How much do you spend on securing your bike?

[roley poley]

Hi all. I was hoping you guys could let me in on how much you spend to help me with a project based around bike security. Since my last thread got quite a few responses, I hoped you guys could help me with this quick questionnaire too.
How much do you people spend on securing your bike?
Including ANYTHING: from locks to cables

there used to be a manned secure cycle park outside leeds city station £1.50 a day or season tickets available with 24 hour access gone now BOOOO

 

[screenman]

My bikes are kept in about £20,000 worth of garage.

 

[cyberknight]

can't remember the actual price but i think it was 20-30 quid...

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Having seen the youtube videos of just how quickly the most expensive locks can be breached by a tooled up thief, i figured spending silly money was futile and went for something that would deter the 'average' thief, or at least make the bikes next to mine appear easier pray.

Im of a similar persuasion, the only bike i leave locked anywhere but at home aka fort knox is my commuter which i built out of spares, i lock it in the bike shed at work with a similar lock + d lock and in the same shed are bikes worth a lot lot more secured with summat you can nibble through .

 

[Spoked Wheels]

I'm a bit paranoid about getting my bike stolen so if I know I'm leaving my bike unattended for a period of time I'm known to use up to 3 D locks. I'm well aware that 3 locks are not enough for a determined thief but I hope that a thief might look somewhere else when they see 2 or 3 locks. I never leave any bike out overnight and when I leave a bike locked in town for a period of time I go for a busy spot. I calculate that a thief would need about 6 minutes with an angle grinder.

I also have a set of pitlock fitted

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Depends on the bike, for my older bike which is parked in the garage and sits outside the train station, supermarkets, pubs, or in the town square for several hours I use an Abus D lock which cost about 50 pounds ten years ago.

My road bike only has a £10 cafe / cable lock as it lives indoors and I don't really ever let it out of my sight on a ride. Only if I nip into a loo.

 

[roley poley]

I'm a bit paranoid about getting my bike stolen so if I know I'm leaving my bike unattended for a period of time I'm known to use up to 3 D locks. I'm well aware that 3 locks are not enough for a determined thief but I hope that a thief might look somewhere else when they see 2 or 3 locks. I never leave any bike out overnight and when I leave a bike locked in town for a period of time I go for a busy spot. I calculate that a thief would need about 6 minutes with an angle grinder.

I also have a set of pitlock fitted

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WOWSERS wont lock my bike next to yours mate as mine would be the easier target

 

[mjr]

I hope that a thief might look somewhere else when they see 2 or 3 locks.

Nah, they'll just as likely decide it's really worth nicking if it has three locks on it

 

[presta]

I bought a 4 foot chain from the local cheap shop about 20 years ago, I've no idea how much it cost. The lock is an old brass Yale one that I already had. When the plastic sleeve disintegrated I replaced it with an old inner tube.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I'm a bit paranoid about getting my bike stolen so if I know I'm leaving my bike unattended for a period of time I'm known to use up to 3 D locks.

So am I, so I find using a £10 hack bike painted by a blind man using a yard broom and secured by a £10 padlock & chain achieves exactly the same result as your 3 D-locks without me needing to carry several pounds in weight of extra steel around. Also, if a determined thief armed with a grinder does take a fancy to your bike, not only have you lost the bike but also the cost of the expensive locks that will get destroyed. The best way not to get robbed is don't go around with anything worth nicking.
My total theft risk exposure out on the street is probably less that one of your locks, never mind the bike. I often don't even carry any lock on my better bikes, because I simply will not leave them unattended out of my sight. There are bikes for riding from door to door and there are bikes for local utility transport and leaving on the street. Different bikes for different levels of risk. The only sort of person who would want to nick one of my hack bikes is a drunk who's just staggered out of the pub or has missed the last bus, and is unlikely to be carrying thieving tools. A thief hunting for a quick sale for ready cash isn't going to look twice at what I leave unattended.

 

[Spoked Wheels]

So am I, so I find using a £10 hack bike painted by a blind man using a yard broom and secured by a £10 padlock & chain achieves exactly the same result as your 3 D-locks without me needing to carry several pounds in weight of extra steel around. Also, if a determined thief armed with a grinder does take a fancy to your bike, not only have you lost the bike but also the cost of the expensive locks that will get destroyed. The best way not to get robbed is don't go around with anything worth nicking.
My total theft risk exposure out on the street is probably less that one of your locks, never mind the bike. I often don't even carry any lock on my better bikes, because I simply will not leave them unattended out of my sight. There are bikes for riding from door to door and there are bikes for local utility transport and leaving on the street. Different bikes for different levels of risk. The only sort of person who would want to nick one of my hack bikes is a drunk who's just staggered out of the pub or has missed the last bus, and is unlikely to be carrying thieving tools. A thief hunting for a quick sale for ready cash isn't going to look twice at what I leave unattended.

if that works for you fantastic but it wouldn't work for me, people are entitled to view things differently and I think their choices deserve respect.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I won't leave my bike for more than a couple of minutes. Even then I try to keep sight of it while I'm away. It's only ever left when popping into shops/service stations for a quick bottle refill and to get a bit of food, and I will always nip back to check on the bike after collecting my goods but before paying. When I leave it I use either one or two crappy cable locks on it. One circa 1980s and one of those little retractable combination gismos. Even if they do only take moments to cut I figure that the places I leave my bike are low risk and the times are so short that they will suffice.

If I had to leave a bike unattended in public for any period of time I'd probably take the Skipdiver approach. But I don't. So I don't.

 

[mjr]

My total theft risk exposure out on the street is probably less that one of your locks, never mind the bike.

Depends how much one's taxi fare home is. Your exposure in London may be limited to the 24h contactless daily charge limit, but in some parts of England, someone could be facing a three-figure fare home on top of the bike's replacement - so even my hack bikes usually get a kilogram of locks on them because I hate walking and don't want to pay that.

That said, I do leave them for hours, sometimes days (but that's usually in a guarded parking), because a bike you can't use to go to somewhere (rather than only through it) is pretty worthless IMO. YMMV.

 

[Dogtrousers]

That said, I do leave them for hours, sometimes days (but that's usually in a guarded parking), because a bike you can't use to go to somewhere (rather than only through it) is pretty worthless IMO. YMMV.

Which kind of sums up why the answer to the OP is always going to be "it depends", because there are so many variables.

These days cycling through, rather than to, places is 100% of my cycling. Worthless to you, fair enough, but I find it pretty worthwhile - takes all sorts. Therefore my needs for a lock are totally different to yours.

 

[swee'pea99]

I have more locks but typically secure a bike £250 worth of locks.

(That's more than three times what I paid for my current bike!)

 

[mjr]

Which kind of sums up why the answer to the OP is always going to be "it depends", because there are so many variables.

Agreed.

These days cycling through, rather than to, places is 100% of my cycling. Worthless to you, fair enough, [...]

Oi! I carefully did not call such cycling worthless. I wrote that a bike that you dare not leave parked in any of those places would be pretty worthless - in my opinion.