Joe Padilla

I was out riding today and saw this and had to stop and take a picture! This is how not to lock your bike!

Spld cyclist

Can't tell from the picture. Is the cable only looped around the seatpost, or does it actually go through the frame?

rogerstg

+1. Looks like "How not to take a picture to illustrate poor bike locking" ;-)

Joe Padilla

It's around the frame, but I could easily just lift it over the post its locked to. Heres the high res pic.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/1499037...n/photostream/

Dan The Man

Are the bike thieves 8 feet tall where you live?

desertdork

Pull up in a p/u truck and stand on the bed.

Dan The Man

I don't see how that makes it any easier to steal. It would be just as easy to pull up p/u truck with a grinder or pneumatic cutters on any other bike.

ratdog

You know there is a little red dot at about 10:00 to 11:00 near the large tree on the left from where the bike is chained to the pole. The owner probably had you in his laser sights, either that or you have something more serious going on like a hot pixel if you were using a digital camera.

seeker333

yet another fascinating bike touring thread

Joe Padilla

^I leave in 13 days on a CC tour and was out doing a training ride, in the country, when I saw this.

I lock my bike up thrice, once around the front wheel, frame, and poll, another cable around the rear wheel frame and pole, then a Kryptonite D-lock around the frame, rear wheel, and locked around the pole again. Plus I would never lock it to something that short.

indyfabz

Heh. So true.

OP: Sometimes we leave our bikes outside when we are having lunch and get a local dog to watch them:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davez20...57620763740044

staehpj1

I don't bother locking at all a good bit of the time when on tour. When I do, how much care I take varies, but it isn't going to be much, since I take a 5 ounce $12 lock. That said, some places on tour I may decide it isn't prudent to leave the bike unattended at all.

charbucks

I naively brought a small U-lock when I went to New Zealand for my first tour. I had no idea that it would be useless. Even the bigger places had nothing that I could lock to. I suppose that places conducive to bike touring are also not particularly prone to theft.

Rimmer

It doesn't look like it's around the frame at all. All one would had to do is untangle the cable from the saddle and seat post.

Rimmer

A small one is all you need. The larger U-locks are stupidly big. I frequently lock to sign posts which are virtually everywhere, and there's ample room for a small U-lock.

Rob_E

Looks like it's around the top tube to me. Maybe not the most secure locking job, but it might be sufficient depending on the situation. I would worry about the wheels being taken before worrying that some giant would come by and lift the bike over the sign.

But it's all about the situation. I just spent a week biking around Ohio. In one town, I used my cable through my ring lock around a bike rack to secure the bike before going into Walmart. It wasn't the most secure job, but then a few yards away was a whole line of unlocked bikes that the Amish had ridden there. Clearly bike theft was not a huge concern.



At a small, general store in a small town, the bike sat unlocked. In a slightly bigger town, I just used the ring lock. In other places, a u-lock on the top tube or through the frame and front wheel seemed sufficient. In downtown Cleveland, both the U-lock and the cable were used, and I still tried not to leave the bike unattended.

All-in-all, it's a balance of risk vs. convenience, and that photo doesn't really show that the bike owner didn't weigh those options.

staehpj1

So you have a ring lock and additionally carry a U-lock and a cable?

fietsbob

Story of David Cameron (Tory party UK PM, now) locking his bike to a low bollard, in London.

It got nicked, but As the scion of wealth , going to buy another bike,
was no problem..

Lasse

I don't see how it could possibly be around the top tube. Rimmer's close-up shows no part of the lock is going behind the tube, so it's not around it.
I'd say it's a trap. The owner is sitting in the bushes, waiting for someone to jump on the bike and crash 10m further while trying to brake with their hands. Very cunning indeed.

Tycho Brahe 

I once had a bike stolen this way. The thief/thieves removed the sign from the sign post and lifted my bike over the post. I assumed the bike was then put inside a car and driven off.

Rimmer

Get real people. The sign post is too tall.

Rob_E

Ordinarily I use the U-lock locally and the ring-lock/cable combination when I'm traveling. But this particular trip was going to take me to downtown Cleveland and possibly DC, so the U-lock came along for the ride.

Booger1

I lock my bike like this all the time,well sort of,the cable goes through the frame and wheels.It just keeps the honest people honest.It's not out of my sight locked like that.

Rowan

You've got to ask yourself, punk, would you want to steal that bike? Well, would ya?





My answer: Nope.

Booger1

Yes officer,that's my bike,the black one with no kickstand and the matching scratches on the top tube......