The rules for securing bicycles are simple and straightforward, yet are often overlooked or ignored. According to police and experts in the field, the following few simple rules will significantly lower the odds of your bike being stolen.

Use a U-lock. Though even U-locks can be defeated (see box) given enough time, cables and chains can be cut within seconds.

Attach the U-lock to your bike frame, not the wheel. Wheels can be removed easily. Then attach and lock the frame to a solid metal anchor, like a bike rack pole or bar, or a wrought-iron fence.

Make sure the area where you secure your bike is in open sight of other areas, not isolated. The more public the site, the better?#34;thieves don’t like being noticed.

Register your bike with the police department. If it does get stolen, there’s at least a chance of it being recovered.

Likewise, report any theft to the police. Law enforcement can’t respond to a problem if they don’t know about it.

Insist that places such as schools, libraries, stores and playgrounds have an adequate number of modern racks to secure bikes, as well as some sort of surveillance of those areas.

?#34;Bill Dwyer

Unlocking U-locks

In a genuine manufacturer’s nightmare, one bike enthusiast discovered last September that the plastic barrel of a Bic pen, costing around a dollar, could easily open the tubular cylinder locking mechanisms on several of Kryptonite’s U-lock models, which cost up to $50. The news rapidly spread over the Internet, forcing Kryptonite to offer free product exchanges to all consumers who are concerned about the security of the tubular cylinder locks?#34;which utilize 50-year-old axial pin tumbler technology?#34;with new locks using disc cylinder technology. Kryptonite’s parent, Ingersoll-Rand Corp., said it expected the replacement program to cost $10 million, roughly 40 percent of Kryptonite’s estimated $25 million 2004 revenues.

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