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Making a College bike Inconspicuous?
On Wed, 7 Sep 2005 12:58:27 -0700, "Tom Nakashima"
wrote: My son enters college this fall, so I put together a bike for him by salvaging spare components and a frame that I wasn't using. Suggestions on making the bike inconspicuous? Maybe disguising the bike isn't worth the effort for today's thieves? Suggestions from college students. Ugly it up. Put some duct tape on the frame, remove any decals that might indicate that it's a good brand, and apply black spray paint inexpertly to a few places. Also, convert the skewers to solid axles if feasible, or install locking skewers if not. Remove the QR for the seat and replace it with a bolt or a locking assembly. Get a good lock and a coil cable; use the lock to secure the bike to a fixed object, and run the coil cable (or, better yet, a good stout chain, if that's feasible) through both wheels and the rear triangle with the ends secured by the main lock. That's just my two cents' worth of highly opinionated advice. Others may have additional (or contrary) suggestions. -- Typoes are a feature, not a bug. Some gardening required to reply via email. Words processed in a facility that contains nuts. |
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#12
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Making a College bike Inconspicuous?
Tom Nakashima wrote:
My son enters college this fall, so I put together a bike for him by salvaging spare components and a frame that I wasn't using. Suggestions on making the bike inconspicuous? Maybe disguising the bike isn't worth the effort for today's thieves? Suggestions from college students. -tom I've seen people try it, however, a "good" thief will see through that pretty quick. If you want to keep a bike safe at college you need to lock it with a top-notch U-lock between classes and NEVER leave it outside overnight. |
#13
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Making a College bike Inconspicuous?
"Phil, Squid-in-Training" wrote in
message news:80JTe.11408$Cc5.545@lakeread06... Tom Nakashima wrote: My son enters college this fall, so I put together a bike for him by salvaging spare components and a frame that I wasn't using. Suggestions on making the bike inconspicuous? Maybe disguising the bike isn't worth the effort for today's thieves? Suggestions from college students. -tom Yay! I'm an expert on this. Okay so here are my ten steps to a theft-proof bike: I have to say I AM impressed Phil, Squid in Training. I hope this makes it into the FAQs. -- I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve. -- Albert Schweitzer http://spaces.msn.com/members/flomblog/ |
#14
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Making a College bike Inconspicuous?
John Henderson wrote:
Tom Nakashima wrote: My son enters college this fall, so I put together a bike for him by salvaging spare components and a frame that I wasn't using. Suggestions on making the bike inconspicuous? Maybe disguising the bike isn't worth the effort for today's thieves? Suggestions from college students. I once painted my best bike canary yellow to avoid theft. It certainly gets no admiring looks. John Cripes! I had a Medici that was the brightest yellow Simonetti could put on it, with red decals. I loved it, and at least one other person (the buyer) liked it, too. I still have seller's regret, because for some reason, that was the fastest bike I've owned. |
#15
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Making a College bike Inconspicuous?
G. Daniels wrote: try rusto auto paint in primer brown or grey then wear bright colors or use dayglo poster paper take the seat with you-bikes without seats are useless I used to see a bike commuter on a regular basis (over a period of several years) that rode an ATB without a seat. -- Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley |
#16
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Making a College bike Inconspicuous?
T. Nakashima wrote: My son enters college this fall, so I put together a bike for him by salvaging spare components and a frame that I wasn't using. Suggestions on making the bike inconspicuous? Maybe disguising the bike isn't worth the effort for today's thieves? Suggestions from college students. You should have built him a bike like this: http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/MVC-003S.JPG. -- Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley |
#17
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Making a College bike Inconspicuous?
I'm a big fan of covering my urban bikes in electrical tape. You can
then do a nasty paint job on top of it, and peel it off later to get a new looking ride. Most bike theives will indeed see through this if you've got nice cranks, brakes, saddle, etc--so if you can get fugly components that work great and look crap--that would be perfect. |
#18
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Making a College bike Inconspicuous?
BobT Wrote: "Phil, Squid-in-Training" wrote in message news:80JTe.11408$Cc5.545@lakeread06... Yay! I'm an expert on this. Your ingenuity definitely qualifies you as an expert! I particulary liked the Barbie horn suggestion. BobT I bought one of those for my daughter when she was two. She still loves it at 3 and I'm not sure that is the cornerstone to making the bike theft proof. -- meb |
#19
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Making a College bike Inconspicuous?
Phil, Squid-in-Training Wrote: Tom Nakashima wrote: My son enters college this fall, so I put together a bike for him by salvaging spare components and a frame that I wasn't using. Suggestions on making the bike inconspicuous? Maybe disguising the bike isn't worth the effort for today's thieves? Suggestions from college students. -tom Yay! I'm an expert on this. Okay so here are my ten steps to a theft-proof bike: 1. Spraypaint... the cheaper the better. Spray the whole bike frame and make sure to spraypaint the tires and grips, too. It makes it look like the owner is really dumb. Put some scratches in the paint so it doesn't look so cherry. This should be easy to do since the spraypaint will probably just flake off just by you looking at it funny. 2. Stickers! Get so many stickers that you're almost inhaling them. Get them from your local radio station. The flashier the better. Apply stickers to everything on the bike, especially the frame. Make sure to do the saddle, too. 3. Duct tape! Put random duct tape bits so that they look like they're actually trying to hold something together. Tape the saddle, too... this makes the bike really cry out "I am a ****bomb!" 4. Cover up any and all brand names and models. 5. Put a crappy, broken, bent rack on the back for ultra-nerd factor. Add rusty fenders and baskets to taste. Nobody wants a dorky bike. 6. Attach as many broken reflectors and light mounts as you can on the handlebars, seatpost and seatstays. These will make it seem like the owner keeps breaking lights, buying new ones, and never getting rid of the old mounts. 7. Place tennis balls and cards in the spokes, and of course bar plugs with streamers coming out. That might scare off even the seasoned thieves. 8. Apply the biggest, most gaudy bell... no wait, horn... on the bike... something like this Barbie Deluxe Bicycle Horn: http://tinyurl.com/9s4m7 Tell your son to honk it within 100 feet of any human or animal. 9. If you want to go overboard, find a cosmetically rusty chain and cassette and put those on. 10. Lock up the bike with both a non-pickable u-lock and a cable lock! If his bike gets stolen, I'll be impressed. -- Phil, Squid-in-Training This would look mighty conspicuous to me. -- meb |
#20
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Making a College bike Inconspicuous?
Actually, you don't have to go overboard- all you have to do is make it just
a bit less attractive to a thief than some other bike on the rack. Park it next to a shiny new bike. "Tom Nakashima" wrote in message ... My son enters college this fall, so I put together a bike for him by salvaging spare components and a frame that I wasn't using. Suggestions on making the bike inconspicuous? Maybe disguising the bike isn't worth the effort for today's thieves? Suggestions from college students. -tom |
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