Cycling

When Gavin replied to Kevin's post about getting a good bike lock he has helped loads of us keep our bikes safe. Here's the origional post as posted on redbrick.help

From: Gavin 
Newsgroups: redbrick.help
Subject: Re: Bike Locks
Date: Tue, 3 May 2005 21:58:47 +0000 (UTC)

On Tue, 3 May 2005 Kevin wrote:
> Hey,
>
> Anyone recommendations for a good bike lock, for securing a mountain bike?
>
> - Kevin

I did a lot of reading about this a few months ago. Have a look at http://www.sheldonbrown.com. He has lots of cycling articles and a good one on bicycle locks.

The end points were :

1. Its all about pissing the thief off and making them look for an easier target.
2. Use two different locks, the thief will need to carry two seperate pieces of equipment to nick the bike. I use a chain/padlock & Ulock. More on this.
3. If you have a detachable front wheel, take it off and lock it to the back wheel. Lock it with the ulock, passing it through the rear triange and onto something immovable. The less space available in the lock, less room for leverage on behalf of the thief. Taking the wheel with you doesn't increase your security.
4. Take your detachable saddle with you, or replace the quick release bolt with an alan key one. Someone will just nick your saddle and chuck it in a bin, cause they are scummers.
5. Other obvious things. Park it in a public place, not in some secret location no one will ever find it. A secret location means a thief can spend their time working away on the locks without worrying about passers by. Lock it to an immovable object.

That's most of what I can remember. The lock I settled on was a rather large Abus Granit lock and chain for 90 euro. I bought it in The Great Outdoors, funnily enough. They have a reasonable bicycle accessories section in there. Last time I went in, they were out of that exact lock though. You could also head into a locksmith and ask for a boron alloy chain and good padlock. Something like a 13mm boron chain requires a hydraulic bolt cutter to get through it. The best padlocks are the ones that only have room for one link to be fit through. No space for a crowbar to get in there then.

My second lock is a fairly cheap combination ULock. If you get a Ulock, make sure it doesn't have a circle key. Google for Bic pen attacks ! The best Ulocks are Kryptonite ones. As above, make sure you get a flat key one. I see the New Yorker one mentioned a lot.

If you get a large chain & padlock, leave em at your target location.. I.e I leave mine locked to the bike rack in DCU, it's too heavy to be carrying it on my bike everyday. I have the ulock for quick tops. Also, never leave the padlock resting on the ground, you are leaving it open to getting whacked with a hammer. Wrap the chain good and tight about the frame and the 'immovable object'.

That's around about it. In conclusion, get a Granit chain and a Ulock & don't ever lock your bicyle in the city center if you love it.

Gav -- oops. I think I went overboard