I can't help you get your old bike back, and I agree that losing your bike absolutely sucks.
My only real advice is that when you replace your lost bike, you not trust cable locks. I can unlock the worst of them as fast as someone who already knew the combination before hand. I can cut the best of them in a few seconds with the right tools. Their only useful purpose is to repel some strictly opportunistic thieves and to keep someone from accidentally taking your bike (ie they have a bike that looks just like yours parked in the same lot and accidentally grab yours instead (and when someone is drunk, two very different bikes might look very much alike!)).
I personally lock up my bike with two different types/brands of u-lock. This does many things:
It allows me to lock both wheels to the frame of the bike and lock my bike to something stable and do so relatively quickly.
Many of the exploits against u-locks are specific to the brand, type or position of the lock. Most thieves won't be carrying the tools to break both of my locks.
Having two different brands of locks means that I can tell the difference between the keys of the two locks without any problem.
Note that none of this keeps people from stealing components off of your bike or a dedicated thief from taking your bike. Hopefully it deters them enough to move on to your neighbors though.
And again, it really sucks that you lost your new bike.
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Date: 2011-08-31 11:34 am (UTC)My only real advice is that when you replace your lost bike, you not trust cable locks. I can unlock the worst of them as fast as someone who already knew the combination before hand. I can cut the best of them in a few seconds with the right tools. Their only useful purpose is to repel some strictly opportunistic thieves and to keep someone from accidentally taking your bike (ie they have a bike that looks just like yours parked in the same lot and accidentally grab yours instead (and when someone is drunk, two very different bikes might look very much alike!)).
I personally lock up my bike with two different types/brands of u-lock. This does many things:
- It allows me to lock both wheels to the frame of the bike and lock my bike to something stable and do so relatively quickly.
- Many of the exploits against u-locks are specific to the brand, type or position of the lock. Most thieves won't be carrying the tools to break both of my locks.
- Having two different brands of locks means that I can tell the difference between the keys of the two locks without any problem.
Note that none of this keeps people from stealing components off of your bike or a dedicated thief from taking your bike. Hopefully it deters them enough to move on to your neighbors though.And again, it really sucks that you lost your new bike.