Protecting Your Bike From Thieves

By Stephanie Wurtzs.wurtz@krdotv.com

COLORADO SPRINGS-Police in cities all across the country are seeing an increase right now in the number of bikes that are being stolen. With school starting back up again, that could become even more of a problem. If you’re bike isn’t locked to something sturdy like a bike rack or a thick tree it could be gone in as little as a second. Experts at Colorado Springs Bike Shop recommend using a standard six foot long cable lock. They say like the cables better with the combination lock because key locks can be picked. On average, one of the cables will cost you about $20. Unfortunately, those locks can’t secure your seat, but normally for less than $10 you can buy a separate lock to prevent that from being stolen. “Seats have a quick release mechanism that you just pull off and it comes right out,” says Joe Palazzozo with Colorado Springs Bike Shop, “but this kind of disables a thief from doing that cause this wraps around the top of the seat and then around the frame so you can’t pull it right out of the bike.” U-locks are very popular but normally bike experts don’t recommend them to customers because it only locks up the frame or a wheel of the bike.