4' or 7' cable to use with D-lock

pinkteapot

We have this type of rack in the bike park at work (generic stock image online):



I have an Abus Granit X-Plus d-lock that I put through my frame and rear wheel and round the rack. I currently use a very cheap second cable lock to secure my front wheel to the bike rack. I'd like to get a better quality cable to secure the front wheel so am looking at the Kryptonite Kyptoflex:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kryptonite-Kryp ... roduct_top

The loops would go on my d-lock, then I'd need it to go through the front wheel and section of the rack the front wheel is next to, then back to the d-lock again.

If that all makes sense... Anyone know whether the 4' cable length would do what I want, or whether I should get the 7'? What does everyone else use?

slowbike

The 4' one should be long enough if you loop it through the front wheel first, thread it through the short tail and terminate on the d-lock .... The 7' one would be more versatile, but if you're having to carry it its a bit more weight. Depends on the cost I guess!

tangled_metal

I have the longer one and it is used to secure two bikes and a child trailer. I would suggest the shorter one is better. Our loing one is currently hanging from a light in the corner of a room. not been used more than once or twice. My other, shorter one is not a Kryptonite cable but another make (ABUS IIRC) and is about 4' long, That can actually be used to lock 2 bikes if you pull it tight.

pinkteapot

Thanks guys! The shorter one is only £2 less so the cost doesn't make a difference. I wanted to go as short as I could so I'm not grappling with feet and feet of cable unnecessarily.

I'm a girl so I carry so much cr4p that the weight won't make too much of a difference (when choosing between them). Well, that and my D-lock weighs as much as the Titanic.

Am now considering security skewers instead of locking up the front wheel but they're expensive and I'm currently having skewer length confusion. And even with them, I'd feel odd not putting something round the front wheel.

Man Of Lard

If weight is of secondary concern then surely the "right" answer is a second (lighter?) D-lock - after all a cable is not even an impediment these days... a D-lock would at least deter the crim to the extent of nicking your neighbour's wheel rather than yours...

The Rookie

Halo bolt through skewers are a good compromise, cheap and lighter than all but the very pricey QR.

I can leave my security at work so have a 7' 12mm cable and a Motrobike chain which weighs about as much as the bike! (not 50,000 tonnes like the Titanic you carry!).

slowbike

Man Of Lard wrote:

If weight is of secondary concern then surely the "right" answer is a second (lighter?) D-lock - after all a cable is not even an impediment these days... a D-lock would at least deter the crim to the extent of nicking your neighbour's wheel rather than yours...

Thinking about that I suppose the concern is that 1 bike has their front wheel locked up by cable, another has their back wheel locked up by cable - so there's a possibility of clipping both cables and making off with one good bike ...

tangled_metal

You don't need to make it impossible to nick just hard enough that the thief moves the the next bike and nicks that. At work people are using cheap and nasty poundshop cables. They only lock the front of their frame into the bike rack. I have a chunky ABUS or Krypto armoured cable lock twice as thick I don't lock both wheels just the rear and the main triangle into the rack. I still think mine is safer even though a lot more expensive.

pinkteapot

I work at a university with a LOT of bikes. There are regularly thefts of unsecured bikes but very few of locked bikes, so the fact I'm using a decent D-lock is good. My insurance only requires a Sold Secure Silver rating (as it's only a £700 bike) and my lock is Gold, so I figure the effort of getting through that for the value of bike would put thieves off.

I currently use a very cheap cable lock round the front wheel, just as a deterrent to stop the wheel being nicked, and was considering a better quality cable.

Although I said weight isn't an issue that isn't completely true. I wasn't worried about the difference in weight between the 4' and 7' cable but don't really want to carry a second D-lock.

seajays

I use the 4' cable that came with my Kryptonite Evolution Mini 7 D-Lock. I always loop the cable through the front and back wheels and bring the two ends together to go over the D-lock ends before fastening it, it's pretty snug, but the cable doesn't need to go round the post itself as the D-lock itself is already round that and the frame.

gingaman

You don't even need to put both ends through the d lock, you can thread one end through the opposite loop and pull it tight, placing the un-looped end onto the d lock. this gives maximum length to the cable, whilst still securely locking everything.

seajays

gingaman wrote:

You don't even need to put both ends through the d lock, you can thread one end through the opposite loop and pull it tight, placing the un-looped end onto the d lock. this gives maximum length to the cable, whilst still securely locking everything.

Stealing my January and excellent ideas to boot... it's just too much.

gingaman

hehe

pinkteapot

4' ordered but will probably return it when it arrives due to a change of plans....

While doing some work on my bike, repair guy pointed out that the skewers I've had all along are too short, so the ends have only been on a few turns and the threads been pulling. He wasn't happy with it so put on a spare set of quick release skewers he had lying around.

Looking into skewers and I saw the Pitlock security ones. Expensive, but Tesco are still doing double up your Clubcard vouchers for Evans vouchers. Turned £25 of Clubcard vouchers into £50 of Evans vouchers and ordered the 3pc security skewer set (front, rear, seat post).

With those bad boys holding my wheels and seat in place I can scrap the second cable lock altogether and just D-lock the frame to the rack. Or frame and rear wheel as before for really good measure.

Thanks for all the advice anyway. :oops:

tangled_metal

I was going to suggest secure skewers but see you've got them sorted. I only thought about it after seeing a Whyte commuter with them, the Sussex or Dorset I think was the bike. Looks good with the skewers needing a special 5 point allen key which attaches to your keyring. I'd worry about losing it or forgetting to carry it with you.

How much did your skewers cost and what's the key like for them?

pinkteapot

You might have read on other threads that I'm also on a Whyte (Malvern).

I'm getting the skewers from Evans. Wiggle are a few quid cheaper but, as above, if you have Tesco Clubcard vouchers then (1) things from Evans are half price and (2) you don't spend any of your own money anyway!

You can get:

Front skewer only - £26.99 (£24.29 at Wiggle)
Front and rear - £39.99 (£35.99)
Front, rear and seat - £49.99 (£44.99)
Front, rear, seat and head - £64.99 (£58.49)

I could have just got the front, as I usually D-lock my rear wheel anyway, but I have OCD and mismatched front and rear skewers would make me cry. Having both will give me more flexibility in locking up the bike anyway as it'll only be necessary to D-lock round the frame.

As I was getting front and rear anyway, it was only an extra £5 of Clubcard vouchers to get the seat one too so figured I might as well as my saddle is currently quick-release and I'd considered getting one of those little security cables before.

They haven't arrived yet - I'll post a pic of the key when they do. Things I've read:

• You do only get one key (so no spare) but you get a code with which you can order another from the manufacturer (don't know what this costs)
• The keys aren't completely unique - there are about 250 different ones. I can't imagine many thieves have gone to the effort of buying enough skewers to try and collect all the keys! Even if they did, trying them all on a bike would be noticeable.
• Couldn't find out the length of the skewers. Repair guy said my old ones were too short for a bike with discs. Pitlock say these are long enough to fit 90% of bikes so I'm giving them a go and will return if too short.

pinkteapot

Fitted the wheel skewers at the weekend. Well I say fitted, it's just replacing skewers which isn't really a "fitting" job and took all of five minutes.

So, this is how they work. Here's the end of the skewer:



You can't really see, but the nut that screws onto the end of the skewer and goes inside the outer ring is an odd shape.

The 'key' looks like this (bottom cropped out so you can't see the full shape of my key and bolt!)



That fits over the bolt, inside the outer ring. You hand-tighten the bolt using the key, then use an allen key or spanner to tighten it a bit further.The far end of the key is a normal hex shape so you can get a spanner round it, and it has two holes in so you can alternatively put an allen key through it and use that as a lever to turn it.

It's basically the same as your car's alloy locking nut.

I'm confident they'd be hard to get off without the key. The outer ring stops you just putting a wrench around the odd-shaped bolt.

They're German-made and feel good and solid. Each set of skewers comes with a different-shaped bolt (and accompanying key). Well, almost - think I read there are 256 different shapes.

Locked my bike up today with just my D-lock. For the first time I didn't put a second lock through the front wheel. Scary! :shock:

gingaman

I don't wish to rain on your parade, but would one of these not undo that bolt really quick and easy?

pinkteapot

Eeek.

Reviews were good on them but having googled, apparently one of those universal wrenches will undo car alloy locking nuts and other people think it would work on the Pitlock skewers. Haven't read confirmation of people trying it yet but can see the logic, though the gap between the nut and the surround is small. I'll email Pitlock though and see what they say.

Sorry guys, may have got over-excited about these for nothing!

Another cyclist mentioned they use pinhead security skewers. Anyone know if they're better?

seajays

All security systems can be defeated given a bit of time and the right tools... CTC did an article a while back, which showed that even top rated Gold D-Locks etc were "gone in 42 seconds": http://www.ctc.org.uk/file/member/200803042.pdf

Everything helps and the point generally is to deter opportunist thieves - if someone's really determined though there's not a lot you can do to stop them.

pinkteapot

Reply received from Pitlock, and the universal wrench can't be used to undo it.

They gave me a detailed explanation as to why, but not sure I should post it here as it goes into full detail of how the locking system works?? Though any scrote reading this could just email them to ask and get the same answer back... But it turns out a washer, that I thought was just a washer so hadn't mentioned, is an integral part of the system.