10 DIY Tips for Making Your Bike the Ugliest on the Block (Camouflage Against Bike Thieves)
by Karin Kloosterman, Jerusalem, Israel on 07.28.08
It's a jungle out there. Whether you like it or not, high gas prices are forcing Americans to become TreeHuggers. That means more people are riding their bikes to school and work. Obviously where to park the bike when you get there is one question (inside or out?) and also what to where when biking and what to change into once you arrive all sweaty at your destination.
While the new bike riders amongst us have their heads spinning with questions, one huge concern you might have are tips to prevent your bike from being stolen. Over on The Huffington Post a few weeks ago, we wrote a post that gave some tips for making your bike thief proof.
Of course when a thief really wants your bike, and it’s vulnerable (i.e. parked outside the home, office or school), there are a few things you can do to make it less irresistible to thieves. But making your bike absolutely ugly is a great deterrent. Follow this recap of tips on how to DIY.
10 tips to "ugly" your bike:
1. Remove any flashy stickers or brand name labels from your bike.
2. Buy second hand so the bike already looks worn.
3. Repaint it with a cheap matte black or army green spray paint. Don't be modest with the paint. Over-spraying is a good thing. Not on the gears, chain, or brakes though.
4. Decorate it with ugly stickers, possibly a car air freshener, or fake animal fur.
5. Attach a milk crate or a rusty rack for carrying stuff.
6. Fake rust your bike with modern spray paint from the hardware store.
7. Tear a hole in your saddle (when it's raining cover with plastic bag).
8. Add some duct tape to the frame.
9. Consider adding some streamers or spokey dokeys.
10. Visit U-G-L-Y Your Bike, a great how-to guide that offers step-by-step tips to keep your "first class ride" from the hands of thieves.
Want more scary reads about bike theft? See
Pop Quiz: Federal Bike Investigation
A Picture is Worth...Stolen Bikes
How to Prevent Bike Theft
Bike Theft Video Exposes Cyclist's Vulnerability
::Huffington Post (for more reasons why ugly is greener)
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- California Colleges Pay Students to Bike
- Active Transportation For America Report
- Is This What Life With the World's Highest Gas Prices Looks Like?
- Trek Embraces Chainless Bikes, Via Carbon Belt Drives
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So cookies *must* be enabled to see the original site? What do the have that is so special? Who knows because I don't need read anything from people who are going to be assholes about browser settings.
FAIL.
So the thief will steal someone else's bike instead.
How is that an improvement?
What a great post!
reminds me of when I was in college. I would take anything of value that I thought someone might steal and I would go at it with a pocket knike & spray paint. I didn't do it to my car, but did deface my bike, cd player (pre-ipod days), even text books that I wasn't planning on selling back for beer money at the end of the semester.
My friends would laugh at me until they got something stolen, and then they shut up.
Very clever, but probably wouldn't work in my neighborhood. I actually had a bike that closely resembles the above mods that was still stolen from inside the gates of an apartment and locked to a gate. That's what's so popular about bikes with thieves. They're in high demand among people who need cheap transportation no matter what their condition.
Saturday Night Live did a fake commercial for a luxury car that looked like a junker. What looked looked like a beat up Buick on the outside was a Cadillac on the inside. It was called the Chameleon XLE.
Didn't MAD Magazine do something like this with cars back in the day?
Alternatives:
*buy a foldable bike that you can take into your office
*hassle your employer until he provides a lockable space for your bike.
* buy a flevo-bike and learn to ride it. This recumbent bike is steered with your legs. It takes a lot of training to use it without falling over. Any normal thief will not be able to ride away on it.
No thanks. I'd rather keep my bike indoors or locked than intentionally destroy 70% of its resale value.
How about buy a bike lock?
Dude, I've been doing this for ten years. Long live the ugly townie bike!!
Perhaps something like this is a better solution:
http://www.worldtrackingsolutions.com/st_personal.htm
I especially like the geofencing. If your bike is especially desirable, you can help the police catch bike thieves again and again!
"So the thief will steal someone else's bike instead.
How is that an improvement?"
well, if everyone did this, maybe a few people might not steal a bike at all:)
let em steal cars!
I think buying a used bike is a great idea-- that's what I did but why would someone want to ugly up their nice bike?! I mean, I can understand for originality reasons... but no way would I spray paint a $500 bike.
This can only help.
quote: "Bhima says:
So the thief will steal someone else's bike instead.
How is that an improvement?"
If they see a crappy bike, and aren't walking around with bolt cutters, they won't go get some to cut the lock off another bike.