Cycling UK Forum

My bikes are kept locked in a garage but lots of similar places are being broken into in my neck of the woods and fancy bikes being taken.
I would like to get a long lenght of plastic coated cable to run between the bikes so that I can padlock them up.I'm talking 10 meters or so.Anyone any ideas?
There would need to be a padlock fitting loop at each end.

30ft Kryptonite cable cheap here... http://www.parker-international.co.uk/6 ... gn=pid6769

Usual provisos about the ease of cutting any cable

mmm, a surreptitious alarm (perhaps using the cable itself as part of a circuit) would be a useful thing to have as well.

cheers

We use a "Garage Defender"



Prevents the garage (or other) doors being opened

Internally the trick is to make things as difficult as possible. What I have done is u locked various bikes together and / or to ground anchors. Th idea being that each bike will need a separate lock or padlock removed before it can be taken.

A single cable only needs to be attacked once.

The other option suggested on another site is a "Krank Mine"



Load with a blank shotgun shell and when the tripwire is activated......... then take some loo roll outside to clear up the mess!

I have a Garage Defender, although I have doubts about how effective one might be. The equipment itself is bordering on impregnable but it would need to be really strongly anchored to prevent somebody just coming up the drive with a motor vehicle, connecting it up and towing it out of the drive.

I think a typical galvanised metal garage door like mine makes a pretty good sounding board. I have a pair of fairly cheap mortice locks - one fastened to either side of the door. Although they would be relatively easy to defeat as the door they are mounted on is only sheet metal, I don't think it would be easily done without making a fair bit of racket.

Two basic precautions are first, to keep the door closed as much as possible so passing thieves, scrap metal collectors etc., don't specifically know you have bikes in there, then always remember to lock up. IME, a lot of garage burglaries involve doors left unlocked.

For very very good chains, padlocks, ground anchors, etc try http://www.torc-anchors.com/ I saw some of the tests that they did and was impressed.
Not at all cheap, but at the same time much cheaper than having to buy new bikes!

Any good yacht rigging company can make this up in thick stainless steel wire, but make sure you get a flexible one not a stiff one for standing rigging. I have a long length with a hard eye in one end and a soft eye in the other so that you can thread one through the other. Enough to lock up two bikes with all the whheels and fames. I had rubber fuel line threaded on to the wire before the eyes were made up to provide protection for the frame. The problem is of course that bolt croppers will cut the wire. It is however an extra deterrant and ideal when camping or locking bikes on the roof of a car although it is heavy and quite bulky with a suitably strong lock.

Not cheap though- got >£1000 worth of the stuff sitting there waiting for me to get my bum in gear and get the boat ready! That's a titanium Burl's frame, sitting there, wasted... (I mean worth; not got a Burl's. I wish).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn5qd-_1JC8

Asec Garage Door Locking 2 Bolt Kit

any good?

That's a posher / stronger vesion of what I have (mine is two bog standard mortice locks with matching keys.)

I'd say that was a good way of providing greatly improved security for a fairly weak style of garage door. (Mine is sheet galvanised metal with a single central lock with the key number visible externally. There's a window - fitted with small glass panes directly over the latch which is cable-operated from the lock, so by standing on a dustbin, somebody could unlock the original lock by breaking a small window and putting their arm through to pull the cable.)

Even one cheapo extra lock or bolt strengthens any door (try kicking or shouldering one open) and two are better still.

As I posted above, I think the main advantage of an arrangement like this - apart from deflecting intruders elsewhere - is the likely noise they would make (as well as the slightly longer time needed.) Impregnable it isn't. Anybody armed with a crowbar or similar could defeat those locks quite quickly. Who carries a crowbar on spec? Around here we have regular visits - two or three times daily, sometimes more - from scrap metal collectors in tranny pick-ups. They provide a vastly superior collection service for old washers and so on than does the council. I watched them loading up a washing machine a couple of weeks ago and the first step was to partially dismantle it with a 4ft long wrecking bar.

Perhaps I'm being judgmental. Earlier this year after a reconnaisance of the bikes on my sheffield stand by the crew of a tranny pick-up (generally a three man team ie driver plus two observers) a tranny van arrived a few minutes later for a closer inspection.

This....



http://www.screwfix.com/p/lockable-surface-bolts-galvanised-50-x-457-x-160mm/75650

Fix the bolt to the door, backed up by something stiff on the inner side of the door.
Drill a hole in the concrete drive (ideally!) for the bolt to shoot into.

I've thought about garage security while I've been walking to the papershop and back.

The majority of garage doors are flimsy and don't give great physical security. We've lived in this street almost forty years and I only remember one of the garages being screwed. This was done "by or on behalf of" an estranged spouse recovering property from the matrimonial home. The main part of the house, which isn't accessible from the garage was also done at the same time and for the same reason. I think many garages are left open for things like easier meter reading: for long enough, we used to do that. The original lock on my garage can be slammed shut and it's locked, but the extra locks take extra effort. There's a temptation not to bother using the extra precautions - this might also apply to something like a long cable that had to be threaded / unthreaded every time bikes were taken out or put back.

I also wonder how much highly visible security attracts interest on the basis that it must be protecting something worth stealing. I avoid having my garage door open for any longer than necessary (I don't want anybody spotting my extensive collection of 6 speed freewheels, toe straps, etc )

I'd reiterate that I think the main protection of most garage doors is that they face immediately onto the street, although many people wouldn't do much if they saw a burglary in progress. I'd also urge against being impressed by the impregnable strongpoints of your security because a thief will only look at the weak bits. eg many older safes have an impressive front and a back like a biscuit tin. They also aren't too bothered about causing big damage - the only deterrent there being if it makes too much noise.

thirdcrank wrote: ....I also wonder how much highly visible security attracts interest on the basis that it must be protecting something worth stealing. I avoid having my garage door open for any longer than necessary (I don't want anybody spotting my extensive collection of 6 speed freewheels, toe straps, etc )

I think I remember an episode of 'the Simpsons' where Homer gets a trampoline, which is great until he wants shot of it, and he finds that he can't even give it away. His solution? -He locks it up with a bike lock and it naturally disappears immediately...

cheers

johnsouthwales wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn5qd-_1JC8

Asec Garage Door Locking 2 Bolt Kit

any good?

Good kit.
I've seen garage doors peeled/folded up at the bottom corners to gain entery then once in used tools in the garage to open it fully.Those kind of locks would stop that.
Regarding the long cable,I'd have two with two locks,which will take twice as long to cut off and if they do get in I'd lock any tools up in either a chest or somekind of box to stop them being used either to remove the cables or as weapons if the scroats are disturbed.
Burglars don't like light or noise so if there's power in the garage a security floodlight both outside,high up if possible and also inside pointing directly toward the door.500watts of halagen bulb should be a bit of a shock to the system of a would be intruder,and it were to be accompanied by a loud alarm should send them scuttling
BTW a baseball bat by the side of the bed is a useful accessory too