General Cycling Discussion - Good lock? I don't live in NYC or anything, but thing will get stolen around here. .

http://www.amazon.com/Kryptonite-Keeper-880-Chain-Padlock/dp/B000NORULK/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

I was thinking of this for frame and a cable with a regular padlock for the wheels. Reason this over a u-lock is there are NO bike racks around here. Everything you find is going to be an irregular object.

The chain should be fine. If it is a very expensive bike that is chained the same place every day, you might be tempting criminals. You should also consider a cheaper bike if theft is a real concern.

You might consider a folding bike you can bring indoors. Some of them are designed so you can roll them when they are folded.

There are lots of posts on anti theft strategy.

The chain should be fine.

A $22 chain and lock? Yes, against a grandmother on her first crime spree. Even for a $22 lock this one is poor:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41uBAX8OH9L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Look at the nice large hole in the middle of the weak lock - you wouldn't want Mr Junkie to have any trouble breaking the lock with a prybar! This lock is better than nothing (hey - everything is!) but it is suited for only to a very low threat environment. A convent, as long as the nuns were ancient.

This is a much better lock:

http://www.amazon.com/OnGuard-Beast-5017-Bicycle-Chain/dp/B000FL3EB6/ref=acc_glance_sg_ai_-1_t_3

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/413WY7PZ7DL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

- See how the chain fills the hole in the lock so that there isn't room for a prybar?

Re the wheels, I prefer security skewers/locking skewers to a cable. I've never heard of a cable that can resist a $25 cable cutter, especially if the handles are lengthened with a couple of pieces of pipe. Put a locking skewer on the saddle too.

A $22 chain and lock? Yes, against a grandmother on her first crime spree. Even for a $22 lock this one is poor:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41uBAX8OH9L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Look at the nice large hole in the middle of the weak lock - you wouldn't want Mr Junkie to have any trouble breaking the lock with a prybar! This lock is better than nothing (hey - everything is!) but it is suited for only to a very low threat environment. A convent, as long as the nuns were ancient.

This is a much better lock:

http://www.amazon.com/OnGuard-Beast-5017-Bicycle-Chain/dp/B000FL3EB6/ref=acc_glance_sg_ai_-1_t_3

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/413WY7PZ7DL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

- See how the chain fills the hole in the lock so that there isn't room for a prybar?

Re the wheels, I prefer security skewers/locking skewers to a cable. I've never heard of a cable that can resist a $25 cable cutter, especially if the handles are lengthened with a couple of pieces of pipe. Put a locking skewer on the saddle too.

Sorry to re-bring this up, but is the 880 really a weak lock?

I'm on the fence about to buy a lock/chain and am not sure if the extra $20ish bucks is worth going for the OnGuard.

I'm glad you asked. I had the 880 for about a month and used it to lock my bike to my porch in a medium sized east coast city that has a large university. Take a look at the results. The lock is clearly not the problem, but this chain is JUNK. There's a reason every other bike I see is locked with a U-lock.

http://www.amazon.com/Kryptonite-Keeper-880-Chain-Padlock/dp/B000NORULK/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

I was thinking of this for frame and a cable with a regular padlock for the wheels. Reason this over a u-lock is there are NO bike racks around here. Everything you find is going to be an irregular object.

If you get a chain lock, the chain must be hardened to be any good at all.

Unhardened chain is like hardware-store chain, the steel is left soft so that it can withstand shock loading without the links cracking and breaking--but the problem with locking stuff up with it is that a pair of $20 18-inch boltcutters can chomp right through it.

If you could buy hardened chain by the foot that would be great, but I don't know anyplace that does that. The only two other uses I know of for hardened chain are the chains used for car frame-stiffeners that auto repair shops use, and chains used for crane rigging (spreader bars).
~

A good U-lock it is, then.

But what sort of U-lock? Is it worthwhile to spend $100 on a high quality Abus?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140427625698&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_6061wt_2332

... or do thieves defeat these locks as well? Do you have any experience with street scum stealing a bike locked with a U-lock?


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A good U-lock it is, then.

But what sort of U-lock? Is it worthwhile to spend $100 on a high quality Abus?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140427625698&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_6061wt_2332

Yes it probably is worth getting the Abus. It can be cut with an angle-grinder, so like everything else it is vulnerable to the professional bike thief. But it is much more difficult to break than most. Personally I use an Abus Granit X-plus AND a kryptonite cable with a padlock - the latter to secure the front wheel - AND a lightweight cable to secure the saddle to the frame. None of these are foolproof by any means, but collectively they make my bike a much more formidable proposition for the amateur, and even the professional might decide to move on to an easier, quicker, target.

Short of several armed guards standing watch over your bike, a competent thief who wants it is going to get it.

It's a crime that law enforcement and the courts don't take bicycle theft seriously. We need more cops and judges out riding their own expensive bikes - and losing them to thieves.

Of course any lock is vulnerable to a thief that wants it badly enough. And, "All bikes weigh 50 pounds, because 15-lb wonderbike needs 35 lbs' of locks to be safe, while nobody steals a 50-lb bike." ;)

That said, you want two things: you want your bike to appear more secure than others nearby, and -- more importantly, IMO -- you want to be able to use your lock wherever you park.

I've got three locks -- a mini U-lock, a Kryptonite NY Standard, and an OnGuard chain. If I ever use the mini, it's to secure the wheel to the frame (whichever wheel that isn't being secured by a bigger lock). I'll take the NY Lock if I know that there's an object at my destination it'll fit around. I've also carried each of them by hanging them from the saddle rails, too.

But, most of the time, I take the chain, because I know that if the racks and parking meters are filled up with bikes (which happens in some areas), I'll be able to lock to a tree or lamppost. The OnGuard chain, at 160 cm, also happens to be juuuuust long enough to wrap through both wheels and around a standard inverted-U-style bike rack; a 150 cm Kryptonite chain wouldn't be able to reach.

Is carrying a heavy lock (or other heavy stuffs) on the bike in long distance riding bad for the bike?

Another thing you can do is to get TWO U-locks, and use them both to lock the bike to something stationary. That makes your bike twice as much trouble to steal as probably anybody else's. ;)
~

Another thing you can do is to get TWO U-locks, and use them both to lock the bike to something stationary. That makes your bike twice as much trouble to steal as probably anybody else's. ;)
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Or three U-locks--or even better, four, or as many as your bike can take (http://www.2dayblog.com/2007/06/01/super-bike-locks/). :D

Is carrying a heavy lock (or other heavy stuffs) on the bike in long distance riding bad for the bike?

It seems like the carrying mounts that most locks use break quicker than anything else on the bike, so I'd say "no." After a while, people end up carrying their locks other ways.

I usually carry the chain on my city bike by wrapping it around the seatpost and locking it to the rear rack. I've also found a way to carry my U-locks that won't even damage the thin-walled carbon seatpost on my road bike:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/BarracksSi/Bike/IMG_3980.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/BarracksSi/Bike/IMG_3981.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/BarracksSi/Bike/IMG_3982.jpg

Folding Bike and you can take it in with you.

It seems like the carrying mounts that most locks use break quicker than anything else on the bike, so I'd say "no." After a while, people end up carrying their locks other ways.

I usually carry the chain on my city bike by wrapping it around the seatpost and locking it to the rear rack. I've also found a way to carry my U-locks that won't even damage the thin-walled carbon seatpost on my road bike:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/BarracksSi/Bike/IMG_3980.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/BarracksSi/Bike/IMG_3981.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/BarracksSi/Bike/IMG_3982.jpg

Thanks for the pictures. It seems you hang the lock on the seat rail? My seat rail is different and does not have room for that. Also I see you seem to have a keyed seatpost?

Thanks for the pictures. It seems you hang the lock on the seat rail? My seat rail is different and does not have room for that. Also I see you seem to have a keyed seatpost?

Yeah, there's more room under that Brooks saddle than there is under most plastic-framed saddles. I couldn't fit the lock through a Fizik saddle I had laying around.

The seatpost is what BMC calls their "Streampost". What you see near the top is a cam that you turn with an Allen key (6 mm, I think; you use it on the right side). It pulls up on a wedge at the bottom of the seatpost, like a traditional quill stem, and locks the whole thing into place. It's sturdy, it hasn't budged one bit, it's very easy to adjust, and I don't have to worry about overtightening a regular seatpost clamp.
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/bmc-unveils-new-racemaster-road-frame-17002?img=17
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/photos/bmc-revisits-aluminium-and-carbon-fibre-in-its-latest-frameset/12975