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Comment by kccqzy | Hacker News Reader

I really enjoyed my e-bike when I bought it in 2018 or so. The pedal assist really felt seamless: you can get to the top speed of 20mph by pedaling with as much effort as it took to get to maybe 12mph on a regular bike.

Unfortunately, the bike being worth thousands of dollars, it was a prime target for theft. My bike was stolen in San Jose and I decided to replace it with a sub-$1000 regular bike.

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This really is my biggest fear with owning these. I think going to and from the office is a safe one since you can park the bike indoors, but for errands or outdoor casual riding it feels too risky!

Yes, this is a problem. I have a pretty beefy lock with my e-bike and still I don't feel comfortable leaving it outside a store for more than three minutes or so (which is probably still plenty of time to steal it).

You should probably get them insured then you don't need to worry much about theft. It's not very expensive - like €10-15/month for a good bike.

Here in Finland best you can do is 1% depreciation a month. So after two years you’ve lost 24% value of your bike if it’s stolen. That’s a significant amount of money on top of a deductible to cough up to replace a stolen bike. Considering the probability of having it stolen is far far higher than a car too…

I know people who have had 2-3 of these bikes stolen. I use mine for commute at the moment and that’s it.

My cousin tried the really cheap bike route. I think a little over $100. Lamentably it didn't matter, it was still stolen.

I think the goal of that strategy is to reduce the cost of replacement as much as it is to deter theft.

I bought a 80$ used bike at my local community bike repair shop earlier this year and I'm keeping it outside every day without getting it stolen.

I just bought a Kryptonite + a Kryptoflex and nobody tried to steal it yet. My locks were more expensive than my bike but it seems to work for now.

As a former kryptonite lock and bike owner, it works until it doesn't.

I use steel chain with steel lock[0] for last 5 years. No problems so far.

[0]: https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1UMz3k8yWBuNkSmFPq6xguVXar/1pc...

>sub-$1000 regular bike.

Sounds expensive to me. I ride a Decathlon Triban 100 FB that cost me 150€ (new). Better than most 1K+ gravel bikes and not a target for thieves in Paris bc it's too common.

Decathon Triban 100 new is €300, not 150. Still an excellent choice though.

https://www.decathlon.fr/p/velo-route-homme-cyclotourisme-rc...

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