Lock it or lose it dear fools.

Anonymous

It occurs to us on a daily basis that bike theft is indeed a shared effort. An effort that requires so many parts to get involved on a regular basis.

It takes as two to tango as it takes two for a crime to occur: it takes a criminal and a victim. We stood in the city centre today patiently observing the fellow cyclists locking up their bikes to the railing in one of the busiest spots in town; quite a paradox it is also one of the black spots in town for bike theft. This was the time when it simply struck us as an obvious issue: bike theft (apart from all the self-evident reasons) happens because WE ALLOW IT to happen. There was a number of cyclists using cheap and easy to brake cable locks; there was a significant number of people locking their bikes up so they can still be stolen quite easily; there was an amazing amount of naivety that simply accompanied the majority of town cyclists…

You see it is also our, the cyclists, responsibility to ensure the bike theft stops and stops soon. It is up to us to make sure that we use the good quality locks on daily basis; it is down to us to ensure that we know how to and do lock our bikes in the correct way; it is also our responsibility to register our bikes so if they go missing we can report it; it is also on us to report it once it happens.

The above picture shows you how to lock your bike properly using a good quality Dlock and (optionally) the additional cable lock. This way your bike is secured and its vital components are locked (frameset and wheels). This will not deter thieves- do not be fooled- BUT it will keep the opportunist robbers away and it will delay anyone trying to part you with your bike.

The registration with (numerous) free services is a good step to take as well. Visit Immobilise to register your bike (and any other additional goods) and take the advantage of the free registration where you can create a database of your possessions and store their serial numbers and other identifiers should any of them go missing. Stolen Bikes UK is another good resource where you can report your bike as stolen but also check for any reports in case you are questioning the source of your new-second-hand-bike-to-be. Another place where you can check prior to buying is Check That Bike where you simply put a frame number in and inspect any ‘bad’ history in relation to your future purchase.

You see, fellow cyclists, it is also down to us to ensure that the bike theft is eradicated. We need to take action and show initiative to simply fight back. We cannot rely on the overstretched services that (quite unfortunately) do not treat bike theft as seriously as they should. It is us who lose out at the end and without any doubt we need to show how to do it properly to everyone else…

Register it. Check it. Lock it. Report it. Do not buy if the origin is unclear. Ride on!