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Comment by idontwantthis | Hacker News Reader

I want an electric bike but I want to go places with it and I’m worried about it getting stolen when I lock it up outside a shop. Do you have one?

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This is also a big problem for multi-modal commuting. Do I really want to lock up my bike in a location that screams 'the owner won't be back for 9 hours', knowing police won't investigate bike theft?

If all those e-scooter rental startups can have remote GPS tracking and theft alarms then it really shouldn't take much to implement that into personal ones too. I mean people leave those things absolutely everywhere and they never get rightfully stolen.

A 4G modem would probably be overkill, but one might be able to do it for free with lorawan. Or alternatively a big label saying "this bike is GPS tracked" with absolutely no extra hardware at all and hope that bike thieves are dumb fucks.

That advice might not travel well: until recently I lived in a city where the bike rental service pulled out because too many were thrown in canals.

Let me guess ... probably drunks so guess drinking culture. Maybe UK. Big city with enough canals for this to be an issue ... probably Birmingham?

Close, think more northern.

Liverpool was my other guess

It doesn’t have to be drunks. I know plenty of people who, if they’re forced to move hire bikes left blocking the pavement, will do so carelessly as a matter of principle.

It's everywhere. Here's some American news stories:

NY:

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2024/09/12/the-river-wild-bikes-...

Michigan:

https://www.mlive.com/environment/2024/08/seriously-waterway...

DC:

https://irrigationleadermagazine.com/not-so-convenient-why-s...

Ohio:

https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/columbus/30-electronic...

Rental bikes use heavy, incompatible components so it’s pointless to steal them for resale, or to strip for parts. And they have a tracker.

My bike, on the other hand? A thief could just find and remove the tracker - or strip the bike for parts.

Time to start using bikes made out of heavy incompatible parts and welding on the tracker then?

But yes I do partially agree that it probably wouldn't help much, since it's more about the thieves not wanting to mess with a company with funding and a legal department behind it vs. some random bloke who they can rob with impunity. Private bike security firms might be an answer to the issue, you pay a monthly subscription, they put their own trackers on your bike, employ licensed people who retrieve stolen ones at gunpoint and guarantee protection up to some total cost. Probably not cost effective though I guess, given that the police themselves have given up.

I know this is not a very helpful w.r.t. protection, however there is https://bikeindex.org/ - recently I was listening to a Darknet diaries podcast https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/153/ which has a nice story about stolen bikes and what to do about it.

I got a cargo e-bike (Aventon Abound) and I have a cafe lock and a chain lock. Luckily the bike doesn't look "cool" so I am less worried about thieves. It's also quite heavy so the cafe lock is almost always enough. If I am leaving it downtown for hours then I also use the heavy duty chain.

I have the same model, it’s so much fun to ride. Love the abound.

I get around on an acoustic bike, but have a lot of friends with e-bikes. I believe this is extremely locale-dependent. For instance there's relatively little bike theft in my locale, except around the university where it's just really easy pickings.

I think you can learn a lot by looking at how bikes -- acoustic and electric -- are already being parked and locked in your district. For instance my daughter is attending grad school in a big city, and while we were walking around, I noticed that the most decrepit old bikes were secured with giant U-locks plus chains. Hmmm. So my daughter rides a bike of similar ilk, and secures it in a similar fashion.

And I noticed the most beastly of chains and locks in New York City.

Plus, people generally seem to prefer e-bikes where they can take the battery pack with them.

TIL "acoustic bike" is a phrase

It's not. It's an unfunny insider joke.

oh come on, it made me chuckle

Not even an insider joke, everyone knows what an acoustic and electric guitar is. and funny is subjective, I had a good chuckle and will use the terminology now

Until you posted this I was non the wiser what an acoustic bike would be.

Same here, despite spending a decade of my life playing both acoustic and electric guitars.

Get with the program, hippie!

I do prefer acoustic versions of Route 66, On the Road Again, and King of the Road.

which are better listened to, in an acoustic transmission car

Its a completely hilarious distinguisher.

I find it charming and enjoy seeing it in the wild.

It is now!

I like “analog bike” but it doesn’t make any sense either

I've been getting around on acoustic bikes for 35 years. 7 of them have been stolen in that time, yet still I've saved tens of thousands of dollars relative to the cost of relying on public transit, and hundreds of thousands of dollars relative to the cost of buying and operating a motor vehicle.

I've been extremely lucky: No bikes stolen ever. Part of the credit goes to my Anti-Theft Aesthetics (tm).

I typically use a heavy cargo bike. I only use its built in front wheel lock, it's so heavy, it can't be easily stolen, so I never lock it against posts and such.

I always lock and secure my road bike against street furniture, though.

Yeah, a lot of the cargo e-bikes are closer in size to a moped than to an acoustic bike, which makes them much more difficult to steal. A heavy-duty chain and a keyed ignition are typically an effective deterrent.

I got and old rusty one and put some paint on it so it's not very nickable. I leave it out at night but remove the battery.

I use normal D locks but are tempted to get an angle grinder resistant one although they are expensive - £150+.

If it’s a short stop a “cafe lock” for back wheel is super convenient

Lean to buying/doing a conversion vs "polished" ebike.

Buy the best lock you can afford - it should be a grinder resistant one such as hiplok or litelok.

Note that while the lock may be resistant, the thing it's locked to may be easier to cut if the thief gets frustrated and has time to steal it.

Nothing will stop someone who has the time and batteries/discs from stealing your bike.

I don't. Theft risk and storage is definitely a challenge. A lot of commuters find somewhere to stash them at work. The problem might get better as ebikes become more common and lower in price.

Unfortunately, I doubt that. Where in live, bike theft has been rampant for ages, even before electric models were a thing.

Consider a Hiplock D1000 (not affiliated)

I bought one for my expensive gravel and have been happy with it so far.

Insurance

Insurance on a 2000 EUR bike runs 10 bucks a month at the most.

I'm lookimg at a folding e scooter

I wish they were half as heavy with 1/4 the range. Lightest ones are still like 10kg+?

Yes, but 10-15 kg is still comparable to a regular bike or a heavy bag of groceries. I rode a 19 kg one (50 km range, street legal), carrying it up to the third floor at work wasn't a problem.

True if it's just point to point commuting to a place with safe storage. But then I can't take it by strapping it on my backpack and going to shops, etc where a bike would get stolen.

Motorcycle

Consider an electric unicycle (EUC). It's much more compact, so you can easily bring it into shops and other buildings, as well as it's much less troublesome when you use public transport (most models can be easily kept between your legs).

From the safety point of view it's not as bad as it seems on the first glance, especially if you don't plan riding on it faster than 20-30 km/h.

Those must not be used on public roads in some countries though.

When I go down this chain of thought, I eventually end up at --

Legs. I have legs. They are built in. I can just use them. I can always bring my legs onto the subway.

If they don't go fast enough, then I have two options:

1. Give myself more time.

2. Jog or run. This will make me sweaty. Maybe I will want to shower at the office. That's an option. It will make me healthier, if I do it.

There is also a third choice:

3. Obtain real estate in such a way that substantial travel is not required.

Clearly most people will look at these options and say, "FooBar, you are insane."

It's simultaneously the easiest solution to the problem, and the most difficult.

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