chris hansen

Hello,

After a road ride, when you stop for coffee, what kind of lock do you use and how do you carry it? I assume people like to ride light and my road bike doesn't have racks or anything so I was wondering what other people do? I like the idea of riding into the next town for lunch and am looking for the best solution for locking the bike.

Thanks.

roadfix

I assume you're riding solo. When I'm out riding solo and have to stop for food or coffee which I always do, I basically never keep my eyes off my bike. I don't carry a lock. I look for shops where I can wheel my bike in, preferrably. Most coffee shops I frequent have outdoor patios where I can park my bike just several feet away from me.

If I must carry a lock with me for some reason, it's my beater bike I ride.

outashape

When I am on group rides, I don't lock my bike. I do sleep with it in my tent. (I have heard stories of bikes stolen at night time.) When I am on solo rides, I do like the Fixer, I sit by a window or on a patio where I can see my bike. It only takes a few minutes to strap your helmet around the front wheel and the frame and to loosen the skewers. It won't stop a criminal, but it might delay a quick pick-up, enough for you to chase down and destroy the "enemy".

DnvrFox

I carry a cable/combo lock.

Really won't prevent a determined thief, but will prevent a quick heist.

I also park where I can see it, or simply bring it into the restaurant/store.

I hardly ever use the bike stands - they are almost always around a corner or removed from the business I am visiting.

CRSO

I have the 3'3" Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboutit lock. It's pretty thick.

slopvehicle

What do you think of this?

https://store.yahoo.com/momovelo/mujalul.html

Maybe with a Krypto evo u-lock in front, then lock rear wheel to frame with the little aluminum one...

shokhead

I never stop so i dont need to lock.

Grampy™

Start and finish my rides at my Garage door........

khuon

I use a combination of plain-sight monitoring along with lightweight security/deterence. This topic was addressed in another similar thread. Recently (today) I was in a bikeshop as my riding partner was pumping up her rear tyre (she had a flat earlier and we couldn't get enough pressure into the tyre with the minipump) and happened to notice the Kryptonite Gear Gripper. I decided to try it out and bought one... my riding partner bought one too. It's really more of a deterent than anything else as someone with a halfway decent pair of wire-cutters can easily dispense with it. I also considered the Targus DEFCON 1 at one time but it's more than twice as expensive, much bulkier and heavier and although the alarm feature seems nice, I realised I probably wouldn't make much use of it and even if I did, it's bound to generate many annoying false-positives as the wind might cause the bike to shift or someone locking up their bike besides mine might accidently move it or some punk kid might think it funny to trigger it just for laughs. Both products seem to use the exact same cable and lock mechanism. The Kryptonite unit does have a goofy and seemingly superfluous feature too... a thermometer. Don't ask me the reasoning behind this. Also for a product sold in the US, it's odd that the thermometer reads out only in Celcius. Luckily I'm used to both systems and can convert pretty easily... or at least relate to both scales in a fairly practical manner. FWIW, the Kryptonite Gear Gripper weighs about 3 oz. and measures 4" x 2.5" x 7/8". I can easily slip it in my jersey's back pocket and can hardly tell it's there.

SteveE

Always make sure your bike looks like cr@p and park it near a nice clean high-end bike. I figure Treks make nice targets.

orguasch

I don't lock my bike, it goes with me inside the restaurant or coffee shop, if they don't allow a bike inside, then out I go, even in a bike shop your bike is not safe, I was once going to get some bike stuff, in a local bike shop, I brought my bike in and this customer was really mad coz, he/s bike was stolen inside the shop, as I was saying even inside a bike shop, I don't let my bike out of my eyesight, lesson here"don't trust anybody with your bike"

roadfix

I wish I can do that.... I have a habit of stopping for coffee and do my 'people watching thing' for several minutes.

shokhead

Thats it and your bike is safe. I must admit i did a half century yesterday and stopped for 2-3 minutes at the top of the dam and then back home.

HarryK

We stop frequently here on group rides for meals, and just leave the bikes outside leaning against the front of the restaurant or coffee shop. Never had them messed with......around here, if it doesn't have a big motor, seems nobody wants it.

leconkie

Its one thing we all have in common. Basically, you've got to judge where you are and keep an eye, or lock it up near a nicer looking bike and trust to luck. Surely there's some "rust spray" about? If/when I get a Rivendell or Seven or something custom I'm going to ask them to make it look like a 50 year old wreck, with ****ty paint, any Shimano logo replaced with Chinese writing and a fake name like "Trailbuster...proudly made in CCCP" on the top tube.

DVDaze

You gotta remember to shut the garage door though... I've lost two bikes this way.

kerank

Yep, a bike's pretty safe in the deep South. I moved "up North", from MS to TN. Bikes were pretty safe in MS, but it carried over to the roads. No one seemed to think a bike had a right to be on the same road as cars and trucks!

F1_Fan

Me too. My bike is too valuable to leave unlocked and I'm not about to carry a lock on my rides.

The bike is for training/exercise... the car is for shopping.

Joat

I lost my previous bike (and my wifes) as we sat down to lunch at a wendy's. The bikes were against the glass, literally about 3 inches away from us through the window. Two kids ran up, hopped on the bikes, and poof, they were gone.
Nice neighborhood. Didn't matter.

Always lock!

Boomer

I have a combination lock that is used for primarily for locking luggage. A retractable cable that extends up to three feet is integrated into the lock. The gadget really light and compact. The cable is quite thin, maybe 2 millimeters, so it won't prevent someone with a pair of wire cutters to snip it. But it will prevent a quick grab and run. The person that give it to me bought from SharperImage I think.

Paul L.

I usually skip the lock but when I ride long I like to get out of town and take a light lock with with me as the only places that are open in the little towns I visit in the early desert morning are walmarts. I figure the lock gives me a few minutes and so I quickly buy what I need and then consume it out with the bike. The lock is only there to buy me time. It is a light integrated cable lock that weighs maybe a pound. It fits in my seatbag along with my all in one tool and extra tube. Someone could snip it pretty quick with a cutter but the situation would have to be very ideal for a person to get their tool, snip the cable, unhitch my helmet, and so forth before I returned minutes after having left it. Anyway, the nice thing about walmarts is there is almost always a door greeter around the front, not that they notice much I am sure but I usually let them know my bike is there and hope they keep an eye out.

MichaelW

For day rides, all you have to prevent are opportunist grab and run type thieves as describes by Joat, above. No-one is going to be prowling around with bolt cutters.
I use my Kryptonite during the week, but take a cheapo light cable lock for weekend rides.

smurfy

I used to work part-time in a bike shop in the late '90s. One day a kid wheeled his BMX bike into the shop and just moments later another kid snatched his bike. I forget exactly what happened after that but my fellow bike mechanic yelled out to me that a bike just got stolen and both of us grabbed bikes (hybrids, well they're good for something!) off the floor and chased after him down the bike path. We easily caught up to him and he tried to ditch the bike and hide under a bridge. During this time the police were called and the police cruiser was on the bike path, the officers pulled him out from under the bridge and arrested him. Success!!!

The sad thing about this caper is that the young perpetrator, no older than 15, just didn't seem to care whether he got caught or not. Just another day to him.

socalrider

There are 2 things you can do without a lock..

1. Loosen the rear skewer, if someone jumps on and takes off the rear wheel will come loose and they will be stopped in there tracks.. The downside it that you also have to remember to tighten the skewer back before riding off..

2. I use this one.. Loop my helmet straps through the wheel.. If they don't see the helmet and jump on the bike, it will immediately stop them... My friend's bike was save one time by this method.. The would be thief, go so freaked out when the bike just stopped, he jumped off and ran away..

DieselDan

I carry a cable lock if I know I'm going to stop somewhere. Road bikes don't get swiped very often around here. Freestyle BMX bikes are the "in" thing to take around here. The SPD pedals I use tend to disuade would be thiefs. Removing the front wheel, taking the skewer with you, and locking it with the same cable as you do the bike, helps, as no theif wants to spend the time reinstalling a front wheel when a quick getaway is the objective.

I had my old road bike stolen from my backyard, only to have the thief try to sue me for "booby-trapping" the bike with the SPD pedals. The thief cut his feet severly while riding the bike with cheap flip-flops, and was found laying in a parking lot needing immedate medical attention. He found a rat lawyer that filed a lawsuit. I told him I need compenstion for his use of the bike, and we agreed that both claims canceled each other out. The thief ended up in jail and couldn't pursue his suit anyway, as you can't be compensated for injuries recived while commiting a felony. The chicken gun law didn't apply, as I didn't intend to injure a person with the pedals.