I'm going to share what I've learned after having four e-bikes stolen in three years. Don't let this happen to you. Welcome to the channel. I'm Liz. I'm a full-time RVer. I've been traveling the country the last four years and you probably know I'm on a mission to hit 100,000 subscribers. So thank you for helping me with that goal. In this video, it's going to be all about bike thefts and how to prevent them. I've been through this three times. I've lost four bikes and I'm going to share with you what I'm doing now so that this never happens again. I'm going to be talking about an anti-fifft protection program, e-bike insurance, and a new lock that is angle grinder resistant. So first of all, why have I been the victim to so many thefts? I have to say it's because I've been in campgrounds. I used to think campgrounds were safe places. I'm away from it all. It's out in the country, but guess what? I have learned that campgrounds are magnets for thieves, particularly for e-bikes. e-bikes are a very hot property. Thousands and thousands of e-bikes are stolen every year. It's unbelievable how many. When you look at a campground, you'd be surprised about the very high concentration of e-bikes. An unlike living in a house, you can't hide your e-bike in the backyard or garage. It's out there in the open. Unless you have a toy hauler which has a ramp up into a garage, that e-bike is going to be outside. Most of them are too big and too heavy to get up the steps so you've got to leave them somewhere in your campsite. So let's talk about the first theft. My boyfriend and I had our e-bikes outside by our fifth wheel and we had them locked but with a cable lock. And someone came along and cut the lock and took my e-mountain bike. Now I'm going to be talking about better locks but I want to underline this point. No matter what you do, nothing will be 100% theft proof. What you can hope for is that you slow them down or inconvenience them enough that they'll give up and move to an easier target. My number one anti-fifft tip is to cover the bike. If you keep it covered while you're driving it, while it's in the campground, wherever you are with it, they don't know what you have. The next thing is to talk about a better lock. Those cable locks, they're cheap, they're easy to cut with bolt cutters or an angle grinder. I had camping neighbors last week with very expensive $8,000 specialized e-bikes and they were just using a cheap cable lock. So a better lock is to get a hardened steel chain lock. It's not perfect but it will at least slow the thief down and be way more protection than a cable lock. But it can still be cut with an angle grinder and that's where the light lock comes in. So I've been using this lock for the last couple months and I love it. It's made out of baronium. It's a compound they've come up with its angle grinder resistant. It gives you five times more protection than the leading U-lock and it doesn't weigh any more than the typical U-lock. I use this lock on the bike rack when I'm traveling and I take it with me when I go on rides. I just used it at a national park. I locked it to the bike rack so I could go into the visitor center. I use it when I go to the grocery. I just lock the bike up. If you're interested in this lock I will have a special link in the description. Let's talk about the second bike theft and what went wrong there. My boyfriend and I were camping in a rural area. We had the bikes on the back uncovered but we were backed into the woods and anybody walking by or driving by would not be able to see the bikes. But here's what we went wrong. First of all we didn't have the bikes covered so anyone who followed us into the campground or maybe as we drove through a neighborhood outside the campground they would have seen the bikes. We actually didn't even lock the bikes and that was pretty major. We just were in this phase of feeling like campgrounds are safe places. We're out in the middle of nowhere. We're safe. So what I've learned from that is thieves are everywhere. You should never let your guard down. The other thing that we did wrong is we left the batteries on the bike. It's so important to take the batteries off. Number one the thieves can't just ride off with your bike because they don't have the battery. And number two the battery is one of the most expensive components of an e-bike. In fact for my e-bike the battery is like $800. When you're traveling or when you have your bikes in the campground take the battery out and put it in your camper. Insurance. After the first bike theft I made a claim and I learned that my full-timers insurance by progressive has an exclusion on e-bikes. They specifically don't cover e-bikes. They call them a separate vehicle. Well honestly the insurance companies know that e-bikes are hot property. They're stolen all the time so they don't want to cover them in the policies. You really need to call your agent and find out there are many home owners plans that do not cover e-bikes. I did learn that renters insurance through USAAA did cover the e-bikes. So you want it no matter what insurance you have contact your agent and be sure that you're covered. There's a great anti-fifth protection offer by kryptonite. What they have done is they have rated their locks with a dollar value. For example you can get a lock that has a $3,500 dollar value. If you have a $3,000 e-bike you register for their insurance you show them a receipt for your bike. And if your bike gets stolen they will reimburse you the cost of the bike. Now a couple things they will not reimburse you for any accessories on the bike like if you had a garment or anything like that. And you need to have a photo of the lock cut. So if they happen to take say your whole bike rack or if they take the lock with them they're not going to pay. But it's a good insurance to have and it's very reasonable. I will have a link to that in the description. The third bike theft that I had was actually a happier experience because I got my bike back. Where I went wrong was I believed that by parking my bike on the bike rack locked on the bike rack in a hotel parking lot by the front door with bright lights and supposedly cameras that my bike was going to be safe. What I learned is thieves don't care if there's cameras or not. They're just going to go for it. And lights and traffic and being by the front door means nothing. That bike needed to be covered. Also the lock that came with my bike rack was not strong enough. If ever I'm saying in a hotel again and if ever you're staying in a hotel with your bike do you know that bikes are very commonly stolen from hotel properties. So if you ever stay in a hotel with your bike just take it in your room. Most if not all hotels will definitely let you just take your bike up to your room. The bike that got stolen is actually behind me. It's a juiced rip current s and what juice does is they make a pocket to put an air tag in. It's a GPS tracker that allowed me through my phone to find the bike. But no matter what bike you have you should have an air tag. If you don't have an iPhone which is what the air tag works with then get another kind of GPS tracker. Every e-bike out there needs to have that. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't have got my bike back. Now they're not perfect. So know that there are some GPS trackers that can detect it. But still it's one more thing that you can do so that should your bike is stolen you have a chance of maybe getting it back. Something else that I think is so helpful is to have a motion alarm. This is a very loud horn by juiced that does work as a horn. So if you're riding and you need to use it particularly if you're riding on the road because it's very loud and people in cars can hear this horn. But when I'm parked outside a store I will set the alarm because even though I'll lock my bike up I'm in the store. I'm likely going to hear if somebody messes with that bike. To recap e-bikes are hot property and thieves are everywhere. To protect your bike keep your bike covered. Remove the battery. Consider using an angle grinder resistant lock. Add an air tag. Make sure that your bike is insured either through kryptonites or your own insurance plan and get a motion alarm. If you've enjoyed this video please like, subscribe and share. Let me know of any anti-fifth protection tips I may have missed and as always these are exciting times to push past fear, build confidence and live amazing.