LeftyS7

Like Donald Duck in the WW2 cartoon. Invisible paint.

Tpsfoto

working as an NFL photographer for 10 years we always locked our cases and locked them to a support under the stands.... I shoot for ESPN and no matter where I work..... that case is locked.

Tpsfoto

My wife constantly leaves the garage door open going in and out
i lock my road bike to the wall when I return back from a ride
l know it is only for a thief who wants to steal and run.

Unca_Sam

I mean, It's better than trying to come and go with the door closed, right?

Mojo31

I feel ya. I've come home to find the door to the back yard open with nobody home and the alarm off. Know how I got that sheet to stop - told her someone was going to come into the house to steal stuff and either kill her dog or steal it. It's now locked up tighter than a drum.

Mojo31

I was never at your level, but I've heard of camera gear relieved of its owner in press rooms at pro and college level events. When I was shooting, I was using various 1Ds and white lenses, and would never, ever, ever leave them unattended. Even empty cases were locked up. I even locked up cases on the sidelines at events at Jerry Jones World.

Club1820

Smart. But now come to think of it, don't most smart plugs also have an on/off switch? I know mine do. So wouldn't someone just be able to hit the switch on the smart plug?

alanf

I wouldn't use any smart (dumb) devices of any kind for anything. The manufacturer probably knows a back door. Just go to Costco etc and get a light timer set, 2 for 20 bucks or thereabouts. Takes a minute,( push tabs), to program it and no one can hack it.

I locked my Rav in a parking lot with the remote one day, and then I heard it pop back open. Someone had some kind of scanner that read the lock code I entered. Now I lock the door with the button inside.

Apparently there are devices you can get that will do the possible codes for garage doors or store the one your car uses.
Here s a version,
Nuther

Unca_Sam

I locked my bike once. That was all it took. Well, that and a peyote button. I touched the face of the infinite, and now I can't find the keys to the lock. It doesn't matter much though, I don't know where the lock is, or the bike, either. It's probably somewhere along the shores of the Ligeia Mare, still locked to a railing where I left it on the way to Saturn.

🤩

Club1820

Looking at your post again, I think you were referring to hitting the garage door opener button from the car parked in the driveway. That would work. I was looking at it from already being inside the garage (broke in from side door) and having to open the overhead door. Power off, can't open it. But attached to smart plug. Just hit the switch on the smart plug.

James1019

I will lock my bike.

fujidon

The smart plug is INSIDE the garage. The only way into my garage is through the house or opening the door.

fujidon

Unfortunately, a timer won't allow the use of the garage door outside of the programmed hours. I can power up/down the opener from my phone at any time.

SpeedyBlueBiker

I always keep my bikes locked when not in use. At home in the USA I lock both bikes with a heavy 5/8" 15 foot long cable lock with plastic cover (to avoid scratches) and a heavy duty padlock. This is then anchored to an in floor metal piece of rebar that is located in one of the upstairs bedrooms/office. (I think the previous owner had a gun safe in the room) Door to room is also locked. I always keep the house locked up when I leave.

At my other home in Thailand I also keep those bikes locked up pretty similar to what I have in the USA minus the rebar in floor. There I just wrap the cable around some heavy furniture and two 20kg weightlifting plates.

When transporting my bikes I lay them flat in my older SUV although I take off the front wheel. Despite having heavily tinted windows, I cover the bike with a blanket so the bike cannot be seen. I also use a 5/8" 6 foot long cable and padlock system and anchor it through the metal seat catches when the seats are moved out of the way.

No bike security system is theft proof. I just try to make it more difficult for the would be thief.

Pop N Wood

I want to see these "angle grinder proof" locks and chains the OP talks about.

A chop saw will cut anything.

It's a losing battle guys

u235

I am confident I could leave my bike (or anything) anywhere in my yard or driveway and it would not get stolen. With the exception of within a few feet of the road where someone might "assume" it was left for garbage.

Depends on the area you live. I am rural and some houses avg 1/4 mile and further and most are pretty far back from the road. No one just randomly walking around looking for an opportunity. I assume the average opportunist would be far more confused and uneasy of the area than the people that live here are.

2wheelwreck

A friend locked his bike (with three chains) to the front porch railing of the home where he rented a flat. The house owner had to have someone redo the porch when a thief cut the railing off to remove the bike. Must ‘ave used a silenced power saw. No one heard/saw anything.

ofajen

I can barely sleep at night over the worry that one of my bikes will be stolen. Apparently, everyone in town is lined up waiting for the chance to steal an extra large, old, rusty, steel frame bike with a 42/16 SS drive train. 😊

Otto

Cyclist830657

Same here (new to SC). Not that I approve, but a few years ago a homeowner grabbed his shotgun and killed a 17 year old who was running away after breaking into his pickup in the driveway. He was tried for manslaughter and found not guilty by a jury. Everyone in my neighborhood has multiple guns, and theft is very low. But being born and raised in Jersey, I still lock my bikes in my locked garage. Old habits die hard.

Metieval

Bike locks are for keeping honest people honest.
We need to make criminals into slaves. Or flat out capital punishment. We will soon run out of criminals or it will be enough of a deterent to prevent theft. Either way we win.

LV2TNDM

A big lock deserves a big picture! 13 pounds. $300.00

"A losing battle?" Why? The laws of physics and engineering dictate you cannot manufacture something that cannot be broken. This has always held true. Yet I've survived 35 years in an urban environment with high bicycle theft rates without losing a bicycle. My locks have served me well over this time. How? I always kept up with the latest bike theft news and made sure I was always locking effectively and using the better lock technology out there. So even though the locks I have been using over this time were all defeatable (and apparently "very pickable" according to LPB) I have lost ZERO bikes in that time. So I feel a defeatist attitude is of no use whatsoever.

According to your statement I should either throw up my hands and not lock my bikes anymore, or give up bicycle ownership altogether. I disagree strongly.

Al-max 25mm chain and Squire padlock. Around 55 pounds. $750. Recent tests with an angle grinder found thermal expansion of the chain link during cutting binds the cutting wheel, preventing full through cutting.
https://www.*****-security-chains.co...&product_id=65

That said, Proteus is a new grinder-proof steel ceramic alloy that will hopefully hit the market VERY soon!
https://newatlas.com/materials/prote...ke-lock-armor/

jfa100

^ sheesh that's one hefty lock right there

Pop N Wood

Good lord, why do so many people on this site insert their own conjecture into other people's statements and take them to such extremes?

I did make fun of your "grinder proof locks", rude of me maybe, and the point of the nail gun was to show there are new tools being commonly used.

As for chop saws, I will look at your links but my guess is a chop saw will defeat anything you can attach to your bike short of reactive armor. I stand by that statement until proven otherwise. Bigger locks are just going to take longer.

Trueblood

This guy picks the Altor SAF in 85 seconds, from 2:20 to 3:45 - , but admits that he has a specialty pick, and the thing is basically un-pickable on the street for the most part. Faster to cut the bike rack. Good youtube channel, the LockPickingLawyer tests many bike locks.

Unca_Sam

That's the game folks. Find the weakest link and attack it. In invincible chain through a hardened floor anchor? Break the concrete!
20mm cable and u lock around a tree? Cut the tree!
U lock to a tubular steel rack? Cut the rack!
Bonus points if you do it while driving a nondescript white van and wear a high vis vest while doing it!