How to properly lock up a bike

• One lock is good. Two locks are better.

• Always lock your bike to something sturdy and solid, like a fence, bike rack, or tall tree. Make sure it’s something that’s tall enough that the bike can’t be lifted over it (like a parking meter.)

• A U-lock is great for securing your frame. Make sure it’s nice and tight.

• For the second — run a cable (or chain) through the rear tire and again through the frame.

• Secure both ends together with a padlock or key lock. Always test the lock to make sure it’s secure.

• If you have a quick release front wheel — pop it off and take it with you. If you can’t take the wheel with you, run the cable through the front wheel as well.

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This is Steve Madden with howdini.com. And I'm here to tell you that there is no bigger bummer than having a sweet bicycle, locking it up some place, coming back out, and having it stolen. So today, I'm here to talk about everything that you need to know to secure your bicycle, to make sure that the thieves don't get it because there's no bigger bummer than losing your ride.

Almost 4% of all theft in the United States is bicycle-related. You don't want to become a statistic. So I'm going to show you how to lock up your bike properly. One lock is good. Two locks are better. I'm going to use this Kryptonite U-lock. I use this to wrap around the frame. Make sure that the frame is secured, locked up nice and tight to the frame.

So now the frame is secured. So the frame's locked to a nice, sturdy fence. You always want to pick something that's sturdy and solid. That you're not going to be able to lift the bike up and over it, like if you pick a single street pole or something like that. Ingenious thieves that they are, they might want to lift it up and over. You don't want to become a victim that way.

The second thing you want to do is take the cable. And I run the cable through the spokes of the rear wheel and again around the frame. Come in wide around the frame. You got lots of length to play with here. Here we go. Then always test the lock to make sure that it is actually secure. This one is good. I'm good to go. I'm on my way.

Well, what about the front wheel? If you have a quick release on it, like I have on this Treviso-- so I'm just going to pop it off. And it's coming with me. One last thing for an enterprising thief to be worried about is taking the wheel with you. If you are going to a meeting or something where you're worried about not wanting to walk in with a wheel, run the cable through both wheels. But safer is always better.

So that's it. That's what you need to know how to make sure your bike is still there when you come back. Use the U-lock. Use the cable lock. Use a chain lock. But make sure you use a lock. For howdini.com, I'm Steve Madden.

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