A common sight on the sidewalks of Philadelphia is a lonely bike tire, or tattered frame, whatever's left after thieves picked over a poorly locked bike.
Locking your bike properly is as easy as tying a shoe, but as we found out, few people know how to do it right.
For 21 years, Lee Rogers has owned and operated Bicycle Therapy on South Street, recently named one of the top 100 bike stores in the country.
For all those years, he's heard one thing more than most anything else - people claiming part, or all, of their bike was stolen.
According to the Kryptonite Lock Company, Philadelphia ranks number one in bike thefts, which has Lee thinking, "Maybe we need to go about locking up our bikes better."
As we walked up and down the streets of Center City, we found almost every bike was locked, but next to none of them were locked the right way.
So how do you do it? First, Lee says get a good U lock.
Next, get yourself a good 4-foot cable lock. From there, it's like tying a shoe.
Steps:
Take the 4-foot cable, put it through the front wheel
Loop one end through the other securing the front wheel
Loop once through the back wheel
Secure the frame
Put the other end of the cable onto the U lock
Lock it up
(watch above video for tutorial)
But that's not all. You should also invest in a seat leash, like a cable lock, but thinner. Secure it to the frame, wrap the excess around the seat post and bolt the other end underneath the seat.
Follow those simple steps and your bike is far better than most, which at the very least is a deterrent. Your total cost for all that? About $100.
Now, to be clear, nothing will make your bike 100% thief-proof, but all of this goes a long way to making it not worth a thief's effort, which can make all the difference.
