Decent Bike Locks?

I would certainly recommend Kryptonite as my current New York U-lock has saved my bike from
being stolen in the past. While I was in student halls a few years ago some local kids decided
to break into the bike sheds at 4 in the morning. They took a hacksaw to the Kryptonite but
barely managed to put a dent in the metal, just went through the outer plastic shield. In the
end they gave up and decided it would be easier to saw through the roof support of the bike shed
instead (to which the bike was locked)! In this they succeeded but had made so much noise that
they woke up most of the people on that side of the building and were stopped just as they were
carrying away the bike with the d-lock still through the wheel. To this day the roof of the bike
shed is a bit wonky. Anyway I still have the lock and I would still have the bike if I hadn't
sold it and upgraded. Only disadvantage of the lock is that it's very heavy, so if you carry it
round a lot it could be annoying.

Rupert

"Neil M" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Having to replace my bike due to recent theft from garage and need to get

a

Quoted message said:

decent lock as well. Any suggestions? I've heard Kryptonite are a good

make

Quoted message said:

plus they offer decent cash back if locks fail to do the business.

Is their any advantage of cable over U-lock and vice versa?

Neil M

Quoted message said:

Is their any advantage of cable over U-lock and vice versa?

I've only had a Kryptonite Ulock so can't speak for other brands. I've never had my bike nicked but
then again I never leave it anywhere for TOO long.

The one advantage I see of cable locks is that they can be tied around awkward-shaped objects.
Sometimes I've struggled to use my Ulock and wished I had a cable lock, but otherwise I've been
quite happy.

--
...meandering mule...

Neil M said:

Having to replace my bike due to recent theft from garage and need to get a decent lock as well.
Any suggestions? I've heard Kryptonite are a good make plus they offer decent cash back if locks
fail to do the business.

Is their any advantage of cable over U-lock and vice versa?

I use a Kryptonite U-lock and a flex cable together. With a full sus frame, I only have one soild
point on the bike that I can lock to a post etc. Thefront wheel comes off, next to the rear, flex
cable goes through both wheels and rear frame and then gets looped onto the U lock.

This would suffice. wiggle.co.ukv2 product detail.aspOpen ↗

I actually have 2 flex locks, a short one as above and a 4metre one courtesy of screwfix. The long
one I leave at work, where 3 of us have keys to a seriously big padlock for it. One end is
permanently looped around the cycle shelter framework, the other is threaded through each bike and
then locked off. This is additional to our U locks. So first person out, has to unlock all 3 bikes
and then lock the remaining 2 back up again. PITA but it makes the other bikes in the rack a much
easier target.

--
Dnc

Neil M said:

Having to replace my bike due to recent theft from garage and need to get a decent lock as well.
Any suggestions? I've heard Kryptonite are a good make plus they offer decent cash back if locks
fail to do the business.

I've heard good things about Squire and Abus as well. The money-back things are apparently something
of a scam, being so riddled with exceptions, exclusions and other legalese small print that the
chances of successfully extracting money from the lock manufacturer is only slightly higher than
getting Mr Ynot B Liar to admit to, well, anything.

Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

Doesnotcompute email hidden in said:

up again. PITA but it makes the other bikes in the rack a much easier target.

That is basically how all security works: cycle, car, home. You can't make something totally
unbreachable. All you can do is make somebody else's property more appealing. "More appealing" can
either mean "More desirable to steal" or "Easier to steal".

Love and locks from Rich x

--
If ingnorance is bliss then I am the erm er luckiest thingy in the whatchamacallit. To mail me,
change the obvious bit to richard

Richard Bates said:

Quoted message said:

up again. PITA but it makes the other bikes in the rack a much easier target.

That is basically how all security works: cycle, car, home. You can't make something totally
unbreachable. All you can do is make somebody else's property more appealing. "More appealing" can
either mean:

Quoted message said:

"More desirable to steal"

Unfortunately my bike is the most desireable in terms of looks and cash value.

Quoted message said:

or "Easier to steal".

However when combined with this, and mine is usually the first in the run of 3 making the hardest to
remove, there are a couple of £200 MTB's that all of a sudden become much more desireable cos
they're locked with a crappy cable combination jobby.

--
Dnc

"Rupert Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

snip

Quoted message said:

Only disadvantage of the lock is that it's very heavy, so if you carry it round a lot it could be
annoying.

Ahh -- the law of cycling relativity.

Any light weight bike will be expensive so will require a heavy weight lock to secure it.

Hence total weight (bike + lock) is always relatively similar.

: (

"Neil M" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Having to replace my bike due to recent theft from garage and need to get

a

Quoted message said:

decent lock as well. Any suggestions? I've heard Kryptonite are a good

make

Quoted message said:

plus they offer decent cash back if locks fail to do the business.

Is their any advantage of cable over U-lock and vice versa?

Cables - well, after discovering just how easy they were to cut, I'd stay away. Mine went in a very
public place one saturday afternoon.

U-lock - make sure you don't leave any space inside for a jack (done that, very easy).

Plod in cambridge recommended a chain. ('I can't name names but that big hardware shop just down the
road sells them' ie mackays). Big, heavy, hardened. Has the advantage of being very versatile - I
normally do both wheels and frame to something solid.

If locking at home, old lifting chain looks like a good thing - far too fat to carry, but they'll
get bored before cutting through it.

The lock some friends had with lots of 1" segments and a cable inside was surprisingly hard to get
through - a grinder to get through the outside, and then a chopper for the cable. I think having two
distinct types of material helps.

cheers, clive

"Neil M" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Having to replace my bike due to recent theft from garage and need to get

a

Quoted message said:

decent lock as well. Any suggestions? I've heard Kryptonite are a good

make

Quoted message said:

plus they offer decent cash back if locks fail to do the business.

Is their any advantage of cable over U-lock and vice versa?

I use both. Kryptonite U-Lock and a toughened cable (ready coiled) to stop the front wheel getting
nicked. The cable also comes in handy for locking to things that the U-Lock won't fit around, for
quick locking when popping into shops and for locking up other peoples bikes at the same time. As
mentioned already, don't just put the u-lock around the top part of the frame, as this allows too
much space for putting a car jack in. I put mine through the rear part of the frame, so locks back
wheel in place at same time.

I've had four bikes nicked, never has the lock been broken. I've learnt from my own mistakes. One
where a banister was broken by the theiving scum in the ground floor flat, or one of her druggy
friends (front door wasn't broken through). Another one was nicked from a shed, not much can be done
there, except maybe put a bolt through the wall or floor to attach to. The most annoying one was
when I atttached a bike to a signpost. It was only 10-12 feet tall, so they took the sign off and
through it over the top. I've now had this bike for a number of years and lock it in town centres
with no problems. Would never leave it overnight though.

elyob said:

Another one was nicked from a shed, not much can be done there, except maybe put a bolt through
the wall or floor to attach to.

When I was still living down south (In a pretty respectable area) we had a carport. You know one of
the ones where you drive under the bedroom above it, alongside your kitchen, or similar?

Anyway, I had a permanent anchor bolt in the wall at the far end, to which my bike was locked
religiously day and night. Night time there was one car in the space up against the bike and then a
car on the drive behind that.

One morning my Mum asked me where my bike was, I replied by the door and she informed me otherwise.

The bolt was in the wall, lock was in bits across the floor but there was no sign of the bike. Or
damage to the cars. The only way to have got the bike out, would be two people getting a wheel each
and carrying it over the top of both cars!

Cheeky buggers.

My bike now lives IN my house, wasn't an option at home with my folks, but now I have my own house,
it's a pre-requisite.

--
Dnc

"Doesnotcompute" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My bike now lives IN my house, wasn't an option at home with my folks, but now I have my own
house, it's a pre-requisite.

Yup, as does mine. My landlord asked whether it could be put in the communal cupboard upstairs ...
no chance.

In article <[email hidden]>, one of infinite monkeys at the keyboard of "Rupert

Smith said:

the morning. They took a hacksaw to the Kryptonite but barely managed to put a dent in the metal,

Most cycle locks will beat off a hacksaw. If a heavy kryptonite has an advantage over a cheapo loop,
it lies in resisting other forms of attack.

--
Axis of Evil: Whose economy needs ever more wars? Arms Exports $bn: USA 14.2, UK 5.1, vs France 1.5,
Germany 0.8 (The Economist, July 2002)

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/v2_product_detail.asp?ProdID=5220000043

This is the lock that I have. The bloke in the bike shop said that the Fire Brigade would have trouble getting through it.

I've had it for a couple of years now and I still have my bike, and what's more I live in London and have it parked up in the centre all the time.

It fits around the waist quite comfortably.

OK, it's more expensive and weighs more than other locks but I think it's definitely worth it.

Tony W said:

Ahh -- the law of cycling relativity.

Any light weight bike will be expensive so will require a heavy weight lock to secure it.

Hence total weight (bike + lock) is always relatively similar.

Kryptonite do a mini u-lock, its saves a lot of weight, fits more easily in a bag or on your frame,
will secure my road bike and both wheels to a Sheffield stand and is cute as hell.

Apparently they are harder to break open as there is less space for tools to get inside.

--
Andy Morris

AndyAtJinkasDotFreeserve.Co.UK

Love this: Put an end to Outlook Express's messy quotes
home.in.tum.deoe quotefixOpen ↗

"Neil M" <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Is their any advantage of cable over U-lock and vice versa?

Neil M

I dunno, I trust my steed to a Trelock Titan which is strong, yet light (ish)

there is a list of "approved locks" given by cycleguard the bike insurance folk.

cycleguard.co.uklocklist.htmOpen ↗

Fragg