Lock for a Bent Trike?

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

Quoted message said:

I'm a little alarmed to read the guideline that the value of a bike's lock
should be 10% of the value of the bike. That would put the lock on the
recumbent trike I am hoping to receive tomorrow at - 400 Euros?

There has to be a point at which this ratio fails! I'm cleaned out and
don't have that kind of money, even if a lock existed in that price range.
For the moment I was just going to borrow Behemoth's heavy D-lock, a value
of less than 50 Euros.

So what do you bent-riders use to lock up the precious one?

EFR
Ile de France

I use two D-locks. One at the rear, through the rear triangle & one at the
front through a wheel. If space, I'll also thread a cable lock around &
through bits too. The bottom line is nothing will stop a really determined
thief, but the idea is to make your steed less attractive to an opportunist
thief than the steed next to it... Also - check your insurance policy to see
what is required by way of locking, so that if the worst happens and your
steed is stolen, at least you can claim a replacement on your insurance
policy.

wafflycat said:

... Also - check your
insurance policy to see what is required by way of locking, so that if
the worst happens and your steed is stolen, at least you can claim a
replacement on your insurance policy.

Haven't got the insurance yet, but I already know what it entails. First
the trike must have a Fubicy tatoo and be registered in the police
database, which can't happen immediately, alas, since there are only a
few places that do tatooing in the Paris area and my Darth isn't one of
them. Then it needs to be attached by a D-lock (and there are several
models that are "insurance approved"😉 to a _fixed_ point. This latter is
problematic because in the covered parking at my workspace there is no
fixed point for attachment of bikes. Provision was reluctantly made for
Flyzipper by putting a heavy chain around a concrete pillaster. So I
lock Fly by chaining him to the chain. I don't bother with a D or the
insurance since it would be obviated anyway, although Fly is tattooed.

But the Trike will need to be insured and at that point the lack of a
fixed point for chaining is going to be an issue. Unfortunatly I can't
see my employer making any provision for proper bike parking because
they always like to throw it back to me that I'm "the only one" who
would use it. (There is in fact one other regular cyclist, but he has a
Brommie which he brings inside with him. Overall, the mood in French
workplaces is actively to _discourage_ cycling, since it causes
complications with respect to accident coverage and "accidents du
travail". Dunno if Sarko, who's trying to bill himself as the new Mr.
Environment, will do anything to change this.)

EFR
Ile de France

Can you fold your new steed, pop it in a bag & take it inside?

wafflycat said:

Can you fold your new steed, pop it in a bag & take it inside?

I think that would take too long and I'm not for carting it up and down
two flights of stairs to my office. Although it does nominally fold,
people with similar tell me in practise that it isn't the sort of thing
you would do on a regular basis. Only for the odd Eurostar trip or to
get into someone's boot if for some reason I can't ride home. Flyzipper
also folds and despite being only half the size of the trike I wouldn't
want to do this with him either. Last time I put him in a bag it took
about 15 minutes either end and he hated it.

EFR
Ile de France

Artemisia said:

I'm a little alarmed to read the guideline that the value of a bike's
lock should be 10% of the value of the bike. That would put the lock on
the recumbent trike I am hoping to receive tomorrow at - 400 Euros?

There has to be a point at which this ratio fails! I'm cleaned out and
don't have that kind of money, even if a lock existed in that price
range. For the moment I was just going to borrow Behemoth's heavy
D-lock, a value of less than 50 Euros.

So what do you bent-riders use to lock up the precious one?

EFR
Ile de France

I don't know where you read such a ridiculous guideline but I'll
gladly design and build a lock for you for just 5% of your bike's
value. That's a savings of 200 Euros. (Shipping and handling extra)

Regards,
Bob Hunt

Bob said:

Quoted message said:

I'm a little alarmed to read the guideline that the value of a bike's
lock should be 10% of the value of the bike. That would put the lock on
the recumbent trike I am hoping to receive tomorrow at - 400 Euros?

I don't know where you read such a ridiculous guideline but I'll
gladly design and build a lock for you for just 5% of your bike's
value. That's a savings of 200 Euros. (Shipping and handling extra)

For that you could hire a security guard to stand over it instead

In news:[email hidden],
Artemisia <[email hidden]> tweaked the Babbage-Engine to tell us:

Quoted message said:

So what do you bent-riders use to lock up the precious one?

On the rare occasions when mine ventures int othe Big City, a U-lock around
the back wheel, rear triangle and nearest Solid Object. This, however, may
be tricky if you have one of these new-fangled rear suspension wossnames.

--
Dave Larrington
<http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk>
25.806975801127880315188420605149 - the root of all evil.

Artemisia said:

I'm a little alarmed to read the guideline that the value of a bike's
lock should be 10% of the value of the bike. That would put the lock on
the recumbent trike I am hoping to receive tomorrow at - 400 Euros?

One of those "guidlines" created to fit some of the people, some of the
time, and extended to everyone. A lock for a Trek Madone like that
would weigh more than the bike...

Quoted message said:

So what do you bent-riders use to lock up the precious one?

Pretty standard long-shank Kryptonite D-lock through back wheel and
frame and preferably some immovable object. Ideally a subsequent cable
for the front, but 20" wheels aren't in big demand and it doesn't have a
QR, so don't usually bother despite the SON in it.
On your trike the front wheels aren't going to go AWOL to sell as
there's no real avenue to sell them on and it's not obvious how to get
them off, so it remains the usual back wheel and frame.
The trike is helped by the awkwardness of picking it up and running away
with it, being both fairly heavy and fairly awkward. It will
intrinsically be a lot safer than a high end road bike or MTB because it
sticks out like a sore thumb and someone stealing it to sell it on would
have to be pretty dense to try, or be /very/ well connected with buyers
in distant places, and someone willing to go to that sort of trouble for
a recumbent trike could probably just buy one anyway.

You do need to do some securing against joyriders though, but a lot of
theft-proofness is it's hard to sell on and folk aren't sure quite how
it works just by looking at it. In other words, do as you would do on
your other bikes, and Don't Panic!

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Dave Larrington said:

On the rare occasions when mine ventures int othe Big City, a U-lock around
the back wheel, rear triangle and nearest Solid Object. This, however, may
be tricky if you have one of these new-fangled rear suspension wossnames.

Not especially: I think the Scorpion rear triangle is pretty similar to
the Speedmachine's.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Artemisia said:

I'm a little alarmed to read the guideline that the value of a bike's
lock should be 10% of the value of the bike. That would put the lock on
the recumbent trike I am hoping to receive tomorrow at - 400 Euros?

One of those "guidlines" created to fit some of the people, some of the
time, and extended to everyone. A lock for a Trek Madone like that
would weigh more than the bike...

And what do you use on an nth-hand beauty that only cost £20, string? :P

--
Stephen Patterson :: [email hidden] :: http://patter.mine.nu/
GPG: B416F0DE :: Jabber: [email hidden]
"Don't be silly, Minnie. Who'd be walking round these cliffs with a gas oven?"

In article <[email hidden]>,

Artemisia said:

So what do you bent-riders use to lock up the precious one?

Personally, I'd like to hear a single report of a recumbent theft. They
may indeed be more valuable than many uprights, but the market is so
vanishingly small that I can't imagine they're much of a target. A
standard cable lock that reaches around wheel and frame should be
sufficient.

--
My personal UDP list: 127.0.0.1, 4ax.com, buzzardnews.com, googlegroups.com,
heapnode.com, localhost, ntli.net, teranews.com, vif.com, x-privat.org

Doc O'Leary said:

Personally, I'd like to hear a single report of a recumbent theft.

There have been a couple of first hand reports on u.r.c. (one lowracer,
one HPVel Spirit IIRC). Both were recovered, one almost straight away,
the other after a wee while.

Quoted message said:

may indeed be more valuable than many uprights, but the market is so
vanishingly small that I can't imagine they're much of a target.

In one of the above cases the reason was probably joyriding, and
something that looks like a 'bent might invite that sort of attention.

Quoted message said:

standard cable lock that reaches around wheel and frame should be
sufficient.

That should prevent most "I fancy a quick go on *that*!", I'd agree.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Doc O'Leary said:

Personally, I'd like to hear a single report of a recumbent theft. They
may indeed be more valuable than many uprights, but the market is so
vanishingly small that I can't imagine they're much of a target. A
standard cable lock that reaches around wheel and frame should be
sufficient.

It seems kind of quaint to tatoo an ID number on an orange recumbent
trike. If it disappears, I should think "It's the orange recumbent
trike." would be sufficient to identify it throughout most of France. ;°>

EFR
Ile de France

Peter Clinch said:

In one of the above cases the reason was probably joyriding, and
something that looks like a 'bent might invite that sort of attention.

Unfortunately this area does abound in cretinous yobs. But at home it
will live in a locked garage stall and at work we try to avoid employing
cretinous yobs. As for supermarket runs and that kind of thing, I just
take good old Myrtille.

EFR
Ile de France

Patter said:

And what do you use on an nth-hand beauty that only cost £20, string? :P

I often don't bother to lock my ratty £20 eBay fixie, even in central
Edinburgh. The resale value would be near nil and with a 25" frame it
can only be ridden by a small percentage of the Scottish population!

It reinforces the "all bikes weigh the same" argument, that the
lighter the bike, the heavier the lock needed and hence the overall
weight stays roughly constant.

Cheers,

In news:[email hidden],
Doc O'Leary <[email hidden]> tweaked the Babbage-Engine
to tell us:

Quoted message said:

Personally, I'd like to hear a single report of a recumbent theft.

I've heard of plenty. Mate of mine had his securely locked Kingcycle nicked
from outside Southside Bar at Imperial College many years ago, and no trace
of it has ever surfaced. I'm not sure Douglas Carnall ever got his
Streetmachine back either.

--
Dave Larrington
<http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk>
Frozen gorillas can be used to control the temperature of a warm
and stuffy room.

Doc O'Leary said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Artemisia said:

So what do you bent-riders use to lock up the precious one?

Personally, I'd like to hear a single report of a recumbent theft.

They do get taken. Some are just recovered as the thief decides they don't
know what to do with it. Others are found when attempted to be sold on (ring
the maker if buying s/hand to check the seller's credentials, sales are so
small that most makers could keep a record of every one sold, and certainly
every one reported stolen).

Quoted message said:

They may indeed be more valuable than many uprights, but the market
is so vanishingly small that I can't imagine they're much of a
target. A standard cable lock that reaches around wheel and frame
should be sufficient.

I would agree in all but the most thief-friendly locations; a hidden carpark
with time to work on the lock requires some more thought.

Back at the OP's comment about no secure posts to lock to at place of work,
how about asking employer about parking an old van permenantly in a space,
and then putting trike inside the van ? (The van could be as old as
possible, preferably with flat tyres, or a wheel missing, to make it hard to
tow away). Might concentrate employer's mind about installing a
ground-anchor ring (the type of thing used to secure a motorcycle to the
ground with a chain). Once there is a decent quality ring, then a heavy
quality chain with decent lock can be left there permenantly, and the trike
locked when arriving at work.

- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

"Dave Larrington" <[email hidden]> a écrit:

Quoted message said:

Mate of mine had his securely locked Kingcycle nicked from
outside Southside Bar at Imperial College many years ago,
and no trace of it has ever surfaced.

What did he expect? Half the population of Princes Gardens probably model
themselves after Michael Anthony Brace.

I had a Moulton Mk3 stolen from the landing outside my flat, but I should
have known better than to leave it there - the computer science department
of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers has offices in my
building.

Elisa works with geeks, if I'm not mistaken...

James Thomson

In article said:

Peter Clinch said:

One of those "guidlines" created to fit some of the people, some of the
time, and extended to everyone. A lock for a Trek Madone like that
would weigh more than the bike...

If I had a Trek Madone to lock up at work, I'd want that weight of
locks on it. I wouldn't carry them back and forwards on the bike though.
(And I'd want a more secure thing to lock it to than the racks there at
the moment. At least one of the bikes stolen was by unbolting the rack
from the ground. We did ask about tamper resistant bolts, but didn't hear
anything back from the landlord.)

Quoted message said:

And what do you use on an nth-hand beauty that only cost £20, string? :P

Aldi have done £1.99 cable locks. For a bike you can replace for £20,
it's probably adequate. (But "can replace for" and "only cost" are different
things.)