How to Prevent Bike Theft
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 03. 4.07
For the benefit of all who rely on their bicycle as a primary means of transportation, here is a hot tip from the Radzeit (Biketime), magazine of the ADFC Berlin (German Bicyclists Club, Berlin Branch). On the humorous "Last Page", Andreas Rüttenauer reports on the amusing turn-around for a staff member and a congressman in Berlin's political HQ, the Bundestag. Long laughed at for the out-dated stickers pasted all over their bicycles--including the classic "Nuclear energy? No, thank you"--they can now laugh back as colleagues come begging to know where to find some old stickers for their bikes. Why the sudden change of opinion? A recent letter from the congressional administration gives a tip for bicyclists: bicycles with stickers or do-it-yourself paint jobs are stolen less often. Older stickers are reported to have a better impact, giving the impression that the bicycle is an antique like the political slogans it advertises. If you read German, the original article will make you chuckle. Check it out in Radzeit 2007/1 PDF.
You can still get the classic "Nuclear Power - No Thanks!" stickers from WISE in the Netherlands - http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/
It's not as if this idea isn't already known ; William Gibson used this idea in "Virtual Light", where Chevette Washington uses a combination of aluminmium duct tape and rust coloured paint to discourage interest in her next-generation aramyd wrap bicycle... of course, she also has the high voltage active deterrent alarm to back it up.
Yes, this is very similar to the idea of the Chameleon XLE.
http://snltranscripts.jt.org/92/92fchameleon.phtml
In some places, nothing deters thieves. In such places, you simply need to have some insurance. When I lived in one of the outlying suburbs of Helsinki (Finland), I had my bike stolen twice, plus there were two other failed attempts. One failed attempt was for an old, crappy bike - in their efforts to unlock the bike chain, they totalled the rear wheel. In the second failed attempt, the bike was in the locked storage shed of my apartment and was chained to a metal post with a thick tough bike lock. During the night they sawed through part of the post structure in order to get a good angle to saw into the lock. Obviously someone interrupted their work because there was only a tiny bit of metal left to saw to get the lock off. Get insurance if you live in an area prone to theft.
True on insurance. When my Kryptonite-locked bike got stolen from the locked storage room in my locked apartment building in the fall, my renter's insurance paid me back, even for my accessories and the lock itself. I bought the newer version of the same bike within the week. I suppose I would have been in back luck if I were actually going somewhere important and found myself without my wheels though, and it certainly didn't prevent theft. But it's a nice back-up to keep you riding;)