Bike Forums - Locking your bike long term?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by TenSpeedV2 (Post 18929998)

If you park at the same rack all the time, take 2 good U locks ( I prefer OnGuard ) and lock like this.

http://www.kryptonitelock.com/conten...936_D2-web.jpg

Then you can just lock the locks together on the rack when you leave instead of carrying them with you. Taking the front wheel on and off every time gets really old and eventually you will get lazy and skip it. Try to park near a bike that is not locked up as well as yours which would be an easier target for thieves if they came around. You can also opt for a cable to run through the front wheel that would go into the rear lock to the rack.

This definitely looks like a doable option for me. I think running the cable in between would be ideal, but also one thing I would like to avoid is carrying a whole arsenal with me to be safe. I suppose it can't be helped though...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy_K (Post 18929123)

It depends on where you park the bike. Where I work I could probably get away with a cheap cable lock, but I actually use a U-lock around the seatstay inside the rear wheel. The front wheel is still free for the taking this way, but so far that hasn't been an issue.

In a less secure location, I'd probably get a locking skewer for the front wheel. Other options are a cable that connects to the U-lock and goes through the front wheel (not secure enough for city parking), removing the front wheel and putting the U-lock through both wheels (a major hassle), or using a second U-lock to lock the front wheel to the frame (a minor hassle). My view of security is that my solution has to be convenient for me, otherwise I'll get lazy and not do it.

I definitely agree with your last sentence. I want to be as safe as I can but I don't want to create a system that I attempt to use regularly, so that I end up just not doing it anyways. There seem to be a few good options.

I think something important to consider is what everyone on this thread has stated along with locking advice; location matters. Maybe along with improving how I'm looking, I really should be looking out for the best location to lock my bike. Someone on this thread mentioned that security cameras are a joke to thieves, and I bet that's probably true. So I would think that somewhere in plain sight and in the open around a lot of people would be a good place to put a bike? (also around other bikes). But also a few people mentioned specialized storage for bikes would be ideal, and I'm definitely going to investigate that more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bronsen (Post 18936667)

Just looked them up, those look great! I'll have to check them out. So you use multiple pitlocks, ones for your wheels and for your frame, etc? Were those all separate purchases or was there some sort of set that you can lock up with relative ease?

I bought the most common set - both wheels, the seatpost and headset. The pit, or key, to unlock them all is the same one for each. You don't have to lock the pitlocks every time you park the bike - once they are on they are on. So the ease of use is phenomenal - set it and forget it.

Just carry around the pit with you in case you have to remove a tire to fix a flat. I got two pits in my set - keep one on my keychain and one in a drawer at home as a spare. Peter White Cycles keeps a record of which pit you have (there are 256 combos for pits) so you can order a spare pit easily.

You want "Set #02/GA" from Pitlock locking skewers comes with two wheel skewers, seatpost skewer and a headset lock plus 2 pits. SOoooooo much better than carrying around a second heavy ulock plus a cable that does next to nothing anyway. IMO

I use a long cable lock where I usually park, since the area is secure, but other places I use heavy U-locks like others have posted.

You could try this:

Damn that's a lot of locks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by phughes (Post 18937247)

I use a long cable lock where I usually park, since the area is secure, but other places I use heavy U-locks like others have posted.

You could try this:

No two keys the same