Bike security - ideal DIY solution

pilsburypie

I've recently had a bike nicked (off the car I might add) and the thief may well be expecting me to get a nice shiney new one and put it in my garage. I have read alot about security, locks, cables, chains, ground anchors and all seem to have pros and cons. There has also been some very commendable DIY jobs that will put off many crooks.

I'm trying to think logically about this to create my own ultimate solution and would like others input:

What tools will your average/experienced thief use?
Screwdrivers
crowbar
bolt croppers
hacksaw
hammer

From what I've read - please correct me - most if not all cables, no matter how expensive are crap - bolt croppers will snip through.

Most chains unless you spend stupid cash are also bolt cropperable (is that a word?!)

Ground/wall anchors are susceptable to prising from crowbrs etc unless well cemented into the ground

What makes a thief's life difficult?
Access to the room they are kept - decent locks
Noise - alarm system
cramped working conditions - no slack chain or easy access to anchor point
Strong locks
hard securing material

I have had a thought of using a length of scaffolding pole to secure 3 bikes through their frames. The ploe would be say 6' long and bent at right angles 2/3 of the way down. One end would slide into a protected wall plate/hole in the wall while the other end meets up with a cemented ground anchor type affair with tough padlock on.

The only reason I though of the scaffold pole is it is tough as hell and can't really be worked on unless you have more than the average thief.

Is my idea daft? Any other thoughts or considerations?

Should the padlock be off the floor to avoid heavy blows? Is frame locking enough?

Keen to have something that is really quick and easy to use so I lock up every night and don't get slack.

joshtp

sounds good... make sure it's difficult for the thief to get at the pole with an angle grinder, without damaging the bike.... I'd also have a cable going around all the components. And keep the padlock hard to access, and imposable to hit or grind, like tucked into a crevice in the wall, or surrounded by stuff, with just the key hole showing.... It may be a pain to lock up your bikes and unlock them, but that will mean its a pain for the burglar too.

alexz

Angle Grinder.

you can add video surveillance and lighting to the security tools.

d87heaven

Scaffold poles are fairly soft. You can hacksaw through them although it might take a few mins. Slip another bar in the pole though and they become awkward as hell as the bar inside keeps spining round.

Penylope

Keen to have something that is really quick and easy to use so I lock up every night and don't get slack.

There's the rub, anything that is quick and easy to use probably isn't going to be much use.
I'm slowly working through this dilema myself, and unfortunately, the only thing you can expect to do is slow the thief down as much as possible, anything is breakable with enough time and a quiet place where they wont get disturbed.

If it looks like a long job, will make a lot of noise or can easily be seen by passers by then it should put them (i hope) off trying, moving on to easier pickings....

shoddy

one mistake a lot of people make is to keep all their tools in the same place as the bike/s for the thief to borrow.................... No point using an expensive lock if you have left your angle grinder on the shelf above it.

d87heaven

Is your garage attached to the house?

pilsburypie

Like the idea or a bar inside the scaffold.

This locking system has to be quick and easy to secure. On one of my bikes I commute so a morning and evening pain in the a55 will end up with me not doing it 100% of the time.

pilsburypie

great idea about my tools! they would have been next to my bikes!

Yes garage is an integral garage.

I am feeling linking to the house alarm is probably going to be of most benefit.....

Penylope

Removing the wheels should be a good deterant (if you can lock them away from where the rest of the bike is kept then all the better) i would imagine (i'm just trying to second guess what a tea-leaf might do) that they want to pinch a bike, then ride off into the distance, no questions asked ("just out ridin me bike officer"). Having to carry the frame around would slow them down (and be difficult to explain to the boys in blue if they spotted them!)

pilsburypie

Penylope - I understand your thoughts. For me anyhow there has to be this balance of ease of use. Sure I could dig a 6 foot hole bury the entire bike in concrete and then dig it up with a pneumatic drill everytime it wanted to use it...... no thief would steal it! But on the same note I would end up not doing that every time either

So - apart from security, my other main criteria is ease of use. I already get up at the crack of dawn to cycle to work. Grovelling round on the garage floor removing cables threaded through every spoke then rebuilding my bike aint going to work for me.....

mcj78

Some interesting reading here

http://www.cracked.com/article/175_6-re ... ath-traps/

d87heaven

pilsburypie wrote:

Yes garage is an integral garage.

I am feeling linking to the house alarm is probably going to be of most benefit.....

then make the wife wash up in the garage and put the bikes in the kitchen

How about build a wall in garage just wide enough for bikes.
put recess in wall for scaffold pole.
drill hole in living room (or whatever) wall fso the pole can slide all the way through. Attach lock to end of pole and mount it in a recessed box. That way you can only unlock the pole from your house, you can't get to the pole because its surrounded by bikes. smashing down a re inforced concrete wall would take a while and make lots of noise.
Bit extreme though, plus they could break into your house to get at the bikes.

Jimfrandisco

Penylope wrote:

Removing the wheels should be a good deterant (if you can lock them away from where the rest of the bike is kept then all the better) i would imagine (i'm just trying to second guess what a tea-leaf might do) that they want to pinch a bike, then ride off into the distance, no questions asked ("just out ridin me bike officer"). Having to carry the frame around would slow them down (and be difficult to explain to the boys in blue if they spotted them!)

There's a lot of truth in that, certainly should deter the opportunists.
Each time I've been burgled they've left the big high value items and taken small things like cameras...along with a rucksack to hide the goods in. Easy to flog, easy to disguise when walking about etc.
Same with bikes - flogging one with no wheels to pay for crack will be a bit tricky for them as well...

*AJ*

If they want your bike, they will get your bike.....

Whats to stop the thief waiting round the corner for you cycling past with a knife???

pilsburypie

I like the brick wall bike rack idea...... not sure about the hole straight through to the house! Misses may have something to say about that! :? But the idea has promise.....

With regards to removing wheels - that probably would have prevented the theft from my car bike rack..... alas...... not ideal for me grabbing the bike for a commute....

tsenior

if your cycling past with a knife surely the thief would think twice about trying to take your bike.

d87heaven

pilsburypie wrote:

I like the brick wall bike rack idea...... not sure about the hole straight through to the house! Misses may have something to say about that! :? But the idea has promise.....

With regards to removing wheels - that probably would have prevented the theft from my car bike rack..... alas...... not ideal for me grabbing the bike for a commute....

You could mount it in a little wall safe type thingy behind a picture. Bikes can be stored at any height.

pilsburypie

*AJ* wrote:

If they want your bike, they will get your bike.....

Whats to stop the thief waiting round the corner for you cycling past with a knife???

Kind of heirachy of what you'd do in a situation.....If someone stopped me and asked for my bike, I would try and ride off smartish. If not possible I'd start windmilling fueled on pure rage and anger. If they are standing there with a knife, they can have the damn bike.

Not really like that round here...... I think....... just the odd covert thief....

All that aside I really doubt I'd get "mugged" for the bike. I have a "don't mug me" look!

Steve_F

Macaulay Culkin doesn't seem to have worked in a while, get him around to install your home security system!!

An alarm that makes as much noise as possible would seem like the best idea to me. Something that scares them off as quickly as possible.

If they get into the garage and find the bikes too secure to steal what's the chances of them packing up and leaving?

ben306

Im currently building a bike shed which is a DIY. I've already done the concrete base with 3 seperate ground anchors. Im half way through doing the actual metal shed, it will take 3 bikes and have 3 points of locking, then the bikes themselve will be anchored to the shed and ground points using a number of cables, locks, chains etc.

If a theif wants it, they will get it, I just want to make it hard work for them and so it takes some time.

I can get photos up once Im done if your interested?

psymon

read an interesting article many years ago in a motorbike magazine.
solutions ranged from digging pits in the gravel drive to wiring up doors to the mains.
sounds reasonable to me.



also, you can buy this........................BANG!

you could also modify it.

just dont forget it's there yourself!

capoz77

The 16 mm pragma chain and untouchable lock can be had for less than 100 quid. You can fit a ground anchor and concrete for 20. Bike Will be over the anchor to restrict access.

Takes seconds to lock unlock. I think this as a starting point base level of security is the easiest bang for buck

bluechair84

you could build a hinged frame that hangs from the ceiling, hook your bike onto it like a car rack, then lift and clip it up flat against the ceiling. I suggest this because I hung a pair of curtains the other day and my arms were killing me!! I couldn't imagine trying to hacksaw down something that's above your head.

pilsburypie

bluechair84 wrote:

you could build a hinged frame that hangs from the ceiling, hook your bike onto it like a car rack, then lift and clip it up flat against the ceiling. I suggest this because I hung a pair of curtains the other day and my arms were killing me!! I couldn't imagine trying to hacksaw down something that's above your head.

Now that is an interesting suggestion.......

Ryan Jones

4mm SWA cable with a plug going through into the house through a hole in the wall, wrapped around the bike and plugged in. A nice alarm and a baseball bat and you're bike is going nowhere without some theiving scumbag having it !

jonnyc2420

i've attetched a 110 decibel movement sensor alarm to chain and cables running through my rack thats bolted to the wall and floor then padlocked with tuff as hell locks, although its still all nickable with time and tools, the alarm sounds at the slightest movement of the chain. - its easy to arm/disarm with a remote keyring thingy. my thinking is that no matter what i do the shed can be broken into but that the noise will make most people having a go to panic and run off. they are on ebay about £15. also added pirs inside and pir foodlights outside.

the police advised me that anything thats causes inconvienience to the average thief will put most off, with that in mind ive also screwed rat strength mouse traps to the inside of the fence where the last f***er climbed over in the hope that broken fingers would also be an inconvenience :twisted:

and before anyone chips in about getting sued - im really not that fussed if they want to try again.....

wheezee

How about a false wall at the back of the garage. Brick the bike up.

Then you just need a disguised doorway into the concealed space. They managed it with priest-holes in the olden days.

getonyourbike

jonnyc2420 wrote:

i've attetched a 110 decibel movement sensor alarm to chain and cables running through my rack thats bolted to the wall and floor then padlocked with tuff as hell locks, although its still all nickable with time and tools, the alarm sounds at the slightest movement of the chain. - its easy to arm/disarm with a remote keyring thingy. my thinking is that no matter what i do the shed can be broken into but that the noise will make most people having a go to panic and run off. they are on ebay about £15. also added pirs inside and pir foodlights outside.

the police advised me that anything thats causes inconvienience to the average thief will put most off, with that in mind ive also screwed rat strength mouse traps to the inside of the fence where the last f***er climbed over in the hope that broken fingers would also be an inconvenience :twisted:

very nice set up there mate, I particularly like the mouse traps. :shock:

leaflite

You can get locks that clip in to the disk rotors, and make a 100Db noise when you attempt to remove it...

Also, an Almax chain is fairly unboltcroppable(see vids on youtube). Alarm, disk rotor lock and chain should stop it from being stolen.

MountainMonster

There is an interesting idea you could try putting on the inside of the doors of the shed you get.

There are door alarms you can buy for a tener or so that you can put inside the door, and there is a magnet side and an alarm side. If they move more than 5mm (or some certain small amount) apart from each other, the alarm sounds and it is loud as hell.

It would be annoying having to quickly disable it every time you opened your shed to get bikes out or put bikes in, but would probably be easily heard if your sleeping or something, and someone tries to open the doors.