Bike stolen, beware

pontovic

Hi

I live and work in London and on my way out of work this evening I noticed my bike was gone from the railing and all that was left was my lock busted open on the ground. My bike was taken in broad daylight right at the front entrance of an upmarket shopping centre in West London, where I happen to work in the upper floor offices.

It happens that there are no cameras pointing in this particular area, so I'll have to accept the fact that the bike is gone. It wasn't too expensive and worse things can happen, however I do have some wisdom to pass onto other cyclists regarding bike locks.

The particular bike lock I was using was a u-shaped bike lock which can be obtained in your local Halfords (I got it there) manufactured by Bikehut. This is the lock I was using hoping it would protect my bike. It must have taken very little time to actually get it open.

I hope this story will help people in considering which brand of bike lock cyclists will use when making a purchasing decision.

Thanks and be safe !

Gavin

Where exactly was the ulock placed on the bicycle ?

The easiest way to defeat a u lock is with a hydraulic bottle jack. These fit into the lock and exert massive pressure, bending and breaking the lock, very quickly. The jacks are reasonably small and discreet.

To defeat this you need to fill the lock with as much as possible, wheels, frame, crank, immovable object. Or use a small ulock. Ideally you want to use two different types of lock.

supertramp

I'm sorry to hear that. I had my bike damaged for the 3rd time....in my apartment block.

I had a U lock, but they couldn't cut it, it just has a few scratches......but instead they cut through the crossbar....

I'll check the make of the lock and will post it tomorrow

pontovic

Hi

The U-lock was placed at the back of the bike, through the railing, then through the join where the rear wheel sits, and through the spokes too. It was also placed down low so if you wanted to pry it you would have to bend down and this would make it more difficult.

I hope they choke on it, the bastards. I hope they get run over by a bus.

Thanks for the replies by the way

pontovic

I had a look at the lock this morning in work and it appears that a bottle jack was not used to open it. The lock in question was just very easily defeatable. The guys who stole the bike would have had to get down on their hunkers to open it, as it was quite low down to the ground.

If they could break it in broad daylight, then they must have been able to do it quite quickly, so as not to attract attention. That goes to show how effective the lock actually was.

A colleague in work recommended a good lock. See the link below

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360023755&N=Kryptonite%20New%20York%203000%20D%20Lock

blorg

How was the lock opened- can you figure out? Presuming it was not susceptible to the bic pen trick?

niceonetom

pontovic wrote: »

A colleague in work recommended a good lock. See the link below
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360023755&N=Kryptonite%20New%20York%203000%20D%20Lock

that's what i use. so far so good.

touch wood.

commiserations on your loss. perhaps boris will out an end to this kind of thing when he succeeds with the whole sharia-law-for-bicycle-thieves plan.

kona

pontovic wrote: »

I had a look at the lock this morning in work and it appears that a bottle jack was not used to open it. The lock in question was just very easily defeatable. The guys who stole the bike would have had to get down on their hunkers to open it, as it was quite low down to the ground.

If they could break it in broad daylight, then they must have been able to do it quite quickly, so as not to attract attention. That goes to show how effective the lock actually was.

A colleague in work recommended a good lock. See the link below

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360023755&N=Kryptonite%20New%20York%203000%20D%20Lock

its a well known fact that most public turn a blind eye to cycle theft, so they could have been there all day, also all locks can be broken, and a lock is only as good as its weakest link.

kryptonite are fantastic locks.

DavyD_83

supertramp wrote: »

I'm sorry to hear that. I had my bike damaged for the 3rd time....in my apartment block.

I had a U lock, but they couldn't cut it, it just has a few scratches......but instead they cut through the crossbar....

:eek::eek::eek:

Did they just cut through your crossbar and then just leave the bike? Thats a fair bit of cutting just to wreck a bike, you'd think they'd just kick the **** out of it.

kona

DavyD_83 wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek:

Did they just cut through your crossbar and then just leave the bike? Thats a fair bit of cutting just to wreck a bike, you'd think they'd just kick the **** out of it.

not on aluminium, a decent hacksaw will slide through 6061 easy.