Good Locks - Are They Worth It?

[simonhill]

Aldi are selling U locks for £4.99! This has got me thinking.

Obviously expensive high quality locks are more secure, but do they stop your bike being stolen. I remember a programme on the televison showing that even the best locks can be 'broken' in seconds by a well equiped theif. So if someone wants to steal your bike they can.

No lock is asking for trouble, so lets leave that one.

A cheapo lock will deter the oppurtunist thief, so is obviously better than nothing.

My question (point for discussion) is whether a good quality lock is worth it. Would a good lock put thieves off - or would they just see, for example, a U lock, get out the tools for the job and blow it?

Anyone any experience?

[Si]

On reading reports of stolen bikes I notice that many more were using cable than U locks, thus I'd, very unscientifically, say that U locks are superior.

My view is that thieves want to be in and out with the least amount of hassle so they will, all things being equal, target the bike with the easiest to break lock first. I'm sure that given time, an experienced specialist thief can break any lock, I'd speculate that a lot of bike thefts are by opportunists who don't know that much about bike locks, rather they see a poorly secured bike and think "right, I'll have that".

Thus, if locking up around town I use a good quality U lock, and lock up next to a bike that looks more expensive than mine and is not as well locked.

[theenglishman]

Personally, I'd get a lock that can't be cropped with hand tools. So you're looking at 16mm chain or a 16+mm U shackle. Cable locks are worthless.

[thirdcrank]

Like so much in cycling, this is really a matter of what's going on in the rider's head.

Security is about peace of mind. You rarely get to know if a lock worked by defeating a would-be thief (when it happened to me, the cable was bent but unbroken) and nobody knows how many are deterred by locks, before considering deterrence by grade of lock. So, if you feel better with a megabucks lock and have doubts about a cheapo, it's a question about how much you are prepared to pay (AKA can thoyle) for the luxury of feeling happy.

Although you dismiss leaving a bike unlocked, pretty much the same principles apply. (Big bike locks are a modern development.)

[Brucey]

regardless of the quality of the lock, someone has to want to steal your bike.

The only bikes I leave locked anywhere public are either secured with a U lock or are tatty with weird parts on that are hopefully not attractive to thieves. In the latter case I don't use a quality lock, but if I routinely left the bike parked in the same place every day, I would do.

cheers

[Alex L]

Personally, I'd get a lock that can't be cropped with hand tools. So you're looking at 16mm chain or a 16+mm U shackle. Cable locks are worthless.

Not true. I left my bike cable locked to a tree. When I came back, someone had tried to saw through the lock. The plastic was a mess but the metal inside was fine. If they had bolt cutters it would be gone but since they were ill equipped, all they did was cosmetic damage.

[Big T]

I had 2 bikes pinched before learning my lesson. A cheap cable lock is OK, if you are just nipping into a shop, but if you are leaving the bike for any length of time, then a more substantial lock is required. Only trouble is that decent locks are heavy and difficult to transport.

[steeleagle]

The best lock on the market (Kryptonite New York Faghettaboutit D lock) weighs over 2kg for the Mini version and can still be chopped in a few minutes. Because of the very cheap availability of powertools these days, nothing is safe. You can in fact cut the best locks with an ordinary hack saw, it just takes a long time.

And in most cases, the railings/stands you lock up to are weak thin mild steel or even iron. Which can be cut or broken easier than a good lock.

A d lock wont protect both of your wheels or your components either.

In essence the main benchmark in security is cable vs shackle lock. Cable locks are a joke, but even they can be adequate depending on where you are!

A shackle lock is a huge step up and will keep your bike safe in most instances. Unless you are in a major city such as London or New York and you leave your bike for too long.

[CJ]

Cable locks are effective against genuine opportunists (i.e. those would take an unlocked bike) and poorly equipped thieves. And I am sure that this accounts for the majority of bike theft.

I use cable locks in places where there are few bicycles, so the pickings are too thin for a well-equipped thief to bother going there. In UK: that's most non-urban places, with such exceptions as rural railway stations etc. The type of bike also makes a difference and I would never leave a high value bike out of doors in a city, not even locked with the strongest of locks.

I think I must be a pretty good judge of the different risks of different types of bike being stolen in different places and the levels of protection required, as I've never suffered bike theft despite this being my only means of private transport for the first 50 years of my life and mostly using cable locks during that time.

It probably helps that I've spent as little of my life as I could get away with in cities, which I regard as interesting places to visit but too crowded to live in.

But its different strokes for different folks and there are many people who do enjoy city life, however I'm afraid that someone in that situation cannot use an expensive bike for everyday transport and expect to keep it. Fortunately, an efficient bike does not have to be expensive, but a heavy lock will nevertheless be required to keep it in a city - like the one I bring when I cycle there.

[Edwards]

I use one heavy old (good lock x shape) thick metal D lock and a Tesco D lock through the frame in separate places. I also use a cable lock through the front wheel and frame. All these are attached onto something solid and if railings all on separate bits.
Non of my locks was very expensive but I have never had a bike go even in known bad spots in the centre of Brum.

A cheap D lock is more of a deterrent than a cable lock but both is better.

[theenglishman]

Not true. I left my bike cable locked to a tree. When I came back, someone had tried to saw through the lock. The plastic was a mess but the metal inside was fine. If they had bolt cutters it would be gone but since they were ill equipped, all they did was cosmetic damage.

They were amateurs and you got very lucky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFaLmVqQibo

There was a guy on BBC watchdog or something similar a week or 2 ago who used much smaller cable cutters that fitted in his pocket to cut through a chunky cable lock. In seconds, not minutes.

Hence I don't use cable locks anymore.

And yes, thieves really do go out with 14" cable cutters and 42" record bolt croppers. Although these days serious crims go equipped with a battery powered angle grinder so you're screwed there no matter what you've got.

As a rough guide, I spend about 10% of the value of something in security so yes - I think good locks really are worth it.

P.S. - I was the donor of that Abus Steel o flex

[Vorpal]

There are plenty of threads on here about bicycle security. But I've had a couple of bicycles stolen, so it's not a topic I take lightly. To me, the cost of a good lock is worth it. Not so much for the value of the bikes, but to not have the hassle of dealing with the afteraffects of theft. That begins with reporting it, getting home (or wherever I was going), getting money out of an insurance company (if applicable) and replacing the bicycle.

When I've had bikes stolen, I've not been in a position to replce them like for like, so I've had to ride whatever I could get my hands on for a while until I could replace it with something more satisfactory.

All in all, I'd rather spend £60 on a lock than deal with the hassle that comes with having a bike stolen. Since becoming security conscious, I've not (touch wood! ) had a bicycle stolen.

[peter99]

As said above, if serious criminal decides he wants it, it's toast even with hardened 20mm links.

I have loads of quality cordless tools for work. A friend recently lost the keys to a substantial hardened 16mm chain. She asked me to free the bike after 2 weeks of key searching. I took my cordless grinder, cut both sides of the chain link and freed the bike. She was gobsmaked. It took 20 seconds per cut. The chain cost £100. The noise lasted less than 1 minute and no one came to ask who we were. No bike is safe regardless of what you lock it with.

Just use common sense, a quality lock / chain big enough to deter bolt croppers and lock up in a sensible place. It's all you can do.

[Ribblehead]

Carbide hacksaw:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgHxV2iCcQs

BIC pen (no really!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAiu3pMI7D0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-LWGJzglho

Hydraulic, battery powered cutters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXYFlrnjxtI

Bolt cutters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYJLcA32mv0

There are endless methods, and there are many places I would not leave a valuable bike for more than an hour.

[ourmanflint]

Any opinions on the Kryptonite series 4, the orange one? Not the one with a circular key that could be popped with a bic, the newer version.