tcs

and



then

Abloy PL362T Protec2 padlock & a length of Pragmasis Protector (or equivalent) chain.

tcs

ColonelSanders

That would be a great solution too, I was only thinking about something I would be prepared to take with me on the bike, as opposed to what I would use at my home to secure my bike/e-bike.

Nvreloader

TCS
Thank you for that information,
I have several items that are quick release that need to be changed etc.

Tia,
Don

veganbikes

Depending on your bike and the lock they use you can get it keyed-a-like to a whole range of ABUS locks so you can pretty much get whatever you want. Unfortunately many shops don't know about the program or are scared of it for some dumb reason but it is probably one of the nicest things you can do especially if you have multiple bikes or friends and family you want to share with or just an e-bike and you want to lock it up without having to carry multiple keys. I use a ABUS 6405 Bordo and a 5750 NR Café lock on my e-bike and am about to get a second set also keyed a like for a family members new e-bike and that way if one of us gets stuck or loses a key we can rescue each other or just have loads of extra keys for less worry.

There are a lot of gimmicky or copycat locks out there and I wouldn't waste my time on them. I want a good properly tempered and hardened virgin steel lock made by a company I can trust. ABUS is owned by the same family that founded it, they aren't beholden to stock holders who don't care if the product sucks and don't care if the quality of materials is cheaper nor to a parent company. Spraying stuff in someones face is cool so is a 80 pound lock made of cheaper materials that is just thick at points so is naming things after New York but in the end cool doesn't equal security necessarily and if it does what is the cost of that coolness.

In terms of AirTags, they are for lost items so like your keys in your house not so much for anti-theft as it will alert others so someone with an apple product could know it was there and disable it and they can also use it for tracking you which you may not want. GPS locators for bikes exist and aren't a terrible idea but good locks and locking practices are the best way to go.

Tourist in MSN

There are specially locking skewers that take a special key.

When touring I use bolt on standard skewers that take a 5 mm allen wrench, I am afraid I would lose the key. My theory is that most thieves are opportunists and will grab something that can be easily grabbed, but are less likely to have the right size allen wrench in their pocket.

I pack a spare 5mm allen wrench with my spare tube in case I did not bring a multi-tool with me. and get a flat.

rekmeyata

Most locks are just junk! including a lot of D locks.

The gold standard is the Kryptonite New York Fuhgeddaboudit, but these are $150 plus, and you have to pay money each year to keep the theft prevention provisions up, then after 3 years you have to buy a new lock and start over, seems a bit of an expensive overkill for just going into a convenience store and back out. I commute to work on my bike, and take another on camping trips, I put together my own locking system by using a Master Lock M175XDLF combination lock that cost $16, while it may seem cheap a bolt cutter did have a difficult time cutting it, the tester had to keep getting larger and larger cutters till he got a big huge thing and it cut it. Then I bought an Abus 6Ks chain which also gave a difficult time to bolt cutters, I got a 6-foot length that cost me $42. So for $58 I got a very tough locking system, not impossible to defeat but just as difficult to defeat as lock systems costing twice as much. Only drawback it that it is a bit heavy, but you can cut some of that weight by going with a 4 or 5 foot chain.

Just something to consider.

philbob57

I recommend looking for a lock with 'Sold Secure' certification. You can get some info about that at https://www.bikelockwiki.com/sold-se...nd-bike-locks/. The fuhgeddaboutit gets very high ratings, but you can also find similar safety in lighter locks (and heavier ones).

rekmeyata

There have been several Sold Secure locks that failed miserably, due to that Sold Secure has introduced a higher level of security than the Gold level, they now had a Diamond level. The Hiplock Gold, TiGr, and Litelok, all failed simple tests on YouTube.

I have two lock set ups for my bikes. One of the bikes I take to work and leave it outside where I can't see it for hours, that one I use the Master lock combo lock with the Abus 6ks chain; but when I go bike camping, I take a security cable instead with the combo lock because that locking system is lighter than the chain system by quite a bit, and since I'm near the campsite I'm not worried about it, but I am worried about weight so the chain stays home. If you are extremely worried about your bike getting stolen while you're away for several hours, like at work or at school, I suggest buying a used $350 or so bike and lock that up instead of a good bike; my commuter bike I paid $40 for a 1984 Fuji Club, it is in excellent condition so I don't want it stolen, but if by chance it did get stolen, I won't be crying about it.

There is a little test you can take on the website below to help you figure out just how tough of a lock do you really need.

Sold Secure Gold Bike Locks: The List - The Best Bike Lock

shmily_dana

Does anyone have or recommend a camera system for just the garage (or where ever you store your bicycle).

rekmeyata

Do you live in a very high crime area? I've never had anyone ever break into my home in over 40 years of owning homes, and statistics show that most people have not ever been broken into. In my earlier years the first house I owned was not in a award winning neighborhood either! I just don't get paranoid about it. As long as you keep stuff locked up you should be fine. Burglars today aren't stupid, they know people have cameras, so they just wear a mask over their faces, so you spend all that money just to see a masked man. It would be cheaper to have motion sensors installed, but I don't do those either. The only alarm system I have are my two dogs, and one is quite large, something a burglar doesn't want to run into in the middle of the day or night.

At the end of the day you have to do what will make you sleep at night.

rm -rf

Pre-Covid, I got a 9 foot Abus 10KS chain and a lock. That's a 10mm (3/8 inch) thick link. You can buy it by the foot online, with or without the cloth sleeve. It's 16 pounds! I got an inexpensive cloth tool bag from Harbor Freight that is perfect for carrying the chain.

It's for locking two bikes onto my car's hitch rack if we have to leave the bikes for more than a restroom / convenience store stop. I just don't want to have to worry about the bikes on a trip! The built in cable lock that came with the rack can be easily and quietly cut with quality electrician's diagonal cutters. I used a rope to estimate how long a chain to go through both frames and down to the car's towing point.

I keep my road bike in the house, but I'd use a shorter version of this, locked to a heavy floor loop, if the bike was in the garage.

Daniel4

I have a Wyze Cam V3 set up in my garage. It's not great but very basic.

tcs

From Bike Portland (https://bikeportland.org/2022/03/31/...dvice-350626):

"I heard from victims through local cycling email lists. In almost every instance, they told me a cable lock was cut. Cable locks are not security and I even question if they are worth bothering with as a secondary lock. They can be cut so quickly, without noise, and with small hand tools that they should never be used. Even on long rides in the country, it’s just not worth bothering. For those quick stops, bring your bike inside with you. It’s worth noting I did talk to people who had their bike stolen off a rack while using built-in cable locks. Never rely on them!

"Outside of cable locks there were a few people I found who still experienced theft. One of them had a bike locked with a u-lock in a parking garage during work and it still got stolen. Another person, not in Portland, who locked his bike outside his house with a Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit had it cut with an angle grinder. I still recommend that lock but it will fall, quickly, to an angle grinder.

"Aside from theft when using a lock, another big trend emerged during these discussions. Most people who have bikes stolen don’t have them locked. This should be obvious but there were a huge number of people who had always been incredibly careful only to have an unlocked bike stolen from a garage or “secure” bike room of some kind. Recently a friend had a shed where he kept his bikes broken into. The shed was locked with a quality lock and the cut through the steel holding the door closed. At home, consider an anchor system and a massive lock."

On that last point, locking your bike @home, here's a fun fact: you can buy seven (7!) OnGuard 8003 PitBull U-locks for the price of one Hiplock D1000.

prairiepedaler

Good recommendations. I'd like to add that the two locks should be of a different type (U-lock + Chain Lock, or folder) so that the thief ideally has to use a different defeating tool for each (unless we are talking about picking) and will probably only be carrying one. I like to lock up attached to natural gas pipes coming out of a building. In that case he has to work the lock, not the fixture. In the event the thief uses an angle grinder, and there is a small gas leak, then it would be worth it to lose the bike to explosion just to know the thief made his final attempt at theft or anything else.

Daniel4

My barber is on a strip mall which has no bike racks so I usually walk. The only places to lock would be those gas lines on the gas meter. Originally, I thought no way would I lock my bike there but your post is making me think it's not a bad idea.

But then again, if there were to be an explosion, wouldn't I be partially liable for damages?

tcs

I've not seen any evidence* that lock picking is a meaningful real-world threat to locked bikes. Mind you, it might be, but I haven't seen any evidence of it.

That said, your two locks? Let 'em have two different technology lock cylinders. The picker would need to have two different sets of pick tools and be skilled in picking two different kinds of locks.

Oh, and notice how youtube's 'Lock Picking Lawyer' always picks with his right hand, in good light, at a convenient height and angle? Even though I don't think picking is a real on-the-street threat to a locked bike, it doesn't cost me anything to position my locks so a picker would have to pick them upsidedown and backwards, lefthanded.


*Police reports, undamaged locks lying open on the ground where the bike was parked, miscreants arrested with pick tools, pick tools dropped in the dark and left behind, CCTV video, etc.

gpburdell

IMHO no reason not to use that as a lock up location given they provide no other secure thing to lock your bike to.

Contrary to what the movies might show, it's a bit difficult to make a natural gas leak go BOOM. You'd need just the right mixture with air, which is tough to achieve in an open space. If it were to catch fire you'd had more of a flame like a fire table, size depending on how big the leak was.

In no even can I imagine anyone finding you in any way liable.

rekmeyata

Plus they make exposed gas pipes pretty tough, short of taking an axe to the pipe you're not going to cause any problems.

rekmeyata

If a person is truly worried about their bike being stolen while at work or school, then don't even bother with locks, not even the best ones, because if you have a nice bike, and pros lurk around where you park it, they'll get the bike, no problem. So the best solution is to go on Craigslist and buy a $350 or so bike, and then buy a cheaper $45 lock instead of a $150 lock and lock that bike up at work or school instead. You can also do what a friend of mine did years ago, he bought a pretty nice used bike, then he took a chain to the frame and just mucked it all up, used a cheap cable lock and no one ever stole it while others around his bike would turn up missing, yet the bike that he mucked up had Campy components! But no one ever bothered to look at the components when they saw the bike all beat up. That is also the reason I take an old bike to work and lock it up just in the highly unlikely event someone wants to steal it, my place of work has security cameras all over the place, but no one really notices them there, so if someone stole my bike, we would have pictures of the car they were driving.

tcs

...fold it up and take it with you.

themp

This works for me when I have to use a bathroom or a quick stop to get coffee.

https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Anti...ps%2C91&sr=8-5

JohnJ80

We have had kids with two very nice bikes at urban universities (bad bike theft problem) for two undergraduate degrees and two graduate degrees for a total of 18 years total. Neither bike has been stolen or attempted to be stolen. It's not complicated - the whole idea is to make it hard to get the parts off and to make it far more convenient to mess with someone else first. And it works as evidenced by out track record. That said, it's not unlikely that an e-mtb presents a different problem.

• Seat, handlebars, skewers were all secured with Pit Locks.
• U locks were used for stops during the day and classes. A U-lock and a chain lock were used when they were locked outside at night. This requires two different sets of tools to defeat.
• Always attempted to lock them next to a bike that was either flashier or locked poorly.
• Never lock the bike all by itself. This blows the convenience factor because there's nothing easier, there's just your bike.

For an e-bike in todays urban environment, I'm not sure you could secure it adequately for longer than a short stop to pick up something. But the same pit lock and locking strategy would apply. Because you have assist, then you can carry the biggest baddest locks around. The problem though is all the parts that are accessible and can't be really locked down. I'd also add an alarm. They're cheap on amazon and it couldn't hurt. Finally, get good insurance and then rest easy. If it gets stolen, you'll get paid to get a newer higher tech version.

J.

rekmeyata

The use of two different locks requiring two tools is no longer a valid statement. Since the time that this sort of advice was good battery powered angle grinders have come out, with a sharp new blade that angle grinder will slice through both of those in under a minute.

Insurance is a good idea, if you live in America Markel is the best. I would suggest that since Markel insures for stated value that you up the coverage by at least $500 beyond what it cost new due to how high bicycle prices have climbed in the last year, and probably upping it to $1,000 would be better. You have to decide how much risk you want to take, not upping the cost to replacement value is cheaper, but then you'll have to pay the difference for a new bike plus your deductible from the insurance. Homeowners insurance you have to pay separately for a bicycle floater which will cost you as much as Markel and won't give you any other benefit coverages that Markel gives you.

JohnJ80

I don’t agree.

two locks still means two attempts at freeing a bike compared to one for most other bikes. That means cutting one lock, repositioning and aligning to cut the second lock. Having two different lock styles makes it more complicated for the thieves without grinders.

I also offer our track record of 18 years of bike usage spread over two bikes at a major urban university over the last 10 years. No thefts and no attempts of consequence. Bikes are nice high quality vintage racing bikes with leather saddles, hand built wheels, campy hubs etc….

It’s not about how hard it is for a thief to get your bike out on absolute terms but how much more inconvenient it is compared to an immediately accessible bike next to yours in relative terms. Thieves are all about risk/reward optimization. Spending even slightly more time is much higher risk than a quick hit of a lower value bike.