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Comment by cortesoft | Hacker News Reader

Is the risk of someone using a pipe cutter really that high? Seems like if someone is that dedicated they are getting your bike anyway.

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I doubt it, bike thieves will just use a battery angle grinder with a cutting wheel on your bike lock, and everyone will absolutely ignore them doing it in the middle of the day.

We're talking about this type of pipe cutter, right?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/irwin-record-handicutter-15-45mm-...

They're much cheaper than an angle grinder, and fit in your pocket. I've used one to cut through the barrel of a d-lock with ease. I don't buy d-locks with cylindrical barrels any more. I learned this trick when thieves stole my friends bike this way :-(

Yes, this is the tool I was talking about. For a d-lock (aka u-lock), you'd need a quite large lock with a lot of space between the crossbar and the bike for a pipe cutter to work. The risk does exist nonetheless, which I wasn't aware of before. Thanks for pointing that out!

I saw these the other day: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ryobi-18-Volt-Cordless-Bolt-Cutters...

I'm sure if you were a regular bike thief they could pay for themselves in no time.

What are bystanders going to do? If you call the cops about someone stealing a bike they'll show up three hours later and shrug, if they show up at all.

If I were doing something undeniably thefty, like leaving a car on blocks or taking an angle grinder to a bike lock I'd expect to be confronted and maybe given a good beating depending on the details of the situation.

I live in the kind of city that most of HN would sneer at and make some quip about it being a rusting post-industrial wasteland of poverty. I guess we're not very enlightened but my Amazon packages don't go missing from my doorstep so I don't complain.

Def not in Japan, bike theft is pretty rare altogether. Just wish they'd stop using the front wheel bender racks, but everyone seems fine with them unfortunately.

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