PREVENTING BICYCLE THEFTS

How to prevent thefts: Diligence and smart choices

“How you treat your property shows how important it is to you.” — Euclid Police Department Lt. Mitch Houser

Euclid Police Department Lt. Mitch Houser offered some words of wisdom for people who want to keep their bicycles from being stolen.

“How you treat your property shows how important it is to you,” Houser said.

For bicycle owners, treating their bikes right means keeping them locked up when they’re unattended, and taking some other common-sense measures to deter thieves.

Area police and a local bicycle

shop owner agree that one of the basic steps to preventing thefts of bikes is to lock them when they’re parked and being left unwatched — whether it’s for a few minutes to make a quick purchase at a store, or for eight hours outside a rider’s workplace.

It’s that simple

Bicycle thefts often are a crime of convenience, said Bill Gibson, owner of Blue Sky Bicycles at 36105 Vine St. in Eastlake. As Gibson explains it, a would-be thief sees a bicycle unlocked and no one else in sight, and decides to ride away with the bike.

However, Gibson said that locking a bike decreases the odds of it being stolen because some thieves simply don’t want to work at breaking, cutting or trying to open

the lock.

Taking it a step further, Gibson said bicycle owners also need to assess the level of risk that’s involved each time they lock their bike, to ensure that they’re using an appropriate lock. If a bike is being parked and left unattended for just a few minutes in a low-crime area, just about any lock would be fine, he said. But if you’re parking a bicycle in a big city or other known high-crime area and leaving it unattended for a more extended stretches, a more secure lock is needed.

Pick your lock

One option for bicyclists is a U-Lock, which has a steel U-shaped shackle along with a crossbar that contains the locking mechanism, accessible through either a key or numerical combination. While U-Locks are “one of the more secure set-ups out there,” Gibson said they’re compact in size and might be a challenge to fasten around a bike and larger locking objects.

Chain locks are made of steel links and often covered with a vinyl or nylon sleeve to keep a bike from getting scratched. Good-quality chain locks are made with heavy-duty steel that is hard to cut, Gibson said. Similar to cable locks, they come in varying lengths, with the longer chains able to reach further around a bike and locking object. However, chain locks also can be heavier for bike riders to tote around.

Cable locks can be stretched out and are able to reach further when wrapping them around bikes and locking objects. They’re also usually lighter in weight and easier for bicyclists to carry while riding. But according to a number of online reviews, cable locks are usually considered the lowest level of security for bicycles since these locks are typically easy to cut with wire or bolt cutters.

Sometimes, bicycle riders will apply two or three of these locks to their bikes at one time for added security and to discourage thieves looking for an easy target.

For anyone seeking maximum bicycle protection, Gibson said there are high-security locks on the market that usually cost $100 or more.

“These come with antitheft guarantees,” he said. “The manufacturers are pretty confident in the ability of these locks to secure bicycles.”

Getting attached

Another important consideration is choosing the right object to which you’ll lock your bicycle. If a regular bike rack is not available, find an anchoring object that is strong, and can’t be cut or jostled loose.

For instance, you’d want to avoid locking your bike to links on a chain-link fence. If a metal pole is used, be sure it’s tall enough so the bike can’t be lifted up and the lock slipped over the top of the pole.

Another option for bicycle security, if you’re going to a place to spend time inside, is to see if you can take the bicycle with you into the building. Gibson, for example, said if he rides his bicycle to a store, he doesn’t park it outside and apply a lock.

“I take the bike right into the store and take it around with me,” he said. “When I do that, I like to say that I have the most expensive shopping cart in the store.”

When storing a bicycle overnight in a garage or shed, be sure doors or other entrances to these structures are locked. Also, find a secure object in the garage or shed to lock the bike to, just as you would do anywhere outdoors.

Police perspective

As far as the frequency of bicycle thefts in the area, police departments such as

those in Euclid, Wickliffe and Lyndhurst say they generally don’t receive a lot of reports on these incidents.

In Wickliffe, police usually get a handful of reports each year on bicycles being stolen, said Lt. Pat Hengst.

The number of stolen-bicycle reports received by Lyndhurst police fluctuates year to year, said Detective Lt. Norm Alexander.

“Some years there are very few reports, other times there could be a dozen taken,” he said.

Alexander added that most of the bicycles reported stolen to Lyndhurst police “are not locked or improperly locked.”

“A lock will make bicycle harder to steal, but it doesn’t always stop the suspect from taking it,” he said. “Cheap locks are easier for the thief to break or cut.”

In Euclid, Houser said it’s “not typical” for police to recover bicycles reported stolen. When Euclid police find abandoned bikes — many of which are not reported stolen — they are put in a storage facility. If police can’t reconnect these bicycles to people with proof of ownership, the bikes go into Euclid Police Department’s annual bicycle auction.

Houser said the abandoned bicycles recovered in Euclid are usually in “very beat up” condition. Police in Euclid typically don’t recover many expensive models of bicycles, which Houser said

might reflect the fact that people who own these kinds of bikes take more steps to protect them.

Important number

One thing that can help police in recovering a stolen bicycle is knowing the bike’s serial number.

“People should record the serial numbers on their bikes,” Alexander said. “If the bike is stolen, the bike (and its serial number) can be entered into the police database and if it is found, it can be returned to the owner.”

Bicycle owners also should check with the police departments in their hometowns to see if they offer a bike registration program. Houser said Euclid police offer a free bicycle registration program to residents. Bicycles are registered with the owner’s name and contact information, as well as the make, color, frame size and serial number of the bicycle.

Alexander said it’s also a good idea for people to take pictures of their bicycles when they purchase or receive them, so they could provide a photo to police in the event of a theft.

One of the challenges faced by police in investigating a bicycle theft is being notified about the incident long after it happens.

“Some of the thefts are not reported for hours after the bike was taken, by that time the thief is long gone,” Alexander said.

BILL DEBUS — THE NEWS-HERALD Bill Gibson, owner of Blue Sky Bicycles in Eastlake, demonstrates how to lock a bicycle to a display rack inside his store.