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Theodores

The Japanese approach is best. Every bike registered with the authorities.

Don't own the bike?

You are in trouble.

Hence nobody in Japan needs to lock their bikes with D-Locks galore.

It is a solved problem.

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In many countries, cars have to be registered with the authorities. Yet, they get stolen.

I suspect Japanese culture, in general, and the fact that Japan is an insular nation play a role, too.

Also, a few Google searches give me the impression the problem isn’t solved at all. Registering bicycles doesn’t do much against stealing bicycles for parts, for example.

in germany and austria you can register the bike's serial number or get a number assigned and engraved into the frame. there are different private organizations that do this, but that's enough to verify ownership.

not really a solved problem though because when your bike gets stolen you still have to find it. it only helps when you actually do find it.

When/how do they check bike ownership?

I don't know too much about the subject. Japan is low crime compared to the West and that is a cultural difference. There are still thieves, and the bicycle is always what thieves want because it has utility. If you steal a bike you can ride it, you haven't got to 'fence' it (sell it to buy drugs).

The benefit of having a police register of bicycles is that it can be checked. Therefore, if someone gets caught for some crime, the bike ownership can be checked.

I don't think they have checkpoints to catch people on stolen bikes, so, if you have a 'second hand bike' (someone else's stolen pride and joy), then you can keep riding it so long as you don't get caught or in an accident. Much like in the olden days before ANPR you could drive a stolen car without expectation of getting caught.

They don't have checkpoints but they have little police stations every few blocks; so they are acutely aware of what's going on and who's now got a bike that he didn't have yesterday.

It's expensive, and someone might argue it's oppressive to have police so close at all times, but it's a key element of Japanese policing - and the low rate of crime in the country is definitely affected (somehow) by such policing.

When you buy a bike or when the police stop someone on a bike.

The D-Locks are a pretty good second-best option, though.

They are hugely overrated. Most people nicking bikes use angle grinders and to an angle grinder all locks are the same: less than 30 seconds of cutting.

https://calpaterson.com/bicycle-threat-model.html

They seem to be pretty effective when it comes to leaving a bike in busy area in broad daylight. My anecdata is that the only time my bike was stolen was when I failed to use the D-lock right (just locked the wheel, oops) whereas the properly-locked bikes around me were all still there.

Leaving it overnight or somewhere out of the way, though... yeah, a different story. Threat model, as you described.

Yes, I think this is true.

Also factor in the age and value of the bike. You can further reduce the chances of your bike being stolen by custom-painting it.

I get that it happens, but it's pretty shocking to me that people can get away with angle grinding a lock off in broad daylight.

I used to work on the opposite side of the road to the police station and I would D-Lock my bike to the railings immediately in front of the door of the police department (literally 3ft from the door).

I come out of work and my bike is gone. There is a piece of the lock on the ground and you can see they used an angle grinder to cut it. I took the piece inside to the desk and showed the officer who took my report and agreed it was definitely an angle grinder.

AN ANGLE GRINDER AT THE LITERAL DOOR OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. WTF.

I got a call from the cops three days later. Apparently a cop did see dude grinding my lock off and stopped him as he was leaving and grabbed my bike and put it in storage at the police department. There was just a communication breakdown.

So, happy ending. But still, WTF?

There are at least two u-locks out there which have a reasonable amount of angle grinder resistance now. Hiplok's D1000 and The Litelok X3.

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