Yes. For my next bike, I’ll be using a far heftier reinforced steel D-lock (which took a reviewer sixteen minutes to cut through using bolt cutters and about two minutes using an angle grinder: that’s pretty much a world record among bike locks), coupled with a cable-loop (to ensure that the wheels are all connected to the frame and can’t be removed separately). I’m also going to Datatag the whole thing (a widely-respected tamperproof labelling system using both visible and invisible markers): they’re not getting my next bike!

I’m busy fighting with the insurance company right now, and for a couple of reasons I’m not sure I’m going to get a great deal, so I may have to buy myself a new bike in addition to whatever they try to palm me off with. I suppose I could always resell what they give to me… Anyway: new bike next week, I hope, along with some spectacular locking systems. They say that thieves will only target bikes whose locks – as a rule of thumb – are worth less than 10%-15% of the value of the bike (any higher, and the additional security of the lock doesn’t make the payoff worthwhile): so I’ll be aiming for a massive 18% or so, I think – and fuck you, thieves.

I’m sort-of glad they nicked my bike this week, though, and not next week: I planned this weekend to replace my rear sprockets (gears), and it would have really stung to have them stolen immediately thereafter! Forever the optimist!