Worried about security when using new bike...

[DaveReading]

However you lock it just don't do it how I did once with a gold standard lock. I'd left it for 90 minutes like this.

That's just plain silly - someone could easily have stolen your water bottle.

 

[I like Skol]

However you lock it just don't do it how I did once with a gold standard lock. I'd left it for 90 minutes like this.

View attachment 434562

Took me a couple of seconds to spot that

At first I thought it was all good, rear wheel and frame fastened to the hoop...….

 

[roadrash]

I'm sure skipdiverjohn will be along shortly with some words of support...….

to tell you how you have been conned by advertising , and there was no need to spend more than twenty quid and even that is pushing it a bit

 

[Andy in Germany]

I found myself in a similar situation, and to make it worse bike insurance had silly clauses like extra costs if the bike was used 'in darkness'. Great for commuting in Winter.

I went for N+1 and got a sleeper, a perfectly good bike, just a bit old. It's a nice ride.

Currently it is sitting at the local tram stop. It hasn't been messed about with in six years but if it is, I'll have the consolation it isn't my Xtracycle.

I also try and park it next to a flashy expensive bike so mine doesn't get noticed...

Update: it didn't get nicked today.

 

[ColinJ]

@I like Skol - haven't you got a cheapo bike that you could stick a rack on for shopping trips, so you wouldn't have to worry?

For my shopping trips I use my home-made singlespeed bike and a huge great D-lock which cost (almost) half what the bike did and weighs about a quarter of what the bike does. I think it is highly unlikely that someone would bother to cut that lock off for a virtually unsellable bike with no expensive parts on it. It wouldn't be the end of the world if they did, but it would annoy me.

 

[I like Skol]

I already have 3 bikes. I don't want any more!

 

[ColinJ]

I already have 3 bikes. I don't want any more!

If that was a reply to me - I suggested using another of your current bikes, if you actually have a cheap one?

 

[fossyant]

I already have 3 bikes. I don't want any more!

Only ! Is that all....

 

[nickyboy]

I already have 3 bikes. I don't want any more!

Expensive bike, cheap bike. Makes no difference. You'll still be as slow as owt

 

[Milkfloat]

I already have 3 bikes. I don't want any more!

said no cyclist, ever!

 

[Jenkins]

If you can't afford to lose it, then you can't afford it

I can't afford to loose it, but at least I can afford the insurance!

Having said that, I still haven't left the Spa Elan unattended in town despite having a top spec Kryptonite lock , full insurance and knowledge that it of little interest to the local light fingered brigade due to the lack of bouncy bits and knobbly tyres.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I still haven't left the Spa Elan unattended in town despite having a top spec Kryptonite lock , full insurance and knowledge that it of little interest to the local light fingered brigade due to the lack of bouncy bits and knobbly tyres.

I wouldn't leave one of those unattended either. Serious bike thieves still recognise expensive, low profile looking bikes for what they are - a nice bit of ready cash if they manage to liberate one. They'll still have a £50 flashy looking BSO away if it's really asking to be taken, as they can always be flogged to youths who won't ask any questions. What they won't bother nicking is anything they can't resell easily - i.e. cheap-looking bikes with messy DIY paint jobs and no makers decals.

 

[tom73]

You mean the type of bike that won't look out of place being used by someone who look's to most a bit shady. So most won't question seeing them using ? Or being spotted with a nice looking bike that stand's out a mile and soon get's someone asking question's. Most petty criminals are not Raffles they want a quick in and out job. Better to bag 5 cheep bike's with cheep lock's in a hour quickly with little risk and none traceable or spend 30 mins trying to got away with a better one with a better lock higher risk of getting found out then end up in the cell's. The one thing they value over anything is freedom and a need to get away with it. As for not taking questions It's not just "youths" that don't.

 

[ozboz]

I read the other day that upwards of 600,000 bikes get nicked every year in the UK ,it hapoened to me , but I was very fortunate , i got mine back , with a good D lock I leave my bikes in many locations,
The road bike is never left where I cannot keep an eye on it though , and is never left for very long, but that is a riding bike

 

[Blue Hills]

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...….

Simple answer to this non problem. Use the bike you used to use for such trips. You appear to be taunting skipdiver. For all I know the real point of the thread. I never locked my old dale in town, day rides only. Bits now taken off and on another bike. £1,800 is not a "utility bike" for leaving in most streets I know, though doubtless will have other enjoyable uses. There, said it.

Edit, maybe you live somewhere law abiding, but I'd never leave anything on a bike in town, not even the oldest pannier. If I've taken anything out with me, presumably I need it, so would like to keep it.