Security on a car rack for 3 bikes??

john1000000boy

Hi all going on holiday with my family. We are taking the bikes on the rack on the back of the car. I know there is no secure cycle storage at the hotel we are staying at for part of the trip. So i was thinking that i could get a network of wire rope locks/chains to run through the bikes while on the back of the car to secure them. The hotel is a country house hotel so not on a busy high street. This is more for peace of mind than anything else.

Anyone with any suggestions for models and designs?? Not wanting to go crazy money wise. I thought 2 long cables to go through 3 sets of wheels and frames and then onto the towing loop on the back of the Freelander??

Thanks in advance any help appreciated

John

kdawg74

I would go for these, the cable would do all three bikes and the lock could possibly go through the rear towing eye of your car

Kryptonite KryptoFlex 30 Foot Cable Bike Lock

Kryptonite Evolution Mini 14cm Bike D Lock

would be about £70 in total so not bad for peace of mind.

john1000000boy

Thanks Kdawg will have a look on the net for these products. Will try crc and wiggle 1st i think

cooldad

On One were selling some cheap a while back not sure if they are still on sale.

Deputy Dawg

kdawg74 wrote:

I would go for these, the cable would do all three bikes and the lock could possibly go through the rear towing eye of your car

Kryptonite KryptoFlex 30 Foot Cable Bike Lock

Kryptonite Evolution Mini 14cm Bike D Lock

would be about £70 in total so not bad for peace of mind.

I've done much the same for when stopped at motorway services etc but with the cable threaded through itself around the tow hitch & the D locks on the bike.

It'll stop anyone just lifting the bikes off & peddling off with them but a decent pair of bolt cutters will go through the cable like a proverbial hot knife through butter (still have half a cable somewhere in case I ever forget).

If it were me, I'd take the saddle & wheels indoors (or hiding in the boot) & lock what's left as secure as possible.

apreading

D lock the bikes to each other and if possible to the rack. Cable lock the bikes to the car if possible, but as said this is poor security as I found out to my cost, just like DD I have a cable lock in my garage as a reminder that anyone remotely organised wont bat an eyelid at them. They will stop the opportunist thief though.

The D lock shared between the bikes means that even if they get them off the car they cannot ride them unless they can also cut the D lock at the scene. Unless they have a van nearby then they would stuggle to carry 3 bikes locked together (possibly with your rack attached), so this may be more deterrent than the cable.

Raymondavalon

kdawg74 wrote:

I would go for these, the cable would do all three bikes and the lock could possibly go through the rear towing eye of your car

Kryptonite KryptoFlex 30 Foot Cable Bike Lock

+ potato on that
I have a few of the KryproFlex cables and always securely lock my bike to the hatchback mounted bike rack or the Thule 591/Aerobar combo
Hell, I even used one to secure the spare on the back door of the Land Rover Disco

nicklouse

Raymondavalon wrote:

kdawg74 wrote:

I would go for these, the cable would do all three bikes and the lock could possibly go through the rear towing eye of your car

Kryptonite KryptoFlex 30 Foot Cable Bike Lock

+ potato on that
I have a few of the KryproFlex cables and always securely lock my bike to the hatchback mounted bike rack or the Thule 591/Aerobar combo
Hell, I even used one to secure the spare on the back door of the Land Rover Disco

so just one cable to cut to get 3 bikes. Easy done in about 20secs.

locvk as many parts to as many different parts as possible with many locks.

3 bikes. 3 locks minimum.

john1000000boy

I was going to get a long cable and weave it all through the frames, wheels and rack then through the towing loop on the back of the car. From the above it is fair to say that storing your bike outside on the car be it at a hotel or in services is only going to be a deterrant to the most determined thief.

I would only be able to use D locks between the bikes and the rack as it would not reach to the towing loop anyway. Will def be taking the seats off and maybe front wheels.

The last time we were at the hotel there were 2 or 3 other cars with bikes left on roofs overnight.

john

kdawg74

My bad forgot to say about locking the bikes themselves to the rack, go for Kryptonite gold rated as you get up to a £1000 back if bikes stolen when locked up. But not sure where you would stand with that with bikes locked to a rack.

apreading

kdawg74 wrote:

My bad forgot to say about locking the bikes themselves to the rack, go for Kryptonite gold rated as you get up to a £1000 back if bikes stolen when locked up. But not sure where you would stand with that with bikes locked to a rack.

I imagine the insurance would be dependant on whether they had broken the lock to take them. If the rack is still there and intact but the lock has been cut or otherwise disabled then the insurance 'should' be valid. Of course I could be wrong...

Mojo_666

I planned how I would nick my own bike + mates off my Saris bones (bike rack), and unfortunately it came down very simply to how each bike or the rack was secured directly to the car itself and that in itself for me was flawed.

The saris bones is connected to my car by 4 straps, regardless of how many locks run through the bikes and to the bones it could in theory be a 30 second job simply by cutting 4 straps with a knife and throwing the entire bundle of bikes + rack into the back of a van, this is even easier IMO (assuming u have 2 people to lift the bike bundle) than cutting a single lock off.

Now the only way i could see to secure the "bundle" was to run a "wire" cable to the car itself, as these could be purchased in long lengths, D-Locks are useless, as are the rather heavy 1.5 meter super chains that you can buy and I use in my garage, (unless you can get realy long ones which can run through all bikes and to the car (4 meters?) The wire cables are a 20 second job each…so how many do you get?

My advice is to consider putting all bikes in your boot if you can drop the back seats overnight and have 2 really robust Oxford type chains on them (in plain view I might add) and reverse up to a wall so the boot cannot be opened.

That is the cheapest options, (anything else involving a bike rack is a nonstarter for me), so although I do lock my bikes onto a rack I still do not leave them anywhere dodgy, always have them in view etc and won’t leave them for a few mins at a time, if my bike cost more than 1k I doubt I would leave it ever.

The same rules to any bike rack too, not just strap on ones, consider how easy it is to get the rack from the car not just the bikes from the rack, and how easy it is to cut the rack/bikes not the chains/locks.

Maybe consider a minor deternet like a wire with lock for oppertunists and write the bikes off to any wandering pro that might see them anything more than a wire while those bikes are on the outside of your car and your just going to waste money end up with no bike rack damaged car etc.

bluechair84

a) handcuff a child to the bikes.
b) wheels on the front seats, frames in the back.

I wouldn't ever leave a bike out in the open, no matter how many chains were on it.

DickBarton

Strip down bikes and store in car when you are staying in hotel...the space left from the bodies and luggage in the car should be enough for the bikes in pieces i.e. wheels off and frames packed flat on deck...does mean an extra 15 minutes of prep before turning in for the night and about 25 minutes prep to pack the car (bikes need removed and put back on rack, but they would be safer than keeping on outside of car overnight.

welshkev

Mojo_666 wrote:

I planned how I would nick my own bike + mates off my Saris bones (bike rack), and unfortunately it came down very simply to how each bike or the rack was secured directly to the car itself and that in itself for me was flawed.

The saris bones is connected to my car by 4 straps, regardless of how many locks run through the bikes and to the bones it could in theory be a 30 second job simply by cutting 4 straps with a knife and throwing the entire bundle of bikes + rack into the back of a van, this is even easier IMO (assuming u have 2 people to lift the bike bundle) than cutting a single lock off.

.

not if like some of the people above have said and the bikes are secured to the tow hitch

Mojo_666

welshkev wrote:

Mojo_666 wrote:

I planned how I would nick my own bike + mates off my Saris bones (bike rack), and unfortunately it came down very simply to how each bike or the rack was secured directly to the car itself and that in itself for me was flawed.

The saris bones is connected to my car by 4 straps, regardless of how many locks run through the bikes and to the bones it could in theory be a 30 second job simply by cutting 4 straps with a knife and throwing the entire bundle of bikes + rack into the back of a van, this is even easier IMO (assuming u have 2 people to lift the bike bundle) than cutting a single lock off.

.

not if like some of the people above have said and the bikes are secured to the tow hitch

Like I said though it depends on how it is secured to the tow hitch or any other part of the car, there is no point using great locks to secure bikes to each other and the rack if that is then secured to the car by a single wire cable.

welshkev

Mojo_666 wrote:

welshkev wrote:

Mojo_666 wrote:

I planned how I would nick my own bike + mates off my Saris bones (bike rack), and unfortunately it came down very simply to how each bike or the rack was secured directly to the car itself and that in itself for me was flawed.

The saris bones is connected to my car by 4 straps, regardless of how many locks run through the bikes and to the bones it could in theory be a 30 second job simply by cutting 4 straps with a knife and throwing the entire bundle of bikes + rack into the back of a van, this is even easier IMO (assuming u have 2 people to lift the bike bundle) than cutting a single lock off.

.

not if like some of the people above have said and the bikes are secured to the tow hitch

Like I said though it depends on how it is secured to the tow hitch or any other part of the car, there is no point using great locks to secure bikes to each other and the rack if that is then secured to the car by a single wire cable.

how i read it was that the carrier will still just be attatched to the car as normal...so yes they could cut that off. but the bikes will be chained to the cartow hitch/point/eye thingy so they won't be able to just walk off with them

nicklouse

welshkev wrote:

Mojo_666 wrote:

welshkev wrote:

Mojo_666 wrote:

I planned how I would nick my own bike + mates off my Saris bones (bike rack), and unfortunately it came down very simply to how each bike or the rack was secured directly to the car itself and that in itself for me was flawed.

The saris bones is connected to my car by 4 straps, regardless of how many locks run through the bikes and to the bones it could in theory be a 30 second job simply by cutting 4 straps with a knife and throwing the entire bundle of bikes + rack into the back of a van, this is even easier IMO (assuming u have 2 people to lift the bike bundle) than cutting a single lock off.

.

not if like some of the people above have said and the bikes are secured to the tow hitch

Like I said though it depends on how it is secured to the tow hitch or any other part of the car, there is no point using great locks to secure bikes to each other and the rack if that is then secured to the car by a single wire cable.

how i read it was that the carrier will still just be attatched to the car as normal...so yes they could cut that off. but the bikes will be chained to the cartow hitch/point/eye thingy so they won't be able to just walk off with them

but it is still only one cable to cut.

welshkev

nicklouse wrote:

welshkev wrote:

Mojo_666 wrote:

welshkev wrote:

Mojo_666 wrote:

I planned how I would nick my own bike + mates off my Saris bones (bike rack), and unfortunately it came down very simply to how each bike or the rack was secured directly to the car itself and that in itself for me was flawed.

The saris bones is connected to my car by 4 straps, regardless of how many locks run through the bikes and to the bones it could in theory be a 30 second job simply by cutting 4 straps with a knife and throwing the entire bundle of bikes + rack into the back of a van, this is even easier IMO (assuming u have 2 people to lift the bike bundle) than cutting a single lock off.

.

not if like some of the people above have said and the bikes are secured to the tow hitch

Like I said though it depends on how it is secured to the tow hitch or any other part of the car, there is no point using great locks to secure bikes to each other and the rack if that is then secured to the car by a single wire cable.

how i read it was that the carrier will still just be attatched to the car as normal...so yes they could cut that off. but the bikes will be chained to the cartow hitch/point/eye thingy so they won't be able to just walk off with them

but it is still only one cable to cut.

not if you use 3 chains

Jolly Swagman

Unless you are a thief it is very difficult to think like a thief does. Or a pikey. Sometimes the best you can do is to make it so slow/diificult for them to steal it, or it would be so noisy that they won't bother. As for tow bar hitches - if you are relying on the little barrel lock with it, well a good bash with a hammer and a screwdriver and it is probably toast.

apreading

Could you weld a sheffield stand onto the roof of the car and D-lock the bikes to it? Might not be grat for fuel economy... :roll:

john1000000boy

I have purchased a Kryptonite d lock and a long length of their cable to weave through the frames, wheels etc and then into the towing loop on the car. Will need to decide if i put the bikes in the boot @ the hotel or get a good parking slot. It is a Country house hotel with no through traffic at all. Still making me jumpy though as the 3 Specs come in at over £2,000.

From the above threads its fair to say that nothing will stop a determined thief. The only things you can do is try and inconvenience them as much as possible.

If i put the bikes in the car the alarm will sound when they smash a window and then they take the bikes or i secure them as well as i can on the rack.

Thanks for all the views folks!!

John

Mojo_666

john1000000boy wrote:

If i put the bikes in the car the alarm will sound when they smash a window and then they take the bikes or i secure them as well as i can on the rack.

Thanks for all the views folks!!

John

You can lock the cars in the boot, normally to the car itself if you pul back some of the removable interior to get at the car lights etc.

Consider leaving the locks on display in the car, it might deter people is they know they cant just smash and grab and might save a broken window for nothing.

john1000000boy

Well arrived back after our trip. I am pleased to report that the bikes spent there time on the back of the car in the Hollywood bike rack safely and securely. Stayed in a b&b in a scottish town in a harbour side car park with no problems. The B&B owner told me there was no cause for concern. Then the bikes were left on the back of the car at the Country hotel secured to the back. No probs. I did feel a lot better when there was another car parked with a shiny new Enduro Pro secured on the back in the same fashion!!

The porters did ensure me that the cctv was in operation in certain areas of the car park- whether anyone was watching it.....

John