Who here rides a Surly?

[Gypsybones]

Most bike thieves don't really know brands like Surly. They are in the market for treks and specialized

 

[Antlered]

I totally agree about removing stickers; leaving them on is just begging theives to go after your bike. I’m contemplating removing the head badge too, maybe I’ll modify it to pin on my jacket. What about “uglying” it up?

As long as your "uglying" doesn't involve denting the tubes, it's perfectly fine. Dents in tubes cause severe loss of structural integrity of the frame. Bad news for your investment. There do exist vinyl stickers that look like paint damage and rust. You can also get all artistic with a shredded piece of cardboard, some clear acrylic paint, and some actual rust that you sanded off of something. Put it in places where paint damage happens a lot. The sides of forks, top tube sides, chainstays, where your frame naturally gets bashed in the cities.

Have a fancy seat? Get a crummy, cheap seat cover that's all sun-damaged and taped together with five or so flavors of cheap tapes. Duct tape, electrical tape, hockey tape, whatever. Different colors too. Make it look like garbage. You don't have to ride with it on, just put it on when it's parked. Or take the seat with you.

Bags? Take 'em with you. There's no realistic way to make them look like they don't hold treasures.

What I think would be a cool idea for businesses/ campuses, and such would be outdoor rental lockers for bikes. Not just racks to lock them to. Fully enclosing a bike in a steel box keeps prying eyes off your machine, and makes it a lot harder to steal components or just simply vandalize a bike on a rack, because the person needs to prove that they are scum.

Idea that could possible make someone money follows:

How I can see it working would be a vending machine on the side that features a kiosk. Insert cash, swipe card, tap phone, and a paper ticket comes out. The ticket has numbers on it. This is the number of your locker, and the two 8 digit codes to open it twice. Once to put bike in, and once to remove bike. Why two codes? Added security in case someone is watching you enter your code. "Oh cool! His code is 08675309! That Cinelli is MINE!" lolnope. Sorry, dude. Codes are good for one use only, and are random. The kiosk only shows the person renting the locker one of them that is open, but otherwise, doesn't publically show which lockers are occupied, and which are open. This is an added security measure that makes a thief have to take more time. He has to be around and watch you put the bike in the locker. He can't just stroll by on a shopping run.

There also could be a system for registering a bike too. Take a picture of your ID, next to the serial number of your bike. That way, if you lose your code paper, and have to call the 800 number on the side of the box, the service person can look you up, verify that it's your bike, and off you go with an "I'm sorry for the inconvenience" voucher. Heck, what if there was a function that it could initiate a video chat with someone that needed help? No phone required. That ID is also good for sending you a kind reminder that "Hey, your bike has been in the locker for 3 days, we'd really like it if you came back and got your stuff." A lever on the inside of the door, accessible ONLY from the inside of the door would also prevent someone from being trapped inside the locker.

I think this type of system would work better than the sharebike thing. Mainly because the SBs are one-size-fits-most. If you're really short, or really tall, you're outta luck. Second. SBs are typically really heavy, clunky things that generally suck. Ridden several, liked none. Third, the upkeep and maintenance of the SBs is the main reason they aren't widespread. They get vandalized, stolen, wrecked, left in canals, dumps, never returned. Fourth, the enclosed locker keeps your bike out of the weather, prolonging its life.

You could also put an actual vending machine near the locker that sells accessories and supplies for your bike, tubes, patches, small parts, bells, lights, batteries for lights and such. A DERO station with tools, and electric air compressor for airing tires could also be installed nearby.

 

[Maxx Cringe]

My LHT was stolen in okc a couple days ago. I loved her... She took me to Tulsa and back over a few weeks, and I'm no athlete. Whyyy...

On the other hand I habitually left her unlocked every time I went out for over a year, and she only just now got stolen, so. I guess it's not all bad.

 

[Antlered]

Getting a bike stolen sucks. Sorry to hear it. Don't know what to say about it, though, other than to keep your stuff locked up. Speaking of LHTs, mine is going to get some new racks and bags when I get the money to do so.

 

[lordnose]

My Surly 1x1 in a previous life. It has fat slicks, fenders and added practicality now. They're great, rugged bikes but the one gotcha on them is they have really low stack over the front, so unless you like a ton of drop to your bars you end up running a bunch of spacer under the stem to get them up at a comfy height. You see it on LHTs especially all the time. Not a huge negative, just a quirk of the brand.