Pictured above: a bike locked badly to a good quality rack. Just a wrench, and a thief takes the wheel and bike away.
In the photo below: my solution to properly lock a bike to bad, low rack made wrong (to “dish rack”, outside Decathlon 🤦). Instead of inserting the wheel, I put the bike across the structure, so I can easily lock wheel and frame.
cross-posted from: https://social.tchncs.de/users/lgsp/statuses/115587191253235659
Exactly my thought. The bike itself is the protection.
With a bike like that you can lock it in the most outrageous ways just to spite other people.
In this vein I inadvertently discovered the best theft protection for my saddle: just wait for it to get a bit of wear and tear (specifically: tear). Now I no longer worry about finding it gone.
I'm seriously considering inflicting a bit of cosmetic damage to front wheel. At that point I can ditch the cable lock.
Definitely!
While I was living in Brazil, and exclusively using bicycle for my transportation, I adopted that attitude.
I bought a second hand worker's bicycle, and stealthily upgraded the components. For that I uglified the whole thing. At first glance, a shitty bicycle. But when using it, you knew this was no ordinary bike.
When I left Brazil after 10 years later, the bicycle was still with me, unharmed. 2 days before my departure, I proudly gave it to a friend.
Great story. I believe this is also an example of the difference between "intrinsic" and "extrinsic" worth. If one is content to value things for what they are to oneself, rather that what they may be to others, life becomes very much simpler.