Post by @ascentale@sfba.social

2026-10-09 23:32 UTC

@Amgine asks: A while ago there was a trend to make great bikes look unattractive, to reduce the attention of bike thieves. One &#39;branch&#39; of this was to spray paint the frame with a flat paint in boring colours. One discussion I recall suggested soap paints, which wash off easily but look awful. Q5. Do you think this is effective? Have you ever done something like this yourself? #BikeNiteQ #BikeNite #BikeTooter #Cycling #MastoBikes cc @bikenite

Replies (2)

@genex@sfba.social 2026-10-09 23:33

@ascentale@sfba.social @Amgine@mamot.fr @bikenite@fedigroups.social A5: Have no idea if that was actually effective but guessing this wasn't really as much a thing just based on what I see here in SF (at least of bikes that are actually parked publicly). I haven't done anything to any of my bikes though my backup bike is kinda ugly or maybe garish is the right word 😂 #BikeNite

Open ##5258383
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org 2026-10-09 23:53

@ascentale@sfba.social @Amgine@mamot.fr @bikenite@fedigroups.social #BikeNite A5. Dunno. My strategy is to only ride bicycles which I have purchased for less than $50. I am in a pretty safe area for not getting bikes stolen, though, there are a lot of e-bike people who have wimpy cable locks with combos here who are going to get their $3000 bicycle stolen before my bikes. No one wants mere bikes you pedal! If it doesn't have a motor/throttle, it's got zero value here, unless you're one of those $15K bike people 🙄 (who don't ever ride those bikes to a store or whatnot)

Open ##5258395