secure bike lock recommendation

peanut

need a decent lock for 2x bikes as we are cycling to an Olympic final location and leaving our bikes in an 'Olympic secure bike park' ............Ho Ho Ho ...........:roll:

considered the Kryptonite D lock but apparently it can be broken in less than a minute and cut through with bolt croppers easily

Bike replacement value £950 and £500

kleinstroker

IME the Kryptonite series 4, the orange one, are enough to put off everyone bar the seriously tooled up thief. I don't suppose there is much you can do to 100% prevent them. Just make sure wherever you lock up it's plainly visible.

TommyEss

Most of the pricier locks are good - D locks can be broken with jacks (from car spare tyre kits), which is why you must make sure the gap is filled up with bits of bike and railings to stop them getting the jack inside -

I used a Kryptonite New York D lock in central London for about 3 years and never lost the bike. For that type of value I'd be looking at Sold Secure Gold level, and something by either Kryptonite or Abus. It would probably be a D lock in the £50-80 range.

peanut

thanks guys ... i suppose i realised that you get what you pay for . I was looking at the £25 range of locks but its worth investing in a good lock.

The other think that worries me is people nicking bits off the bike like saddle, handlebar and STI assembly , brake calipers etc . All you need is a wire cutter and a single allen key and they've got a £450 Ultegra STi brake set, bars & stem :evil:

TommyEss

I would definitely recommend spending more than £25 on a lock - I have a small cable lock around that price that I use when I go shopping - I only ever lock a bike up using it in broad daylight and in busy shopping areas, never overnight, or for longer periods. Certainly not all day whilst I was watching the games for example. Some of those really can be snipped with easy to conceal tools, it's not even funny.

Try this - New York 3000 D Lock it's more like £60, but solid. D locks are easier for locking one bike, but can struggle to do two or more. Chains are better, but they tend to be heavier again. Here's the review - there are obviously other locks available.

As for the risk of things getting taken off the bike - it tends to happen overnight more. Quick release wheels are a soft target, and should be locked separately, or removed and locked with the bike, and QR saddles if you have them (though unlikely on a road bike)

It's more a hypothetical risk to be honest - yes, they can be removed with reasonably simple tools, but we're not talking about locking them up in a dark alley overnight,

If you're still struggling to get a lock, then depending on where you are, I can lend you my Kryptonite D Lock and my huge great ABUS chain - they're on standby most of the time these days as my bikes stay in my house these days.

Hope that helps,

Tom

peanut

thank you Tom thats a very generous offer. I suspect the cost of shipping them 2x ways would probably be more than the cost new though .

I think the biggest problem is going to be how vulnerable the bikes are going to be overnight on the back of our campervan on the campsite.

I think I am going to have to make the time to build a quick simple hack bike rather than take my best bike. it took me 3x years + to find a CAAD9 in my size and my colour and it would really ruin my day to lose it now I've got it .

Thanks for the suggestions and links . i think the New York lock looks interesting .

I have a huge chain and padlock somewhere I used on a motorbike so I may just take that. It will be heavy but it should put off potential thieves.
thanks again
Nick

kleinstroker

+1 on the hack bike. No man can be expected to only have one bike!!

TommyEss

No worries Peanut - but I'm in Reading, so if you're driving through this way you can pick them up.

As for campervan security - well assuming the rack is locked to the van, then a simple deterrent lock will be fine for travelling - you don't want anything too chunky when you're on the move since it will bounce around and potentially damage the bikes.

For night time - well at Le Mans the guys with bikes locked them to the railings rather than the bike racks for the most part - though this may be more to do with the fact that it's easier to ride them off in the morning if they're already on the ground.

I would concur that most of those bikes were "hack bikes", old steel Raleigh MTBs etc, or cheap shoppers, and not decent road bikes, so there may be some mileage in something like that?

kevprimer

Kryptonite new york or abus granit 54 , the one with the square edge. Prob the best lock I've used. Will cost you 100 quid tho. 25 pound locks in london are useless. You're better off getting the tube and saving yourself the heart ache!

unixnerd

+1 on the hack bike. No man can be expected to only have one bike!!

Agreed. I have a hack bike. It somehow gained Ultegra wheels and a full Dura Ace groupo over the years though....

peanut

unixnerd wrote:

+1 on the hack bike. No man can be expected to only have one bike!!

Agreed. I have a hack bike. It somehow gained Ultegra wheels and a full Dura Ace groupo over the years though....

funny how that seems to happen isn't it ! :roll:

Well it went very well.

Bikes stayed on the back of the campervan all the there and back. We cycled down the lee valley canal path straight to the Lee valley White Water centre at Waltham Cross about 9 miles from the camp site.

The event was fantastic. The security and Army personnel were brilliant and passed us through security checks in 5 minutes flat.
I have never seen so many Police men and women walking around with automatic weapons at the ready . There was a heavy Police presence on the canal the roads around the centre and even in the air. We certainly felt completly safe at all times.

Thanks for your advice everyone but to be honest we could have left our bikes leaning up against our campervan and they would not have been touched so I worried unnecessarily.