Among the different actors in the pavement, bikers are the most foresighted. Due to the fact of the extreme exposition of an usual bicycle to the environment, the impacts of raining, snowing and winding should be anticipated.

There are places like the Northern European and other countries in which riders are so used to somehow bad weather conditions that they ride without apparently any inconvenient. Interestingly enough, some bikers in sunnier countries wonder how they can do it. The answer is simple: they prepare themselves. If weather forecast predicts rain, they ride with a raincoat (or even an umbrella). Coat, globes and wool hat constitute the basic equipment in winter. It does not even bother themselves when snowing and here it is better to use drought wheels. Its amazing!

A different section is required for wind. Although there is a specific garment to deal with this element know as windbreak jacket, the impact on the biker can be both beneficial or harmful just depending on the wind direction. In the first case, wind blows to your back and hence it helps you riding. On the other hand, if it hits squarely your face, you must make extra effort to move from point A to point B. Under special circumstances like in a hurricane should you not ride your bicycle for safety reasons.

The other day someone at my work had a small incident and we all began sharing safety tips when biking. Here are mine:

• First of all, your security is the most important thing.
• I use physically separated bikeways whenever possible.
• Totally ignore sharrows that invite you to bike in areas where you can easily be doored.
• When I bike on the road I always bike in the middle of the lane to force drivers who want to overtake to do it following the law and giving proper clearance.
• I wear visible helmet, shirts, jackets, gloves, etc, and 2 front and 2 rear lights at night.
  Glasses help avoiding eye-insect collisions.
• Totally disregard the 1% of drivers who honk the horn at you and appreciate the 99% who actually follow the law and behave in a humane way.
• Don’t wear any headphones ever, do stop at red lights, make sure to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, and specially whenever you’re riding on the sidewalk. Basically, behave like a bicycle when you’re on a bikeway, like a car when you’re on the road, and like a pedestrian when you’re on the sidewalk.
• Despite everything above, about once a year or two I have a close call with someone changing lanes while checking their phone or something similar, so I record my rides with a gopro pointing forward and another pointing backwards just in case I ever need them, plus people behave nicer when they realize they are being recorded.
• Bonus point I got from my coworkers: if you usually bike on the road don’t use a bell and use a loud horn instead.

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As I previously wrote about, locking the bike is key if you want to enjoy it. Today, I am going to focus on how to avoid bike thefts. Of course, the best way is to lock your bike at home, specially on nights, but this is not always possible. When you lock your bike in the street, you should consider a few points:

• Locking bikes on thin metal bicycle parkings is a bad idea. Better, locked it to a sturdy, hard to hack post or a tree (this last point could be controversial according to some local laws)

• Difficult, but not impossible: Locking wheels to the frame so that they can’t turn, but not locking the frame to a post or something. Bicycle can easily be carried away and locks open at one’s convenience at home.

• Locking just wheels, not the frame itself, to a post or a tree. Wheels are simply taken off, left, while the rest of the bike is carried away.

• Locking the frame, but leaving the chain close to the ground. Ground provides lots of leverage for different cutting tools. Keep locks as high as possible.

• Having too long to wide locks and padlocks, leaving room to insert leverage metal bars, car lifting jacks etc – is also a bad idea.

• Combine at least two types of locks so that thieves must use at least two different tools.

• Lock the frame to a strong immobile object, putting the lock through the frame so that it can’t be taken off without cutting the frame (or the lock).

• Lock both wheels (to the frame, or an immobile object).

• Make sure saddle, or other expensive parts are either taken off, or locked to the frame as well.

No method is 100% safe. Even a well locked bicycle with a good lock takes about 20 minutes to hack. If the thief uses a battery powered angle grinder, it is just few minutes. However, if the bike is better locked than the other bikes in the street and it doesn’t look more expensive, there is a greater chance you conserve it the next day.

When one thinks about locking the bike to a cycle parking or a piece of a street furniture, it is always useful to consider three key elements in whatever bike. No matter if you have a folding bike, tandem or mountain bike, all have the same parts. Saddle, front and rear wheels should be properly locked as these elements are the most common target of bike thieves. Of course, they can steal the whole bike, but it is normally faster to just rob one part. Nevertheless, I will write about the whole bike and the ways of locking it right in other time. For now, take into account how your bike elements are secured because it is not the same having fast-open locks, locking skewer or traditional nuts. The last ones make thefts to take more time, because an adjustable wrench is needed. Also, try to use different locks so that you have an indirected advantage: more than one tool is need.

As it comes to bike locks, you can find several types in the market.

• Chain and padlock: Hardened steel chains are heavy, but flexible. Try to use one with hexagonal profile so that cutters press on a wider area, creating less force per mm. It should be at least 10 mm thick.
• Cable with lock: Cable locks use to be easy to carry and flexible. However, they are a bit easier to cut and I recommend use them as additional locks.
• U-lock: Lower weight per level of protection and easy to carry, but it has the lowest flexibility and you need to find a proper post.
• Folding lock: The best locks joint with the U-locks. The folding locks offer good security and are easy to carry.

Cheap bad locks and poorly locked bicycles are taken within a minute or less with ordinary tools every small thief has. Better use a combination of good locks and lock the bike in secure, crowded places.

In this post I am not referring to white bikes as opposite to black bikes. The white bikes are put in the places where a cyclist died, mainly as a result of a car accident. Those bikes are a kind of gravestone to remember the tragic event and in memory of the person who died. It is common that among the events to remember this cyclist, candles and/or flowers are placed next to it. Friends and local bikers offer their respects to the white bikes as they were the lost people. These monuments recall us we have to obey the traffic law, indicate our movements and use lights at night.