Avoiding E-bike Theft

Introduction:

This article will look into five topics – Safe Locks, Safe locking methods, methods that helps avoiding E-bike Theft, anti-theft design, and theft insurance.

The high price of electric bikes makes e-bike more attractive to thieves, any poor locking method can allow thieves to steal your bike or unsecured parts and accessories. You have to pay extra precaution when you are going to park, electric bikes beside the road.

Common things (attracting thieves) these days are fittings such as a GPS and other expensive attachments.

Why E-bike theft happens so often?

The lighter the E-bike, the more attractive the thieves. You can consider buying a heavy e-bike or heavy locks to increase the e-bike weight.

• Image #1 – Thieve successfully dismantled the wheel, locking at the lamp post. If your lock only tight the wheel with the fixed rack cannot protect the e-bike from being stolen.
• Image #2 – Thieve successfully unleashed the lock and carry the bike on the shoulder and ride away. If your lock is not a safe lock and the bike is light, cannot protect the e-bike from being stolen.
• Image #3 – Thieve successfully unleashed the lock and carry the bike by the left hand and ride away. If your lock not tight to the fixed rack in the proper method, cannot protect the e-bike from being stolen.
• Image #4 – A cartoon image showing the thieve carry the stolen bike on his shoulder and run away.

What safe e-bike locks are the best for avoiding e-bike theft.

E-bike theft is looking for any bikes secured with cables, weak u-locks, small chains, and padlocks. E-bike theft has experience to cut the cable or chain lock with a cutter or a grinder unless the chain lock or cable is harder steel, or Hastelloy steel.

A safer e-bike lock is any bolt cutter cannot cut a strong U-lock or D-lock made of the toughest Hastelloy steel or a chain size above 16 mm is safe because the bolt cutter cannot open more than 15 mm.

A strong and fit size U-lock is recommended to secure the e-bike from theft. U-lock made of Hastelloy steel cannot be cut by just the hand strength. The images below are how the thieves cut the locks

How to buy a bike lock?

• The weight of bike lock depends on the bike’s weight. For a light e-bike, should use heavy locks to secure protection of e-bike.
• You may have to consider buying a multi-locks or at least one heavier lock for avoiding e-bike theft.
• Buy the chain length just enough to lock your e-bike wheel and frame together to a fixed object is a safe locking method to secure your e-bike from theft.
• If you buy an over-sized U-lock has a risk to cut by thieves. And under-sized cannot be used to lock up the wheel and frame together to the fixed object.
• Value of your bike vs. The price of the lock. You may not want the price of the lock too expensive as compared to your e-bike price.
• You have to buy a safe lock with a security rating of 10 to 15. The higher, the better security. The below images are our recommendation of safe locks to you.

Safe E-bike Lock by brands:

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Safe Lock #1

Granit X-Plus 540 U-lock by ABUS (Brand name: Abus) View lock detail – Safe e-bike lock made of special hardened steel, power cell technology to protect against attempts to remove the lock by hitting or pulling. You have to ensure the security rating is 10 to 15 before buying.

Safe Lock #2

Kryptonite New York M18 bike lock (Brand name: Kryptonite) View lock detail – 18 mm hardened Performance steel shackle resists cutting and leverage attacks.

Safe Lock #3

Hiplok Gold Cycling Belt Chain Lock (Brand name: Hiplok) View lock detail – 10mm hardened steel chain and 12mm hardened steel shackle.

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Safe Lock #4

FOLDYLOCK Compact Bike Lock (Brand name: Seatylock) View lock detail – hardened steel links, and ultra protected rivets folding e-bike lock. “As Amazon associate. I earn from qualifying purchases”.

E-bike Locking Method – helps avoiding e-bike theft.

• Always lock the wheel, frame, and fixed object with one U-lock or D-lock – A best e-bike locking method to follow. If you use of multi locks can increase security. Always use good quality locks.
• Do not use a lamp post as a fixed object to lock your e-bike. The lamp post’s size is too big; your U-lock is too small to lock the wheel, frame, and fixed object in one lock.
• Do not use a mailbox post, fencing, or tree as a fixed object to lock your e-bike. It is easy to remove a mailbox post, fencing, or tree to steal away your e-bike.
• You have to choose a bike rack location in the crowding area. A lonely parking e-bike is a big attraction to thieves.
• The fixed object design is important to secure your e-bike, and it must allow you to lock in a higher position. Do not fix your e-bike lock on the ground. Your safe lock laying on the ground is easier to cut by a bolt cutter with a big hammer.
• Do not lock the only wheel with a fixed object to secure your e-bike. It is too easy to dismantle the wheel to steal away your e-bike.
• Do not lock only the frame with a fixed object to secure your e-bike. Thieve will leave the frame for you and take away the rest of your e-bike.
• E-bike loose part of your e-bike has to take away. Avoid buying e-bike loose parts.
• Use multi locks to lock your e-bike if you need to leave your e-bike for long hours. The experts said add one lock if you prolong leaving your e-bike for another hour.

Registered e-bike helps to recover back your lost e-bike.

Selling the stolen e-bikes is not an easy task. Smart thieves will not steal the e-bike as a business. Most thieves are normal people who are not afforded to buy an e-bike.

Many careless e-bike owners leave the e-bikes with only one simple lock, which is very easy to cut. We can see many left alone e-bikes locked to a lamp post everywhere or even locked to a tree near his location. Most bikes are stolen when they are left with a clear line of sight.

Normally, the police found a high percentage of lost e-bikes, but the found-back e-bikes are not trackable to return to the owner. So make sure you have registered e-bike for police to be able to return the lost e-bike to you. If you want to buy an expensive e-bike for yourself, it is better to take the chance to register your e-bike for double assurance.

Some local police website welcome e-bike owners to register the characteristic of the e-bike on their portal.

Engrave your e-bike

Some local police give free service or encourage e-bike owners to engrave the e-bike for better trackable to the right owner. The engraved stolen e-bike is much difficult to sell than a non-engraved e-bike because buyers will not buy engraved e-bike.

Engrave your high-pricing e-bike is a good idea to stop the thieves from planning to steal your e-bike. Thieves prefer to steal e-bike with zero identification giving them less chance to get caught by police and the possibility of selling a better to someone who wants to buy the stolen e-bikes.

Engrave your expensive e-bike make it easier to identify your e-bike if it’s stolen. Engraving is a simple and easy way to find the lawful owner if it gets stolen.

Electric Bikes with anti-theft system

Model #1 – The Electrified S can be tracked with a smartphone app.

Many of the bike parts are protected with anti-theft screws and nuts to prevent stolen wheels, handlebars, or seats.

The device also comes with a built-in cable lock you can secure with your smartphone or a Bluetooth remote, entirely removing a keyhole for thieves to pick. The anti-theft tracking system cannot prevent stolen, but can help you to recover back the lost e-bike sooner.

Model #2 – Swiss-made Stromer ST2 E-Bike equipped with a smart theft mode.

On an ST2, “Theft Mode” locks the back wheel, rendering the bike completely inert and not able to ride.

The lights begin to flash, and the word THEFT is displayed on the bike’s built-in LED screen. You can get back your e-bike in just two hours of tracking with the help of local police.

Model #3 – Electronic frame locks, also known as wheel/ring locks, provide basic wheel locking.

It is installed on the frame of e-bikes and block the rear wheel. Some electronic frame locks are auto-locking/unlocking.

The wheel locks are controlled via your headphones, The thief cannot use the e-bike once you have executed to lock the wheel locks.

Model #4 – EG02 Intelligent E-Bike GPS Alarm.

The anti-theft GPS alarm EG02 is as small as a cigarette lighter. The EG02 comes with a plug & play design and supports GPS & LBS real-time tracking.

You can easily lock and unlock your E-bike remotely. An audio alarm will be triggered if the unauthorized displacement of the E-bike is detected.

Final words about anti-theft system

Every anti-theft system will cause some investment to you. Many budgeted e-bikes come with a standard key-lock only to protect the battery, wheels, and saddle, but a thief can take away the whole bike and break it in the workshop later.

The anti-theft system is designed for recovering the stolen bike with disabled the riding function and alarm sounding louder to make the thief leave the e-bike and run away.

E-bike Theft Insurance Coverage

According to the Office of National Statistics, the theft case has 271,000 bicycles were stolen between April 2019 and March 2020.

Consider the high theft case, it is better to buy an e-bike theft insurance policy that will cover your loss.

The e-bike theft insurance coverage items:

• A theft case happened.
• E-bike is facing malicious or accidental damage.
• You have a personal accident.
• When a third-party makes a claim to you.
• Your helmets, clothing, and accessories are damaged.
• Coverage can extend to cover your family members, bicycle breakdowns, or you are riding your bike abroad.

Condition to get the cheapest e-bike theft insurance premium paid:

• You lock your bicycle securely, with a sturdy lock and preferably in a locked garage or shed as well. 
• You do not leave your e-bike unattended for longer than 12 hours.  
• Show that you do not cycle under the influence of drink or drugs.

You can get more details about insurance coverage. You get a free safe lock from Pedalsure when you buy insurance coverage with Pedalsure.

The insurance coverage fee is $85 per year for every $1000 dollar.

Get a free quote from Velosurance for making a price comparison with Pedalsure. Visit Velosurance if your locations are in the USA and Canada.

Final words about E-bike Theft Insurance

E-bike theft insurance is not compulsory. But there are a few other important items need to cover your’s better.

If you think you can secure your e-bike well with safe locking and a high possibility to recover back your e-bike with the reliable anti-theft system, you can decide not to include the insurance in your list.

Conclusion:

Let us recap the methods of avoiding e-bike theft.

1. Buying a quality U-lock or D-lock for safe locking your e-bike at the fixed rack.
2. Parking your e-bike at the rack location with many people in the surrounding.
3. Use the right method to lock your e-bike.
4. Install an anti-theft system for tracking your e-bike location when lost.
5. You have a high chance to find back your e-bike if you have made your e-bike registration at the police portal.

There is no 100% method to prevent the theft case. You are welcome to share your experience by giving us your valued comments to improve our content. Do not hesitate to feedback to us if you have found any wrong concepts or writing in our content. Thank you in advance.

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