Securing bikes in garden shed

ravendude

Hi there,
I have 3 rather pricey mountain bikes out in my garden shed at the moment, which I'm concerned would be a breeze altogether to steal. Now, they've been out there for a couple of years with no incidents thankfully, but I'm wondering if anyone has any tips to make them a bit more secure.
I'm in the process of getting them covered explicitly on my insurance, but would still be gutted if they were nicked (custom built bikes).
So, I'm thinking of chaining them together with a big chain, anyone have any recommendations here? It could probably be something different or heavier than a standard bike lock as there'd be no need to carry it around.
Maybe a decent bicycle cable lock might be better though, than a chain+padlock...Anyone have any suggestions?
I reckon chaining them together would be worthwhile as they might not have the right tools on them and it would be very awkward to carry off 3 chained bikes.
Btw, how would someone break into a standard wooden type of Barnard shed, currently just secured with a padlock? Screwdrivers,crowbar,bolt cutters?
I'm also thinking about getting an alarm though not sure if this would be much good.
Thanks, any ideas or experiences appreciated...

Captain Havoc

In my shed, I've a three bike stand with a heavy duty cable and lock going throught the stand and the three bikes. I then have two D-locks to lock the bikes together. Even making it awkward can turn them off

Mucco

What's the floor of the shed made from?

If concrete, you could get a ground anchor:
http://www.oxford-shop.co.uk/item3189.htm

I'd also get a good chain, min 16mm - cable locks are a waste of money

stoneill

I have a dog.
He minds the bikes very well indeed and he loves to run beside me when I'm out cycling.

kirving

My house insurance wouldn't cover my bike because it wasn't locked to an immovable object.

I second the ground anchor and a decent U-lock. You could mount the anchor on a steel plate and bolt it to the floor if you have a wooden shed.

ravendude

I probably wouldn't be able to fit an anchor as we're in a rented house at the moment. Good to know though for future reference.
Some kind of bike stand as suggested above might be worth looking into though in fairness.

ravendude

Would something like this be better than a chain + padlock?
It seems almost any padlock can be popped or cut easily enough.
Given its a padlock on the door, its more likely they're equipped for breaklng padlocks.

[url=http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&amp;fh_secondid=9284354&amp;fh_location=//catalog01/en_GB/categories<{9372015}/categories<{9372044}/categories<{9382012}/specificationsProductType=locks/specificationsSpecificProductType=chain_lock[/url] Chain

NeedMoreGears

I had my bike stolen from a locked shed. They didn't seem to have a lot of trouble getting past the pad lock - bear in mind these people won't mid doing a bit of damage.


First get the strongest bolt mechanism you can find - the one that came with the shed may not be up to much so consider replacing it.

I would suggest that if the bolt mechanism is screwed to the door/shed wall then use screws that can go through the wood by at least 1.5cm. When the bolt is installed, bend over the screws in the inside of the door so that they cannot be unscrewed.

Inside the shed now I have a large heavy chain and padlock. I lock three bikes together and use two heavy cast iron pieces from an old garden seat as an anchor ( I reckon they weigh around 30kg between them).

Hopefully the bikes are now in the "too much trouble" category. If they really want to get at them, they probably could.