Lock and Learn
“I want everyone to know how devastated I was,” says NHS worker Rayna Foletti. “My bike was like my best friend, and its loss was terrible.”
Like a disturbing number of NHS staff across the UK, Rayna came out from a busy and stressful day to find her bike had been targeted by thieves as she worked through the peak of pandemic.
She’d locked her treasured road bike in a bike cage outside the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, and planned a gentle ride home through the local countryside to relax after work on a Covid ward. But the bike was gone.
As more people follow NHS guidance to cycle more often (with many choosing e-bikes costing £1,500 or more), bike thefts are increasing — up almost 50% in June from last year according to the national cycling database BikeRegister.
“People are increasingly seeing that e-bikes are the answer for hilly cities like Sheffield, but they need proper secure parking at work, just like cars and motorbikes,” says Jack Windle from the local Love to Ride active travel network, who along with Tony Butterworth Cycles, helped Rayna replace her stolen bike.
“And for locations like the city centre and transport interchanges we need cycle hubs like the excellent one at the train station,” said Dexter Johnstone from Cycle Sheffield.
For locking in public places, the first tip is to use more than one lock, including a robust ‘D Lock’ ideally accredited to ‘SoldSecure’ gold standard.
Using different locks delays and deters thieves, says Angela Walker from the A Different Gear bike shop.
“You should always use the D-lock through the frame and an immovable object — ideally through the rear triangle and rear wheel. You should always keep the lock high off the ground and snug to the frame to make it more difficult for thieves to get tools around the lock. And if you have a quick-release front wheel use a secondary cable threaded through the D-lock, but don’t use the cable as your primary lock — they are easy to cut through with bolt croppers.”
The second tip for e-bikes is to store your bike inside whenever possible, and take the battery away with you after parking in public, not least because batteries (and other accessories like lights) are valuable in themselves.
And thirdly, don’t hide your bike round a quiet corner.
“The biggest deterrent is parking in a very public space that is visible,” says Russell Cutts, who runs the Russell’s Bicycle Shed bike shop and the cycle hub at Sheffield station. “And park your bike next to one with a worse lock than yours, as it’s the opportunist you will deter with a good lock.”
Russell liaises with local and transport police about bike theft, and says many bikes stolen in one city are shipped to other towns and cities to be sold: Sheffield’s stolen bikes may end up in Manchester, while Manchester’s are often sold back across the Pennines. Expensive bikes are often stripped for parts which can be sold more easily than a distinctive bike. So making sure your bike is properly insured is crucial, he says.
GPS trackers are often touted as ways to catch bike thieves, but they can be masked or disabled, and cheaper versions can be ineffective, says Henry Nottage of Tony Butterworth Cycles.
And don’t forget bike thieves use social media too, says Henry Norman of the Ride Sheffield mountain bike group.
“If you use a tracking app like Strava, make sure you use the privacy settings, and set an exclusion zone so you’re not tracked near your house. And maybe don’t spread it around on social media when you buy a lovely new bike!”
Cyclists from Sheffield University warn that staff with expensive bikes have been targeted by more traditional means, after being seen on their regular commute and then followed. Try and vary your commute route, is the advice from the University cycle forum, and maybe have a quick look before finishing your journey to see if anyone is paying particular attention to you and your bike.
We should expect to see more and more Sheffielders cycling in future, says Jack Windle of Love to Ride, who are working with hundreds of local companies to help cycling staff.
“Knowing you’re going to be able to ride home again once you’ve cycled to work is pretty crucial,” he says.
“Staff tell us that security of expensive bikes and e-bikes is one of the first things they think about when choosing to cycle to work, so we’re asking local companies to recognise that investing in secure, access controlled cycle storage at the workplace is going to pay them back with a fitter, more productive workforce,” he says.
“Telling staff they can lock their £2,000 e-bikes to the fence by the boiler room is not going to work these days.”