In reply to LittleRob:
Bike thieves piss me off no end. When students at my institute were filling sand bags and building flood defences a couple of years ago, thieves stole a couple of bikes locked t a bike rack less then five meters away. The going rate is about three or four bikes a month, and the police could not care less.
I therefore propose a different solution:
Seeing as bikes have largely replaced horses, bike thieves should be treated like horse thieves used to be:
Cut off ears first time.
Cut off head second time round...
CB