General Cycling Discussion - Nice road bikes and college dorms

This semester will be my first living in the dorms at college. I'll be taking my road bike with me, but will not be using it for commuting purposes, only for training. I asked if I could keep the bike in my room, and they said yes, so while I'm in class that's where it will be, it will not be left outside chained to a bike rack or anything like that. I still feel like there might be some anti-theft measure that I'm overlooking. I don't know my roommate, so until I gain trust in him, I'm a little uneasy about leaving the bike in there alone with anyone. Any of you college/former college cyclists have any suggestions about keeping dishonest hands off your bike while on campus?

My advice is: don't take it unless you are willing to lock it to your bed when not around. Having taught at two colleges and a university (as well as attending many in the US and Europe), I have witnessed and heard countless horror stories of students, in a financial pinch, taking and selling roomates' possessions for quick cash. Remember, not only do you have to worry about your roomate, but also friends of the roomate. Do you have a second bike which will suffice, at least until you can lay some ground rules in the dorm?

What school are you going to? Multipul locks and a mean reputation as well as a good insurance policy with a low deductable would make me feel better. I never had a roomate in College that would stoop so low, also who in that age range wants a road bike?

I went to a nice university- rich and poor steal, except for the rich, it's more of a sport, and for the poor, it's more of a necessity.

Get a Kryptonite NY Chain and lock that up to your bed when you leave. Even if you trust your roomie, there may be times when he may leave and the door is left open, leaving your bike free for opportunists to come in and steal your bike.

Don't make it easy either- take off your front wheel and lock it all together so it's not as easy for someone to take it and ride off with it.

Koffee

i would lock it up all the time and make it very clear to your roomate not to **** with your bike, you dont want people to play with the brakes and shifters and sit on it or whatever when your not around.

When it comes to my good bike, I am too paranoid.I can not stand to have it out of sight. ONce stayed at a cyclists friends'house on a tour in San Luis Obispo......She was very casual about locking her house.. I woke up the house, when I thought someone was stealing my bike. It was my Klein.
I would have to make arrangements with a locked up room where I could again lock it up with a krypontite lock. Maybe the Phy.Ed bldg. might have some secure room.? At my college, I recall too much stealing.....Or else, I would have to buy a decent race bike, that is not as expensive; but I would still lock it up.

Where are you going to college?
I'm fortunate that I've never experienced any of the horror stories described by the posters above. I had nice bikes through 4 years of college and 4 years of professional school and never once had any issues with roommates or anyone else messing with my bikes. And much of that time was spent in the dorms.

I'd bring the bike with you and then get a feel for how secure your dorm is. Definitely bring a decent lock, and get an insurance policy(in school my stuff was always covered by my parents homeowners policy). In one of my dorms I actually kept the bike in the hallway with it U-locked to a plumbing fixture. In another dorm I kept it locked in a hall closet, and in another dorm I kept it in my room, unlocked.

Thanks for all your replies! I'll be at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. It has about 18,000 students, my dorm houses about 400. I will be on a Substance Abuse Free (SAFE) floor, and it's also a designated quiet floor, and you have to request these, so I'm hoping the people who have requested to be up there are not overly wild since they too requested the SAFE floor. And I'm hoping that people who are not overly wild will not be overly dishonest as well. But I don't want to take any chances. Can you get krypontite locks at the LBS? I'm also thinking of maybe taking a 70 pound iron weight lifting plate and locking it to that as well if there's no plumbing fixture or if the bed has no rails to lock to. It would be difficult for one person to take it that way, and would look fairly obvious with two. They also have the halls monitored 24/7 by someone, so I think that may deter some theft, hopefully.

You can get that kryptonite chain at any good LBS. Check around for that.

Once you have that, you're pretty much set. As long as you have something sturdy to lock your bike to, you will probably not need that 70 pound weight to.

If there isn't anything to lock it to, then yeah... get the 70 pound weight plate and lock it down. Any kind of deterrant that makes it a bit harder to steal would be nice.

Koffee

Thanks for all your replies! I'll be at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. It has about 18,000 students, my dorm houses about 400. I will be on a Substance Abuse Free (SAFE) floor, and it's also a designated quiet floor, and you have to request these, so I'm hoping the people who have requested to be up there are not overly wild since they too requested the SAFE floor. And I'm hoping that people who are not overly wild will not be overly dishonest as well. But I don't want to take any chances. Can you get krypontite locks at the LBS? I'm also thinking of maybe taking a 70 pound iron weight lifting plate and locking it to that as well if there's no plumbing fixture or if the bed has no rails to lock to. It would be difficult for one person to take it that way, and would look fairly obvious with two. They also have the halls monitored 24/7 by someone, so I think that may deter some theft, hopefully.


Hey Crucifixion,
Now that I think about it, I might have PM'd you once before. I spent 18 months in Huntington WV, before moving away in July 2003. Sometimes I miss Huntington for it's small town feel. I started riding with Jeff's Bike Shop this time last year and really got to experience the tristate area's best riding. There's a great bike culture there, both road and mountain biking. I worked at the VAMC and bike commuted daily to work. I'm not sure about the security at Marshall in town, but your dorm sounds fairly safe? I'm pretty sure Jeffs shop stocks, or can order, the Kryptonite locks.
Peace.

I used to pull my bed away from the wall far enough for me to put my bike between the bed and wall. Then I locked the bike to the bed frame. It worked great. No one messed with the bike because they really couldn't get to it without climbing over my bed.

I went to UCSB, the place where bike theft was invented. I have been told by cops to lock my bike inside my apartment because cyclists are sometimes 'tailed'. They wait for you to leave, and run in and grab the bike.
Also having lived in a dorm, I would say lock it. You never know what's going to happen with a whole bunch of drunk guys around. I always locke dmy laptop in my closet if I knew I would be out longer than a few hours b/c I had a roommate that was forgetful about locking the door.

Though, I have to say that in 4 years, the only thing ever stolen was my panties out of a dryer while I was doing laundry in the dorm. Testosterone poisoning!!

Hey Mike, we might've ridden together a couple of times! Jeff has a great bike shop, so I'll check there first for the krypontite lock. I ride by the VAMC sometimes on rides that dont go too far out of town, but mostly I get out into the countryside. Thanks to all for your replies, you've all given me some good ideas, and I appreciate your willingness to help:)