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Comment by enko | Hacker News Reader

Sigh. The arms race with bike locks can never really be won.

If we really want to end bike theft, we need a legal approach. A serial number engraved into frames and all major bike parts. An easy to use web site to check provenance of parts by serial number. Hefty (10yrs+) jail time for anyone possessing, selling, modifying or trying to cross a border with stolen parts. Hell, cryptographically signed RFID tags required for all new bike frames. Hefty penalties for even riding a non conforming frame. That would get the message across real quick.

Basically, get serious about bike theft the way we are about car theft and the crime will be practically eradicated.

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The way car theft has been eradicated?

Yes? For all practical purposes? I have never known anyone who has had a car stolen. I know several who have had their bike(s) stolen, often repeatedly.

Looking at the statistics[1], I see that in my country (Australia) there is a less than 1% chance of your car being stolen in any recent year. That seems to be pretty low, a nuisance yes but not all that bad. And that's even though cars are much more valuable than bikes - and very few people use any sort of aftermarket lock with their car.

I would say the law has dealt pretty effectively with car theft and I see no reason it could not be adapted to include bikes, too.

[1] http://ncars.on.net/docs/quick/aus_summary_qtr.pdf

Car theft has been largely eradicated. There are some European organized crime groups that switch out the PCM on cars where this is possible, but the days of teenagers hot-wiring cars has long since been over. If you were to call the police and say your car has been stolen, they will tell you to call your bank and find out why your car was repo'd.

http://www.rmiia.org/auto/auto_theft/statistics.asp

Also, I remember seeing a 60 minutes (or some show) on south american cities where a high percentage of the cars on the road were stolen from the US.

It's not a legal approach, it's a social one. In happy socialist countries like Denmark, bike locks aren't really a problem : they consist of a short hook blocking the rear wheel and that's about it. It's completely inefficient, but it's obviously enough there.

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