Advice on which locks to use from experience?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
That doesn't help, does it? The ideal bike thief territory is a shed with little public visibility, multiple easy exit routes and access for a van.
It's an assessment one needs to make on an individual basis in relation to the specifics of their storage place(s). Keeping out of view of the visitors and patients will mean fewer have-a-go thieves will know where bikes are stored. Of course, none of this stops a motivated 'professional' operation targeting high value bikes, hence my reluctant purchase of cycle insurance. We've probably all seen this video of a thief stealing a brompton in broad daylight. Being out in the open did little good there!


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLQFjXR_ggc
 
Last edited:

SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
Of course, none of this stops a motivated 'professional' operation targeting high value bikes, hence my reluctant purchase of cycle insurance. We've probably all seen this video of a thief stealing a brompton in broad daylight. Being out in the open did little good there!

Stand-alone cycle insurance is very expensive annually in relation to the value of the insured bike. I'd rather pay 10% of the price of an expensive bike to get a second cheap hack bike, rather than shell out endless insurance premiums and have to comply with certain security requirements such as type of locks. The way I look at it, 10 years insurance equates to the cost of a new expensive bike. If you keep your good bike out of the way and don't leave it unattended, you only have to manage not to get a cheap hack stolen for the first year, then you're saving money after that.
 

vickster

Legendary Member
Unlimited bike cover through my home insurance. Costs me virtually nothing in additional premiums to cover the bikes if anything (my unlimited contents and buildings insurance with all the bells and whistles is under £250 a year in a high risk area)
 
Stand-alone cycle insurance is very expensive annually in relation to the value of the insured bike.

It's a good job I shopped around, and added it on to my household contents insurance then! I already had the locks, and am in a habit of using them at work. They don't need to be locked in an integrated garage, so no fuss at home & I already have a cheap run around for local errands.

It makes sense to insure a £5k ebike. I can't recall the exact figure, but the addition of the ebike to the policy was around 30 quid. Before I bought the e-bike, I just self-insured, that pot contributed nicely toward the ebike. There is a time and a place for that strategy, and skimping on ebike insurance is probably false economy if it remains locked in an insecure area for long periods of time. Mine is higher value than most, but not by a huge amount. I recommend anyone looking to insure higher value bikes checks out Lloyds contents cover, it was very competitive.
 
This has unintentionally become a depressing thread.
I am lucky to live in an area that is relatively free from crime. Yes it of course crime occurs everywhere. When the wife and I ride to Dairy Queen for a Banana Split, I use a cheap cable lock. $3000 worth of bicycles protected by $20 Cable lock
 

froze

Über Member
no matter how tough of a lock you get, a battery powered angle grinder with a fresh blade will cut through it in 30 seconds tops. Of course, depending on where you live, you may live in a low crime area and people aren't looking for bikes to steal for a living and carry around an angle grinder.
 

Brooks

Senior Member
Location
S.E. London
Unlimited bike cover through my home insurance. Costs me virtually nothing in additional premiums to cover the bikes if anything (my unlimited contents and buildings insurance with all the bells and whistles is under £250 a year in a high risk area)
If you made a claim or two due to nicked bikes would your premiums go up?
 

vickster

Legendary Member
If you made a claim or two due to nicked bikes would your premiums go up?
Dunno, probably but my ncb is protected.
Wouldn’t go up by the £600 or more a year it would cost me to insure them all separately tho.
They’re kept either in the house or an insurance approved Asgard in the garden.
 

Lina Roth

New Member
Congratulations on getting your first electric cargo bike! It's understandable that you're feeling anxious about leaving it unattended, especially when visiting clients. It's always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to bike security.

It sounds like you've already done your research and selected some high-quality locks. The Abus Bordo 6500 folding lock is a great choice, and the Abus chain that links to the front wheel cafe lock provides an extra layer of security. The Hiplok Homie chain is also a solid option, and having an additional lock can certainly give you more peace of mind.

One thing to keep in mind is that it's often best to use different types of locks, so that a potential thief would need to use different tools and techniques to break them. For example, you might consider a U-lock or a heavy-duty cable lock as a third option, to complement the folding lock and the chain.
 
I recently built my first electric bike. It occurred to me that the weight increase is not really an issue now I have one, so I have an Oxford motorcycle d-lock. It's about another half as much weight again as my "normal" Abus D-lock (which was sold secure gold, IIRC). That goes through the back wheel, crank and frame leaving as small a space as possible for a thief to insert a lever.

On the front wheel, I have a motorbike chain and padlock. 16mm links.

An angle grinder would make short work of it but I hope it looks enough of a deterrent to make the scallies move onto the next bike that isn't so well locked.
 

froze

Über Member
Let me repeat an earlier post I made. There is only 1 bicycle lock on the market currently that I know of that can be carried practically, and be angle grinder proof, and that lock is the Hiplock D1000, which includes any chain, any other D lock, any folding lock, any cable, etc. There is another lock that is also angle grinder proof but the thing was so huge it is highly impractical to carry it on a bike.

Battery-powered angle grinders with a new blade can cut through any lock, except for the Hiplock D1000, in 30 seconds or less. So if you live in a high crime area, or high population area, or you are concerned in general then you need to lock your bike up with something that will prevent that sort of attack. That lock will also fend off any other type of attack as well.

With Ebikes there is one other safety measure you need to take, and that is to remove the battery and take it with you.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Let me repeat an earlier post I made. There is only 1 bicycle lock on the market currently that I know of that can be carried practically, and be angle grinder proof, and that lock is the Hiplock D1000,
At 1.8kg and £250, unless it is a bike with a very high price or irreplacable, most riders may prefer insurance, a cheaper lighter insurance-satisfying lock or two and accepting a bike getting nicked once in a blue moon.
 

froze

Über Member
I did not disagree with buying insurance. However, are you willing to accept the hassle of losing a bike, and waiting for a check to come which could take months? Do you leave your car unlocked with the key inside the car because it's simpler to do that? Of course not, so why treat a costly bicycle any differently? You lock up your bike like you would your car, and you insure your bike like you would your car.

Of course, we're talking about expensive Ebikes, but even expensive regular bikes should be treated the same, but if you have a bike worth less than $2,000, getting insurance on it doesn't make sense, because over the course of 5 years of paying for the insurance you darn near spent the cost of the bike on insurance! So all of that has to be weighed out before a person decides if it's worth getting insurance with monthly premiums, or annual if that's how you pay.

I have several bikes, but only 1 is insured with a separate policy, but I don't have the insurance for the reason of theft, though the policy does cover that, I have it more for crashes. Because like you said theft is not a common thing outside of big cities. But even in medium to small cities, due to the cost of a simple battery-powered angle grinder with a battery that can be bought new for as little as $70, makes a thief's job so much easier, and thefts do happen, and in fact, are on the increase by roughly 25% in the last 3 years, but some of that could be due to the lack of bikes on the market which made selling used and stolen bikes more profitable.

And if all you are worried about is protecting your bike against theft, and not crashes when it comes to insurance you don't need a standalone bike policy, your homeowners type of insurance covers the bike away from the house. All you have to pay is the deductible and depreciation which could be substantial. My homeowner's insurance has a $2,000 deductible! So none of my 8 bikes, except for the one, would be worth putting a claim in for! Unless they were all stolen at the same time.

The Hiplock D1000 doesn't weigh any more than better traditional D locks, in fact, the weight is about the same as a NY Forgetaboutit D Lock. The only disadvantage of the HipLock D1000 over the NY Forgetaboutit D lock is that it cost about $150 more. So again this boils down to how expensive of a bike are you locking up? why buy a $300 lock, or even a $150 lock to lock up a $500 bike? So you have to consider the price of the lock vs the cost to replace your particular bike. Of course, all this lock stuff only applies if you are parking your bike someplace where you can't keep your eye on it for long periods of time. Parked in the garage of your own home you don't need a lock or extra insurance, your homeowner's insurance will cover it for theft. When I commute to work I just take a simple chain with a lock, but I have security cameras where I park it, the lock just keeps someone from snatching it too quickly; when I go bike camping I go even lighter with just a cable lock to lock it to a picnic table or a small tree, so someone can't quietly sneak off with it while I'm sleeping.

Well, that's a lot of rambling about nothing!!
 

StuAff

Silencing his legs regularly
Location
Portsmouth
Let me repeat an earlier post I made. There is only 1 bicycle lock on the market currently that I know of that can be carried practically, and be angle grinder proof, and that lock is the Hiplock D1000, which includes any chain, any other D lock, any folding lock, any cable, etc. There is another lock that is also angle grinder proof but the thing was so huge it is highly impractical to carry it on a bike.

Battery-powered angle grinders with a new blade can cut through any lock, except for the Hiplock D1000, in 30 seconds or less. So if you live in a high crime area, or high population area, or you are concerned in general then you need to lock your bike up with something that will prevent that sort of attack. That lock will also fend off any other type of attack as well.

With Ebikes there is one other safety measure you need to take, and that is to remove the battery and take it with you.

Actually, there are two more. I have a Litelok X1, which though not quite as tough as the D1000, is highly angle-grinder resistant (even with a mains one, one and a half discs needed, four or more with a battery one) & has a Motorcycle Sold Secure Diamond rating for insurance purposes. I'm using one for my Yamahas. It's also lighter and larger internally (so more options to lock) than the D1000. The Litelok X3 is even tougher and stronger than the D1000, I'd have got one but they weren't shipping until this month (and there's now a two-month wait due to demand).
https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/accessories/locks/litelok-x1-bike-lock-review/
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom