How do you lock your bikes in bike racks?

Amouar

Hi everyone,

I was always wondering what's the best way to lock bikes to the bike racks like in the image below

You basically insert the wheel between the two metal bars, but there is no where to secure the bike frame to. Most folks only lock their front wheels to these bars, but this makes it super easy for thieves, especially if the front wheel has a quick release mechanism.

Raam

I'd never lock my bike to one of those

Idleater

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120671452#Comment_120671452

You might be able to wheel the bike through and get a lock at the bottom bracket.

Breezer

We have these at work, although they’re a bit higher. Most people position their rear wheels to the side of the slot, and pass the lock through the slot, the rear wheel, and the rear triangle of the bike.

If they’re too low to do that, I wouldn’t use them.

Seth Brundle

That "bike rack" isn't fixed to the ground and is much more likely to result in a buckled wheel that ensuring any kind of safety for a bike.

I simply would not put a bike I liked into one of those. Whoever put it there did so as an extremely cheap box ticking exercise and not for the benefit of anyone who is using a bike.

Anyhow, to kind of answer your question, most bikes will have a quick release mechanism to remove a wheel from the frame. Just locking a wheel to that yoke could mean that someone could still easily take the wheel off and take the rest ofnthe bike away.

De Bhál

We have them in work also. The epitome of box ticking. Anyone that procures these hasn't cycled a bicycle since they were 12.

I'd even say the person that invented them also doesn't cycle.

Seth Brundle

This is a decent article also...

https://irishcycle.com/how-to/lock-your-bicycle/

Amouar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120674769#Comment_120674769

They were probably invented for indoor bikes storage (garage), but unfortunately they are used everywhere Dublin (Gyms, shopping centers etc)

tomasrojo

Since they come up from time to time, I do use them, but only for a very short stay. A Woodies near me has them. I have been locking the wheel to the rack, and then using a second lock securing the wheel to the downtube of the bike frame. I have a kickstand, so the wheel-bending aspect of the rack isn't as bad (assuming non-malevolent intentions from passersby and other users of the rack).

I've started using a 1.2m-long tex-lock plug-in chain a lot more in recent days, so next time I might lock the d-lock through the front wheel to the rack, and then run the plug-in chain from the d-lock to the Dutch-style frame lock I have on the back wheel. I have a security skewer on the front wheel anyway, as it happens.

Macy0161

They are normally a bit higher than the bike, and often staggered height. I normally bike backwards and beside, and then through the rear wheel and frame. But you can't lock properly like on a sheffield stand. My current work is pretty secure, but one of the reasons I still have a specific commuter that wouldn't break my heart if it went!

Companies/ Management Companies put these in, and then complain about people using railings to lock their bikes properly...