1. File off the stupid safety tabs on your front fork, they’re for morons that can’t figure out how to use a quick release. This allows you to pop your front wheel off in under 5 seconds (if I can do it a thief can too) and lock it to your frame.

2. Use a crappy looking seat and seat post. I put a new seat on last year, it was stolen the same day, and it was a $15 seat. So I’m back to my 18 year old Flite with no leather, just a plastic seat at this point, still pretty comfortable though.

3. I have had my handlebars stolen twice, really sucks. Now I fill up my stem bolt(s) with glue. It makes it a pain in the butt to change your handlebars, but really, how often do you do that?

Other little things, don’t use nice quick release skewers, thieves will take those too. Get the smallest U lock that will fit through your front wheel, rear wheel, and frame and a post. The bigger the U lock, the more places a thief can put a leverage bar and pop your lock. Seen those mangled looking locks all over the place? A 6′ 2×4 will pop pretty much any U lock if it can be inserted between the post and the lock.

So what does all this experience mean? I commute on a nice Salsa 853 frame with ultegra components, a king headset and custom wheels without fear of some moron crippling my ride home. Drop me a line at stuff at djlk dot com with questions.

locking scewers would piss Me off.

I do use a bolted seat collar

I always lock my rear wheel, and always use a cable lock, enabling me to lock_up frame and both wheels, when needed

They’re similar to the Pinhead skewers, but a bit cheaper.