E Bike security .....

tomasrojo

Obviously leaving it for hours unattended in a high-crime area would require a different approach. Probably not locking it there for hours, really.

Ferris

I always take my battery with me, it’s ~€650 for a new Bosch battery. Also they won’t have a charger for it. Far more likely is that it’s taken off you personally unfortunately. All you can do is insure it and mark it somehow (UV pen?, microdot? Tile Bluetooth chip?) and if someone wants to take it off you, let them have it, it’s only a bike at the end of the day and not worth coming to harm over.

tomasrojo

Ferris wrote: »

and if someone wants to take it off you, let them have it, it’s only a bike at the end of the day and not worth coming to harm over.

Poor Cathal MacCoille got hit over the head with a bolt cutter while trying to help someone whose bike was being stolen.

Duckjob

Thats the thing with eBikes - you can render them pretty undesirable by taking off the battery and the display unit (it slides off on mine).

Without those, you're probably looking at the guts of €1k or more to replace them and a new charger before you can sell it on as an ebike. Otherwise, all you've got is an extremely heavy, tanky bike.

rubadub

tomasrojo wrote: »

I think an ART**** u-lock (OP already has) and ART*** chain lock would almost definitely mean your bike would still be there.

Took me a while to cop on the *** was a star rating system.

I seriously thought it was swearing! but could not figure out the missing letters!

like "The OP is already using a big FCUK OFF u-lock"

Ferris

Duckjob wrote: »

Otherwise, all you've got is an extremely heavy, tanky bike.

God help anyone who steals a gen 2 Bosch bike without a battery, it’s like cycling through mud, they’d give up and dump it after 100M.

nikkisscy

5uspect wrote: »

My ebike is either locked up at home in a shed, in my office, or it’s under my arse. There’s not a hope I’d leave it outside unattended. I need it to get to and from work so I’m paranoid.

I’m lucky that I have a private office where I can keep it. I’ve seen various types of ebike parked about the university campus with the regular bikes however.

paranoia saves you! best security to keep it safe!

tomasrojo

rubadub wrote: »

Took me a while to cop on the *** was a star rating system.

I seriously thought it was swearing! but could not figure out the missing letters!

like "The OP is already using a big FCUK OFF u-lock"

Ha! I should have thought of that. They do write this rating on most locks now. The emerging consensus seems to be that it's a more rigorous rating system than the gold/silver/bronze one.

For example, this lock, which I'd regard as a pretty decent lock is only two stars, as you can just about see in the image:

Hamsterchops

Bicycle locks - Security ratings .....

Gold ratings ...
http://thebestbikelock.com/best-bike-lock/sold-secure-gold-bike-locks/

Silver ratings ...
http://thebestbikelock.com/best-bike-lock/sold-secure-silver-bike-locks/

KevRossi

Ferris wrote: »

God help anyone who steals a gen 2 Bosch bike without a battery, it’s like cycling through mud, they’d give up and dump it after 100M.

No it isn't, it's just a heavyish bike. I can easily cycle at a constant 22-25 Km/h with my Cube One 400, with panniers on an ordinary flattish tarred surface.

Either way I'm looking onto getting a GPS tracker on the bike, easy to change around from one bike to another as well.

Ferris

KevRossi wrote: »

No it isn't, it's just a heavyish bike. I can easily cycle at a constant 22-25 Km/h with my Cube One 400, with panniers on an ordinary flattish tarred surface.

My cube has a gen 2 CX motor which has a huge amount of driveline drag when the assist is off, cycled it 26k like that once when I forgot to recharge the battery and it was awful. I believe the later gen 3 motors have little or no drag to be fair.

YFlyer

Hamsterchops wrote: »

Having recently purchased an e bike worth over €1400, my 1st mission was to make sure it was secure both at home and when parked on the streets....

My main lock (Sold Secure GOLD) is the Kryptonite New York standard with a 16mil shackle, backed up by a Bikehut 23cm D-Lock (Sold secure SILVER) + 10mil looped cable, add to this my old "armoured" combination cable lock, and I think my e bike is secure when parked in Dun laoghaire or Blackrock while I go shopping, or have lunch in a Cafe 🙂

Kryptonite goes through rear frame + rear wheel.
Additional D lock locks front wheel to frame.
Old combination lock then secures frame to pole.
Additional D lock cable keeps saddle attached to D lock!

Sounds bullet proof to me if it's locked up in the middle of a town in broad daylight, but am I right?

I keep it indoors at home.

Did you watch the Claire Byrne show with the guys stealing the catalytic converters during daytime?

Hamsterchops

No I didn't, why?

punisher5112

YFlyer wrote: »

Did you watch the Claire Byrne show with the guys stealing the catalytic converters during daytime?

She probably stated it was settled folk the same ones dumping trash on halting sites....

tuxy

Hamsterchops wrote: »

No I didn't, why?

I don't think people who jack-up a car and get under to remove a catalytic converter using an angle grinder on busy streets during daylight hours are beyond doing something similar for a more valuable item like an ebike.

Hamsterchops

Just had a look at the clip from her show. Jacking up cars in broad daylight & cutting out the 'cat' from the exhaust system!

All one can really do is to avoid locking up your bike on quiet side streets, always have it secured in full view & on pedestrian areas (if you can).

Two good U locks at least, well placed & tight to the frame so that there's not much room for the thief to work....

Try and secure it so that the only successful method of attack would be the dreaded angle grinder, at least that way people can see, hear & smell the racket as a noisy attempt is made to nick your property.

For the 1st time I actually took my new E-bike to the town & triple locked it to a Sheffield stand right outside a shop window, fingers crossed I'll make many more trips without any hassle.

YFlyer

punisher5112 wrote: »

She probably stated it was settled folk the same ones dumping trash on halting sites....

She didn't.

boombang

Slightly off topic, but I tweeted the Dublin Stolen Bikes handle a while ago about an unlikely looking teenage rider of a Bosch e-bike on Pearse Street. Very shortly after that I got somebody castigating me for profiling teenages unfairly. I was tempted to simply tweet F*** Off in reply.

I've left notes on very scantily locked e-bikes. People seem to be taking crazy chances as far as I can see.

tomasrojo

They steal catalytic converters so they can extract the platinum, don't they? I'm not sure it's directly equivalent to stealing an e-bike, where you have to have a fully functioning bike to sell it on, and you need storage if you can't make a quick sale.

It might be more like the problem with motorbike theft, or the problem with high-end bicycle theft.

I don't have experience of e-bikes and their security problems, but there is a sentiment here sometimes that if you're bike is worth more than about €100 you can't lock it in public even with good locks. That is definitely wrong.

I don't really know what to do , though, when people buy an ok lock and then use it like this:



(White object inside lock is a note I left them, I hoped discreetly, not to draw attention of passersby, but to let them know they might be parted from their bike pretty soon if they kept locking like that.)

eeeee

MOD note: this thread is about locking bikes, e bikes in this case. It is not about catalytic converters and their theft. Any further ot posts will be deleted. Any questions PM me, do not respond in thread.

YFlyer

tomasrojo wrote: »

They steal catalytic converters so they can extract the platinum, don't they? I'm not sure it's directly equivalent to stealing an e-bike, where you have to have a fully functioning bike to sell it on, and you need storage if you can't make a quick sale.

It might be more like the problem with motorbike theft, or the problem with high-end bicycle theft.

I don't have experience of e-bikes and their security problems, but there is a sentiment here sometimes that if you're bike is worth more than about €100 you can't lock it in public even with good locks. That is definitely wrong.

I don't really know what to do , though, when people buy an ok lock and then use it like this:



(White object inside lock is a note I left them, I hoped discreetly, not to draw attention of passersby, but to let them know they might be parted from their bike pretty soon if they kept locking like that.)

€100 may be a barometer. Not always.

celticWario

punisher5112 wrote: »

No crappy locks on both but don't forget angle grinders and these fellas don't care if seen or they even just cut the poles attached to.

HAs anyone actually heard of angle grinders being produced by bike thieves? bolt cutters sure but I've never heard of angle grinders being used.

YFlyer

OP you will have to ensure that the unit the ebike is locked to is secure. Daytime stealing is not a bother to them. Lateral thinkers.

YFlyer

celticWario wrote: »

HAs anyone actually heard of angle grinders being produced by bike thieves? bolt cutters sure but I've never heard of angle grinders being used.

Not to go off topic. Haven't heard about ebikes been stolen with an angle grinder. However non ebike have.

Hamsterchops

Was in Blackrock/South Dublin yesterday and was shocked to see the quality of people's locks & their locking techniques. Bike after bike with either little toy like cable "locks" and many U locks not used properly.
Locking the frame to the stand is ok if you don't mind saying goodbye to your wheels, I also noted three top end bikes with the cable lock through the front wheel alone, thereby leaving the frame & the back wheel unlocked to the stand :cool:

beauf

People often steal out of habit, because they can, not that it makes any sense.

Most are opportunistic.

Some are robbing with a plan. They steal all bikes and then ship them out of the country in containers.

You might be able to deter the first two. But you won't deter a determination thief from the third group with just locks, if they are targeting your specific bike.

You need to lock both wheels and at the same time lock the frame to something secure. You need to check that what you locking to isn't easier to cut than your locks, or has been pre loosened.

If nothing else try lock your bike near another bike thats better than yours and easier to rob.

As they say you don't need to be able to out run a lion, you just need to be able to out run the person with you..

beauf

Almost all the bikes people report stolen in my area are unlocked, at the shop, school or in a unlocked shed.

tomasrojo

beauf wrote: »

Almost all the bikes people report stolen in my area are unlocked, at the shop, school or in a unlocked shed.

The vast majority of bikes stolen are unlocked or locked with cable locks. So I read anyway.

tomasrojo

celticWario wrote: »

HAs anyone actually heard of angle grinders being produced by bike thieves? bolt cutters sure but I've never heard of angle grinders being used.

The tweet I linked to earlier in the thread was of an attempted theft of an e-bike with an angle grinder. Though in that case they seem to have given up after the cutting one arm of the shackle.

EDIT:
That tweet:
https://twitter.com/DarHealy/status/1150178828154802178

boombang

Hamsterchops wrote: »

Was in Blackrock/South Dublin yesterday and was shocked to see the quality of people's locks & their locking techniques. Bike after bike with either little toy like cable "locks" and many U locks not used properly.
Locking the frame to the stand is ok if you don't mind saying goodbye to your wheels, I also noted three top end bikes with the cable lock through the front wheel alone, thereby leaving the frame & the back wheel unlocked to the stand :cool:

I see this all the time. People must be completely oblivious to the risk of theft. If I have the time I leave a note on bikes, especially nice ones.