So I learned to take my lights off every time I parked my bike. Looking back, I realize I was very lucky my years in San Diego. The only lock I had was a thin rope lock, which could barely fit through one tire and the frame, and could easily be cut with a pair of hedge shears.

Last year I was in a rush to get to San Francisco for work and hastily locked my bike at the El Cerrito Plaza BART station. I came back to the East Bay that night to find that my back tire had been stolen. I was furious. I had locked the front tire and the frame, figuring it would be too much of a hassle for a thief to steal the back tire. Besides, wouldn’t it be obvious to other people at the station? Apparently not. I have heard since that EC Plaza is actually a hotspot for bicycle thefts. I reported a case with the BART police, knowing deep inside that it was a futile gesture.

One day in San Francisco, I saw a bicycle locked up in an ingenious fashion which I now utilize every time I leave my bike out. It requires a rope lock and a U lock. I hook the U lock through the back spokes and over the frame securely onto the bike spot, or pole, then thread the rope lock through itself and back onto the U lock. It is hard to describe, here is a diagram.

So now my bike is completely secure, or so you would think. There is still the matter of the seat, which always kind of worries me. In fact, upon returning to EC Plaza BART station again one time recently, I was distraught to see my seat was removed. Luckily, someone had simply taken it off and put it on a bench. Either someone was just playing a little prank, or perhaps they were issuing me a warning. Another time at the Plaza (like I said: bicycle theft hotspot), I got off BART and saw someone riding away fast on a bike, with a bike rim in his hand. I yelled at him but he was too far gone. I then saw the bike which he had stolen it from. Moments later the bike’s owner came down and I told him the story of getting mine stolen and how I had just seen the person riding off. He took it a lot better than I had. I recently read that in 2011, more than one bike a day was stolen in Santa Cruz. Check out the article here. You can never be too cautious with your bicycle security, even if you feel you are in a safe neighborhood or will only be away from it momentarily.  People seem to be willing to go to extreme measures for bike theft nowadays. “How far,” you may ask. Well, check out this video:

The overall message was that in bike thefts have been on the rise in Alameda. In fact, from January 1st of this year until September 1st, there have been 261 bike thefts. That number is up from 121 thefts during the same period of 2008. These statistics are bad news in and of themselves. But for some reason the bicycle news gods have been trying to give me really bad stuff to write about lately, so in addition to the fact that way more bikes are being stolen, I am given another super-troubling statistic: of the 261 bicycles stolen, only 66 were locked.

Seriously? That’s just a hair over 25%.

So what were the other 75% of people thinking? So many of these thefts could have been prevented if the bicycles were properly locked. It’s easy to forget to lock your bike when it’s resting comfortably in your backyard or on your porch. Even the Trusty Boyfriend had a bike stolen off our porch when we lived in Madison. The bike was on the porch, the Boyfriend was inside the living room that looked out on the porch. He fell asleep on the couch, the bike wasn’t locked. The next morning, the bike was gone–even though the Boyfriend was about 10 feet away from it at the time.

I’m fortunate enough to have never had a bicycle stolen. I grew up in a neighborhood where bikes were left all over, without locks, and it was no big deal. When I moved to Madison for college, the annoying people hosting the orientation sessions kept telling us “$10 bike, $50 lock! $10  bike, $50 lock!” like it was the official campus slogan or something. I can’t say I’ve ever spent quite that much on a lock, because a good u-lock and/or cable can be had for less. But I’ve always locked my bike. And I’ve always locked all of it. That means putting a cable lock through both wheels and the frame. And if I have a U-lock with me, I use that in addition to the cable lock. The only thing a thief could make off with is my saddle, and only if they had a wrench. If I’m locking a bike outside, it always has bolt-on parts, not quick-release! Another nifty thing is locking skewers–the Trusty Boyfriend has these. They require a special tool to open them–like a wrench that is unique to that particular pair of skewers. It’ll keep your wheels from getting stolen, so that you have the freedom to use a less cumbersome lock. The Trusty Boyfriend uses this handcuff-type thing (we get more weird, um, personal questions about that particular lock than anything we own. Minds out of the gutter, people!).

Long story short–lock your bike! At home, at stores, at restaurants, in parking garages, at your buddy’s place. Whatever. Lock it!

Photo Courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nauright/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

His anti-theft decals give you clean, shiny frame an “appearance of shabbyness” to prevent potential thieves from recognizing their value. It’s long been a tradition that avioding theft meant a black frame with minimal art or decals, and no flashy wheels or accessories. If the paint could be matte in finish, even better. But with Wilcox’s new decals, maybe that will change.

I have a problem with the decals though, because as much as I don’t want my bike stolen, I also don’t want to appear as though I neglect my bicycle, when in fact I practically worship the thing. Also, there’s just something fun about being stealth with a nice matte black frame. And though it’s dangerous, if you know you’re route, it’s kind of fun to be a bike ninja–and a sleek black frame helps with that, too.