Locks again- cost vs price of bike

[Willow]

Ok now I need 3 locks -

2 bikes cost around £200 each and mine cost £350, my insurance excess is £100 and states bike needs to be locked to a permanent structure. there is with no specific lock requirement.

From reading other threads it seems that the most recommended locks are in the region of £50 (though I have to say the weight of some of these concerns me, wiggle doesn't appear to quote the weight and some of them I have tried in shops seem almost as heavy as the bike!)

So,

it's not very responsible of me but I'm not sure I see the value (apart from the hassle factor if the bike disappears) of paying £50 for a lock. When left the bikes are going to be mainly at school or the tennis club. We live in a part of Surrey where I am sure the bike theft figures are probably much lower than many other places.


What do you do.

 

[jags]

your wright about the weight i bought the kyrptonite new york mini ,ok it's a brilliant lock but man it weighs a ton and i dont think im going to be carrying this thing around with me even though i paid a load of money for my bike,no im just going to get two cable locks and hope there's no bike thieve about good luck.

 

[summerdays]

The Onguard D-locks came out fine in a mag review about a year back... similar to some of the slightly more expensive ones. They are not going to stop a determined thief, but they do stop the less prepared ones. They usually come with about 5 keys too which is good with kids and loosing them. They are in the £20-£30 range in price.

They are heavy but the other option would be to leave a lock at school to save the kids carting it too and from all the time.

Mini D locks have two advantages - lighter (still not light), and harder to get equipment into to break. The downside is that its harder to lock your bike upto a lamppost, but fine for proper stands.

My youngest kids bike is second hand so I'm not so bothered if it goes missing so its just got a cable lock. But at school there is usually someone who doesn't lock their bike up at all so hopefully they would go for that one or get seen before they got away with his bike.

 

[John the Monkey]

Incidentally, Onguard=Magnum, so the Magnum mini sold at Halfords (£35 when I bought mine, came with a cable for securing QR wheels) is a good bet.

D Locks are generally broken using small bottle jacks, so the key to using them well is filling the lock with bike AND whatever you're locking it to so there's no room for the jack in the "D".

I favour Sheldon Brown's Lock strategy; http://www.sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html although I'll quite often include the chainstay or seatube in the D of the lock if there's sufficient room.

This is worth a read too http://quickrelease.tv/?p=327

Personally, I lock all my bikes with the "good" lock, even my £50 nip donw the shops bike - I don't want to emerge with all my stuff to find that I've no way of getting home!

 

[shimano]

I use two locks, one D for the frame and a cable for the front wheel/frame. I don't really believe the make of lock makes much difference to the opportunist thief as long as it looks the part. If your bike is worth several hundreds or thousands of pounds then that's a different story. If you've chained £2.5K to a fence than it had better be a good chain. The object of the exercise is to make your bike harder to take than someone elses - selfish I know but hey ho...

 

[RedBike]

It all depends on where they're being left.

I often lock my hign value race bike bike up with a cheap tesco £1.99 lock while i'm in a cafe stop. I know full well it wont deter anyone whos equiped with nail cutters; but it's more than enough to stop someone just picking it up and riding off on it.

My commuter bike has two massive locks, rated sold secure gold. The bikes notiacbly more expensive (£500 Ribble) than all the other 'hacks' next to it in the shed. As two bikes have been stollen from the companies carpark this year my locks must be working.

 

[Willow]

I looked at the D locks but they are all far too heavy for the boys to carry on their bikes, so I have gone for much cheaper locks in the hope they act as a deterrent.

 

[fossyant]

I hope they are not cable locks ?

 

[Willow]

They are not great locks but most the bikes will be at school where certainly at one of the schools the gates are locked during the day. That is not to say the bikes are not at risk but they really can't ride around with a lock that feels as heavy as the bike (age 10 and 11) plus what's the point in paying £60 for a lock when the insurance excess is only £100. The main thing for me is to get them in the habit of locking and looking after their bike plus if I'm really honest I find it hard to pay £50 for a lock that they'll probably lose before the bike is stolen!

 

[Soltydog]

If you've chained £2.5K to a fence than it had better be a good chain.

It had better be a good fence too

I have a heavy chain & lock that i leave at work to use. I have an onguard D lock with cable, but find it a pain on the bike, so i've only taken that & used it on tours or when i'm on my hybrid & carry it in the pannier. My road bike doesnt get left anywhere

 

[Noodley]

What do you do.

I put my bike in the care of supermarket security guards: "can you look after this mate? I don't want to leave it outside. I'll not be long."

I take my bike into sports centres: "Those youngsters are a bit roudy aren't they? You'll not mind if I leave my bike in reception will you?"

I do not buy locks.

 

[Llama]

This website is worth a look if you have to keep your bike in a shed/rented property - just a big bucket full of concrete with a old D lock or chain. All makes it more difficult for the tea leafs:http://www.moraine.co.uk/bike anchor.htm
especially good where you can't dig up the floor!

 

[HLaB]

On my commuter bike I carry a Evolution kyrptolock and kryptoflex they are only silver rated but I like the cost to weight ratio and I don't really leave the bike anywhere for long except the bike cage at work where I've left a heavier New York Kypto lock. I think the Evolution was about 10% of the price of the bike the New York would have been closer to 25%.

 

[e-rider]

Anyone thinking of using a cable lock is crazy - even the decent ones can be cut in under 5 seconds with simple bolt croppers - asking for trouble IMO!