Bike locking ring in downtown Toronto...
What is missing from this bike locking example? Hmmm…the bike and lock!
Safely inside with me...
The most effective way to avoid having your bike stolen is to not lock it up and leave it in the first place. You’ll need a folding bike to do this and preferably one that folds and unfolds quickly.
For me that means a Bike Friday Tikit. It’s so easy to fold and unfold that I’ll do it 10 times in a day without thinking about it or feeling like it’s a hassle. In over 3 years as a Tikiteer I’ve only been asked not to bring my biker inside once and they let me bring it in when I told them I had no lock and would cancel my appointment.
The great thing about riding a Tikit in town is:
- I don’t carry a lock
- I don’t organize my day around where I can lock my bike
- I do whatever I need to and just fold up my Tikit and take it inside with me
- when I’m in a friend’s place or business I’m not worried about my bike or trying to rush so thieves have less time to try and steal it
- I’m 100% focused on whatever I’m doing and my Tikit waits patiently for me until I need her to take me to my next stop
- if I run into someone with a car or I need to hop on a bus I fold and go without hassle
Bike Friday Tikit on a roll...
If you worry about your bike getting stolen think about a new way to solve the problem with a folding bike. You can carry a week’s worth of groceries with one, go on a 2 week bike tour or ride 25kms across town for dinner. Don’t let the small wheels fool you – these are serious bikes that can perform.
The Lazy Rando Blog... 
Absolutely agree with you abt the convenience in commuting with a Tikit! Hassle free and really no worries cycling.
I totally agree on how convenient it is to use a folding bike for commuting in urban area, specialy when multi-modal transport is in mind (bus, subway, train…).
I regulaly use a non folding Trek FX for ommuting, but when I have to go somewhere where public transprtation use is quite mandatory or very usefull, I switch to my Brompton (since Bompton is more expensive than FX, I try to spare this wonderfull forlding bike).
But I always carry a lock with my Brompton (a folding Abus lock for my folding bike !):
* you never know what may occur; a lock may be needed…
* in Toulouse (France), there is no real problem to lock bikes to something (bike minded or not).
* but there may be far more problem to carry folded bike in lot of shops.
* and even you stay close to your folded bike, but not always in sight, it may be stolen if not locked.
Do you have any idea what a week’s worth of groceries looks like for a family with multiple (ravenous) kids?!? 🙂
Vik- Did you get rid of the orange fixed tikit? I saw a pre-owned one on the Bike Friday site.
The only store so far that wouldn’t let me bring my Tikit inside was Costco – sitting in one of their monster shopping carts!
@Foraker – hopefully less than 4 Ortliebs and a backpack!
@Patrick – They’ll be a new Bike Friday in the mix in 2011 and something had to go….stay tuned…=-)
@Blobby – bringing bikes in shops has been no problem for me in Canada.