I've had my share of a handful of bikes stolen ever since in grade school. But be sure to put your name and phone number or something on your bike in multiple locations like under seat or tube and stuff. My last bike got stolen but returned 2 months later since I had my name on it. Plus I also registered it as stolen. The craigslist buyer looked up the serial number after seeing my name written under the seat with a phone number.


Bikeregistry used to sell quality cheap chain locks, but stopped. Not sure why. Probably too much work. I was able to replicate building my own. They used 3/8" pewag case hardened security chains. The core is rated at 49 HRC, but 10% of the case is hardened to 62 HRC. Its pretty hard to find a supplier that sells by the foot, but I got some. A Handful of other security chain sellers are actually rebranding lacede security chains which is through hardened to 40-48HRC. Tulsa & 1st-chain-supply sells them. I assume the pewag through hardened to 49 HRC with an additional case hardening to 62 HRC. Don't be confused with pewag's grade 120 chains. They are different and designed to stretch a bit for heavy lifting. I mean you can still use them and still pretty hard at 41 HRC, but there are better options. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSnS4ZkTGUY to see how hard they are to bolt cut. Angle grinder will still defeat any chain though.


As for chain covers you can use anything from used tire inner tube to old fabric, but bikeregistry still has a stock pile of their cordura protective covers if you contact them directly.


Bike registry paired their chains with abus monoblock locks, think it was model 82/70, but a better version would be the 92w/80. I however didn't like how easily they could be picked and opted to go for something more pick resistant. Mul-t-lock sliding bolt was what I wanted or something with abloy/assa cylinder, but those were 150+ price range. Ended up with a SOBO spsa60 shutter lock which i believe is a knock off of abloy's cylinder design.


Built two 3ft chains with locks for $40 each. Could have easily just bought a abus/kryptonite chain for twice that, but I'm a cheapo.

Now I will secure my bike with a ulock and chain a secondary. Should deter 99% of thieves I hope. If I get a more expensive bike down the line I'll add a GPS tracker in the tube, but those are spendy with subscriptions.