Wouldn't it make more sense to either a) lock the saddle to your frame a piece of chain or b) glue a small ball bearing into the hex-nut head so it's impossible to undo the nut without dissovling the glue first?

I am so glad I live in Australia.

I think you are approaching it the wrong way round.

On the whole (in London at least) people steel bikes for two reasons; to sell for money, and to use themselves.

Those that sell for money I think are either people looking for a quick easy sell for any money (crackheads, kids, etc.) or more professional theives who will scope and target bikes and probably have a good distrobution network.

Either way people have to want to buy what is being sold. So think about how you can make a bike that people are not going to want to buy.

The short ans imo is making a fucked up looking bike with no cool factor and then locking really well - IMO Skully's bike is more an eg of what not to do... pretty colour, nice saddle, redtape matching the clip straps...the fact that everyone loves it just proves how easy it would be to sell.

So things like plastic mudgaurds, shit looking saddles, dirty bar tape instead of grips, shit looking wheels (maybe fake rust them).

As for ppl stealing bikes to use, just stay away from fast hybrids or full sus BSOs.

The short ans imo is making a fucked up looking bike with no cool factor and then locking really well - IMO Skully's bike is more an eg of what not to do... pretty colour, nice saddle, redtape matching the clip straps...the fact that everyone loves it just proves how easy it would be to sell.

Bike nerd loved it, normal people don't.

my bike is much cleaner than that, but because it look like a typical ol' english town bike with fat tyres - it's already undesirable.

Disagree.

I know plenty of people who might not be bike nerds but appricate the aethetics of ropey old vintage bikes.

That's why it needs to have no element of cool whatsoever. My old carlton conversion was rusty and shity, and loads of my friends said "cool bike bro". because it was fixed and had pretty lugs. If it was a battered brown pomp with have the paint missing and yellow and black mudgaurds it would have generated very little interest.

All joking aside, half of what makes your bike unapealling is the colour. The other half is the ugly proportions. Paint it black, put gumwalls and a brown brooks on it, and I'm sure lots of people in the street would like it.

That's precisely the reason for that colour!

Think I'm going to paint it olive green soon with matching trailer.

Two Kryptonite locks and some superglue is all I do.

I think you are approaching it the wrong way round.

On the whole (in London at least) people steel bikes for two reasons; to sell for money, and to use themselves.

Those that sell for money I think are either people looking for a quick easy sell for any money (crackheads, kids, etc.) or more professional theives who will scope and target bikes and probably have a good distrobution network.

Either way people have to want to buy what is being sold. So think about how you can make a bike that people are not going to want to buy.

The short ans imo is making a fucked up looking bike with no cool factor and then locking really well - IMO Skully's bike is more an eg of what not to do... pretty colour, nice saddle, redtape matching the clip straps...the fact that everyone loves it just proves how easy it would be to sell.

So things like plastic mudgaurds, shit looking saddles, dirty bar tape instead of grips, shit looking wheels (maybe fake rust them).

As for ppl stealing bikes to use, just stay away from fast hybrids or full sus BSOs.

Sorry you've lost me hugo, you think I'm approaching it the wrong way around?

Because what you describe above is exactly what I'm talking about. If the frame of a bike is it's heart or what the bike is built around then you can hide a really nice bike by rattle canning the frame a really naff colour (naff as in unattractive to thieves, so not satin black or bright red for example) leave the paint runs on it, maybe scratch it up a bit if it isn't already, make sure to cover the Reynolds 853 stickers!

If the seat post is carbon maybe cover it with a layer of masking tape. Masking tape gets grubby and nasty looking in no time. Have wheels built up for it that are light and strong and actually very good but not desirable, for example Mavic Open Pros over Velocity Deep Vs.

You could have carbon forks on it but rattle can them the same as the frame. Obviously you still lock it well but given the choice between your bike and something not as good but prettier and locked in a similar way I'm thinking a thief would go for the bike that would be easier to sell on, the not as good but prettier bike. If indeed he was even aware how good your bike was underneath the naff paint.

Just looking at this topic should give you an idea what to do;

http://www.lfgss.com/thread37365.html

Like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/72139871@N00/5863356682/

Sorry, maybe it wasn't the best way to write it.

What I was getting at was starting with the idea of what people will want to buy, and avoid it at all costs... but yeap it is basically the same thing.

But it sounds like you have pretty much all the answers, so I'm not really sure what else there is to add. Other than be careful with paint, because it's not uncommon for thieves to do a simple strip and respray.

...and imho just having it not look cool and then using two decent d-locks is enough. Then use a cheap saddle and post so it doesn't make any difference if it gets stolen. Otherwise you're just going to be spending extra money on stickers and hockey tape.

Like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/72139871@N00/5863356682/

That's so sad! I hate seeing bikes like this, where someone has basically jumped on or kicked in the front wheel. Why do people do this? Are they pissed and mistakenly think it's 'funny' when showing off to their mates? Or are they just total morons without a life and a cock the size of a peanut?