Bike locks

[Mark 2]

Even if the lock is grinder proof the railings etc will become the weak point. Personally I wouldn't leave my bike parked anywhere in this current climate.
The youngsters seem to go with the cheap and if it gets nicked then no big deal.
Or the foldaway, not much use lugging it around the shops but for wotk.....

 

[bricol]

Couple of serious cycling mates use reasonably decent D-locks around the bikes they use for rides into town.

They just don't ride expensive bikes into town!

(expensive in terms of anyone sensible - I'm aware £750 is cheap for the sort of bikes they hold traffic up on when out en-masse)

 

[brewdexta]

Thanks guys. Food for thought. We will airtag it too.

 

[Bobupndown]

I took my bike to school years ago and locked it up. Someone stole the lock and left the bike.

 

[rcx132]

That litelok x1 one looks decent. I’d just buy it. No lock is 100% secure but they are all visual deterrents.

The lock picking lawyer on youtube may have a video on bike locks

I second this. You can get carried away with these things. I have the New York lock, which was the most secure on the market when I bought it 12 years ago. I suppose it made sense in London, but now I'm in Surrey and the lock just feels too beefy and is a pain:

 

[skotl]

I use an Abus Granit shackle lock that I put through rear and frame and (when I can be bothered), a wire loop connecting the Abus to the front wheel.

I did a lot of research into locks around 15 years ago and the granit was the clear winner in the then-£100 market. Very heavy, though it does come with a plastic mount so it can be carried on the frame.

 

[Kram]

Even if the lock is grinder proof the railings etc will become the weak point. Personally I wouldn't leave my bike parked anywhere in this current climate.

This is a good point. Lots of thefts been reported at the local shoping centre and I often locked mine outside, thinking each rail was equally good.

One day I relaised the first rail was loose and can be very easily lifted out, and locks slid off and bike lifted away!! I did report it to them and 2 years later nothing has been done.

 

[gaz1]

get yourself a tracker chip as well and drop it into the frame

just an added security idea and then you can track the bike as a just incase

 

[bricol]

get yourself a tracker chip as well and drop it into the frame

which will probably reduce its range to a few feet . . ?

 

[skotl]

which will probably reduce its range to a few feet . . ?

I did wonder - seems like a pretty efficient faraday cage

 

[mart]

I have only read the first 2 or 3 posts. I can't help thinking that the issue of bike security is going to take away a lot of the pleasure from your youngster. It could even develope in to anxiety. It would have been better buying her a much cheaper bike, and just relax.

As you have the bike now, my advice is try to always take the bike indoors, I take my £900 bike inside the bank!

If a bike is going to be left unattended, make sure it is one that is not worth stealing. (What will you do when she wants a car that costs thousands?). I would guess there are more cars stolen than bikes.

 

[Maker]

It would have been better buying her a much cheaper bike, and just relax.

I couldn't disagree more. I'd never choose to not have nice things, just because one day I might lose it.

 

[addjunkie]

As you have the bike now, my advice is try to always take the bike indoors, I take my £900 bike inside the bank!

you still have a bank, someones stolen them all round here!

 

[brewdexta]

I do have an older hybrid bike that she could use for the riskier trips. I would have to steal the front wheel back off my trainer. The bike we bought her was the cheapest we could find with half decent gears/brakes etc. Below 700 quid it seems to be mainly Halford's skip fodder but maybe thats the bike geek in me. But to Adam's point, why should she not use her own bike? But it is true, there will be a bit of anxiety about leaving it.

 

[angellonewolf]

hard to say what lock as any can be broken with little problems and as test have shown leaving a bike in the same place at regular intervels is sorry to say puts it at a lot higher risk than a random visit to one place now and again and the amount of time

id not worry so much parking at school 4 of my kids used to ride and never had any nicked there or as far as i know any bikes go (i think there had been 2 but these where not locked up)

its a shame these days you cant use a nice bike if your going to leave it locked out side when i used to ride i had 2 bikes one for riding when im not parking it up nice one and a old one that been kepted up with maintance so looked like not worth nicking but was a good bike

 

[Robotstar5]

How things have changed, in the 60's I rode to a local shop, left my bike outside (no lock) and carried the shopping home, remembered I'd left my bike the following day, went back and it was still where I'd left it.

 

[Cobbler]

How things have changed, in the 60's I rode to a local shop, left my bike outside (no lock) and carried the shopping home, remembered I'd left my bike the following day, went back and it was still where I'd left it.

Same as us, used to ride into the swimming pool, leave the bike on the grass bank outside with all the others & spend most of the day in the pool. Someone did Nick the big wing nuts on the wheel spindle one time though, that made riding home a bit tricky. None of us ever had locks that I remember.

 

[Gareth J]

But it is true, there will be a bit of anxiety about leaving it.

Also, the lock itself has a potential to be a barrier to riding it, if it's heavy, awkward to fit or dirty.

With that on mind, I'd steer towards a rope and smaller lock. Not nearly so secure but has flexibility; easier to stow in a bag or wind around the saddle stem, can catch both wheels, can tie with a friend's bike and to more awkward posts.

Other thing you can do, though few actually want to do that, is spray the entire thing, wheels, tyres and all in some paint. Makes it significantly less appealing, unfortunately to the owner too. Rides the same though.

 

[Migmac]

I must’ve watched a video on the x1. Bolt cutters, hammers and bfh’s made no impression on the shackle. Drilling the barrel doesn’t work either. The only thing that did work was a grinder, took a disc and a half to get through the shackle. Will thieves really want to be there faffing about changing a disc?

 

[brewdexta]

I took the youngest out for a ride on her new bike yesterday, a nice gentle moorland and forest track. She's still getting used to the gears but doing OK. It's been a while since she rode her last bike, one minute it fit her, the next minute it was tiny like a clowns bike. She's already taller than her mum at 14, she was nearly a 10 pound baby so she's going to be whopper. Out again today along the canal then maybe some more forest tracks, nice soft verges to fall off in

The wheel isn't bent, the eraser software did that when I removed the number plate