I’m biking in Southern California for context
Been riding a Trek Crossrip for a while. I ride everywhere and I have done a handful of multi-month tours. I carry a Kryptonite U Lock and secure the wheel and frame to whatever I can, not the MOST secure, but it’s been working out for the past 8 years or so!. But yea a couple months ago my bike got stolen from my house. Specifically they went over a staircase bannister to bypass a coded gate into my landlord’s backyard where she said my bike would be safe. It sucks but probably my bad for not locking it up like I do when I’m out. With insurance money, plus some extra, I’m getting a Vamoots 33. Very thrilled.
Just wondering…in addition to my longer weekend riding, the kind where I am biking simply for the sake of biking, am I setting myself up to get my bike nabbed if I also use it as a means of transportation on a daily basis like I did with my old Trek Crossrip bike? I mean am I safe locking it up while I’m out commuting and running errands and such. Not talking about when I’m home and possible theft again. Feels like a waste to leave such a nice bike squirreled away except for when I’m doing my bigger rides but also I want to do what’s safest.
In short should I look in to getting a second bike for commuting? The idea seems kind of crazy because it would end up being the bike I would ride like 80% of the time so I’d want something that’s moderately comfortable, speedy, and fun to ride which just brings me back to why I went with the moots in the first place. I don’t want to throw more money at a problem that might not be a problem…what do I do? Moots as a commuter or get another bike and be sad that I have to treat my Moots like a national treasure?
by SealPenguinOtter
2 Comments
I’d never leave a bike as nice as this locked up somewhere outside. In fact, I don’t even own locks for my good bikes: I simply don’t leave them outside. I keep them in my flat at home, and can bring them into my office at work.
For everything else, I got a cheap beater bike. Even those get stolen: My last beater was locked with an ABUS Granit X-PLUS lock, which was far too good for a bike worth just a couple hundred bucks, but the thiefs still took an angle grinder to it.
In the end, you have to decide how risky that is in your region. Where I’m at, I’d definitely get a second, cheap bike for daily use.
Fuck it, I ride a Time ADHX 45 and an Enve Melee to work. That said, I have an office I bring my bike into.
If I need to lock my bike up outside for more than a few minutes, I ride an old steel beater.