In these days, it is not easy to prevent theft of your green transport medium (i.e. bicycle, etc). That’s why I have some tips on how to prevent or at least significantly reduce the chance that your bicycle will be stolen. I have used this method for years now with much success. Please be prepared to be flexible with aestetics….

Note that this article was originally written for Dutch people, who all have at least one bicycle which they use for transportation purposes. This is not the case for many other countries. But the approach explained here can be applied to other items too.   

I have shown in the Dutch article To work by bicycle that a lot of energy and CO₂ can be saved when using the bicycle as your  transportation to go to work. Of course this bicycle can be used as well for short distance travels of any kind. Unfortunately, the modern world we live in, it is not always certain that you will find your bicycle when you return  (in locked state). That’s why we present a tested method for anti-theft, which I have used successfully on my expensive bicycle with front and back suspension….

Types of bicycle thieves

A thorough research of a Dutch advice-agency Regioplan from 1995 and a research done by magazine “Vogelvrije Fietser” divided bicycle thieves in four categories:

• incidental thieves
• occasional thieves
• addicts (maybe only in the Netherlands?)
• professional thieves

Incidental and occasional thieves

These thieves are on the lookout for bicycles for their own usage. For them it doesn’t matter much about the aesthetic state of the bicycle. They prefer a bicycle that doesn’t catch the eye as much as it is functional. They look for bicycles with an easy-to-open lock since they lack professional tools.

Addicts

If addicts steal then that is to sell the bike to get money. These are specialized in one or two lock-types and are very agile to open these; often even faster than the legal owner with the key!

Professional thieves

Professional bicycle-thieves steal a bicycle to sell it. This type of thief has professional gear that will open every lock. They are on the lookout for nice and new bikes that will surely give a good selling price. 

So now you know the diverse rationales, and your task to discourage such theft.

Good lock

The most obvious solution is to use a good lock. Chose a safetylock, in the Netherlands an [ART-approved lock](http://www.stichtingart.nl/). A good lock has the following requirements:

* The lock shall enable attaching the bicycle to a pole or something else that is already fixed in place. This prevents the bicycle from being placed in a bus where they take the bike to a quiet place where there is enough time to open the lock with a number of tools.

* The lock cannot be cut. This leads to heavy chainlocks or U-formed locks. There are U-formed locks which consist of heavy steel tubes that require too much manual force to cut.

A Good U-lock

The bicycle after the paint job