bike locks - boosting around town bike security

[mrcharly-YHT]

I'm told that I'll be moving to a den of bike thieves.

So will need something a bit better for locking up my bike. Its been a while since I've had to worry much about this, and I've passed my 'decent' (Abus shielded cable silver sold secure) lock to son.

This looks good;
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/kryptonite-evolution-series-4-1055-chain-lock/rp-prod147263

I've found U locks awkward to use, not always easy to find street furniture that you can use.

[Greenbank]

Depends entirely on the bike it's going to lock up. What is is roughly worth? Does it look blingy?

There's two types of bike theft in that particular location:
a) expensive bikes/parts for resale
b) opportunistic/drunk theft in order to get home, for laughs, for just to be destructive

Having an average or hack bike locked up with a reasonable lock will keep you out of either group.

[psyclist]

I've found U locks awkward to use, not always easy to find street furniture that you can use.

The comments on that lock (Kryptonite Evolution) suggest it is quite short, therefore no easier to use than a D-lock.

When I have locked my bike in the streets of London, I have used a D-lock and a Kryptoflex cable for the front wheel. Usually the D-Lock will go around something secure, together with the back wheel and frame. If that isn't practical, then the cable gives more options.

I remove anything that easily detaches from the bike, and do not use quick release fixings on things like the saddle. 

[mrcharly-YHT]

I've found U locks awkward to use, not always easy to find street furniture that you can use.

The comments on that lock (Kryptonite Evolution) suggest it is quite short, therefore no easier to use than a D-lock.

It is 500mm long. So not very long but longer than a D lock - similar to my old lock. Not long enough to go round a telegraph pole, but long enough to go around a steel lamp post I think.

Initially I think I'll take the Africabike down there.
'secure' lockup at the new office is the locking cage at the station.

[Karla]

I've found U locks awkward to use, not always easy to find street furniture that you can use.

The comments on that lock (Kryptonite Evolution) suggest it is quite short, therefore no easier to use than a D-lock.

It is 500mm long. So not very long but longer than a D lock - similar to my old lock. Not long enough to go round a telegraph pole, but long enough to go around a steel lamp post I think.

I have one of those and that's exactly what it can and can't fit.  They're good locks.

[Jakob W]

Think Evans were selling off Abus city chains recently; they weigh a ton, but are mostly secure gold etc; I used one for £2k's worth of bakfiets in that place without problems. The 'secure' bike cages at the station have had some thefts, but with a decent lock you should be OK.

[zigzag]

i'd get a cheap-ish single speed hack bike, tatty looking but serviced to function well and use a standard mid-weight d lock. then sell it on when your contract is over. i've run such a bike for the past 4-5 years in london and i even leave it locked up near major stations for up to two weeks (when flying abroad), so far so good and if it goes missing (which is very unlikely) i wouldn't worry and replace it with a similar bike.

[rafletcher]

Getting a hack bike should be easy, especially at the end of the academic year. My daughter couldn’t sell hers when she graduated, no takers. So she just stuck a note on it saying “help yourself” and left it outside her college!

[Wobbly John]

Cambridgeshire's finest have recently been demostrating how to steal bikes, or wreck the trying...   

https://www.facebook.com/cambridgenews/videos/10155503913108031/

Next week, how to break into cars using a brick? 

[andyoxon]

My take on this is (thinking of central Oxford)... if you wouldn't want to lose it, don't leave bike locked up/ unattended.  If you have to, for a good bike: don't use a cable lock, and have two decent D-locks, one through each wheel plus frame (not over top tube), to a secure object.  As others, a few hours unattended = 'hack bike', D-locked: rear wh and frame, and prob cable lock front wheel.  A friend even had a cheapish front wheel nicked off his bike at swimming pool in Oxford.  AIUI, if a thief is brazen enough to use a battery powered angle grinder, pretty much any bike lock will yield, and many decent chains will go to large bolt crops.

[quixoticgeek]

In Amsterdam I got myself an ABUS Bordo Granit X plus 6500 lock, and an ABUS Granit X plus 540 U lock. I had the latter custom made to have the same key as the Bordo, so 2 locks, 1 key. In theory Dutch bike insurance will cover my bike if I lock it up with either 1 of these locks, even in central Amsterdam. As yet I have not been brave enough to try. I take it into the office at work, and I lock it up in the basement at home.

I have also gone with Pitlock's for the quick release axles on the wheels, and the seat post, and the front light. I'm wondering if I should also do something about the brake calipers...

J