You may have selected a good lock from the electric bike locks article but there are some other electric bike safety techniques that can further help you protect your investment. By practicing these simple habits you can rest easier knowing your e-bike is that much safer.
Let’s get into the tips!
Park your electric bike in a public place. Thieves are less likely to try to steal your bike in a public place. It is harder for them to break the lock when there are a bunch of people around. Try not to leave your electric bike locked up somewhere overnight.
Find secure things to lock your e-bike to. Here are some ideas:
Bike parking area that is solidly attached to concrete.
A tree or street sign or street light. Make sure your bike can’t be lifted over the tree, sign or light. Avoid parking meters for this reason!
A solid fence, not chain link because a thief could easily cut the chain link.
A hand rail that is solidly attached to a wall or sidewalk.
A note about parking your bike in a high traffic areas; try to be respectful of where you park your bike. Some areas may not work because it will cause to much congestion where people are walking by. This can be especially true if you are locking up multiple bikes.
Lock your helmet to your bike. If you are in a high theft area you may want to route your bike cable through the vents in your helmet. Routing the cable through the helmet straps also works and I personally have never had a helmet stolen. In reality I am not sure how many people really want a used helmet 🙂
If your e-bike display is detachable take it with you. Some displays (like Bionx) easily detach from the handlebars and will not allow the thief to ride away on your bike with electric assist.
Take your lights with you if they easily detach from your bike.
How do you carry your lock and accessories? Some locks come with attachments that allow you to carry the lock on the frame of the bike. You may find it convenient to use a messenger bag, back pack or bag that fits on a bike rack to carry your lock and accessories (lights, display, jacket, pump, tools, keys, wallet, etc.)
A strong bike lock at work and a lighter lock for errands. A good rule of thumb is to use a strong lock when you are leaving your bike somewhere for extended periods of time (at work) and a lighter duty lock for short periods of time (errands).
Imagine how much time it would take a thief to break your lock and you can see why a light duty lock can work for errands. You could keep your heavy duty lock at work all the time and carry the light duty with you.
When at home keep your bike out of site. Keep your bike in your garage, shed, inside your house, under a tarp, etc. Thieves will spend time scoping out a neighborhood before they make their move. Don’t let them see your e-bike!
Bike Serial Number Locations (courtesy of Vernon Hills Police Department)
Record your electric bike’s serial number! In the event that your e-bike is stolen you will need your serial number to give to the police and to provide on any fliers that you may post about your stolen e-bike.
Typically the serial number on a bike can be found on the bottom of the bottom bracket (where the bike cranks are). Some serious thieves will go so far as filing off the serial number so you may want to hide a piece of paper with your contact info in the handlebars or seat tube of the bike.
GPS/Smartphone tracking! This a developing technology that can be found on some eBikes and there are systems that can be added to your current bike. GPS tracking in the Stromer ST2 helped an owner recover their ST2 and 50 other stolen bikes!
Boomerang Cyclotrac is a GPS tracking device and alarm that is mounted to the bike at the water bottle cage. If someone tries to tamper with your bike an alarm will sound and your smartphone will alert you from the Boomerang app and the GPS tracking will show you where your bike is. Here is a video with more info:
The Boomerang app also provides some ride data like ride duration and performance, money saved, carbon offset, total miles ridden, message log and last trip.
BikeTrak is another GPS tracking system in the works “BikeTrak will alert you if your bike moves unexpectedly and track it if stolen. You’ll get a link to view your bike’s location so that you can watch it on your smartphone or computer. You can send your link to the police and get help tracking down your property!”
Register your bike with one or all of these organizations.
Bike Shepard: Register your bike and get a badge that is attached to your bike with a QR code for scanning with a smartphone.
Stolen Bicycle Registry: For when your e-bike is stolen 🙁
Get Electric Bike Insurance
Velosurance offers electric bike insurance that covers much more than home owner or renter insurance policies cover.
Check out the next article for some tips on how to recover a stolen electric bike.
Do you have any questions about these tips? Do you have any tips to add? Please leave your comments and questions below.
Thanks!
-Pete
P.S. Don’t forget to join the Electric Bike Report community for updates from the electric bike world, plus ebike riding and maintenance tips.
Do they have little transmitters that you could track that would fit on bike?
Hi Arthur, check out BikeTrak: https://signup.biketrak.com/
Removing the seat post and saddle makes it less likely that a prospective thief will chose your bike to steal.
Seatylock, now accepting pre-orders. Seat is part of the lock.
I plan on bringing it the building I work at because I surely don’t want my motor left in public.
If you leave your bike inside your home or apartment, ALWAYS lock it. Lock it to something big if you can, and if not, lock the rear wheel to the frame. This prevents a burglar from riding off on it easily, and rolling it on the front wheel is difficult. Personal experience – if someone can break in your place, don’t let them ride off with your stuff on your bike. Twice as aggravating and expensive.
Great tips on how to keep your electric bike safe. These tips would apply to regular bikes too I suppose. I’d never thought about taking the display with me when I left the bike parked outside. I think ill do that moving forward. Thank you for sharing these incredible tips with us.
I’m thinking about getting an electric bike to ride to/from the train station (to avoid sweating in my suit before work). It’s a quiet station – only 1-2 trains an hour – but lots of standard bikes are chained up there in a group every day. A couple of questions please – are e bikes more likely to be a target for thieves? Are the motors easily removed i.e. do motors tend to get stolen off e bikes? Thanks
Hi Chris, electric bikes like conventional bikes can be targets for theft but it varies depending on the location. It’s always a good idea to lock your bike securely. In general it is pretty difficult to have a motor stolen from an electric bike. Similarly most batteries have a locking mechanism.