Locking E-Bike Up on Street

[Anonymous]

I'm considering spending ~$1,500 on an e-bike as it seems like the ideal way for me to get around town, but I don't have experience using bikes in DC beyond Capital Bikeshare and am unsure whether I'm basically asking someone to steal something worth over $1k. Is it the sort of thing one can safely double lock on a bike rack for a few hours and not worry about it disappearing or do you really need to lock it up in a garage/take it into a store or restaurant with you?javascript:void(0);

[Anonymous]

Yeah, no. This will be a target.

[Anonymous]

Why worry about it being stolen while parked?

What you SHOULD be worried about is someone sticking a knife to your side and taking it while you’re riding it. That’s happened to four people I know in the last year with expensive eBikes.

It’s hard to steal a locked bike. It’s very easy to take a bike form someone while they’re riding it. All you need is a weapon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why worry about it being stolen while parked?

What you SHOULD be worried about is someone sticking a knife to your side and taking it while you’re riding it. That’s happened to four people I know in the last year with expensive eBikes.

It’s hard to steal a locked bike. It’s very easy to take a bike form someone while they’re riding it. All you need is a weapon.

[Anonymous]

I would not leave a bike outside in DC unless it was a $300 bike camouflaged to look like junk. I certainly would not leave an electric bike out. A single speed urban bike with no quick release anything, no logos, spray painted battle ship grey, would be my choice.

[Anonymous]

I have an e-bike and have two locks on me most of the time. Both are kryptonite and I went on the kryptonite website and just filtered by the top two ratings and got one of the top and one of the second highest. I like having one chain that is on the longer side (with an e-bike because it it heavier it take more maneuvering to get it closer to the rack sometimes). The other one is a folding lock. I vary in how I lock it up- sometimes I lock the chain to the rack through the bike and one wheel and just lock the other wheel to the bike itself and sometimes I lock both through the rack. Depends on how long I am leaving it, how secure the spot I am locking it seems, etc.

I admit I obsessed over this when I first got my ebike but don't as much anymore (ie am more likely to briefly leave with only one lock), partly because I have it insured through my home-owners insurance and partly because I got it instead of getting a second car (I can carry two kids on it) and basically am at the point where I have saved money over having the second car enough so I would still be out ahead even if it was stolen and the insurance company refused payout for some reason.

I don't have one of these but I know many people like the wheel locks: https://www.kryptonitelock.com/en/products/product-information/current-key/002321.html?type=bicycle

The wheel locks are nice because you can't drive it away if it is on even if you defeat the other locks and it is always on the bike.

The other think that is important is to have some sort of permanent box or bag on your bike to hold the locks (tube bag or a front box)- with an ebike the weight of the better looks doesn't matter as much and you can just throw them in easily.

I did some research and most bike thefts are crimes of opportunity so I also tend to lock it up in more trafficked areas (i.e. with lots of foot traffic) because more people around can be a deterrent. Also, most locks can be defeated if the person knows how so having different types of locks can help- if you have three u-locks a person who knows how to defeat those can just defeat them all but if you have a u-lock and a chain they need an axle grinder and a hinge point to get both of them.

Note that I have a secure (indoor) parking space at my house so I don't leave it out overnight- I would think that would require more thought if you wanted to do it.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, as an avid cyclist, I would not leave my bike on the street in DC out of my sight for long. I have had three bikes stolen, and no amount of chains, locks, or cameras is going to protect them. Unfortunately the police do not enforce the law when it comes to bike theft.

[Anonymous]

The people on this thread are being ridiculous, but this is also my #1 concern about an e-bike. I really want to get one with a seat for my kid -- we have a car but prefer not to drive it except when leaving the city, and most of the places we go are within a 3 mile radius of our home.

The main problem is that we live in an apartment building and I don't think we have a way to store it inside. It would either be locked up in front of the building or locked up on in the parking lot of the building, which is not that secure. Either way, seems like a huge risk for a bike that expensive. It's actually a problem for a regular bike as well, because if we put a child seat on my bike, it becomes very annoying to bring up and down our stairs and is harder to store in our apartment.

I wish someone would solve bike theft once and for all. There has to be some kind of anti-theft device that basically make bike theft impossible. Tracking chip combined with a thumbprint access, so the bike won't work without it? Something. I used to bike all the time pre-baby because I used bike share and it was great. But I can't do that with my kid and I'm struggling to find a solution that would work for our lifestyle (which is just more encumbered than it used to be, with more stuff and more logistics). A lot of people we know in the neighborhood have cargo bikes and it's the main way they get around, but they also have houses with garages or places to store the bikes safely at home. I wish our building had bike storage but it's too small and there's just nowhere to put it unless we convince the HOA to build a shed for it, and even then I don't know how secure it would be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why worry about it being stolen while parked?

What you SHOULD be worried about is someone sticking a knife to your side and taking it while you’re riding it. That’s happened to four people I know in the last year with expensive eBikes.

It’s hard to steal a locked bike. It’s very easy to take a bike form someone while they’re riding it. All you need is a weapon.

This, 100%.

Stealing a locked bike requires bolt cutters or an angle grinder. But just taking a bike from someone while they’re riding it only requires one good punch to the head while you’re waiting on a gap in traffic.

[Anonymous]

This isn't just a D.C. problem: My brother in London has had the battery stolen from his electric box-bike while parked by his office and also the box stolen from the front of it while it was locked up in an (unlocked, but covered) bike shed in front of his house. They think a bike mechanic who had worked on the bike may have done that last one, it required specialized knowledge to remove the parts that got taken. Been out for repairs for two months now waiting for insurance to cover the losses from the theft.

[Anonymous]

Seems like the two options are: don’t have nice things, OR, move out of DC if you want nice things.