Good relatively light cable lock?

[CampagKid]

Left my bike near Waterloo yesterday for maybe an hour. When I came back someone had tried (and nearly succeeded) to cut through a Halfords cable lock.

Can anyone recommend a cable lock which isn't so easy to cut through, preferably stainless steel and under £50!

[PH]

No. I'm surprised anyone failed to cut you current one, must have been a really amateurish attempt, I don't know of a cable lock that isn't easily cut with basic hand tools.
Chains are the next step up, I'd expect even the lower end SS Bronze class would be better than any cable. I have a 85cm Kryptonite Keeper, 1.5kg and £30, though it isn't something I'd trust to use at a London train station.

[Mick F]

No.

Exactly this. Sadly.

A lock, no matter how secure, will only keep an honest man out.

One of the good ideas I've read on here, is to find a better bike than yours, and park your bike next to it. The tealeaves will concentrate on the better bike.

[simonineaston]

I know it doesn't help the op, but since the arrival of powerful battery powered tools, there's nothing much that can defend a bike when left unattended these days... I try whenever possible to take my bike inside with me, helped that my main town bike is a fold up.

[re_cycler]

I think this video demonstrates the futility of the quest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rphMwx ... kingLawyer

Searching his videos for cycle locks also shows how poor some of the locks are protected against picking or angle grinder.

[mjr]

The best cable lock, as of about 2019, seemed to be a 12mm-thick "braid of braids" (steel rope, more or less) with a movement/vibration alarm in the locking mechanism. Even then, it's only good for when you're close enough to hear the alarm and run for the bike before the thief rides/runs away with it.

If a bike is being left unattended, I'd use a D lock. For a London station, probably 2 D locks (each through the parking stand, the frame and a different wheel) on a bike I won't cry over losing. Battery power tools are a curse on cycling.

[alexnharvey]

No.

Exactly this. Sadly.

A lock, no matter how secure, will only keep an honest man out.

One of the good ideas I've read on here, is to find a better bike than yours, and park your bike next to it. The tealeaves will concentrate on the better bike.

A better bike with a worse lock!

[PT1029]

Agree "No" is the answer.
I sometimes have to cut locks at work (usually lost/broken key and lock stuck on bike frame or handlebars).
As for their security, I use my park cable cutters (as in brake/gear cables). Cutting in one go would ruin the cutters. I nibble through a few strands at a time, usually 1/2 - 1 minute to get through a cable. On some locks the plastic coating gives me more resistance than the cable itself........
I'd suggest a chain, or D lock, or one of those made up of connected steel plates.
What is the value of your bike? When I worked in a bike shop, the guidance we gave to customers was to buy a lock which was 10% of the value of the (new) bike.

[CampagKid]

That YouTube video is scary. I normally try and take my bike everywhere with me, but there are times when there's no option but to trust to steel locks. I think a D Lock is next on my list of purchases.

[CampagKid]

I'm also looking at a 1m chain with 0.75cm links. I'm guessing that's not as good as a decent D Lock?

[drossall]

I've quoted it before, but someone once pointed out that, in the real world, all bicycles weigh the same. Really cheap, heavy BSOs can be locked with a piece of string weighing 5 grams, because the bike next door will always be a more tempting target. Quality, lightweight cycles need at least two D locks. The total is roughly the same in each case.

[PH]

I'm also looking at a 1m chain with 0.75cm links. I'm guessing that's not as good as a decent D Lock?

Depends. I refer to the Sold Secure standard, which now has four classes - Bronze,Silver, Gold and Diamond. It's the same testing so theoretically a Gold chain and a Gold D lock will have the same resistance. That isn't always the most relevant factor and it's not always within your control. One of the nice things about a chain is you can often wrap it in a way that you can't get any cutter jaws around it. For a bike left in town, I like two locks, a frame lock (Sometimes called a Nurses Lock) that secures the wheel to the frame to stop the bike being wheeled away and a chain to secure it to something solid.
We don't know of course what the potential thief of your bike is looking for or capable of. I'm a bit dismissive of this idea they'll go for a better bike, what is that? If they want to turn a quick £100 then a mid price Halfords bike is going to be more appealing than a four grand bit of bling.
Lastly, if you routinely need to park your bike and are concerned about the financial consequence of losing it, get insurance. The TSB and Barclays policies cost little (My annual premium is around 1.5% of the cover), if you have a bike under £1,000 it's often covered under standard household insurance. If you are insured, make sure you understand the lock requirements they impose.

[PH]

I know it doesn't help the op, but since the arrival of powerful battery powered tools, there's nothing much that can defend a bike when left unattended these days... I try whenever possible to take my bike inside with me, helped that my main town bike is a fold up.

Some are more resistant than others. Litelock have upped the game, a 1.7kg SS Diamond D lock that they're claiming has 5X the resistance of others, downside is the £150 price tag. For an additional 400g and £100, there's a beefier version on the way offering 15 times the resistance.

https://www.litelok.com/pages/litelok-x-range

[CampagKid]

I like the look of the Hiplok D1000, twenty minutes to get through it with a very determined angle grinder as opposed to 3-5 mins of the Lightlok...

[CampagKid]

£250 though... But with a lifetime warranty

https://hiplok.com/product/hiplok-d1000/