Do you ride your bike often? Maybe you ride it to work or school every day, or maybe you use it on the weekends to get some exercise. Whether you use your bike for work or leisure, it’s important to always safely secure it to prevent it from being stolen. Bikes get stolen every day and there’s not much you can do once you realize it’s gone. The best way to ensure your bike doesn’t get stolen it to follow the best practices when securing your bike.
If you’re about to buy yourself a brand new bike, or you already have one, knowing these tips can help protect you from theft. The following are seven bike theft prevention tips that will help you keep your bike secure at all times. We hope these tips will help with bike theft prevention and keep your bicycle out of harm’s way:
1. Use good locks to prevent bike theft
The first step to securing your bike from theft is using a good lock. Double-up and use two locks and your bike is even more safe and secure. When looking for locks for your bike, purchase both a cable lock and a U-lock. Cable locks are easier to cut through and U-locks limit the amount of bike you can secure, so using both will give you some extra security.
Pro tip: never use a chain lock as bike thieves can easily cut through these.
2. Try a smart lock for bike theft prevention
A smart lock is a high-tech alternative to a regular bike lock. One of the benefits of using this type of lock is that a smart lock can actually let you know if your bike is moving! If you get this notification, you can hopefully get outside and see what’s going on before the bike thief gets away.
Some other benefits of a smart lock include a tracker that allows you to track your bike’s location and an alarm which will sound if your bike is being tampered with (depending on the type of smart lock you buy). Talk about security!
3. Bring your bicycle inside at night
Do you usually leave your bike outside during the night? If so, it’s a good idea to start bringing it in at night. The cover of night allows for bike thieves to do their work and steal bikes more easily. Bike theft prevention is a lot more effective when the bicycle is inaccessible to the thieves.
If you have your bike in your apartment or house with you, it’ll be a lot safer. Even if your bike is on a balcony, thieves can spot it and come up to your balcony to take it. Best to be safe and leave it indoors at night.
4. Use an anti-theft GPS bike tracker
Another great option to secure your bike is an anti-theft GPS bike tracker. If you’ve had your bike stolen in the past you probably know how handy this can be. The tracker can be hidden in your bike’s handlebars so potential thieves don’t even know it’s there.
Even if your bike gets stolen, you can simply track where it ended up and send the police to investigate. Not only can you potentially get your bike back, but police may also be able to prosecute the thief.
5. Make your bike look unique
Add some personal style to your bike since it’s an effective way for bike theft prevention. When bikes are personalized, they become easier to identify when stolen. This makes it harder for thieves to sell these bikes. A bonus? You’ll have a bike that’s entirely your style and unique. You can spend a few hours painting it or applying stickers. It can be a fun DIY project!
6. Lock your bike wheels
Sometimes not the whole bike will be stolen, just the wheels. You can prevent this by threading your U-lock through to the bike frame, bike rack, and one wheel. You can then use your cable lock to loop through the front and back wheels, and the U-lock.
7. Take note of the bike’s serial number.
When you first buy your bike, take note of the serial number. If your bike does get stolen, knowing the serial number will make it easier to identify. If you decide to notify the police, they can use that number to call local pawn shops and notify them to be on the lookout for a bike with that serial number. Then, if your bike comes into one of these shops, police will be notified, and you’ll be able to get your bike back.
Following these tips will make it harder for bike thieves to target your bike. Remember that the best way to protect your bike is to keep a close eye on it. If you lock it up somewhere for the day, check on it when you can. At night, make sure it’s not left outside but safe inside your home instead.
