Worried about security when using new bike...

[I like Skol]

I have a couple of errands to do in town today. Normally I would take my commuter bike and lock it up to some solid street furniture or lamppost, with pannier bag still attached containing oddments of inner tubes and basic tools etc, and walk away without too much concern. It has always been there untouched when I got back.

I have just got a new utility/commuter, but while the old bike was a great bike and certainly no BSO by a long way (£750rrp and upgraded with handbuilt XT/Mavic wheels, XT hydraulic brakes and XT Rr mech), the new bike is in a different league. £1800rrp and TBH it looks like it. It is going to take months to weather in although it is a dark colour so will be as discreet as is possible once it gets grubby, but just at the point I am about to use it for real I have suddenly become painfully aware that it is a very nice bike!

This isn't a thread about crime levels or 'what bike lock', just about my inner turmoil and how to deal with it?

The bike is insured and once it is used a bit more and the 'newness' wears off I am sure I will be happier. The commute isn't an issue as it goes from inside my house to a secured, card access, bike shed inside a private factory compound. I am just worried about locking it up in public right now.

In the meantime I need to keep riding it to help develop the 'well used' look I like to maintain, and I am considering removing one or two of the stickers like the big & obvious Reynolds 853 badge on the seat tube. Nobody needs to know that except for me and I don't need the sticker to remind me.

The worry will wear off in a month or two but right now I feel a bit silly for buying something I am scared to use (rightly or wrongly). I'm sure skipdiverjohn will be along shortly with some words of support...….

 

[Milkfloat]

TBH I would also be worried about leaving an £1800 bike locked up in the street so I feel your pain. I only take my pub bike or fixed gear out if I am running errands and even with those I use a solid gold secure lock. So I don't blame you for worrying, I also son't have an answer except N+1.

 

[vickster]

First World Problem...HTH

I've left my new 2.5k Ti bike locked up in a town centre for a couple of hours. It's a bike, it's insured, it's replaceable.

 

[Drago]

Spray strategic parts of the bike with duck oil, ride it in the bad weather, and it'll soon look well used.

 

[fossyant]

Walk or car mate. I can't leave any of my bikes about unfortunately as non could be seen as a 'utility' bike - they all 'stand out'. Even the work bike stood out like a sore thumb in the works lockers. The '26 year old' MTB shouts 'oh look at me' with the paint job and XT kit with Mavic wheels.

Welcome to not having a 'sleeper' bike.

 

[fossyant]

First World Problem...HTH

I've left my new 2.5k Ti bike locked up in a town centre for a couple of hours. It's a bike, it's insured, it's replaceable.

Oh no, you can't love it enough !!

 

[vickster]

Oh no, you can't love it enough !!

I don't really 'love' inanimate objects, and it can be replaced with the same.
Plenty of other things for me to stress about in life without adding paranoia about leaving a bike securely locked up to the mix

It's not yet my shopping bike, mainly because I've not added a rack to carry the lock!

 

[I like Skol]

TBH I would also be worried about leaving an £1800 bike locked up in the street so I feel your pain. I only take my pub bike or fixed gear out if I am running errands and even with those I use a solid gold secure lock. So I don't blame you for worrying, I also son't have an answer except N+1.

This is my 'pub bike'. It is bike #3 in the fleet and is for the rough utility jobs. The old 'pub bike' died unexpectedly so my hand was forced with the new one.

Welcome to not having a 'sleeper' bike.

It was an ace sleeper though! Done some amazing rides on it, just a shame it had to die the way it did. The new one will be as good or better in time

 

[Milkfloat]

This is my 'pub bike'. It is bike #3 in the fleet and is for the rough utility jobs. The old 'pub bike' died unexpectedly so my hand was forced with the new one.

Nope it is not your pub like, it is your commuter, two different classes of transport N+1, you know you want to.

 

[Arjimlad]

I know how you feel, I had this with my new bike a while ago. I ended up telling myself that if it was too nice to enjoy riding into Bristol then I shouldn't have bought it. It was bought to be ridden and enjoyed and provided I locked it up properly it was insured. The first time I think it had a D-lock, a link lock and I checked it three times a day in a CCTV-covered bike parking area on College Green. I even took a photo of it properly locked up for insurance purposes.

 

[I like Skol]

I ended up telling myself that if it was too nice to enjoy riding into Bristol then I shouldn't have bought it.

I don't think I would risk locking up a rusty old wheelbarrow in Bristol!

 

[rivers]

I know how you feel, I had this with my new bike a while ago. I ended up telling myself that if it was too nice to enjoy riding into Bristol then I shouldn't have bought it. It was bought to be ridden and enjoyed and provided I locked it up properly it was insured. The first time I think it had a D-lock, a link lock and I checked it three times a day in a CCTV-covered bike parking area on College Green. I even took a photo of it properly locked up for insurance purposes.

Braver than me. I don't even bring my nice bike into the centre and it stays in my house (although I do live in Knowle West. One of the neighbourhood children asked me where I keep that bike one day upon arriving home. He got told to get off my property and it's none of his business where I keep my bikes). I worry about my winter bike being locked in town, but it's insured, so if anything happens to it, it will get replaced.

 

[potsy]

This is what happens when you spend that kind of money on a mere commuter, I know the kind of locks you like to use, not a chance I'd leave it anywhere.

Can you not take one of junior's

 

[nickyboy]

Similar here Skol. When I lock it up outside a cafe for eg. I always put it into the highest gear possible (52/11 on mine). All but impossible to get moving in that gear and I'm guessing someone who nicks it probably doesn't know how to use the shifters

 

[fossyant]

[QUOTE 5415348, member: 9609"]£1,800 for a push bike - Im lost for words

I worry if the dustcart comes along they may think mine is scrap and chuck it in the back - as such I would never leave my precious bike unattended.[/QUOTE]

My fixie was nearly that, and thats without gears ! Don't mention my HED JET carbon wheels, they were about £800 25 YEARS AGO.