Who’s trying to steal your bike (and what tools are they using)? | The Best Bike Lock (2024)

And then we'll examine the eight most popular tools they're using to steal our bikes. I've also added some videos of real thieves stealing bikes with these tools.

Who are these Bike Thieves?

So there are broadly two different types of bike thief. The first and most common, is the "opportunist" thief, who is certainly carrying cable cutters, maybe some medium sized bolt cutters, maybe even a crowbar.

The opportunists are looking for any bikes secured with cables, weak u-locks and puny chains and padlocks. No bike is too cheap or tatty to escape their attention.

But the good news is: a decent u-lock or chain lock will usually be too much for their limited tool set, and they will pass over your bike for easier pickings.

The second type is the“professional”bike thief, who will certainly use very powerful bolt cutters and may have access to a variety of power tools, such as portable angle grinders and bottle jacks.

The professionals target the more expensive bikes and may even steal to order. They can defeat any lock given enough time.

So if you have a bike that a “professional” may covet, you’ll need the best quality lock and you’ll need to be very careful about where you leave your bike and how long you leave it for.

The 8 most common tools used by Bike Thieves

OK, let’s have a look at the eight most popular tools these thieves are using in more detail...

1. Their bare hands!

Yep, believe it or not, many cheap bike locks can be broken with your bare hands. And you don’t have to be built like the Incredible Hulk! We’re generally talking about cable locks here.

Don’t believe me? Check out this video…

A pair of hand held cable cutters will snip through most cable locks in seconds. Cheap, inconspicuous and easy to carry around in a coat pocket, this is the tool that's most commonly used by bike thieves.

And it’s worth repeating again: they will cut through nearly all cable locks in seconds. Here’s a video of a thief cutting a cable lock with a tiny pair of wire cutters...

Embarrassing isn't it? There are plenty of great, lightweight bike locks that can't be cut so easily though!

3. Hacksaws

Just like a pair of cable cutters, a hacksaw is cheap and pretty easy to carry around unnoticed. And just like the cable cutters, it will tear through a cable lock very easily.

With enough time, a hacksaw will also cut through low quality u-locksandchainswhich tend to be made from thin, soft metal.

This video shows a thief stealing a bike with a hacksaw. It takes him seconds...

Cheap, poor quality mechanisms can be smashed to bits with a hammer. For the thief, it’s much easier if they can hit the mechanism against a hard concrete ground. So using a good locking technique, that keeps your lock as far off the ground as possible is important.

However, they don’t always need the ground. So even more important is not buying a cheap lock that can be defeated with a hammer...

Crowbars, scaffold poles and other long pieces of metal are often used in leverage attacks on u-locks. Longer ones are obviously a bit more conspicuous! But they’re very effective, even on mid range u-locks.

A smaller u-lockandgood locking techniquecan make this much more difficult for the thief.

This is a great video of a scaffold pole thief in action...

Bolt cutters come in a variety of sizes (usually 8″, 12″, 18″, 24″, 36″ and 42″).The smaller bolt cutters (8 and12″) are easily concealed in a backpack and will make mince meat out of all cable locks.

What do you think this man’s got down his trousers?...

The biggest bolt cutters (36 and 42″) are usually only used by serious bike thieves. But they can crop mid range u-locks and chains and sometimes even the higher end locks. The strongest bike locks will be bolt cutter proof though...

To guarantee that a lock cannot be cropped byanymanual bolt croppers you need a lock made from good quality, properly hardened steel with a diameter of 16 mm.

But bear in mind not everyone with 36 or 42″ bolt cutters can crop a high security locks that’s less than 16 mm thick.

It takes a thief with considerable skill (and weight!) who can manoeuvre the lock into a favourable position where they can use the ground for leverage.

So, again, good locking technique can minimize this risk.

7. Hydraulic bottle jacks

This is why smaller u-locks are generally safer: there's less space available to fit a bottle jack. It’s also why a good locking technique should always try to fill up as much of the space inside your u-lock!

8. Portable angle grinders

Portable, battery powered angle grinders are only for the most audacious thief. They make a lot of noise and produce a lot of sparks. So theyshouldattract a lot of attention.

However, time and time again we see passers-by ignoring thieves stealing bikes. So maybe they don’t really need to be that audacious!

Angle grinders will cut through any lock given enough time. However, the thicker the lock, the longer it takes. And the greater the risk the thief will be disturbed.

With the very thickest locks like the New YorkFahgettaboudit, they may even need to carry a spare battery to get through it. However, with battery technology improving all the time this is becoming less of an issue (unfortunately).

Forward thinking brands like Altor, (who sell the world's first "angle grinder proof bike lock"), and SkunkLock, (whose booby trapped u-lock will give any angle grinder wielding thief a very nasty surprise), are doing their best to fight back.

And as of 2022, there are more regular looking u-locks, such as the Litelok X1 and the Hiplok D1000, that offer such high levels of angle grinder resistance (due to the ceramic compounds they use), that they are very unlikely to be cut in the street.

But at the end of the day, an angle grinder will get through any lock eventually. So make sure you leave your bike in the most public places you can find, for the shortest possible time.

Here’s some CCTV footage of a bike being stolen using an angle grinder in an underground car park. The sparks start to fly at 1:20 min…

Wrapping up

So there you have the most popular tools for stealing bikes. As used by both opportunist and “professional” bike thieves.

There are of course other ways to defeat bike locks. They can be picked. They can be frozen with aerosols and then smashed with a hammer. They can be blow torched.But these methods aren’twidelyused by bike thieves. Probably because they are either more difficult, less effective or more costly.

And what can we learn form this? Well, the most important lessonis this:never, ever use a cable lock.

If you useadecent u-lock, it won’t be beaten by wire or cable cutters.No-ones going to rip it off with their bare hands. It will take an impossibly long time to cut through with a hacksaw. It can’t be smashed open by a hammer. And small oreven medium size bolt cutters will not be able to crop it.

And with agood locking techniquethat keeps your lock as far from the ground as possible and leaves little space to insert bottle jacks orlengths of metal that areused for leverage attacks, you can vastly reduce your exposure to these other methods.

An angle grinder will always be able to defeat your lock. But there’s not much you can do about that. If your bike is desirable enough to attracta thiefwith anangle grinder, you should take steps to ensure your bike is never left anywhere such a thief might have access to.

If you’re thinking your current bike lock might not be up to the job, please check out mybike lock guide where I will show you the three simple steps to find the best lock for you and your bike.