There's a few things missing in this comparison, most notably the bike manufacturer isn't claiming the bike is already secure ("auto-locking" bikes) or making additional security challenging (bikes that locks are very hard to install on) or generally profiting from an environment of misinformation about bike theft and bike safety.

Additionally theft of property has a personal gain for you.

I'm not sure I ethically support the hacker's actions, but I don't think the bike example has the market/awareness effects that make it at all defensible.