shawngs

Hey guys and gals, I've just purchased my dream commuting bike but now am nervous about how to best keep it from being stolen while at the office. Any suggestions on bike locks, cables, gps tracking, etc that I should use?

DiabloScott

Multiple locks, multiple types of locks.

I keep these on the rack in the office garage - no sense carrying them with me all the time.

mcours2006

I'm more curious about what you consider a 'dream bike'.

Yeah, multiple and different bikes. Or bring it indoors if possible. Or get a beater bike.

shawngs

It’s my personal dream commuter/touring bike that I’ve wanted for years. It may not be everyone’s idea of a “dream bike,” but it’s what I think of for ideal commuting and/or touring. It’s a co-motion americano.

mcours2006

That's an awfully expensive bike to be locking up outside.

debade

If they won't allow you to bring it to the office, maybe they will purchase a bike locker. Let them know your commuting reduces their health care costs and makes you a more alert employee (lots of evidence for this). An incredibly small investment that should be made for all employees.

Google for example fences in their bike parking area and provides tubes and repair tools for their employees. It is not because they like biking. It is because they like good employees who help them with their costs.

Daniel4

Multiple types of locks, so any would-be thief will have to carry different types of tools. Make it look ugly - that's right, hide your nice paint job with an ugly paint job that looks like rust and dirt. Take both your wheels to your desk.

shawngs

Great ideas, thank you! It’s a large enough company that purchasing a bike locker would not affect them and would likely be a great PR move.

General Geoff

Bike locker is the ideal and most effective solution.

mcours2006

I still think that's waaay too nice a bike to be left outside.

pdlamb

I'd try to bring it into your office, if you're one of those people encouraged to be productive by having an office with a door. (If so, I'm jealous!)


Second choice would be a protected enclosure; bike locker, special bike room where only cyclists have a key, etc.


If you have to lock it up, think carefully about where you lock it. Close to the front door (lots of foot traffic) is better. A secure attachment point is vital. Be very careful about parking meters or signposts, and if it's a tree, a couple feet in diameter is obviously better than a sapling that can be cut in a couple seconds. Well-secured bike rack or chain link fence post are good ideas.


Do you have insurance that covers the bike?

noglider 

It depends on where you are. Some rural areas are fine with a fancy bike outside. Even some suburban areas are, too.

I work on a college campus, and I see nice bikes locked up routinely. The crime rate is pretty low here. I leave my fancy bike on the rack. I also leave my tool bag on the bike, which I wouldn't do on the street.

If you are in a place where bike crime is bad, no lock will solve that, and neither will using many locks simultaneously.

davei1980

+1 on bringing it inside - even if you don't know if this is ok where you work, sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness. Also, it will give you an instant "cool" factor and you'll notice people swinging by your cube of office to chat about your bike! If you catch grief for it then you can politely remind them of the benefits from encouraging, rather than discouraging biking to work.


I don't buy the "buy a beater" argument. Is this is your best bike, you should ride it the most. Bikes were meant to be ridden. The risks of theft can be mitigated by good locks and good insurance.


I am lucky, my office building has secure storage in the basement with key card access and live and video surveillance. We also have showers and lockers down there.


Some guys on this thread know that already and they hate me for it. That said, my bike is the cheapest one down there!!

79pmooney

At my last job they had rather miserable wooden bike shelters that were years past their prime and not remotely dry inside (though they did keep rain off the bikes). The boxes were in full view of the close by guard shack that was always manned. My last two years, they removed the boxes and built a large bus shelter-like semi enclosure with bike racks and a stack of lockers. Glass sides so everything was visible from the guard shack. Only drawback, it was open to the street-side, ie the south, frm which the winter storms came. So our bikes did not stay dry. (A "visor" coming down a few feet from the top would have made a big difference and would have been easy to add, but I didn't stay there long enough to advocate for it.) Other than the rain issue, the set-up was first class. Then, a few steps after entering the front gate, I detoured, ducked in to the medical and took a shower! Now I was ready for work!

I kept enough clothes in my locker to get me through the week and drove in one day with a new set or put panniers on the bike. Great setup. Never had to worry about my bike.

Ben

79pmooney

A trick if you bring your bike in and ride in the rain to make you a lot more popular with the janitors and bean counters. Lay a 6' carpet runner (if you have carpet) or one of those rubber runners for floors) where you store your bike. Then your filthy bike will just drip onto the runner and no further. Periodically you roll it up, take it outside and clean it.

Ben

irwin7638

I'm not in a particularly high crime area but commute on my Rivendell Hunqapillar on a regular basis. I use an Abus ring lock on the rear wheel supplemented with a cable, or U-lock (if I'm in a suspicious part of town).


Marc

fietsbob

Going for Pitlock, and security bolt substitutes?

Abus Bordo 6500.. I'm getting a 2nd one, special ordered, with same key , so they can be linked together..

https://www.abus.com/eng/Mobile-Secu...NIT-XPlus-6500,,

new is a longer bar Big bordo 6500 to reach around a little larger thing, or a thing further away...to lock to...

https://mobilesecurity.abus.com/eng/...xplus-big-6500

My other, Rohloff bike, has an Axa ring lock on the frame and a security chain to lock it to stuff..


But(other than you bought your new favorite) why not a folding bike?

bring it in, a Brompton will fit under your desk. It's sufficiently expensive..
and there are people making More Titanium parts, to add to what the factory does..





.....

seeker333

I'd ride that only if I had an office (with locking door).

Keep it at home, with a good insurance policy in force.

fietsbob

N+1,

get a cheaper bike you can afford to lose, save the expensive new one for touring/riding on your weekends and holidays.

Or do you feel compelled to show it off to the people at the office?

Hoopdriver

Kinda agree. It's great to have a nice bike, but it's nicer to keep it. My commuting bike, which I would be devastated to lose, is of some quality but has, over the years, developed a patina that makes it look like a beater. Since crooks go for the flashy bikes, I typically lock mine up next to a nice bike - something like yours.

Koyote

If possible, just bring the bike inside and park it in your office. If you commute in foul weather, carry along a clean rag to wipe down the bike before taking it inside.

This is obviously a solution only if your workplace is amenable to it...You might feel self-conscious for a day or two, but then people will quickly get accustomed to it, and you (and your bike) might become a conversation starter. In my office, even the custodians (who have to clean up any messes I might make) get a kick out of seeing me come in with my bike. (I am careful to not track in mud and snow with my bike.)

I've been doing this for about 15 years, and no one has ever looked sideways at me. 'Course, I'm in academia, where people are tolerant and quirks are commonplace.

Marcus_Ti

^That^

No consumer lock will stop a bike thief. In fact no bike lock is really more than a mild annoyance to a prepared professional thief.


Locally we just had a story in the paper here about bike theft. Fat bikes are in season:

Fat bikes, big losses: Lincoln cyclists feel targeted by ?sophisticated? thieves | Crime and Courts | journalstar.com

I rode with all those folks...and all of them owned and knew how to operated the best consumer locks money can buy.

noglider 

I think you're missing a verb.

General Geoff

Yep. $120 cordless angle grinder will zip through any bike lock in existence in just a few minutes.

donglebutter

sweet!!!