As part of our Getting Started guide, I wrote an article on how to prevent the theft of your bike. While most of the article was about best practices in bike locking, I did mention the perfectly reasonable strategy of riding a cheap beat up bike and not worrying too much about locking. The downside to this course of action is that you are left riding a crappy bike.

So how do you make your nice bike less appealing to would-be thieves? Well, there is a new product I found through a post on Ecovelo that can help. London Artist Dominic Wilcox is offering a sticker sheet of rust spots and scratches that can be applied to your bike to reduce its curb appeal. This is totally brilliant though it is not apparent if you can get them shipped to this side of the pond. UPDATE: Wilcox let us know you can get these shipped worldwide.

My favorite part of the sheet is the disclaimer: This anti-theft device is not guaranteed to work in any way. However I have stuck them to my shiney new red bike and can confirm it hasn’t been stolen yet. 13 days of not being stolen in London probably equates to 7 years of non-stealing in the friendly countryside.

So, don’t think this is a replacement for a lock, just another level of deterrent. Oh, and it is probably not believable if you put these “rust” marks on your carbon and aluminum parts. Stay safe out there!