Is this bike lock any good Or am I wasting my time?

itaa

I have a cheapo bike ( worth maybe £70 used) its pretty scratched up with a ripped seat but still it's bright red so it still stands out and still looks decent when washed
I don't really have a lock and I rarely leave it anywhere anyway,but I want to start commuting with it and it would suck if one day I come back and I don't have a way to get back home.
This is the lock I want to buy ( actually It's free because I have a credit on that site and I only want to get it because it costs me nothing and I need to spend the credit )

https://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/Mas ... Cable-Blue

I understand its not the cheapest poundshop lock, but still its a cable lock with just some added protection to the cable itself so probably not very good.
Is it worth to get it or am I wasting my time?

arthur_scrimshaw

It doesn't appear to meet any of the 'sold secure' standards so at best it's a deterrent but won't stop a determined thief. But then no lock will.
Is there nowhere safe you can leave it at work? You could make it less visible, tone down the the red bits by wrapping old inner tubes around the shiny bits?

cougie

It looks like the cheap lock I picked up from Aldi. I'd not leave it for a day with that.

craker

Kinda depends where you lock it. I'm incredibly casual about locking my bikes up, the sh*t one stays unlocked most of the time even when I take it to the supermarket.

Still, one day it will be gone and I'll feel like I should have locked it up (better).

tangled_metal

craker wrote:

Still, one day it will be gone and I'll feel like I should have locked it up (better).

Been there! Unlocked bike taken from inside a security fenced yard while work colleagues (yes plural) watched it go with another bike.

If makes you angry not least with yourself for being too lazy to put even a basic lock on it. Seriously, you don't want to be in that position. Well I don't ever again. If it goes when locked up I'll get over it but not of I hadn't locked it up.

mudnmuck

Looks like a cheap lock to me, even if the bike is cheap - trying to find a replacement bike is the pain point... for me anyway!

sungod

as a lock, it'll deter the average scumbag, but one with chunky wire cutters and a bit of time will break it and be off

if it's in a public area and in the same place most days, it makes it even easier, especially as it gets dark earlier

really it comes down to the threat level in the area it'll be, busy streets and cctv are no defence, if anything extra people provide cover, in central london even cheap/worn looking bikes will be stolen or simply have parts stripped

the same site shows a u-lock, it's not a great one, but i'd think it'd be harder to break - with lightweight u-locks, assuming the lock mechanism itself isn't useless, they can certainly be broken with a long lever, but you can defend to some extent by 'filling' the inside with bike/post and get it in an awkward position