Left my bike locked up at a rack on a road for pedestrian and commercial vehicles. Two hours later and I return to find that the bike has been flipped over the rack and both wheels are warped. Police have been unhelpful, saying for myself to request CCTV footage and that they won't investigate as no one person had been injured.
I'm so pissed, had this bike for one month now, its been a dream to ride, and some fuck probably in a commercial vehicle didn't care to check mirrors while parking, then drove off without leaving any detail.
The bike repairshop are saying the bike frame has a 5mm misalignment, both wheels will need replacing..
That's rough, dude; my sympathies. You're definitely not alone though: Recently, both wheels were stolen from my bike and since there were no cameras or witnesses, the chance of police finding the perpetrator(s) is slim to none. Worth of the stolen parts is ~150 €, cost to replace them around ~400 €...
I've had a couple front wheels stolen, but the back wheel should basically never get taken if locked properly. Here's a little graphic to help. You want to lock the most valuable parts and that's the frame and back wheel. When the lock goes through that triangle on the frame through just the wheel both are secured.
The second drawing in the first column is wrong. The first drawing shows a lock with a cable just sticking out of it, is that a thing? Never seen it before.
Where did that image come from?
With the lock placed like that in the second drawing there's no way to separate the wheel from the frame so they're both secured. Its the easiest way sometimes with a smaller ulock. The first one just uses a separate cable where one end is placed through the ulock to help secure the front wheel.
What if they just cut the wheel (as they're made from soft materials) , rotate it to free it from lock then just take the bike?
None of these are safe, bottom left would be the safest placement of the lock, but it says cable lock, those can be easily cut, it should've been a U-lock or a chain. The other two on the left can be stolen by destroying the rear wheel. Considering the threat to U-locks is an angle grinder, you can easily cut the rim with one.
I've always prioritized locking the front and frame to the rack. Since I figure it's harder and more obvious to remove the back wheel
I dont think thats a bad option. I've done that when I had a quick release on the front, but sometimes, especially with a smaller u lock, its hard to get both the frame and any wheel secured together, so I'll do just the back wheel between that triangle in the frame.
Fair enough. I also have an ABUS folding lock, so it has a decent amount of reach.
Out of curiosity, what's your opinion on Frame locks (so mounted to that triangle and slides a pin through the rear spokes). I had one on my previous bike (no mount points on my new bike) and loved it for quick stops at the market and such.