more good reasons to buy a car

@Dazzer: Cheaper and less harmful to buy several hundred bikes.

My e-bike got just stolen few hours ago in front of the main post office on BJ rd, just 1 meter far from security guy who was watching all that happening and didnt even move his eyebrow. Said he didnt know what was going on, why suddenly some guys come on e-bike, one of them jump of and sit on laowais ebike who just came 1min ago. Girls in post office noticed that , even the sit far from the entrance, behind a counter and shouted on me,

but was too late.

Anyway, I know its a long shot, but have nothing to loose, any suggestion where to check? Which 2nd hand e-bike market?

They have these bicycles that one can rent with a Chinese ID card. You download the app and scan the QR and the bike unlocks and you can ride and after you ride you can leave the bike any where. No worry. These bikes have a small GPS so the company knows where the bikes are. The reason I bring this up is why don't people that own E-bike put GPS on their bike too. Don't they have an app that signals an alarm the moment the bike is moved or tampered with?

You must have noticed there are security cameras everywhere. Beijing road, theres probably not a single corner on that road, where a camera cant pick up the brand of cigs you smoking. Your best bets are the cops. At least so far, maybe after spring festival the american becomes a bad guy, who knows.

I hand painted my bicycle, so that it is not attractive to anyone who would 'fence' it, and therefore not attractive to thieves. The logic being, why steal a poorly customized bike that will be hard to shift, when there is a nice one just down the road.

I still have my bike after 2 years.
I have also seen hand painted ebikes, one with just big spots and stripes from a spray can. I assume this is for the same reason, it is harder (near impossible) to sell on, except for spares.

@Tiger

Tiger uses old Yunnan technique. That worked for the Nu Valley women too. Tattoo your face and nobody will do a wife-robbery on a woman like that. If someone does, easy to find again. In modern area its the bike.

They repaint stolen bikes with ease, so sadly that method only works for cheap or moderately priced bikes. But by all means, still a plus as antitheft measures go.

@Alexez. Security guards are useless worthless the whole world over. I had a guard in LA watch as some thieves just carried my bike off. The guard just pointed a direction with his finger. Actually, security guards are worse than useless. They give a false sense of security.

Do try the cops as suggested. I think there have been one Gok story of the cops pulling off a miracle with stolen ebike.

Also, I suggest people spend on two variety of locks, with each costing 100rmb or more. No need to cheap out on locks if it can avoid that awful feeling you get when you walk to an empty space where your bike or ebike should be.

A word on locks.

'D' locks are very easy to bust open because they are rigid.

Disc locks are only a little better, but if they have to smash the disk, they will give up stealing the bike.

Another tip is to have two hidden in line switches, to break the circuit to the battery. Thieves might look for one, but the time taken will make them nervous. If the bike still won't move most would give up. Not foolproof, but

deterrent.

A heavy chain type is more secure, depending on the lock. As suggested, spend over 100 yuan.

A note on hand-painting. You get lots of brush marks that cannot be hidden with a quick 'blow-over' paint job.
Yes my bike was cheap, about 2000 when I bought it. Bikes costing 10k are definitely a magnet for thieves.

I just purchased a cheap sports bicycle and it came with a lock. Its a pretty bad lock so I decided to spend 30 rmb on taobao, the lock arrived, i locked it in my complex right outside my apartment and now the keys don't open it. They are crap quality keys, I shouldn't buy cheap stuff on taobao. I'm going to try and shimmy it open tomorrow morning with a flathead screwdriver then just use the lock it came with. If it gets stolen then so be it.