My office has its own private garage. Inside its bowels are the bike racks. I am thinking to leave my U lock there instead of taking it home everyday. Less weight the better. Just wondering how many of you do it. Is it safe? I don't think people will steal the lock since the key is with me.

i understand your reasoning, but think of it this way if you do not trust your "lock" to be locked up at night somewhere. how do you trust it to "lock" your bike for hours while your at work??

also do you know if any bikes are left on the rack at night because that would be a good sign.

i dont know if there are any bikes left at the garage at night. the garage gates come down at around 6pm.

All these people seem to think it's ok to leave theirs in downtown L.A.

I lock my bike to an iron banister in a parking garage every day. I have a heavy U-Lock and two steel cables. I was carrying them back and forth for a long time until I realized that I could just leave them there.

Makes a big difference in the amount of weight I carry.

If nobody tells you that you can't do it, I'd go for it.

If the area wasn't secure or suffered regular thefts, I'd be concerned someone would compromise the lock while it was left there.

my two ulocks only weight 5 pounds together. thats not a whole lot, considering the relative piece of mind i get when i lock it up at home, at school, at work, at the store, ect.

I first left my lock on the rack at work about 3 years ago. Then it was the only lock, now there are over 20 locks on the rack. I have another lock at home. I have a light cable lock on my bike for quick stops on the route. Keep a lock at all the places you regularly park your bike. A dozen keys are a lot lighter than a decent lock.

I'd have to own around a dozen locks if I left them at all my usual haunts.

A dozen keys are more hassle than carrying one lock.

I don't. It annoys me that other people do that and think they can keep the same parking spots. At my building, the building security tags them with a warning they'll cut them off. I think it's in considerate of others to do that.

^^I too think it's rude when people do it to try to mark their territory and lay some kind of claim to the "good" parking spots - near the exit, at the end of the rack, etc. - but aside from that, unless it's against the rules where you park, why not do it? And if I see a lock at the spot I want to park in, I park there.

I leave a U-lock and cable on the rack in my parking ramp and so do most other regular bike commuters. I think it's a slamming good idea. The only problem is if you want to stop on the way home and don't have your lock with you, but I have an extra U-lock that I bring along if I am stopping along the way.

I can agree with it being rude, but I also think it's situational.

Do many people park at this bike lock? It doesn't seem too public, and as long as you're not leaving your lock on contested real estate where bike parking might be a problem, then I wouldn't see an issue with it.

Nobody's going to steal your lock, though.

You could always put a lock on it.

exactly what i was getting at if your leaving a lock "locked" up it is kinda a gimme that it "should" not get stolen cause to steal a lock is almost like stealing the whole bike in essence but i agree with 2 facts
a. is it okay to leave stuff locked up at night?
b. because your lock is on the rack doesn't mean your guaranteed that spot you can move the lock lol

gl i would say just leave it there or if you have a spare combo cable lock start leaving that there and see if it gets cut or something almost a "testee", and of course still bring the u-lock

I'm not sure I understand this reaction. Perhaps you are reading the minds of the individuals that are leaving the locks and understand their motivations clearly, but I would just assume that the person leaving the lock did not want to carry it with them. When I come across these situations, I don't feel that the owner of the lock is trying to "save" a spot. I suppose if the presence of their lock prevented someone else from securing to the stationary device, then yes, that would be rude.

I doubt the owner of the lock would be bent out of shape if they arrived at their lock to find someone else has used the spot. I assume that they would simply take their lock and secure their bike elsewhere. At least, that is how I would approach the situation.

We have locked cages with "wave" racks along the outer walls and single bike locking stands in the middle. There are signs stating that all locks left in the cages will be removed, but there are plenty of locks left there. I think it's to keep people from reserving the CrankCases.

Dunno if someone's said this already but I'd just check with the building's security/maintenance/whatever to see if they're ok w/ leaving your lock there. I thought it was ok at my school but I got in one morning to find the lock gone.

If you leave your lock at work, you can't use it on the ride home. I do, frequently, so my lock goes with me.

I, as well as others at my office, leave our locks on the rack. I never even considered it would annoy anyone and I am sure nobody would bother to cut it off.

I leave the heavy U-Lock there and carry a much lighter cable lock in my pack for when I need to go into a store on the way home or something.

I agree with most posters here in that if you don't trust the lock not to get stolen when it's there by itself, why would you trust it with hundreds (or thousands) of dollars worth of bike?

As far as using locks to reserve spots, i'd say it's rude to do, but i'm sure everyone does it anyway. Just ignore the locks when locking up. It's not like they can't unlock and move their locks when they arrive.

I carry my mini U-lock in the bottom of my panniers at all times, just in case I want to stop in at the store on the way home. But, if you're not worried about stopping anywhere other than work & home, leave it there.

I have an Xtra and my OnGuard fits nicely in the side pocket. It's always with me.

Yep. I do it all the time. So do a lot of regular commuters who park in our racks. Remember to lock the ends of your cable and chain, though!

Some of you might recall my saga of my hijacked OnGuard mastiff chain. I neglected to secure the U lock one evening when I left, and the next day someone had used my chain with their own crappy Master lock securing it. I resolved the issue by locking my U lock to my chain, and leaving a polite note to call me when the owner wanted the bike released. It was a clueless first year medical student.

I've been keeping an eye on that "clueless" 1st year medical student's bike, and I realize the guy acually does just pack a Master lock with him and use whatever loose cable is available to lock up. More than one person leaves an end of their cable unsecured when they leave.

I use a Kryptonite. I leave it locked to the rack at work.

I got the okay from the campus PD to leave my lock on the rack outside my building. But more often than not, my bike is parked in front of my desk.