Security Advice

Right,

I'm moving offices in the next couple of weeks and I'll no-longer have the benefit of a nice secure underground car park in which to park my push bike. Instead it's going to be in an open car park on the side of busy main road; plenty of opportunity to thieves. There is security on site but I expect them to rhyme with site.

So, I need a new chain and motorbike security chains seem to be the ones to go for and so this seems the right place to get some advice.

I'll be locking the bike to a standard Sheffield stand and I was looking at a 1.5m Almax Series IV with a Squire SS65CS lock.

Anyone got any experience or recommendations? I've tried using search but my term-fu has failed me.

Can't you put your bike in your office? surely security should have somewhere to store it for you

Jay794 said:

Can't you put your bike in your office? surely security should have somewhere to store it for you

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Nope, they supply outside parking for bikes in the shape of the sheffield stands and so bikes are not allowed in the building. The company is large (upwards of 4,000 people in buildings across three campus in a half mile area) and a lot of people cycle to work (upwards of 10%); the company has it's own cycling club. As a result if they let one person do it then lots of people will want to do it.

In most buildings the security is excellent but the building I'll be in is off the main campus and is a shared serviced office. As a result they have less control over the services on offer.

The situation is what it is, unfortunately. I'm not going down the route of buying a lesser bike as I want to use it for training with the club after work (and I'm currently at S-1 bikes, where S is the number of bikes likely to result in separation from my wife).

http://shop.motorcyclenews.com/Lock...Chains__and__Locks/Record_1/ListProducts.aspx

Plenty of choice in there, I'd recommend Oxford heavy duty locks, it's what I use.
I've not had any experience with disc locks, but if you could get a cheap alarmed one that fitted onto your push bike, the loud noise it'd make would certainly act as a deterent if anyone tried moving your bike. Assuming it fits/works that is.

That looks like bolt croppers would work make pretty easy work of it. I've seen 42" croppers go though an Oxford Monster in around 20secs. Also, there looks to be plenty of room in that padlock for it to be attacked.

The bike i'm looking to protect is about £2,000 (although it's suitably disguised) so I'm looking at the higher end of the market.

My dad used to have sort of pressure mats linked up to the house alarm, that he could activate once the bike had rolled over them, as soon as the pressure was taken from the mats or even sifted ever so slightly, the alarm would go off. Very cheap way of doing it.

Both my bikes have trackers in them. Other than that, nothing much really, a few ground anchors, huge oxford chains and the face I sleep in the room which has the backdoor to the car port allowing me to see right into the car port at my girls. A few times I have woken thinking I have heard something, but have yet to catch someone.

Oxford nemesis, obviously the almax IV is the mac Daddy, but best coupled with an alarm lock for secondary security.

Read this

[DOD]Asprilla;21116861 said:

That looks like bolt croppers would work make pretty easy work of it. I've seen 42" croppers go though an Oxford Monster in around 20secs. Also, there looks to be plenty of room in that padlock for it to be attacked.

The bike i'm looking to protect is about £2,000 (although it's suitably disguised) so I'm looking at the higher end of the market.

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I don't think any bike lock is immune to a determined thief with the right tools. It's a deterrent game. If your bike is locked up nice and tight with an alarmed disc lock next to a similar bike with a cheapo lock, which one is the opportunistic thief going to steal?

If there's a bloke who's seen your nice shiny bike a couple of times before, returned to the bike sheds with tools and a van, then you never had any chance anyway.

Realistically, if my push bike cost that much, I'd just get a cheap manky one to ride into work. Obviously this causes issues with your wife, but surely losing a £2000 bike and having to buy another one is going to cause more issues?

dangermouse425 said:

I don't think any bike lock is immune to a determined thief with the right tools. It's a deterrent game. If your bike is locked up nice and tight with an alarmed disc lock next to a similar bike with a cheapo lock, which one is the opportunistic thief going to steal?

If there's a bloke who's seen your nice shiny bike a couple of times before, returned to the bike sheds with tools and a van, then you never had any chance anyway.

Realistically, if my push bike cost that much, I'd just get a cheap manky one to ride into work. Obviously this causes issues with your wife, but surely losing a £2000 bike and having to buy another one is going to cause more issues?

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Absolutely. I think security is good enough that an their won't have very long and won't be able to bring in heavy / noisy tooling so I'm just defending against.

Buying a cheaper bike defeats the point of cycling to work, unfortunately. The parts on the bike are relatively low valued and the frame itself is de-branded and is plain metal in order to look cheap though I might slap some reflective tape all over it to increase the disguise.

Will look though the disc locks as they look a good idea, certainly to attract security guards.

Edit: disc lock is no good; no discs.

Yeah, I realise I didn't really answer your question, sorry!

You could always lock it up there for now, get friendly with the security staff at wherever you work, and try and find somewhere like a security hut or inside storage room you can lock it in on the sly after a few weeks settling in?

Choose a hefty tight fit chain and then link the bike to the stand by the cross beam, wrapped round several times so that it is tight against the frame and stand. Without the chain laying on the ground and with no slack it will be much harder for the potential thief to use bolt croppers.

For heavy duty chains bolt croppers need to be braced against the ground and really leant on, this prevents that and makes it all the less likely anyone would make it away with your bicycle.

You can combine it with one of these to give the audible deterent, I've had good experience with the Xena brake disc lock so this should also do well:

http://2wheeljunkie.co.uk/motorcycle-security/xena/xena-motorcycle-alarmed-padlock-46mm-/prod_39963.html

Most of the kit getting sold can be bolt cropped, if you want to stop this about the only way is a well made really thick chain. I'm using one of these + another cheaper chain to lock up my motorbike just out side of Brixton and it hasn't been pinched yet (touch wood).

http://www.almax-security-chains.co...73&CAT_ID=73&P_ID=123&btnProduct=More+Details

The 16mm version 3 is already very heavy, you wouldn't want to try and cycle with this thing on your back, the version 4 is basically a boat anchor meaning you'd have to leave it there 24/7, also it'd be very hard to get this thing wrapping around your frame as the links are literally like 10cm long each. I doubt you'd get them through your wheels unless you where running some 3 spokes

But for a disguised bike you can easily get away with 2 good d-locks. My Fixed bike is running £400 hand made wheels with a £400 fame so still worth nicking even if it's not as much as yours. It's locked up with 2 d-locks in the centre of London and in a quiter side street and it's not been touched in over 3 years now.

Get 2 top end d-locks, one for the rear wheel through the rear triangle and to the stand then the other through the front wheel at an angle so it also goes through the front triangle and also on to the stand. The front one needs to be the std longer length to reach at the angle but the rear can be one of the shorter versions.

I'd go with the Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit Mini for the rear and a Abus Granit Extreme 59 for the front. All your really doing here is making it more hassle than a thief can be bothered with to nick your bike, hopefully they will just move on to someone else's bike with a cheap Oxford lock on it

The good thing about this chaps situation is he can leave the chain at work locked to the bike stand so getting a really heavy duty one shouldn't be a problem.

Another vote for an almax chain here though, they are about as good as it gets without spending silly money.

It's all about making it look less determined to an opportunist thief - if they want it that bad they'll have it no matter how it's locked.

You could put a motion activated lock on it which goes off whenever it's moved and make sure you lock it in a fashion where they've got to move it to get to it?


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chain-80cm-..._135?s=sports&ie=UTF8&qid=1327584555&sr=1-135

bit bulky but pop it in a ruck sack and take it with you....

Whatever I use I'll be leaving in situ, I don't want to be carrying any extra weight, or a rucksack if I'm going to be doing post work training rides.

I've ordered a 1m Almax with the Squire lock and I'll be using a Kryptonite Fahgettaboudit Mini for locking the front wheel to the frame.

[DOD]Asprilla;21124539 said:

Whatever I use I'll be leaving in situ, I don't want to be carrying any extra weight, or a rucksack if I'm going to be doing post work training rides.

I've ordered a 1m Almax with the Squire lock and I'll be using a Kryptonite Fahgettaboudit Mini for locking the front wheel to the frame.

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Well spotted about the front wheel - have to do that with mine but i also lock the back wheel to the frame using a small flexible lock. Worst thing in the world if i come out and a 2s job to makeit easy for me makes it easy for a thief...