There are some more modern solutions to securing your bike’s parts together:
- Hexlox: Hexlox insert into the heads of your bike’s existing Allen bolts. As long as the bolts are steel (most are), these magnetic inserts drop right in and prevent an Allen wrench from fitting into the bolt head.
- Pitlocks: Pitlocks look like misshapen nuts, surrounded by a dish that prevents somebody from attempting to wrestle it off with an adjustable wrench.
- Pinheads: Pinheads look like domes of metal, dimpled as if they’d survived a scale-model asteroid strike. An individualized key slips over the dome, gets traction on the dimples, and unscrews or tightens it.
These are actually great low tech solutions to hopefully preventing your bike from being stolen (rather than trying to track it after it is gone). The nuts and bits can be reused on future bikes and don’t wear out either, so although not cheap, they can be used for a long time.
You can’t make a bike thief-proof. If they want it badly enough, they can defeat any security bolt or method. But that’s only if you have a Mission Impossible-style team of all-star bike thieves targeting your ride.
See https://www.wired.com/story/bike-security-bolts-finally-gave-me-peace-of-mind/