Bike Lock

FesterBeatty

Hi,

My bike lock is one of the curly cable types. Anyone have any experience with those? It was always good enough with the ****ty bike I used to have, but bought a decent bike recently and I'm reluctant to leave it around - even locked!

Are these locks any use or can they be cut too easily? If so, can anyone recommend a decent (small!) lock? Dont fancy dragging heavy chains or U-Locks around.

cheers

petethedrummer

If you still have any questions after watching these, ask away:

part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTA3JsZWiec
part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8UpUj_8tWI
part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCbU83_G6nA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6xnkEkP2WY

I think this is the millionth and one time I've posted these.

Knasher

They can be cut way too easily and to be honest I don't think they should be sold without some sort of warning that they aren't good for anything more than locking down your front tire/saddle.

Last year when I was younger and more naive I had a new mountain bike behind a "secure" gate for 3 days before it was stolen. Never trust one of those locks again.

tomasrojo

Whenever someone I know tells me their bike was stolen, every time (so far) they've had a cable lock of some sort.

Some cable locks can be forced open without tools. You can just swing the bike hard away from the stand a few times and the lock will pop open.

A good small lock (from what people on this forum say) is the Kryptonite Evolution mini. I use the Kryptonite Fahgettaboudit mini, but no-one could describe it as small. It's a beast.

nerraw1111

I was locking my bike outside the Irish life Centre about two weeks ago using a curly cable lock. Was only going to nip in and out.

Just as I was about to leave my bike, I saw two dodgey looking lads nudging each other and pointing at my bike. Sensing they were up to no good, I unlocked the bike and went to leave.

Man 1: 'Here mister, you wouldn't want to be locking that bike with the piece of ****e.'

Man 2: 'Yeah, the locks are ****. You're f***ing mad locking a specialized with one of them, you should get one of them u locks.'

Me: 'Yeah? You lads weren't about to nick my bike were you?'

Man1: 'No, we don't nick bikes anymore but seriously, if you like your bike, get a proper lock.'

So there you have it. Two lads who were about to nick my bike recommend u locks.

Cable locks probably attract thieves. Also was in a LBS the other day and the assistant told one girl that'd she be better off with nothing than getting a cable lock.

doc1976

I have a krytonite D lock, really small and hand.

Have a cable lock and my bike got knicked, I wonder why shops even sell these.

Bambaata

No lock is thief proof, its only going to delay how long it takes for them to break it. If a thief wants your bike he's going to get it.

tomasrojo

Bambaata wrote: »

No lock is thief proof, its only going to delay how long it takes for them to break it. If a thief wants your bike he's going to get it.

But some locks are so bad that a thief will think nothing of stealing your bike.

Other locks mean that the thief has to have specific equipment and at least ten minutes uninterrupted.

I haven't had a bike stolen in twenty-five years of parking bikes in the street in Dublin. That doesn't mean that I'll never have a bike stolen, but it's a considerably better record than some people have. Two good u-locks very substantially reduces the chance that your bike will be stolen. Limiting yourself to bikes under €1000 probably helps too.

s.downey

I had a cable lock and a massive pad lock on my bike.Two lads tried to nick it just as i was walking off. People look out for them. Glad i saw them and i still have my bike.
:eek:

muad_dib77

petethedrummer wrote: »

If you still have any questions after watching these, ask away:

part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTA3JsZWiec
part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8UpUj_8tWI
part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCbU83_G6nA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6xnkEkP2WY

I think this is the millionth and one time I've posted these.

Those are amazing!! Even the missus found them entertaining.
Square-bar type u-lock with aux cable it is.

Guess the only downside is having to lug it all about.

The extra "antitheft" bits apparently are called "pin heads" or something similar..

07Lapierre

Just bought a Kryptonite Evolution Series 4. Is it any good?

kona

petethedrummer wrote: »

If you still have any questions after watching these, ask away:

part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTA3JsZWiec
part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8UpUj_8tWI
part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCbU83_G6nA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6xnkEkP2WY

I think this is the millionth and one time I've posted these.

Can we sticky these in a kind of recommended locks thread, no bull****, just locks that are crap and locks that are good.

reverenddave

i only paid €100 euro for a second hand rarely used bike 2 days ago there were 2 (probably argos ) locks around the middle bar and no keys it took me a total of 30 seconds to snip them off with my leatherman

my question is what is a respectable price to pay for a lock for this bike

thebullkf

Kryptonite fugheddaboutit. ftw

yammycat

99 % of locks are useless against a good tool, even very heavy steel motorbike chains will be cut in seconds with a bolt cutter, if you need to leave your bike in a public area secure it with more than one lock and get it insured but don't be surprised if it goes walkies.

A friend of mine had a motorbike stolen from an indoor carpark well within a campus, the bike was parked 25 yards in front of the security office which had a window looking out at it and was always staffed by at least 2 security guards, it was secured by two very heavy hardened steel chains and a U lock on the disk brake, it still walked.

kona

yammycat wrote: »

A friend of mine had a motorbike stolen from an indoor carpark well within a campus, the bike was parked 25 yards in front of the security office which had a window looking out at it and was always staffed by at least 2 security guards, it was secured by two very heavy hardened steel chains and a U lock on the disk brake, it still walked.

Bike could have been lifted?

yammycat

kona wrote: »

Bike could have been lifted?

It was locked to one of those metal frame things, i'd say they scoped it out came in later with a van and 2 guys, cut one chain each with a bolt cutter then threw it in the back of the van, probably took less than 60 seconds with the van obstructing view from security room. Felt bad for the guy as he only had the bike for 3 weeks and had no theft insurance as you couldn't get it as a provisional driver back then, don't know about now.

sxt

yammycat wrote: »

99 % of locks are useless against a good tool, even very heavy steel motorbike chains will be cut in seconds with a bolt cutter, if you need to leave your bike in a public area secure it with more than one lock and get it insured but don't be surprised if it goes walkies.

.

yeah but 99 % of scumbags are going to walk straight by the bike with the good U- lock and steal one of the majority of bikes locked via cable lock

mcmoustache

sxt wrote: »

yeah but 99 % of scumbags are going to walk straight by the bike with the good U- lock and steal one of the majority of bikes locked via cable lock

Very important point. No lock is totally secure. You just need to be more secure than the other bikes.

It's a bit like being chased by a dinosaur. You don't need to be the fastest in the group. You just need one person in the group to be slower than you.

mcmoustache

reverenddave wrote: »

i only paid €100 euro for a second hand rarely used bike 2 days ago there were 2 (probably argos ) locks around the middle bar and no keys it took me a total of 30 seconds to snip them off with my leatherman

my question is what is a respectable price to pay for a lock for this bike

My second-hand Trek 7210 cost €180 but I spent €50 on a Kryptonite Evolution U-lock. I also spent another 20 on a cable and a chain. The cable is only for securing the saddle and wheels to the frame and the chain is for securing the front wheel and frame to a railing.

Some might consider that to be overkill but I park in the city centre a lot and love my bike. If I were you, I would just buy a chain and a cheap U-Lock. You can get a chain for a tenner and a U-lock for 20. Both of those can be broken easily enough by a thief but he's more likely to go for a good bike with a cable-lock than a cheap bike with two locks.

Also, fasten the chain's padlock to a spoke. That way, even if the chain is cut, there is still a padlock stuck in the spokes.

mcmoustache

07Lapierre wrote: »

Just bought a Kryptonite Evolution Series 4. Is it any good?

Yes, as long as it's used correctly. Fasten it in such a way that there is no room for a thief to slip a bottle-jack into it. I normally put it through the back wheel and the frame. It's a tight fit and a thief would need to destroy the wheel first before he could get a jack in there.

Moflojo

reverenddave wrote: »

i only paid €100 euro for a second hand rarely used bike 2 days ago there were 2 (probably argos ) locks around the middle bar and no keys it took me a total of 30 seconds to snip them off with my leatherman

I'm guessing that you bought this bike from a friend/reliable source and aren't bragging about how easy it was to remove the locks from the stolen bike you bought off some scobe?

reverenddave

mcmoustache wrote: »

My second-hand Trek 7210 cost €180 but I spent €50 on a Kryptonite Evolution U-lock. I also spent another 20 on a cable and a chain. The cable is only for securing the saddle and wheels to the frame and the chain is for securing the front wheel and frame to a railing.

Some might consider that to be overkill but I park in the city centre a lot and love my bike. If I were you, I would just buy a chain and a cheap U-Lock. You can get a chain for a tenner and a U-lock for 20. Both of those can be broken easily enough by a thief but he's more likely to go for a good bike with a cable-lock than a cheap bike with two locks.

Also, fasten the chain's padlock to a spoke. That way, even if the chain is cut, there is still a padlock stuck in the spokes.

i have a cable to do the saddle already
where can these kryptonite ones be bought ?????????
they look great and very intimidating to thieves

i love the padlock on the spoke idea

Moflojo wrote: »

I'm guessing that you bought this bike from a friend/reliable source and aren't bragging about how easy it was to remove the locks from the stolen bike you bought off some scobe?

Adverts.ie
there was 2 probable argos cablelocks and one of the keys broke inside the lock
and it was wrapped around the frame and it looked ****ty

i'll use the other one on the saddle

cdaly_

reverenddave wrote: »

where can these kryptonite ones be bought ?????????

Amazon for one.

Gillo

I use a Specialized Wedlock and find it works great when used with one of the Krptonite cables. Nice thing about it is the colour, its a bright read and looks pretty unusal for a lock so I'd say it tends to scare scoobies off.

I've love to know how it compares to a decent u-lock though if anyone has any opinions.

-Chris-

Probably garbage due to all the connections. The less moving parts, the better.

Gillo

-Chris- wrote: »

Probably garbage due to all the connections. The less moving parts, the better.

Lol, not what I wanted to hear but thanks, looks like a Kryptonite u-lock for me then- luckily I can leave it in the basement in work most of the time.

briano

just bought a mini evolution there, wanted to get a faghedaboutit mini, but amazon won't deliver to here and wiggle/crc only stock the evolution.

Should be alright though, it's for my "new" beater: Crap Bike + Good lock. It's super effective

-Chris-

Amazon delivered a faghedaboutit to me, why wouldn't the ship to you did they say?

briano

Ah. Sorry. I live in Sweden. I should have made that clearer.

Fun fact: Only Abus locks over here. Nothing wrong with that mind you, but they don't do a mini version.

Other fun fact: Saw one of the Knog locks, they are quite new. They have a funny soft rubber coating which, according to the guy in the LBS at least, stops hack saws and bolt cutters by "grabbing" the blades. They showed me one that they had tried to cut, and I have to say, it looked like they had given it a good going over.

That said a) they were trying to sell it to me at the time and b) it's not like sweden is a high risk environment- people are quite happy and safe using those "nurse locks" by themselves.

kona

mcmoustache wrote: »

Also, fasten the chain's padlock to a spoke. That way, even if the chain is cut, there is still a padlock stuck in the spokes.

Spokes can be snipped with a pliers.

mcmoustache

kona wrote: »

Spokes can be snipped with a pliers.

I know, yeah. The reason for doing this is so that the thief will need to damage the wheel to remove the lock. It's just one extra bit of a deterrent. Given a choice between a bike that needs to be damaged to be stolen and one that doesn't, a thief will hopefully go for the easier option.

Nothing can stop a determined thief but I think it's worth doing all you can to make it difficult for him. Even little things that only add a little bit more difficulty can be the difference between your bike being stolen and the thief going for something easier.

-Chris-

I wouldn't think the average thief would consider a snipped spoke "damage", and odds are they won't even worry about fixing it as the average stolen bike buyer probably wouldn't notice a snipped spoke if it poked them in the eye.

petethedrummer

I fasten the padlock of the chain to the frame at the chainstays.

mcmoustache

-Chris- wrote: »

I wouldn't think the average thief would consider a snipped spoke "damage", and odds are they won't even worry about fixing it as the average stolen bike buyer probably wouldn't notice a snipped spoke if it poked them in the eye.

Fair enough. Maybe a better idea would be to get a bigger padlock and fasten it to the rim. Unless the thief can snip the lock, he won't be cycling away on that bike.

Slightly off-topic, I think there should be a stickied thread about locking bikes. Pete has provided the videos plenty of times which are a very useful guide. The topic comes up quite a lot and in all of the threads, good suggestions have been given. Given how often the question is asked, a mega-merge and a sticky would help keep them in one place easily seen by people with questions.

doozerie

The BikeRadar lock reviews are worth a glance through before buying a lock. Generally speaking not all of their reviews leave me convinced but their lock tests seems pretty comprehensive on paper.

Personally I've used an Abus Granit Xplus U-lock for years now and I'd recommend it. It is well made and appears to be very robust, but as a consequence it is quite heavy (and pricey) which is the usual trade-off. Trouble is, the only way to find out how good it really is is for someone to try to break it - the fact that no-one has tried in all the years I've had it suggests either that I've been lucky enough for my bike not to attract attention or that the lock is enough of a deterrent in itself. It generally fares very well in reviews though, such as this one. Incidentally, I bought this as a replacement for this Oxford cable lock which was total garbage and suffered the same fate as the one in that review in a matter of seconds. I had used it for a few years by then without any problems but clearly that was simply because no-one had bothered trying to break it rather than it being a good lock. I won't buy another Oxford lock.

I also use the Kryptonite Evolution mini, but only as a second lock for my other wheel. I would not rely on it as my primary lock. It's reasonably robust but in a different (poorer) class than my Abus lock. For one thing, the Kryptonite shackle locks at one end only so one cut of the shackle is all that is needed to open the lock - my Abus locks at boths ends of the shackle so two cuts are required to free the bike and that requires extra time that a thief might not be willing to spend.

poochiem

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_reynolds/5162088156/in/set-72157625224685871 I've posted this here before, young lads I spotted stealing a bike outside arnotts. you can see from the pic it's one of those 'heavy duty' cable locks, something like one they had in Lidl previously. The young lad grabs the bike by the handlebars from behind and pulls it violently backwards and upwards a couple of times and the lock just falls open, he hops on and rides away his new Giant.

Get a good lock and park beside a bad lock

rabbitinlights

I use an Abus 895 Phantom with no problems for the last 18 months in Dublin city centre



Would this be considered a poor lock?

S.

-Chris-

It's ok, but not brilliant.

doozerie

rabbitinlights wrote: »

Would this be considered a poor lock?

I've not seen a review for that specific lock but the Abus security level rating may give some clue as to how robust the lock is. They rate that as "Extra Level 7" versus a rating of "Maximum Level 15" for the Granit X-Plus (their highest rated lock, I think). The lowest rated Abus U-lock is "Extra Level 7" too so they obviously consider the Phantom on a par with their "weakest" U-lock which possibly makes the Phantom better than some of the U-locks knocking around (it's hard to know though without knowing how they determine the ratings).

When it boils right down to it though, it really depends on how much you value your bike and how much you are willing to spend on a lock. One rule of thumb is to spend about 10% of the value of your bike on the lock. That approach certainly won't appeal to everyone of course. Personally I wouldn't use anything less than the Granit X-Plus on my bikes when locked anywhere they are at significant risk, plus a second decent lock, but then having already experienced a bike of mine being taken once I'm willing to go to what some might consider extreme lengths to avoid that experience again.

rabbitinlights

Cheers, I really appreciate the feedback, it's a Specialized Rockhopper Comp so I think it would be worth getting a second (better) lock, especially as I'll be using it a lot more in the summer.

S.

yammycat

rabbitinlights wrote: »

I use an Abus 895 Phantom with no problems for the last 18 months in Dublin city centre



Would this be considered a poor lock?

S.

no problems means no one has tried to steal it yet thats just luck, you would cut that lock in 2 seconds with a decent bolt cutter, the only locks that have a chance of stopping a concerted effort at theft are those which don't offer anything for a tool to bite down on, cable locks are the easiest to cut, there's literally feet of lock available to bite on.

Gavin

mcmoustache wrote: »

Slightly off-topic, I think there should be a stickied thread about locking bikes. Pete has provided the videos plenty of times which are a very useful guide. The topic comes up quite a lot and in all of the threads, good suggestions have been given. Given how often the question is asked, a mega-merge and a sticky would help keep them in one place easily seen by people with questions.

In the Charter & FAQ thread (which poster are asked to read) there is a list of all the topics on the wiki.
One of those is http://wiki.boards.ie/wiki/Locks_%26_Security

Feel free to update it with more info, I know Pete has already added some links to it.

NMK2008

a friend of mine had a close call yesterday evening when someone attempted to steal his bike by cutting through a Coil type lock: (link below)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0018AC4GY/ref=asc_df_B0018AC4GY2480099?smid=A1VBDDAR0L9YIY&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22218&creativeASIN=B0018AC4GY

it was 2mm From breaking, and was a really clean cut through the internal cable wire... no idea what they used to cut it.

approx 7pm in Clarendon St.

studiorat

I usually do the removing the front wheel thing and locking the whole shmozzle together with a kryptonite.

Except for yesterday where I popped into the grocers and locked the crossbar to the railings. I came out to find the bike lying on the ground with the kryptonite locked around the crossbar. Blocking the whole street in the centre of town to boot!

tomasrojo

Had you accidentally failed to encircle a railing with the lock or something like that?