Bike security

guandax

Having liked my local stolen bike page on Facebook I now see daily the bikes that are getting pinched in my neighborhood. It's making me paranoid!

What's the general feeling on the sensible precautions one should make? Mine's secured with a gold standard chain, anchor in a brick wall and vibration alarm. Am I fooling myself in believing it will form any kind of protection?

There must be some good advice coming out from all the misery these thefts must be causing?

Al

cooldad

Mine sleep inside the house, are on/in my car, or under my butt.
I have an old cheapy for if I get the urge to ride to the shops or something, which isn't often.

datasone

I think if they really want it they will have it. All you can do is make it as secure as possible and hope they move on to the next one, or get caught trying.

I would suggest bolting the ground anchor to the floor rather than the wall as this will make it more secure

I keep mine in the garage, with an electric door(alarmed). They are chained to a ground anchor(all gold standard)

Don't forget, if you use GPS, always use the security settings so people can't trace where you live.

guandax

datasone wrote:

I would suggest bolting the ground anchor to the floor rather than the wall as this will make it more secure

I was wondering if that would be the case. Now that I've hammered ball bearings into the bolt heads it's not going to be easy to move!

welshkev

a security friend of mine told me to just make it noisy as hell for them to have to get your bikes. most locks/anchors will break with some form of tool. if you've got a good alarm as well apparentlt thieves don't like the noise as obviously they prefer to be stealthy.

I have a shed alarm and I've also acquired a sonic shock alarm from work which is awesome, but I didn't realise they're £150!! found one cheaper on ebay though at £80:

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/31059173 ... =65&ff19=0

guandax

welshkev wrote:

I have a shed alarm and I've also acquired a sonic shock alarm from work which is awesome, but I didn't realise they're £150!! found one cheaper on ebay though at £80

I'm using one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0044VTCAA/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

As locks go it's rubbish, but it is very noisy - until you work out where to put your thumb to muffle it! Better than nothing is my guess.

welshkev

guandax wrote:

welshkev wrote:

I have a shed alarm and I've also acquired a sonic shock alarm from work which is awesome, but I didn't realise they're £150!! found one cheaper on ebay though at £80

I'm using one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0044VTCAA/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

As locks go it's rubbish, but it is very noisy - until you work out where to put your thumb to muffle it! Better than nothing is my guess.

yeah I have 1 of those also. I forgot I also have a rape alarm (no jokes please ) fixed to the wall and the string bit hooked onto the back of the shed door. I can open the door wide enough to unhook it, but if someone just pulls the door open it pulls out the pin and the alarm goes off. cheap and quite noisy

guandax

One of these would be good: http://youtu.be/HFoUL_bIotw :-)

welshkev

guandax wrote:

One of these would be good: http://youtu.be/HFoUL_bIotw :-)

do you know what, where I work we have a security light that you can record a message onto and it speaks when the sensor picks up movement

bigpee

If anyone does decide to keep their bike in a shed make sure the hinges can't be unscrewed from the outside. Sounds obvious and I was getting round to replacing the phillips screws with something else - but was too late :oops: . Now I have bolts holding the hinges on with a round head on the outside. I will be installing a metal post / anchor in concrete inside the shed as that's what most insurance companies seem to insist on. However I can also suggest covering your bikes - if it's hard to break in and a thief can only guess that there's something valuable inside it might be enough to make them move on. Alot are opportunistic and will simply move to a less well protected neighbouring shed. All this said it's going to take a while before I'm confident enough to leave my new pride and joy in the shed. For now it stay's in the house!

welshkev

bigpee wrote:

. Alot are opportunistic and will simply move to a less well protected neighbouring shed. All this said it's going to take a while before I'm confident enough to leave my new pride and joy in the shed. For now it stay's in the house!

a lot are, but there seems to be a trend lately of people being targeted. it certainly has been with 4 or 5 of my friends. they knew exactly what they were looking for and even moved/left things that were potentially of more value :shock:

benjrush

http://www.citysecuritysystems.co.uk/in ... ct_id=1209

One of these for your shed will cause hearing damage inside a minute. They are designed to confuse and disorientate. The alarm guy at work set one off by mistake during testing and holy cr@p they're loud!

Thewaylander

a dog raised on human blood, Chained by the bike, is probably the best.. maybe not completely socially acceptable but it would work :P

welshkev

benjrush wrote:

http://www.citysecuritysystems.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1209

One of these for your shed will cause hearing damage inside a minute. They are designed to confuse and disorientate. The alarm guy at work set one off by mistake during testing and holy cr@p they're loud!

yeah the security guy I mentioned earlier told me about those. he has one in his shed :shock:

stubs

Two words "Good Insurance" a mate had every security lock, immobiliser, tracker and alarm he could fit to his shed but his Ducati still went missing.

Make sure the insurance pays out cash new for old and doesnt require you to go through a 3rd party who will supply a bike you dont want to a spec that will make you sad.

guandax

stubs wrote:

Two words "Good Insurance"

It's so expensive! Are you paying for insurance or just 25% of the cost the bike per year on the basis that it'll almost certainly get nicked within a 4 year period?

guandax

Thewaylander wrote:

a dog raised on human blood, Chained by the bike, is probably the best.. maybe not completely socially acceptable but it would work :P

Perhaps a little tricky when you want to use the bike yourself!

guandax

welshkev wrote:

...but there seems to be a trend lately of people being targeted. it certainly has been with 4 or 5 of my friends. they knew exactly what they were looking for and even moved/left things that were potentially of more value :shock:

It's got so bad in Bristol they've assigned an officer to investigate: http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=26657

welshkev

guandax wrote:

welshkev wrote:

...but there seems to be a trend lately of people being targeted. it certainly has been with 4 or 5 of my friends. they knew exactly what they were looking for and even moved/left things that were potentially of more value :shock:

It's got so bad in Bristol they've assigned an officer to investigate: http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=26657

I saw an article about police stopping a guy on a bike cos he wasn't dressed correctly and thought he may have nicked it. I wouldn't mind that tbh. I work in Bristol btw so know it's pretty bad.

and about the insurance. all 3 of mine named on the house insurance was only about £50 a year extra iirc

stubs

guandax wrote:

stubs wrote:

Two words "Good Insurance"

It's so expensive! Are you paying for insurance or just 25% of the cost the bike per year on the basis that it'll almost certainly get nicked within a 4 year period?

I pay £180 per year for 2 bikes total value about £3, 000

Kowalski675

One point worth noting - if your shed / garage has electricity then don't keep your angle grinder in there.