cyclezealot

Any recommendations. ? Two friends have had their bikes stolen of late. One a Six thousand dollar carbon bike, the other a 1500 dollar commuter. All they had been using were thin cable locks.
Do secure bike locks have to be clumsy and heavy weight? I will soon be touring and hope not to have to carry a lot of weight or use up great lengths of my down tube, it is already cluttered with accessories. Any ideas.?

TenSpeedV2

I would never use a cable lock as my only means of locking my bike up. I use a Kryptonite U lock, and then the cable for the back wheel. It will be a trade off for you however. Big and bulky and a better chance at keeping your bike, or flimsy and light like a cable lock where you come out to it cut and your bike gone.

cyclezealot

So nothing exists that is light and strong . ?

erig007

You could go heavyweight on the lock and compensate with e-assist like flykly or copenhagen wheel or go for embedded locks, the lightest locks being those that are the bike itself like the seatylock, the saddle lock, the bendy bike...though i don't think they are very secure. The good news is that a thief may have to damage the bike itself in order to steal it which may deter some.
You could also go for folding bikes.

fietsbob

its an Either/ Or, and location is the 3rd Variable component.. So California Or south Coast of France?

I have 2 Locks on one bike (its not a Light Bike ) a Ring lock on the frame closes around the rear wheel, and a chain with a pin that snaps into the ring lock
secures the front wheel, and secures the Bike to Something..

Other good but not light Locks: Abus steel chain with attached lock, and Bordo folding link lock..

Some people tout the TiGr lock, a long strip of Titanium flat bar with a lock closing it into a flat-ish loop.

it can be cut by Bolt cutters but its said to take longer than a quick snip with those same 4' long bolt cutters.

Retro Grouch 

A dog leash. The other end goes on a pit bull.

Blue Belly

Kinda like locking the door when they can just break the window. I'm struggling with this right now. I'm thinking of buying a cheap used bike to commute, w/ lock. The nice bikes for fitness/fun rides.

Dave Horne

I use a rear wheel lock (almost all bikes in the Netherlands come with this lock preinstalled) and an Abus U lock. My bike is also insured for three years (as are most new bike bought here in Holland).

cyclezealot

In the US most insurance companies have such high deductibles , as to render them useless when it comes to bikes.

SouthFLpix

For a lightweight option, I would recommend a (good quality) mini U-lock along with Pitlock or Pinhead security skewers to lock your wheels. Pitlock and Pinhead also make locks for your saddle.

fietsbob

Atomic22 - The ultimate bicycle security solution has security bolts with special fastners to secure components to resist stripping the bike while locked up..

Deontologist

Maybe a quality Kryptonite lock? Those aren't light by far but at least they have insurance which covers bike theft even if you don't have homeowners' insurance. Avoid the Kryptonite chain locks. Kryptonite requires that you have the broken lock in your possession. The problem is that if a chain is broken, it still has value. The thief just broke one link. The other links are perfectly serviceable. And high quality, case-hardened security chains are pretty valuable. I've heard of people who had their Kryptonite chains broken and taken by the thieves. They were then out of luck with Kryptonite ...

Abus locks are relatively light because they use special steel ... but that's like comparing a Ford Ranger to a Ford F-150. Okay, one is lighter, but not really by much, and both aren't exactly light vehicles.

gpburdell

Apparently such a secure solution that you need a username and password to even view their site!

chaadster

As Fitesbob mentioned, a TiGr lock is the ultimate solution to the OP's requirements.

dr_lha

Not really much more secure than a cable lock though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb8YoT9Q9VA

FYI my bike was stolen by someone with similar apparatus to the woman in this video, although I had a cable lock.

knobster

The wider version of the TiGr is not as easy as this to cut. Would require something much more robust than what you'd find someone typically carrying around with them. But anytime you say light as a requirement, you'll lessening the security of the device.

SouthFLpix

^^^
To be honest, I don't believe those bolt cutters in the video would cut a good mini Ulock. To cut a Ulock with a 16mm shackle would require 48" monster size bolt cutters. Even a 13mm shackle is extremely difficult to cut with 48" bolt cutters, and I don't think it's possible with the 36" size cutters. If the mini-U has an 18mm thick shackle or more, I don't believe any bolt cutters will get through it. At that point it will require power tools.

dr_lha

Agreed.

Deontologist

That's why one should consider resistance to prying attacks. The best u-locks were designed with prying attacks in mind. On YouTube videos of bikes getting stolen, most of the time it's a pry bar - not a bolt cutter - that's being used.

zonatandem

Any lock can be defeated . . .

chaadster

While you may want to go with the wider 125 TiGr if 3ft bolt cutters are an issue for you, none of the TiGr locks can be pried open.

In any case, ultimate security was not the OP's priority, so absent that, there is nothing on the market at this time that provides as much security combined with light weight, ease of use, and discreet, on-bike portability as the TiGr.

Additionally, I'd suggest the TiGr, due to it's scarcity and cost, offers more theft deterrence that more common and least expensive locks of any type which theives will be more familiar with.

Jim from Boston

I'm not sure if fietsbob is drawing a distinction about the relative safety of California vs the South Coast of France, or which is the more safe. But I depend on location for my (expensive) bike’s safety.

I do believe that at any lock can be defeated, so I don’t carry one to save the weight and volume. When I’m out for a long day’s ride, the only time I might abandon my bike is for a bathroom stop. By the time I need one, I’m usually out in the suburbs, where everyone travels by car, and would have to load my bike to flee. I always stop at a fast food restaurant and bring the bike inside, and quickly do my business (don’t even wash my hands ). Outdoor pit stops in relatively populous Metro Boston does carry some risk for arrest as a level 3 sex offender.

Furthermore, I figure I’m conspicuous as I clack-clack-clack in cycling attire across the floor, and a would-be thief would be conspicuous as not-the-owner of my bike. I do admit that threads like this make me nervous, and maybe I’ll start carrying a light cable lock this season as a deterrent for those quick stops (or bring the bike all the way in).

Otherwise, for extended visits indoors, I only do so if I can bring my bike in, or I plan my errands without the bike, if I can’t.

When my wife and I used to tour in the 70's and 80's we carried a long heavy cable and padlock for both bikes, so the weight was shared. Again we tried not to let the bikes out of sight, and at night when camping they were locked immediately next to the tent.

erig007

I like your reasoning it throws away all my years learning maths at school

Probability of successful attack knowing that i have the lock X: 0 = 50 = 25 = 63.5 = 100 (%)

A lock will defeat a certain number of attacks depending on many factors. How many attacks no lock at all will defeat?

I believe there is other means to protect a bike that adds up to a lock but a lock is an essential part of security at least if you want to leave your bike in the street in most cities in the world.

Some have tried other means but it wasn't utterly efficient at preventing theft, if at all.

gpburdell

The issue is in treating security as a binary system when it's really a spectrum of varying levels of security.


Yes, any lock can be defeated by a sufficiently motivated thief, even if it means he waits for you to show up and orders you to unlock the bike at gunpoint.


So since any bike can be stolen, it's merely a matter of scaling the locking to the type of threat and the circumstances in which the bike is unattended. Overnight at an urban university dorm bike rack where you leave it at the same rack every night calls for a different approach than running into a rural/suburban shop for ten minutes to recycle the previous gatorade and buy a new one.


Here's a good read: The Best Bike Lock | The Sweethome

twodownzero

No. Anything less than the heaviest u lock you can find is a waste of money and time. Locks just make your bike harder to steal. Even the best lock cannot prevent all thefts.