I purchased a Kryptonite Seat Saver cable from the dealer prior to picking up my bike and asked that they install it. Well, got there and they had not installed it and even though I had researched how to install it by looping the cable around the frame through one of the end loops then winding it up the seat post and then removing the saddle and placing the loop on the other end over the saddle clamp inside one seat rail and then re-installing the seat.

The shop owner's son who just got back from UBI was having a tough time with this method and kept searching the web for a solution. They said I needed to use a lock on the saddle rail, which a agree would add another layer of protection.

Is this the preferred method to install it? I realize it is nothing more than a deterrent and a means to slow down someone who wants to steal your saddle. I plan on putting a Brooks Flyer on the bike and will certainly want to secure it even if it is not fool proof.

Recommendations?

I don't understand how you plan to install the cable without a lock. You cannot pinch the cable inside the saddle clamp, if that is what you were thinking. You could pass the cable through one saddle rail then put the cable end loop over the seatpost, then clamp the saddle in the post, but the thief can simply undo the saddle clamp with his allen wrench, which is anyway how he'd take the saddle if you didn't have the cable.

The cable is meant to be used with a lock, presumably the same lock that will fasten your bike to the bike rack.

You can use some old bike chain, antitheft nuts/bolts, or the trick of filling the Allen bolt socket with something (ball bearing, silicone caulk) for varying degrees of security. Or put an anonymous looking cover over the saddle.

You don't need a lock.

Cable goes around a seat stay and through the small loop.

Large loop gets captured around the seat clamp on the seat post inside the rail.

Obviously you will need to remove the seat from the post to do this...

Found this; it might help:

Thuon Chen: how to install a seat leash to prevent theft of saddle & seat post


BTW, these are meant to secure a seat that uses a QR seat bolt.

Obviously anyone with an allen wrench can defeat this, so in that case a lock might be needed after all.


BTW, good call on the Flyer; I LOVE mine...