Security blocks

echowitch

Anyone have any suggestions for something heavy weight to fit a chain to to lock my bike to in the shed ? We had a wooden shed with a wooden floor that is less than wonderfully solid. The only "secure" option I can think of is to get block of concrete to weight my bike down to deter any potential thief. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to get such a block or if there are viable alternatives ?

danlikesbikes

BR did a 2 part review a few years ago but is still a good start point

Part 1 - http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/b ... t-1-21131/
Part 2 - http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/b ... t-2-21414/

monkimark

Concrete weighs 2.5 times as much as water so it's a good way to form something solid to lock your bike to.

You can buy ready mixed bags of (dry) concrete - just add water or you can buy sand, cement & gravel and mix them up yourself.
If you can lift up a few floor boards and cast a concrete slab under a section then it would give you something to drill into. If you're using a chain to secure the bike then you could either cast one end of the chain into the slab or cast a u-shaped tube into it so you have somewhere to thread a chain through

natrix

Breezeblock or two??

echowitch

Cheers all I did think about a breeze block but not being DIY minded I didn't know how sturdy they are to abuse (i.e. being picked up and dropped)

bails87

A 'builders tub'/big bucket filled with concrete?

That way you can put some heavyweight chain in the concrete while it's wet and you won't have to do any drilling to give you an anchoring point.

The Rookie

Breezblock is readily smashed by a normal hammer - pointless.

Bails idea for moveable, or pour a square under the shed (better still move it and put it back!)

cooldad

From a post on the Cruddie FB page:
"...They entered the premises by breaking down a solid block wall at the rear (actually not joking, they took out a wall!), we have a steel security door and CCTV only covering the front so we've got no coverage of the bikes actually being wheeled away...."
Good luck.

DCR00

bails87 wrote:

A 'builders tub'/big bucket filled with concrete?

That way you can put some heavyweight chain in the concrete while it's wet and you won't have to do any drilling to give you an anchoring point.

great idea that

About to move to a new house with a garage. May try that out.

natrix

The Beginner wrote:

Breezblock is readily smashed by a normal hammer - pointless.

and chain is readily cut by bolt croppers......

Nothing is impregnable, its about making it harder so as to put the thief off.

DCR00

natrix wrote:

The Beginner wrote:

Breezblock is readily smashed by a normal hammer - pointless.

and chain is readily cut by bolt croppers......

Nothing is impregnable, its about making it harder so as to put the thief off.

Indeed. If they want it badly enough, they will take it.

As an owner of two relatively undesirable bikes, i reckon a big f*ck off chain encased in cement is probably enough to put your average theiving scum off.

schlepcycling

One of these http://www.elitesecuritysupplies.com/concave-built-in-ground-anchor.html type of ground anchors is designed to be set into concrete.

bluechair84

natrix wrote:

The Beginner wrote:

Breezblock is readily smashed by a normal hammer - pointless.

and chain is readily cut by bolt croppers......

Nothing is impregnable, its about making it harder so as to put the thief off.

Not even this, it's about fulfilling the requirements of your insurance because, as you say, nothing is impregnable.

bennett_346

DCR00 wrote:

natrix wrote:

The Beginner wrote:

Breezblock is readily smashed by a normal hammer - pointless.

and chain is readily cut by bolt croppers......

Nothing is impregnable, its about making it harder so as to put the thief off.

Indeed. If they want it badly enough, they will take it.

So by that logic we may as well leave our bikes outside unlocked with adverts round the street saying it's there.

What nonsense.

Horton

I've got a shed shackle from this chap - http://securityforbikes.com/shed-shackle.php - means that the chain is also kept well off the floor which makes it much more difficult to bolt crop through but like people have said, nothing's impregnable...

He also does chain and padlock combo deals as well which are pretty good value in the grand scheme of things.

Like bluechair84 says though, it's about what your insurance needs as much as keeping the pilfering scum away...

monkimark

As someone who works with big bolt croppers a lot, they will only cut chains up to about 12mm.
16mm chain will be cropper proof - you can buy them from motorbike security suppliers. 14mm chain probably would be as well if you can find it. 19mm is available if you're really paranoid.
I used PJB security to get my motorbike chain from and it seemed reasonably cheap compared to other similar products. Almax are always recomended by bikers too.
16mm chain is bloody big and heavy though - my motorbike chain probably weighs as mush as my road bike.

pesky_jones

monkimark wrote:

As someone who works with big bolt croppers a lot, they will only cut chains up to about 12mm.
16mm chain will be cropper proof - you can buy them from motorbike security suppliers. 14mm chain probably would be as well if you can find it. 19mm is available if you're really paranoid.
I used PJB security to get my motorbike chain from and it seemed reasonably cheap compared to other similar products. Almax are always recomended by bikers too.
16mm chain is bloody big and heavy though - my motorbike chain probably weighs as mush as my road bike.

This is good info

Anonymous

drill a whole in the floor. getting some stupidly strong chain.

the stuff they use to anchor ships its weigh's a massive amount only need a couple of link drop the link in the whole you drilled. put one link into the whole have half the second link showing so there something to anchor onto. fill whole with concrete get some inch thick steel plate drill 4 holes in each corner cut a whole for the link sticking outta the ground attach it to concrete then get some heavy duty chain thread it threw the link sticking out the ground possibly titanium or tungsten very tough metals and usely cut with plasma cutters and lasers then the biggest lock you can find.

if that doesn't make

sense

buy a bank vault and keep you bike in there.

Kowalski675

The larger Almax and Pragmasis chains are guaranteed impervious to bolt croppers (even the massive Irwin Records, which pro motorcycle thieves use). Watch the vids on Almax website for demos (and to see how ridiculously easy a lot of other very expensive chains can be cropped). It's as much to do with how the chain is hardened as the diameter of the links.

Graham K

monkimark wrote:

Concrete weighs 2.5 times as much as water so it's a good way to form something solid to lock your bike to.

You can buy ready mixed bags of (dry) concrete - just add water or you can buy sand, cement & gravel and mix them up yourself.
If you can lift up a few floor boards and cast a concrete slab under a section then it would give you something to drill into. If you're using a chain to secure the bike then you could either cast one end of the chain into the slab or cast a u-shaped tube into it so you have somewhere to thread a chain through

As /\ said.
Mix your own concrete, but put a steel lattice in the concrete and loop a hook through it, just so if they go to pull up the hook they have 2/3/4 yard of concrete to pull too and then chain it up with a good quality chain,
You will hear them trying to get at it whilst your on holiday in Tenerife

Chunkers1980

Thing is frames probably make up about say 5-50% of the bike's value. Most of them could be cut with a Pound shop hacksaw. Bit of work and you've got between 95-50% of the overall worth.

DCR00

bennett_346 wrote:

DCR00 wrote:

natrix wrote:

The Beginner wrote:

Breezblock is readily smashed by a normal hammer - pointless.

and chain is readily cut by bolt croppers......

Nothing is impregnable, its about making it harder so as to put the thief off.

Indeed. If they want it badly enough, they will take it.

So by that logic we may as well leave our bikes outside unlocked with adverts round the street saying it's there.

What nonsense.

that's clearly not what i said or meant, and if you had included the rest of my post in your quote, that much would be obvious

the point i was making was that its about slowing them down enough or if they aren't that determined, putting them off, but as the below proves, some thieves are prepared to put extraordinary effort into nicking a bike, and in cases like that, they will probably manage it

i.e.

cooldad wrote:

From a post on the Cruddie FB page:
"...They entered the premises by breaking down a solid block wall at the rear (actually not joking, they took out a wall!), we have a steel security door and CCTV only covering the front so we've got no coverage of the bikes actually being wheeled away...."
Good luck.

Kowalski675

DCR00 wrote:

the point i was making was that its about slowing them down enough or if they aren't that determined, putting them off

That's exactly what it's about. Making it difficult enough that hopefully they'll move on to an easier target. If a pro thief wants what you've got then they'll have it no matter what you do, but even a moderate level of security will deter the less determined or opportunists.

monkimark

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Thing is frames probably make up about say 5-50% of the bike's value. Most of them could be cut with a Pound shop hacksaw. Bit of work and you've got between 95-50% of the overall worth.

Lock through the frame and both wheels and you should have a lot more than 95% of the value of the bike secured unless you've got an XTR groupset on an Apollo fram.

bluechair84

And you could pass it through the stanchions of your forks.

welshkev

monkimark wrote:

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Thing is frames probably make up about say 5-50% of the bike's value. Most of them could be cut with a Pound shop hacksaw. Bit of work and you've got between 95-50% of the overall worth.

Lock through the frame and both wheels and you should have a lot more than 95% of the value of the bike secured unless you've got an XTR groupset on an Apollo fram.

I've actually been told by a local policeman after a spate of bike thefts around my area that a lot of thieves are actually cutting through frames to steal the bikes and just selling the parts. as frames are the most identifiable feature, they'll still make a few hundred quid with less risk of being caught :x

monkimark

Stupid random thought that just occurred to me.

If you have a big-ish shed, you could put in some sort of false back wall (or a door that looks like a wall) - just big enough to fit a bike into. Anyone who bust the door open and looked inside wouldn't see the bike.
Might be a bit of a pain in the rear to deal with on a daily basis though.

natrix

monkimark wrote:

If you have a big-ish shed, you could put in some sort of false back wall (or a door that looks like a wall) - just big enough to fit a bike into.

You could disguise it as a full height bookshelf and when you select a certain book the whole wall swings around revealing the secret compartment, hmm, sure I've seen that somewhere.............

monkimark

Just pray that Scooby Doo doesn't turn to bike theft to fund his scooby snack addiction.

mcnultycop

I had the hardtail in the shed whilst I was building it. I made 2 buckets filled with concrete with a loop of reinforcement bar cast into each. I then d-locked the seatube and rear wheel to one of these and the downtube to the other. I also d-locked the top tube to my little girls bike.

I then realised this was a stupid amount of faff. One days sulking from the missus now results in both the FS and HT living in the house. My little girl's Rockrider Junior (£150 odd quid of bike) is now protected by about £90 of d-lock.

Kowalski675

monkimark wrote:

Stupid random thought that just occurred to me.

If you have a big-ish shed, you could put in some sort of false back wall (or a door that looks like a wall) - just big enough to fit a bike into. Anyone who bust the door open and looked inside wouldn't see the bike.
Might be a bit of a pain in the rear to deal with on a daily basis though.

Very James Bond, lol.