Preventing Parts Scavenging

Having been a bicycle commuter in Portland, then NYC, then San Fran and now back in NYC for over 25 years I unfortunately have some experience with parts theft. Here are my tips:

1. File off the stupid lawyer (i.e. safety) tabs on your front fork, they're for morons that can't figure out how to use a quick release. This allows you to pop your front wheel off in under 5 seconds (if I can do it a thief can too) and lock it to your frame.
2. Use a crappy looking seat and seat post. I put a new seat on last year, it was stolen the same day, and it was a $15 seat. So I'm back to my 18 year old Flite with no leather, just a plastic seat at this point, still pretty comfortable though.
3. I have had my handlebars stolen twice, really sucks. Now I fill up my stem bolt(s) with Elmer's wood glue. It makes it a pain in the butt to change your handlebars, but really, how often do you do that?

Other little things, don't use nice quick release skewers, thieves will take those too. Get the smallest U lock that will fit through your front wheel, rear wheel, frame and a post. The bigger the U lock, the more places a thief can put a leverage bar and pop your lock. I'm sure you've seen those mangled looking locks all over the place? A 6' 2x4 will pop pretty much any U lock if it can be inserted between the post and the lock.

So what does all this experience mean? I commute on a sweet Titus Titanium frame (love titanium, no rust) frame with Ultegra components, a Chris King headset and custom wheels without fear of some moron crippling my ride home.