Bikepacking: what lock?

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CanucksTraveller

Macho Business Donkey Wrestler
Location
Hertfordshire
I think all the last two posts prove is that it's not so much the lock, it's where you're leaving it and who is around. You can't really post an "I've never had a problem with this dainty cable" story in all good faith if you don't park the bike somewhere a little higher risk which is sometimes necessary on tour.
As always it's a balance of risk, if your tour calls at UK town centre supermarkets and night stops I'd venture it's better to have something substantial, and suck up the weight.
 

mike chadwick

Astrobike
Suppose it depends on what bike you have my 5 year old decathlon road / touring bike
Stays outside the tent with a d lock on the front wheel and a cable lock on the rear prefably
round a near bye tree.
Whilst it owes me nothing money wise the inconvenience and the walking dictate I all ways lock
It even if I only leave it for 5 minutes although the weight would put of most bike thieves
 

Vantage

Carbon fibre... LMAO!!!
It might be worth switching insurance providers so a gold rated lock isn't required.
I don't have home insurance but do have bike insurance. The last company I used required the use of a gold rated lock which weighed an absolute ton. I then switched to another who charged a little extra but only required a silver rated lock which I then bought and is a full kilo lighter.
I've lost enough bikes to threiving scum to know if they want it, they'll take it and if they can't take it, they'll just smash the bike out of contempt.
There's no point lugging all that extra weight around when you'll be just as covered with a much lighter lock.
 
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classic33

Leg End Member
If insurance coverage is important then you need to get a gold rated lock.

The lightest gold rated lock that I know of is the LiteLok Gold Range, you can wear it as a belt or put it in your pack, but even this lightweight job weighs 2.4 pounds but it costs $135.
With the same fitting on the clasp/locking mechanism to the "belt" being used, that was beaten in 17 seconds.
 

froze

Über Member
With the same fitting on the clasp/locking mechanism to the "belt" being used, that was beaten in 17 seconds.

It's still a gold rated lock and that rating is required by his insurance company, and it's reasonably lightweight. All locks can be beaten with a battery powered angle grinder and a new ferrous metal cutting diamond blade in just seconds, but what's the chances while touring someone will come by with a angle grinder?
 
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classic33

Leg End Member
It's still a gold rated lock and that rating is required by his insurance company, and it's reasonably lightweight. All locks can be beaten with a battery powered angle grinder and a new ferrous metal cutting diamond blade in just seconds, but what's the chances while touring someone will come by with a angle grinder?
Still wouldn't touch it, knowing that it has been broken open with a spoon/tire iron.
 

froze

Über Member
Still wouldn't touch it, knowing that it has been broken open with a spoon/tire iron.

It's still a gold rated lock which satisfies the insurance company, and it's the cheapest and lightest gold rated lock you can get, but again, on a tour you're not going to be gone from your bike and most people are opportunist, they're not going to have either a angle grinder with them, and since it's an uncommon lock, a spoon tire iron to pop the lock with because they're not going to know that that works!

Sure I wouldn't use it to park the bike outside in a high crime area and leave it for hours, but you won't be doing that while touring. If your touring in a group the group leader will usually stay outside with the bikes so you won't even need a lock. I've been camping either with or on my bike quite a bit, and only use a cable to lock my bike, no one in over 35 years that I've had that cable ever bothered to steal any of my bikes at campgrounds. The most recent "event" I had was I was sleeping in my tent in a primitive area of a campground with another tenter about 100 yards from me, when in the middle of the night I hear two people quietly talking, one said to the other "check out that bike" at this point I open up a small opening so I could see, and the other guy walked over to my bike and then went back to the other guy and said quietly "it's locked to the table" and they left. I went back to sleep! People in campgrounds either are mostly pretty honest, or simply won't be carrying tools around with them looking for bikes to steal, and mine would have been pretty easy to snag being just a cable, but a lock like the one I mentioned here there is no way someone would know how to get the bike unless they had an angle grinder which would wake up a bunch of campers.

So what do you expect the original poster to do while touring, carry a 15 pound gold rated chain lock? that will mean he'll have to give up 15 pounds of gear on his bike to make the weight limit! Not an option.
 
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jiberjaber

Veteran
Location
Essex
Or - change to a bike insurance that doesn't require a gold standard lock. Mine is just that it is locked to an immovable object. Last tour I did (26 days in France) I just used a long ottolock :smile:
 

lilolee

Veteran
Location
Maidenhead
@jiberjaber What is the name of your Insurance Co.?
 
I use a decathlon combination lock, looks heavy duty. Really just for show at a local store but reality is that I’m not on a campsite so it’s between me and the thief if they want to try to nick my bike.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
A roadie mate of mine upends his bike at cafe stops - remember those?

The thinking is no one would want to nick a bike that looks broken, and as he is keeping an eye on it anyway, it would give him a few extra seconds to catch the thief.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
If your touring in a group the group leader will usually stay outside with the bikes so you won't even need a lock.
You still need a lock, even then, in some cities. What happens is one thief starts to wheel one bike away fast and when the bike monitor is about to catch them, they drop the bike and run off and while the monitor is standing the bike back up and wheeling it back, their accomplice has removed another bike in another direction and is already out of sight... :sad:

A roadie mate of mine upends his bike at cafe stops - remember those?

The thinking is no one would want to nick a bike that looks broken, and as he is keeping an eye on it anyway, it would give him a few extra seconds to catch the thief.
Possibly more than a few seconds. It's surprising how difficult many people find flipping a bike, having no concept of a centre of gravity level with partway down the seat tube and forks. Combine that with shifters set to dump the chain or produce a comedy spin gear, I suspect you might have up to a minute to catch them.
 
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