{"id":133491,"date":"2016-02-10T16:00:37","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T14:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/?p=133491"},"modified":"2017-03-07T12:25:11","modified_gmt":"2017-03-07T12:25:11","slug":"exclusive-interview-with-a-real-bike-thief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/02\/10\/exclusive-interview-with-a-real-bike-thief\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Interview with a Real Bike Thief"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the success of the European Bike Stealing Championships<\/a> many of you wrote comments to us and we\u2019re thankful for all of them. But one message surely stood out. It\u00a0was from a former bike thief\u00a0<\/strong>who had ideas of his own about why our bait bike in Prague wasn\u2019t snatched. Although we definitely don\u2019t support bike theft we took this opportunity to ask him how to protect our bikes properly.\u00a0We bring you the short interview along with the Making of the European Bike Stealing Championships 2015 video.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/lite-youtube>\n

What was the reason the bait bike in Prague wasn\u2019t stolen?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Stealing an unlocked bike is actually very risky. There is a good chance the owner is near and is going to call the police in a few minutes after the job is done. Every unit will know about it and that could get you caught. The other guys, in my opinion, just saw the opening and took the chance. Locked stuff at nighttime was my choice.<\/p>\n

Was? You quit then?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I did. Haven\u2019t stolen anything for about six months now.<\/p>\n

Why did you quit?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Some people work at McDonald\u2019s to put themselves through college, I did the occasional stealing.\u00a0I grew up in a tough neighborhood and stealing bikes was just something I knew very well.<\/p>\n

What did you use to steal the bikes?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I drove my dad\u2019s old beat-up van and had his huge bolt cutters in the backpack. Sometimes I used rope and other stuff, but the bolt cutters were the main thing.<\/p>\n

How do you secure your bike?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Well I have two thick chains. One through the back wheel and one through the frame. It can\u2019t stop someone really determined, but it takes a lot of time. My golden rule was \u201cdo it under a minute or don\u2019t do it at all\u201d. Everyone should really get a decent D lock and leave their bike only in a high-traffic area. Cable locks are a joke.<\/p>\n

Would that stop you personally?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Probably yes. I did some crazy stuff\u00a0when I was younger, but I tried to minimize the risk as much as possible over time.<\/p>\n

The former bike thief didn\u2019t get any money for doing the interview, he communicated only via anonymous emails and eventually stopped. He never revealed his true identity.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Like & Comment on Facebook<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following the success of the European Bike Stealing Championships many of you wrote comments to us and we\u2019re thankful for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":133492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[334,330],"tags":[395,903],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-133491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-socialising-and-culture","category-urban-cycling","tag-bike-stealing","tag-lock-challenge"],"yoast_head":"\nEXCLUSIVE: Interview with a Real Bike Thief - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Following the success of the European Bike Stealing Championships many of you wrote comments to us and we\u2019re thankful for all of them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/02\/10\/exclusive-interview-with-a-real-bike-thief\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EXCLUSIVE: Interview with a Real Bike Thief\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following the success of the European Bike Stealing Championships many of you wrote comments to us and we\u2019re thankful for all of them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/02\/10\/exclusive-interview-with-a-real-bike-thief\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-10T14:00:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-07T12:25:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2016\/02\/bs_web_950x350-V2.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Martin Mrazek\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/02\/10\/exclusive-interview-with-a-real-bike-thief\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/02\/10\/exclusive-interview-with-a-real-bike-thief\/\",\"name\":\"EXCLUSIVE: Interview with a Real Bike Thief - 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