One downside I haven’t seen mentioned yet is the hassle of having to laboriously lock up your bike front and back, saddle bag, too, so some freaking degenerate won’t steal anything that isn’t secured. I’ve had my rear wheel stolen before (who even DOES that?) and am not looking for a repeat.
I love riding my bike and do most trips with it in the summer (shopping, appointments, gym, etc.)
But I envy motorists sometimes who just get out of their car, push the button on their key and everything’s neatly locked up.
This is the upside of living in a very bike heavy cultured city, I feel like there’s so damn many bikes everywhere that no one gives a fuck about my bike. I also have never left it outside overnight.
Friendly reminder that if you only have enough lock to lock your frame and ONE wheel, make sure it’s the rear wheel! It is the most expensive of the two to replace.
That said, bike thieves should have their fingers broken.
I feel like drop out wheels were a bad idea. For the number of times you actually want to remove your front wheel I’m happy just having to undo a lug nut. Drop out wheels have made it too easy for bike thieves and they just unhook the wheel and run off before anyone notices what they’re doing.
A good compromise would be dropout wheels but they need unique key to unlock the wheel.
As a full time car-free person, this is absolutely a valid argument. I’m lucky to live less than 10 minutes away from my job. I could bike there in even less time, but walk anyway specifically because I don’t want to deal with these logistics.
I use locking axles for the wheels and have the saddle attached with a chain. That reduces the effort quite a bit :) Admittedly I don’t use a saddle bag on the city bike.
One downside I haven’t seen mentioned yet is the hassle of having to laboriously lock up your bike front and back, saddle bag, too, so some freaking degenerate won’t steal anything that isn’t secured. I’ve had my rear wheel stolen before (who even DOES that?) and am not looking for a repeat.
I love riding my bike and do most trips with it in the summer (shopping, appointments, gym, etc.)
But I envy motorists sometimes who just get out of their car, push the button on their key and everything’s neatly locked up.
This is the upside of living in a very bike heavy cultured city, I feel like there’s so damn many bikes everywhere that no one gives a fuck about my bike. I also have never left it outside overnight.
Weren’t you paying attention? Bikes are so cheap you can just buy another when it gets stolen.
Friendly reminder that if you only have enough lock to lock your frame and ONE wheel, make sure it’s the rear wheel! It is the most expensive of the two to replace.
That said, bike thieves should have their fingers broken.
I feel like drop out wheels were a bad idea. For the number of times you actually want to remove your front wheel I’m happy just having to undo a lug nut. Drop out wheels have made it too easy for bike thieves and they just unhook the wheel and run off before anyone notices what they’re doing.
A good compromise would be dropout wheels but they need unique key to unlock the wheel.
There are locking axles that replace the quick release axles, to do what you described. A couple companies I’ve heard of (but haven’t tested myself):
https://www.pinheadbikelocks.com/ https://hexlox.com/en-ca
As a full time car-free person, this is absolutely a valid argument. I’m lucky to live less than 10 minutes away from my job. I could bike there in even less time, but walk anyway specifically because I don’t want to deal with these logistics.
I use locking axles for the wheels and have the saddle attached with a chain. That reduces the effort quite a bit :) Admittedly I don’t use a saddle bag on the city bike.
Replacing those quick release skewers is so satisfying. I couldn’t justify a real bike with real axels so this is what I got lol.