Police ratings?

Anonymous

ride_whenever wrote:

I've not come across a cable lock that lasted more than about 30 seconds of fairly apathetic attack (I work in a bike shop and we offer a lock cutting service to some of our customers) and as for people with bikes in sheds, probably the worst place to keep them, as the thieves have a nice dry environment to quietly break the locks.

Mine's not. Roof leaks and it's half falling down and filled with tonnes of cr@p . It would be easier to just steal the shed.

Northwind

cee wrote:

erm...any one else notice that there seems to be a high edinburgh quotient in the "I knows about how to beat locks" stakes

I may have taken an unhealthy interest Mostly I learned about this stuff from the motorbike background, people are more realistic about locks when they've got £10000 bikes and most of the major information campaigns like Almax's wall of shame were aimed at us not cyclists. (Almax were attending bike shows cutting competitor's chains on their display, til they got banned as Oxford and Motrax threatened to stop attending)

I was a bit surprised to come over to biking and find that people are still buying the locks which most informed motorcyclists wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. (in fact, I've heard people say "This must be good, it's a motorbike lock" of stuff that I know is rubbish, like the Oxford 10mm link chains.)

neil_sheehan2000

The only time I ever tried to steal a bike, I found it incredibly difficult.

ride_whenever

really, last weekend one of my colleague's lock seized up, a cheap £20 d-lock affair. Took all of 2 minutes to break...

WisePranker

Northwind wrote:

cee wrote:

erm...any one else notice that there seems to be a high edinburgh quotient in the "I knows about how to beat locks" stakes

I may have taken an unhealthy interest Mostly I learned about this stuff from the motorbike background, people are more realistic about locks when they've got £10000 bikes and most of the major information campaigns like Almax's wall of shame were aimed at us not cyclists. (Almax were attending bike shows cutting competitor's chains on their display, til they got banned as Oxford and Motrax threatened to stop attending)

I was a bit surprised to come over to biking and find that people are still buying the locks which most informed motorcyclists wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. (in fact, I've heard people say "This must be good, it's a motorbike lock" of stuff that I know is rubbish, like the Oxford 10mm link chains.)

I agree with this 100%

IMO the only chain and lock worth using is the Almax with the Squire padlock and a good ground anchor.

My current bike is only a reasonably cheap one so it's locked up with a d-lock and chain in the garage. Whne I upgrade to something a bit better/more expensive, I'll be chaining the bike up with my Almax that I use on my motorbike. I can't think of a better way of securing it!

Northwind

Pragmasis have one that's just as good (I like Almax, they made a point of going "Look! Another good chain!" when it came out ) English Chain Co do have one, I forget the model name, it's a 13mm link but it's incredibly overhardened so very few boltcutters can really touch it but if your thief realises what's going on he's going to shatter it with a big hammer. Still it's a good bit of kit for a lighter chain.

Or you could just get a massive cheap industrial chain and tape a binbag round it, but they'll sometimes have weak welds, soft metal or other weaknesses. Then again they cost a fraction as much as the purpose-made chains.

Or you can just be realistic and use lower level security, like I do- the only difference is I got my not-very-secure chain for a tenner, an awful lot of people buy themselves the exact same level of security for £150

tsenior

i'm interested in this, had my bike, chainsaw and some other stuff taken from my cellar recently (the bike was attached to a master ground anchour security bolted to concrete floor-this rahter than the chain was the weak link, they got under it, levered it up and unscrewed a bolt).

its all masonry surround so I'm going to make a steel reinforced frame bolted to the brickwork and get a door off a demo site faced with sheet metal with a proper internal lock rather than a hasp (which they just popped off).

the old ground anchor will go back in (threads epoxied this time) as a 2ndary point. but i was thinking break some of the floor out and set a big steel ring into some new concrete with rebar and use a big chain, i work on some engineering sites and can sometimes pick this sort of thing up.

any other tips? I dont have much to spend: the locks will probbaly take up the whole budget so am after DIY options......

ride_whenever

Give them as little space to work as possible.

Or alternatively make a false internal wall that opens by some secret mechanism so it doesn't look like there is anything of value there.

Anonymous

ride_whenever wrote:

Or alternatively make a false internal wall that opens by some secret mechanism so it doesn't look like there is anything of value there.

The ones that are making a determined effort likely have spotted you with the bike, or followed you home from trails and planned it in advance. Might throw them for a bit when they can't find the bike though, but then they might just wait until you're unloading the bike and your back is turned for a minute.

If they really want it, they'll get it.

Just never put too much personal love into a possession and have enough insurance.

cooldad

Mine often just stand on my patio, unlocked. We don't allow thieves in my bit of leafy Surrey though, we send all the pikies down to DK'S bit.

tsenior

cheers fellas

give am as little room as possibl + insurance +sang froid + move to surrey