A few precautions can strengthen your bike locking security measures.
- Always lock your bicycle to something stable.
- Don’t lock a bike to street signs or non-designated bike fixtures as the bike may be removed by city employees or property owner.
- When commuting, consider securing your heavy lock to a bike rack so the lock is already in the needed location and you can avoid carrying that extra weight.
- Shake anything you’re locking your bike to. Thieves can dig out signs to make their removal (or even young trees) easy and take a locked bike.
- Shake “permanent” bike racks even if they are cemented into the ground. Some thieves saw through racks and cover the cuts with tape, so they can simply kick the racks apart for bike thefts.
- Don’t lock bicycles to posts where the street signs have been removed. Thieves can lift bikes up and over the posts.
- Lock both bike wheels and the frame.