Bike security - what do you use? Locks?

[LittleGreyCat]

Quick question.

I don't tend to use a bike for short trips and shopping trips because it takes such a long time to wind/unwind cable locks and stuff around the bike.

Also, if the shops are scrote city that isn't reassuring anyway.

What do people use for short trips, and what do they use for over night on multi-day trips?

I also worry about a leather saddle.....

[hoogerbooger]

RE: leather saddle & rain ..spare plastic bag is what I use.... Just tuck into rails....one less for the shopping though!

I'm too far from the shops, but understand the concern on keeping the bike safe in town . ( touring/leisure cycling we rarely leave them for long un-watched, so our locks are just fairly light weight cable jobs. I'll be interested to see views on robust locks for town.

( when I lived in a city I had a deliberately rusty & crap looking, but well maintained, bike that I used for around town use ...but then I had the benefit of a garage & space to keep the extra bike).

[whoof]

If I do go to the shops I ride an old bike, park it in a busy area and use a 'd' and cable lock. I also lock it to something solid.
At a café out in the country side I use one of these.

Over night when touring. If I'm at a B and B or hotel the bike will be inside. If it's a campsite then I use the above café lock and put the bike near the tent.

Nothing will stop a determined thief, it's just a case of making it too difficult to bother with or easier to steal someone else's bike than yours.

[NUKe]

The used to say, lock should cost about10%of the bike cost

[Mick F]

I rode into Tavistock this morning and popped into a shop for some stuff.
I leant Moulton against the wall outside.
No lock, just left outside.

I know that doesn't help the OP specifically, but if you know your area, you take appropriate steps - or not.
If I'd have needed a lock, I'd have taken it with me.

I use a flexy long rubberised wire from Knog to fasten the bike to an immovable object, as well as an alarmed shackle lock. I'm rarely out of sight of my bikes, but if I expect to be, I won't be out of earshot. That alarm is LOUD.

[sukuinage]

For cycling to sport, shops, pubs etc. I have a relatively old bike locked with a U-lock which I just slip over the handlebars to cycle with. I lock it to something if I can otherwise just the wheel to the frame. For commuting I can leave my lock at work and lock my bike to a proper bikestand. for touring I have a small U-lock and a cable carried in a pannier. Usually just additional security as the bike will normally be in a hotel or B&B. For day trips I'll only be parked at the pub and I'll be sat outside in the sun with my beer

[thelawnet]

The used to say, lock should cost about10%of the bike cost

which I never understood.

If you leave your bike in a city, people could get at with allen keys and nick all the parts, particularly if they are pricey ones.

obviously there's not much point in nicking Tourney shifters & derailleurs, but a nice set of Dura-Ace could be stripped pretty quickly.

Brooks saddles are a massive 'steal-me' target in the wrong place.

Any individual part that's stealable is going to need to be individually secured in some places.

e.g. https://hexlox.com/

Obviously if you are 6'8", then having a massively high saddle is going to put people off, assuming the saddle height is secured.

As far as the lock itself goes, I'm far from convinced about arguments about 10%.

There are a couple of points - can it be very easily stolen using simple, concealable tools

for example cable lock, obviously useless:

[youtube]rphMwxTr54[/youtube]

this ebay-type d-lock is useless because the lock itself is so poor

[youtube]mSuJMRw9CiE[/youtube]

This lock costs just £20

https://www.amazon.co.uk/-Guard-Brute-S ... B00AW7P7JK
[youtube]lvn3_CNVSFs[/youtube]

but is better than this one costing £70

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kryptonite-New ... 06XCMWW9H/
[youtube]jXoS_HB1I3o[/youtube]

Here's a bike being cut off with an angle grinder on a London High Street in broad day light.

[youtube]xXONf663Mxo[/youtube]

Points:

* Any lock will fail vs. angle grinder.
* Cable locks need smaller simpler tools than d locks,
* Bigger harder d locks need bigger tools than smaller ones
* Stronger locks weigh more. Very strong d-locks are 2kg, more basic ones 1kg.
* Most thieves are breaking locks not picking them
* Some tools here http://thebestbikelock.com/best-bike-lo ... your-bike/
* You could buy some of the Brute locks for £20/each and lock them in various places to avoid carrying them around.

[The utility cyclist]

it takes less than 30 seconds to lock up a bike with a std cable lock, I can't see how that is too long for you?

I rarely lock my bike up where I live, it's a fairly small reasonably affluent town and I just don't always feel the need to and have been doing it this was for 25 years. In my city of birth that's a totally different matter, like all big conurbations it has a larger % of toe rags but I haven't had the bike nicked over multiple visits per year and going out and about to all parts, some less savoury than others. Now I wouldn't make a habit of leaving my bike for long periods in areas I didn't know or where I thought might be more likely to be pinched but I've been ok so far in a couple of decades. That said mater had the bike I bought her as a xmas pressie pinched from outside the care home she was volunteering at last spring

I do have an 'Alarm it' lock that I don't use, has a very loud alarm if you cut the cable, however it's a proper brick, it does however have a long length cable for multiple bikes.
shape.
I also have a solid steel D lock style but with a double hinge so it almost makes a figure 8 shape or a nice circle.

oh and you can get around having to lock your front wheel up if you use anti theft skewers.

[cycle tramp]

I've tend to treat my bike like my car, and left it locked up outside when I go to the cinema, go shopping, touring and even going to festivals.
I tend to use a big abus steel-o-flex which I bought for 40 pounds about 15 years ago. For festivals I used to use D locks through the wheels and covered the whole thing in a nylon bike cover from Halfords..
When i toured I with otherd i use to offer to put my bike at the bottom of the heap of bikes, while others were worried about denting their frames or scratching the paint..
..and perhaps that's the secret, ride a bike that looks scruffy and a little beaten and no one pays any interest. My frame is covered in stickers and mismatched paint, there's some slight surface rust on the handlebars, none of the components have any identifiable stickers, the racks are a bit rusty, there's massive horrible mudflaps attached to the mudguards and one handgrip is in fact two old hand grips pushed together, plus the old hand horn which my mum gave to me is rusting up a treat......lovely

[gaz]

Like the OP I find cable locks a bit of a faff, generally I use two D-locks for commuting.

Neither are particularly expensive, nor are they impregnable but many other bikes in town are either much more desireable or have much poorer locks (in most cases both).

Shopping, where I'll be parked up for shorter times and at much less predictable hours, is often just the better one of the two D-locks.

[mjr]

Quick question.

I don't tend to use a bike for short trips and shopping trips because it takes such a long time to wind/unwind cable locks and stuff around the bike.

Also, if the shops are scrote city that isn't reassuring anyway.

What do people use for short trips, and what do they use for over night on multi-day trips?

I also worry about a leather saddle.....

Scruffy plastic bag over the saddle will usually keep it ignored. Shove it through the springs or rail to stop it blowing off.

I use the same pair of locks for short trips to town and long tours, mentioned here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=98275&p=914196#p914196 - It would always be an annoying walk home and bike replacement if it gets nicked.

I don't understand why you unwind/wind the cable lock? Treat it like a big spring. I can photo/video how I lock if it would help you.

[fastpedaller]

Is there some psychology involved here (or am I thinking too hard?) - If the tea leaf doesn't like a scruffy bike, can we make use of his 'observation' skills? One problem with huge locks is their weight - so how about plastic replicas that weigh little and can be fitted in multiples to the bike and adjacent objects? If a bike has what looks to be 4 heavy duty locks will the thief walk away .... or see it as a challenge?

[mjr]

* You could buy some of the Brute locks for £20/each and lock them in various places to avoid carrying them around.

You could, but you risk the parking owner cutting them off or the locks being vandalised or maybe even sabotaged (and then you have to return home or leave the bike locked with only whatever lock you do carry). It's also a bit antisocial for other users of the parking to have unused locks in their way.

[gbnz]

..and perhaps that's the secret, ride a bike that looks scruffy and a little beaten and no one pays any interest. ly

+ 1. It may be a 3 year old Spa frame, c/w decent parts, but the ten year old saddle taped up with parcel tape, myriad of scratches to the frames poor paint finish and battered mud guards makes it look like s*^%$.

Otherwise my "on the road" superlight cable lock, is replaced by an Abus Granite D Lock when shopping et al. Ten years old, but in perfect working order, has been used several times daily for years without an issue. I still have a second, cheaper D Lock for added security, have not felt the need to use it for 9-10 years (Nb. I briefly used to fit a second D lock when leaving the bike for 2-3 hours in one location).

Had a cheap bike odometer pinched once when I'd forgotten to take it off (NB. Stolen in 3-4 minutes, while I was in a shop), otherwise no issues

[zenitb]

Quick question.

I don't tend to use a bike for short trips and shopping trips because it takes such a long time to wind/unwind cable locks and stuff around the bike.
..

I don't understand why you unwind/wind the cable lock? Treat it like a big spring. I can photo/video how I lock if it would help you.

I also take the "Big Spring" approach mjr. In fact I have literally just locked my bike up for lunch...it took less that 10 seconds...no key just a combination lock carried round the handlebars. This has been enough to deter casual theft - and pro bike thieves have not been interested in my 28 year old MTB / touring / commuting mashup anyway...