Securing a Bicycle at home

Kosmiche · 13 Jul 2013 at 17:11

I had my bike stolen from our old shed.

The thieves, instead of kicking down the door or breaking the lock...tore open the roof of the shed and stole my raleigh max mountain bike.

I got a new raleigh max cos it was insured.

Thats the only thing they stole, they could have stolen a big lawnmower and other bikes...very weird.

Transam · 13 Jul 2013 at 17:21

Practice sleeping outside, standing up in a boxing stance. NOBODY will bother you or your bikes.

dorgoo · 13 Jul 2013 at 17:29

I left my bike outside once and forgot to lock it up. It got stolen. HTH

Dis86 · 13 Jul 2013 at 17:42

I keep all of my bikes in my garage. If someone manages to steal them they're welcome to them!

Three hasp and staple locks on the solid wood side door, drilled into the brick. Garage door is welded shut and has steel struts reinforcing the panels.
Window has two inch thick steel struts over it, drilled and bolted into the wall from the inside.
The bikes are each chained with two heavy duty hardened steel chains to an anvil which is ground anchored. Oh and they're all chained to one another.

Overkill?

Transam · 13 Jul 2013 at 18:49

I'd just cut the chains (nothing really resists a good pair of ratchet bolt cutters). Then cut your side door locks with the same bolt cutters.
Gone in 60 seconds
Realistically, there is nothing you can do to protect bikes against anyone who REALLY wants them, other than keeping them in the house, in the bedroom, with a shottie by your side!

DirtyJester · 13 Jul 2013 at 18:59

Where do you live...

Westyfield2 · 13 Jul 2013 at 19:28

Friends student house had 7 bicycles kepy inside. House had 5 people... and two didn't have bikes!

I did return from holiday once to find that we'd left the shed door wide open (held in place with a fork), with all the bikes in there. Two weeks of being away on holiday and they were all still there. <3 not living in the ghetto.

LordSplodge · 13 Jul 2013 at 20:48

Dis86 said:
. Garage door is welded shut and has steel struts reinforcing the panels.

Making it not very useful as a garage...

Westyfield2 said:
<3 not living in the ghetto.

I don't live in a "ghetto", yet still had bikes stolen. Thieves do scout out the better areas of town, you know?

uncle_rufus · 13 Jul 2013 at 21:29

We once lived in a flat in a building which had a car park on the ground floor with some bike racks... Lots of people's bikes were chained up down there since it seemed secure as it was behind an electronic gate etc. but one night some n'er-do-wells managed to get in there and they must have used bolt cutters or something because the next morning when I went to get my bike there were about 15 or so broken bike locks of all different varieties all over the floor, including mine and my girlfriends... but our bikes were so truly **** that the theives didn't bother to take them!!!

They actually cut off our locks and then thought "naaah" - I was almost insulted!!!

Our current bikes are chained to each other with a kryptonite lock and a few heavy duty cables which pass around a bunch of external pipes on our house (such as the toilet down-pipe), then a cheap bike cover from Halfords to stop them getting too weather beaten. As someone says above though it wouldn't stop someone if they really wanted the bikes, but I guess we live in a nice area

arknor · 13 Jul 2013 at 21:45

I just take my bike up in the lift

Have to wheel it in vertical and it takes up just about the whole lift with me inside holding it but

Mine would probably be gone in a heartbeat if i left it outside around here though lol

Dis86 · 13 Jul 2013 at 22:40

LordSplodge said:
Making it not very useful as a garage...

Car doesn't fit in. Might as well use it for the bikes. Can get everything I need to in through the side door. Can grinds the welds down at a later date should I need to

And also, locks are recessed so can't cut them with bolt cutters. Chains could be but would take a while, they're 3/4 inch thick.

Transam · 14 Jul 2013 at 02:45

DirtyJester said:
Where do you live...

Me? Bangor, N. Ireland. Hence the big bolt cutters, worked at the Maze for a while recomissioning a couple of H-blocks for historical value, and by then all the keys were lost or stolen.

Transam · 14 Jul 2013 at 02:50

Dis86 said:
Car doesn't fit in. Might as well use it for the bikes. Can get everything I need to in through the side door. Can grinds the welds down at a later date should I need to

And also, locks are recessed so can't cut them with bolt cutters. Chains could be but would take a while, they're 3/4 inch thick.

See above - 3/4 inch thick chain would just take me 3 minutes instead of 2. You have no idea how quickly a good set of bolt cutters (costing around £300) will eat through any chain, and silently as well. The padlocks I used to use them on were full-on Abloy ones, the best you could get, because they were IN A PRISON lol!

LordSplodge · 14 Jul 2013 at 07:53

Transam said:
You have no idea how quickly a good set of bolt cutters (costing around £300) will eat through any chain,

I do, I work for the Fire Service.

Skeeter · 14 Jul 2013 at 09:47

I just want to keep it secure enough to deter an opportunistic thief, and show enough effort for insurance to pay out if someone does steel it.

arknor · 14 Jul 2013 at 10:11

Skeeter said:
I just want to keep it secure enough to deter an opportunistic thief, and show enough effort for insurance to pay out if someone does steel it.

most bike locks guarantee a bike upto £xxx-XXXX but if there's no broken lock left behind you obviously can't claim the moneys

*Moangroan* · 14 Jul 2013 at 14:55

Dimple said:
I did miss a bit out.
The bikes are locked together with a Kryptonite New York M18 which does need the plasma cutter and then they are secured around two large house ladders with a 18mm chain (that I presumed would also need a plasma cutter).

But if you cut the soft aluminium ladders you have the bike.......would you be better off fabricating a bracket thats stronger

steve45 · 14 Jul 2013 at 16:09

I tend to leave mine in the car when i'm not using it, when i am using it i leave it chained to the railings in the communal landing, i'm in the same situation as you rented flat, with very little space, we have enclosed private off the road parking, i just cover it with a sheet for added peace of mind when its in the back of the car, probably not the safest solution but until we either get storage or move it'll stay like that.

Dis86 · 14 Jul 2013 at 16:19

Transam said:
See above - 3/4 inch thick chain would just take me 3 minutes instead of 2. You have no idea how quickly a good set of bolt cutters (costing around £300) will eat through any chain, and silently as well. The padlocks I used to use them on were full-on Abloy ones, the best you could get, because they were IN A PRISON lol!

But...what that requires is a thief who's willing to spend the outlay on £300 cutters. Willing to attempt to get in to the garage in the first place. Willing to spend 3 minutes cutting through each chain. He'd need to cut through 8 to get the bikes off.

I'm not saying it can't be done. Just saying I haven't made it easy. I've also eliminated those who would try and nick them just because they can. It would have to be a really determined and well equipped thief who tried to get them.

There are easier targets.

SexyGreyFox · 14 Jul 2013 at 19:34

*Moangroan* said:
But if you cut the soft aluminium ladders you have the bike.......would you be better off fabricating a bracket thats stronger

But if someone was able to get through the thick chain/lock and normal lock that locks the garage then the alarm will go off. If they see how the bikes are cabled to the ladders then they will have to go and get cutting gear while the alarm is still going off.
I'll take the chance they run off with the lawnmower.