I wanted to start a thread that lists the bad places to lock up bikes around town. A "bad place" is somewhere you spend a lot of time and see a lot of broken bike locks and mangled frames or where your friends have had their bikes stolen. A lot of times there is a safer place to lock your bike up just a block or two away that you wouldn't know about unless you lived or worked in the area.

I work at SE 7th and Ankeny

Bad Area: South of Burnside to Stark and East of Grand until 12th.
Safer Alternative: If you're coming into the area, lock your bike up on Burnside.

How do you guys usually lock up? I usually use a fahgedaboutit U lock Sheldon Brown-style through the rear wheel in the rear triangle. Kind of worried about my front wheel, though, especially if I decide to get a nicer wheel set. Sometimes I carry a cable that I use to secure the front wheel to the U lock, but that's only going to deter people carrying around a wrench.

white folks:

in front of the downtown library

or anywhere without a fahgedaboutit

isn't that sort of ovekill unless you're going to be inside for a long time? i've never left my bike out too long, but i've always been fine with a krypto min-u, including often freelocking for hours at bars, etc.

in front of rotture (eastside industrial area)...

I mentioned the library because like 2 weeks ago I was leaving/unlocking and there was a guy near tears holding the remnants of a krypto chain lock, (the $100 one with the mini u-lock to hold the 2 ends) His $1000 norco...gone. No witnesses to what had to be a big guy with BIG red bolt cutters. I've also seen multiple peopkle come out to find lights, fenders, saddles etc.. jacked. All junkies and tweakers use the shitters to shoot dope, I see 'em all the time there.

Locks, even the Krypto NYC models only keep honest people honest. A determined thief will get thru anything. Even the fagedaboutit will snap will a hydraulic ram, taken out of roller type floor jack (for cars) and those jacks are just about everywhere, $20 gets a new one at harbor freight. Bolt cutters are available that can cut tool steel are less than $100.

I lock my front wheel and frame cuz I have a road wheel with QR up front.

Now that being said, I've had the same u-lock for 10 years, the infamous bic-pen-able kryptonite. Only the cheaper u-locks with 4 tumblers can get bic'd. If your still rocking the old skool round key krypto, take a look at the key? if it has less than 7 lil kerfs in it, get a new lock.

Best bet is to bring it inside.

Never leave it over night.

Though tempting, always lock it. Even if your "just gonna be a sec" You can ride 2 blocks in the time it takes to dial a phone number.

Always lock it to something where if someone was f*cking with it, folks would notice. i.e. not in front of the library.

Freelocking only at the stumptown on 3rd where everyone knows who should be with which bike.

I'm pretty impressed with how few unsafe places there are to lock your bike up in this town. Just be smart about it and you should be ok. And as it has been said before, if someone really wants your bike, they will take it. Period.

i think i would snap if i saw someone doing that...just honestly. had a good test run though a while back, i was locked up in front of the safeway on woodstock and i walked up and a dude is down looking at my bike. i saw this and walked up to him and the other dude standing there and gave a 'whats up guys?' awkwardly loud. he looked really surprised, stood up gave a nod and walked away, i then noticed that he was wearing a bike pack, so i was glad i didnt freak on a fellow rider who might have been just checkin out my wheels, etc. but man, something primal hits you when you see what you think is someone trying to get at your bike. I had one stoled once from our backyard its a terrible feeling to realize it is gone.

When I was 9 I had my bike stolen from in front of the Cedar Mill Library. The lock was full of mud and didn't work, but I figured it was okay anyway. It wasn't. So if you're doing some hardcore book borrowing in the suburbs beware that spot.

I actually bought rental insurance a few years back... It ended up costing me an extra $3 a month through my car insurance company and covers everything i (and my girlfriend) own.

I don't think that's overkill. Half the bikes I see around here locked to poles are missing a front or back wheel. Last Friday I stumbled into My Father's Place at 1am and saw a Vanilla Speedvagen locked up to a pole with a cable lock.. WTF, that couldn't have lasted more than 30 minutes.

let's just create a vigilante hit squad and get the message out that if you have the balls to try to steal a locked bike, we'll find you and take em from you.

;)