Bicycle Mechanics - Building a Garage lock docking station

I'm looking to build a way to lock my bike in the garage. The whole garage is paneled and there's no exposed studs. There is one support beam but a bike would block the walk-way into the house.

I have a large 12X12 concrete deck post that would also serve as a kick stand. Do you think a heavy chain around the block would be good enough or do I have to drill say an I-bolt in the top for the chain?

Any alternate suggestions would be welcome.

I'm looking to build a way to lock my bike in the garage. The whole garage is paneled and there's no exposed studs. There is one support beam but a bike would block the walk-way into the house.

I have a large 12X12 concrete deck post that would also serve as a kick stand. Do you think a heavy chain around the block would be good enough or do I have to drill say an I-bolt in the top for the chain?

Any alternate suggestions would be welcome.


Can you describe the 12x12 concrete deck post? Is it a post or the pier? Plus how long is it?

Can you describe the 12x12 concrete deck post? Is it a post or the pier? Plus how long is it?

Not sure on the terminology. This is a solid concrete block that would normally be used support a verical deck post (which then holds up the deck platform). They usually sit on top of the ground or just below the surface.

It looks like this:

What you are describing sounds to me like a fairly high risk situation.

You are planning to lock up your bike in the same place and in the same way every day. That means that a thief gets to look over the situation, decide how to defeat your locking system and what tools he is going to need, then pick a day when he can work in the relative privacy of the garage.

It looks like this:

Picture is worth 1k words! Wrapping a chain around that or putting an eyebolt through it might not be that secure. A person could easily walk off with both bike and post pier, or easily chip the concrete and remove the securing device. It would deter a casual or opportunistic theft, but not a determined ne'erdowell. It all depends on your threat.

A better deterrent would be a larger chunk of concrete. You can buy a couple of sacks of concrete (not cement) and actually cast your own anchor. In fact, when you cast it, you can put in your own eye bolt or a U shaped piece of reinforcing bar to lock the chain. You might be able to find a suitable reinforcing bar at a construction site. The reinforcing bar has ridges so once the concrete cures around it, the bar is hard to pull out. Or if you use an eyebolt, you can place a washer and nut on the end to give more surface area making the eyebolt impossible to remove without tearing through the concrete. The concrete is probably a couple of bucks per 47 lb sack. You'll need a mixing tub or wheel barrow. A 5 gallon bucket might serve as a good mold and you can leave the concrete in the bucket so you can move the anchor around without chipping it up. According to my calculations, standard concrete weighs 148 lbs/ cubic foot or 99 lbs for the 5 gallon pail.

If you have a masonry drill bit, you could epoxy an eyebolt into the cement floor of the garage and secure the bike to the eyebolt. For example, a very common construction technique is to secure reinforcing bar into a hole using epoxy (designed for concrete) and the epoxy/reinforcing bar joint is stronger than the concrete. However, this may be expensive as these industrial grade pieces ain't cheap and may require you to buy a box. This would be a permanent fixture.

Perhaps standard epoxy and an eyebolt might ($5 for both(?)) work from the local hardware store - I have no experience with it. I'd get an eyebolt with a continuous eye ring, since one constructed of bent steel could be unbent. And the bigger the better or course. But, then, you'll need a bigger masonry drill bit for the concrete.

What you are describing sounds to me like a fairly high risk situation.

You are planning to lock up your bike in the same place and in the same way every day. That means that a thief gets to look over the situation, decide how to defeat your locking system and what tools he is going to need, then pick a day when he can work in the relative privacy of the garage.

ho boy. I'm out of options then. What's your best recommendation for a garage situation then?

A better deterrent would be a larger chunk of concrete. You can buy a couple of sacks of concrete (not cement) and actually cast your own anchor. In fact, when you cast it, you can put in your own eye bolt or a U shaped piece of reinforcing bar to lock the chain. You might be able to find a suitable reinforcing bar at a construction site. The reinforcing bar has ridges so once the concrete cures around it, the bar is hard to pull out. Or if you use an eyebolt, you can place a washer and nut on the end to give more surface area making the eyebolt impossible to remove without tearing through the concrete. The concrete is probably a couple of bucks per 47 lb sack. You'll need a mixing tub or wheel barrow. A 5 gallon bucket might serve as a good mold and you can leave the concrete in the bucket so you can move the anchor around without chipping it up. According to my calculations, standard concrete weighs 148 lbs/ cubic foot or 99 lbs for the 5 gallon pail.
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You could probably even cast the chain with the concrete. If you embed say a foot of chain into the concrete, the chain and concrete would essentially be one piece, 100 lb anchor.

In general, theft devices deter or delay entry time. I do part-time consulting work with a security engineering design firm and their philosophy is "anything can be defeated, it's just a matter of time". The trick is to make sure the response time (by security forces) is shorter than the time to defeat.

"ho boy. I'm out of options then. What's your best recommendation for a garage situation then?"

Private garage? Keep the door closed and lock the bike to something with a U-lock or calbe lock inside. This gives you two devices that have to be defeated - the garage door lock and the bike lock. Your garage has studs behind the panelling - why not drill something into one of those through the panelling, like an I-bolt, for the U-lock/chain/etc. to hook through? Do you live in a high crime area where thefts are common? It seems as though simply locking the garage door and keeping the bike in a corner or somewhere somewhat out of sight in the garage would be good enough.



-Moab

"ho boy. I'm out of options then. What's your best recommendation for a garage situation then?"

Private garage? Keep the door closed and lock the bike to something with a U-lock or calbe lock inside. This gives you two devices that have to be defeated - the garage door lock and the bike lock. Your garage has studs behind the panelling - why not drill something into one of those through the panelling, like an I-bolt, for the U-lock/chain/etc. to hook through? Do you live in a high crime area where thefts are common? It seems as though simply locking the garage door and keeping the bike in a corner or somewhere somewhat out of sight in the garage would be good enough.



-Moab
Around here, a garage theft is the #1 source of bike thefts. I like bucket idea 'cuz more than one bike can hitch up the bucket. That and a bike cover or tarp should do just fine.

Take the bike in the house.

I keep my bike in my bedroom, clean her after every ride.
Wake up every morning with a chainring tattoo on my leg and drool on the handle bars...

I keep my bike in my bedroom, clean her after every ride.
Wake up every morning with a chainring tattoo on my leg and drool on the handle bars...

Do you chain her to the bed?

[QUOTE=vrkelley]I'm looking to build a way to lock my bike in the garage.

I used the oversized eyebolt epoxied into my cement floor in the garage "fix" - rented a heavy duty indutrial hammer drill with a masonry bit ..... drilled the floor, epoxied-in an over size eyebolt. Before setting the eyebolt in the floor, I ran the "male" part of the eyebolt through a link on a huge "motorcycle" chain(the thing weighs a ton). I wrap the chain with old inner tubes to protect my recumbent. Wrap the loose end of the chain around the "bent, the lock it down to the eyebolt with a heavy duty lock. Have a sliding bolt w/padalock on the backdoor of the garage; have a steel bar securing the window in the garage and a lock in the track of the overhead door.

I supose any system can be defeated, but this one will take some doing.

msm

Do you chain her to the bed?

:eek: That's kinky... But no, I just take her wheels off. She's not going anywhere tonight...

I keep my bike in my bedroom, clean her after every ride.
Wake up every morning with a chainring tattoo on my leg and drool on the handle bars...

Ha ha ! No comment :D

1) figure out where the studs are located and drill through the panaling into the stud and attach a big hardened bolt to lock to.

2) Borrow or rent a hammer drill and drill a hole in the concrete floor put in an anchor, hardened of course and cement in in with epoxy based concrete and chain your bike to either of these bolts

3) take the bike inside like someone else mentioned

Around here, a garage theft is the #1 source of bike thefts. Locked garages or unlocked? (Or don't they keep those stats?) Do they get in thru the car door or the walk-in door?

1) figure out where the studs are located and drill through the panaling into the stud and attach a big hardened bolt to lock to.



Like this? I'm not sure how to lock all four bikes when they are installed like this.
http://www.mindspring.com/~d.g1/storage.htm

Update: I've completed the "docking station"! I took an old tow chain, added a connecting link near each end for the padlock and then wrapped it around a garage supporting beam. The links are covered with an old 2" rubber tube to protect the spokes and frame. The tow chain can still be used if necessary by pulling the rubber away from the tow hooks.

Price $3.00 for the connecting links. Additional bikes can also tie into the chain with additional connecting links.