my gf took her bike out and re-locked the basement where we store our bikes (behind two separate locked doors ... one for the whole building and one inner personal storage room).

unfortunately, she also took the key with her instead of leaving it in the mailbox so I could get it.

how do I get in to get my bike to ride to work

bike forum wizards****************************************************************************************************???

Call the building supervisor? Or a Locksmith? Bust out the sledgehammer? Try a bit of C-4?

i don't want to take the subway with the peasants

but i have a plan ...

yes! got it! i am a genius ... and an expert lockpicker now

i need to keep pace with you on the mileage board

have you decided whether you're taking a bike back from you trip yet?

If you, a genius novice, can pick two locks, will you sleep soundly from now on just wondering if someone else.... :-)

i called in a water problem and the plumbers came and opened the basement. then it was somewhat easy. i'm not so worried about theft because I also use a ABUS Bordo lock to lock it to a concrete wall behind the second locked door ... never can be too safe with all of these shifty people around.

anyone who is willing to get through two locked doors only to break my lock (when I've concealed the room it is in ... this is one 15 separate storage rooms in the basement) can have the bike. i'll take the insurance money and get something else

What kind of lock? If it's a pad lock you can usually build a shim out of a soda can and use that to open it.

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Padlock-Shim

The above is exactly why the only padlocks that I use are disc locks that cannot be shim'd. It really takes all of about 10 seconds to open most padlocks.

lol ... i guess i have enough security ...

1. front door lock to the building (standard key lock)
2. locked door to the basement (skeleton-style key)
3. locked door to my personal storage room (keyed pad lock)
4. locked to the concrete wall (ASUS Bordo Combo lock)

i guess someone could steal it from right outside my office when it's locked to a metal pole in plain sight of all my colleagues/students who know it's my bike (that's why I lock it up there, even though it gets some direct sun).

Glad you got in, but breaking in through doors generally will require no more than a crow bar. I can describe the way to do so, but don't think it's good practice to educate anyone on this. Suffice to say to properly secure the door you should get a pry guard put on and put in multiple locks with the longest dead bolts possible and space this out so that the locks are not at the same locations since the middle of the door frame will flex the most.

To get the bike, someone would have to break the main door of the building in a quiet neighborhood, as everyone knows everyone in the building and people don't let strangers in (they wait outside until buzzed in). Then they'd have to break open the cellar door in a tiny hallway where everything reverberates where old people with nothing better to do reside. Then they'd be in the basement and they'd have to choose my storage room (from 15 3m x 3m rooms) in the basement where you can't see into any of them (so it would be probability based). Then they'd have to snap my lock, get the bike up stairs and out the door without making much noise. Sure, I guess they could steal it ... but it's probably only worth at most 300-400€ used (50% of MSRP) and that seems like a huge amount of work for a couple hundred €.

just steal the bikes off the street as their are many 800-1000€ bikes chained to lightposts on my street.

overall, I am glad that I was able to get the bike out ... my gf was quite impressed

calling people who use public transpertation peasents makes me think you are an elitist sisssy. grats on the lock though.

sorry

i didn't want it to come across that way. i've been called a peasant by some colleagues for not having a large turbocharged car

i love public transport and it's super cheap in Germany (and runs on time, while being safe and clean, too)

And did you two discuss getting a second set of keys?

You lucked out today, I didn't ride the bike into work today because I had some things I needed to use my car for. Tomorrow, I might take the long way home!

I think I am going to do that. It is not until next summer so I have time to think about it, but the more I look at the bikes sold in Europe, the more I want one. Right now it is more of a case as to what bike to get (which, of course depends on my budget). I am actually going to Europe in September for work (Zurich and London) and I hope to have a little free time to check out some of the bikes I might want more closely.