How do you keep your fixie safe in urban environments?
#1
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How do you keep your fixie safe in urban environments?
What's your lock up procedure? Sorry if this should go in advocacy and safety or something like that. I'm upgrading my daily to a new IRO and am debating two New York 3000's vs. a chain Fuhgedaboutit, etc.
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i'm interested in others answers also. i'm building a bike much nicer than my current ride and the thought of locking it up makes me nervous.
#3
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I'm still using my Krypto Evo2000 mini u-lock with the bicable lock. But I don't usually lock up anywhere for long, and take my bike inside at work.
I actually forgot to lock it at all when I was at a coffee shop the other morning - sat in the bike rack for about an hour and a half... I felt kind of dumb, but it was in sight most of the time and only about 10 feet from me... At least I remembered to take off the lights.
I actually forgot to lock it at all when I was at a coffee shop the other morning - sat in the bike rack for about an hour and a half... I felt kind of dumb, but it was in sight most of the time and only about 10 feet from me... At least I remembered to take off the lights.
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It's going to vary by city and location within that city. Here, at work I do the usual front to frame to bike rack technique. At night, my bike lives inside my front hallway where it's locked to a Kryptonite security cable looped through a radiator. I fear one night I'll awake to the sound of that damn radiator being dragged out the front door.
I have 3 bikes which get locks: a Krypto cable with flat key, an OnGuard Ultimate Mini, and a new style Kryptolok.
I have 3 bikes which get locks: a Krypto cable with flat key, an OnGuard Ultimate Mini, and a new style Kryptolok.
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Yeah, this will be replacing my campus bike which is too small for me. It will be coming inside with me whenever I'm home at the dorm, but will be locked up a few hours at a time outside during the day. It's probably foolhardy to replace a rustbucket schwinn with a $600 fixie, but I don't own a car and need something I can get off campus with comfortably.
What isn't reassuring is that the guy down the hall just had his 8 year old Magna pile stolen. Granted it had one of the Master U-Locks, but still unsettling when it was in front of his dorm.
What isn't reassuring is that the guy down the hall just had his 8 year old Magna pile stolen. Granted it had one of the Master U-Locks, but still unsettling when it was in front of his dorm.
#7
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i have a new york chain, but i don't really ever lock it up for very long. at my school, they have a little chain link enclosed bike rack that is actually guarded by security. you have yo check your bike in/out. other than there, it's never locked up for more than a few minutes.
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i'm lucky b/c i'm able to bring my bike into the office where i work. at school i use a kryptonite combination cable lock through the frame and front wheel. that goes for anywhere i lock it up outside.
#9
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i dont leave my bike outside for long when I am not there, but I use a Ulock, i lock the frame and front wheel always to a parking meter (its hard for people to get away with removing a parking meter). I have also made my bike look really crappy with stickers and painters tape and tubes all over it. I feel like a theif is less likely to take a bike that someone may recognize right away since it doesnt look like every other "off the rack" bike. It will also be more difficult for them to sell if its all messed up looking, so they may not bother. I think common sense is your best protection, if someone wants your bike, they are going to get it.... keep it in a well lit area, lock down anything expensive and keep your bike looking as sh1tty as possible.
#11
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frame and rear or frame and front for me. gonna get a new unbiccable ulock someday, get tired of hauling it around all day
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n.y. fahgettaboudit usually just around the frame, unless i lock to something that i can do a figure 8 around my front wheel my fame and the object.
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I lick my seat and handlebargrips and make it really obvious so everybody can see.
#14
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Two u-locks during the day sounds like a bit much - if you're worried about your wheels, I'd lock the back wheel and frame to a secure pole and use a cable to secure the front wheel to the ulock.
During the day, in high foot traffic areas, you should be ok... I say that but a while back someone posted a link to video where a guy "stole" his own bike in NYC. No one did anything, they ignored him.
During the day, in high foot traffic areas, you should be ok... I say that but a while back someone posted a link to video where a guy "stole" his own bike in NYC. No one did anything, they ignored him.
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Originally Posted by ollie
During the day, in high foot traffic areas, you should be ok... I say that but a while back someone posted a link to video where a guy "stole" his own bike in NYC. No one did anything, they ignored him.
I did the same thing. I was locked up outside a home depot style store in the middle of the day because I went to buy a dremel. When I come out I stick my key in the lock and it snaps off. This is the second time this happened so I no longer had a spare either. I went into the store and bought a pair of needle nose pliers to see if I could grab the piece of key and turn it, but it didn't work. Then I went back into the store and bought the biggest pair of bolt cutters they had, which weren't nearly as big as I should have been using. It took me about 30 minutes of savagely pressing on the bolt cutters (wedging one arm against my hip while pulling with my arms on the other side; putting one arm on the ground and jumping all my weight onto the other arm etc.) until I got through teh shackle of the lock. Unfortunately I cut the wrong side of the damn shackle so it didn't even open. Cut to 15 minutes later when I finally get through the other side of the shackle and free my bike. This whole time people were walking past me not doing a thing. At the end I noticed that I completely bent the steel bolt cutter arms inward and they are now essentially useless as the blades won't touch. A police car actually drove past and didn't do anything; they may not have seen me though.
Maybe the reason people didn't stop me was because I was so wide in the open and I was having such a hard time doing it.
This was pretty similar to the lock I cut through.
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Originally Posted by Shiznaz
I did the same thing. I was locked up outside a home depot style store in the middle of the day because I went to buy a dremel. .
#18
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Krypto NYC chain, American lock. If it's just a quick lockup, I lock the front wheel and the frame. If I'm going to be away from it for more than a few minutes, I take off the front wheel, put it next to the rear, and lock both wheels and the frame together.
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Oh, and another thing. While I haven't gotten around to it on my new ride yet, in the past I have taken to filling bolt heads on the stem, seatpost binder, etc (generally anything that I don't regularly remove or service) with hot glue. I can pick it out when I need to work on the bike, but it would seriously slow someone down who thought he was going to just walk up with an allen wrench and walk off with components.
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#21
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i've done the same with my current (and past) commuters. (the glue trick) at least on the allen headed bolts. though i used silicone glue. i figure it may deter someone from the quick seatpost and saddle/stem and bar grab kinda thing. won't stop anyone really determined, but what the hell, right?
presently using some old krypto something or other. front wheel off, and locked with rear wheel/frame.
think i'll grab a new flat key lock and chain combo here eventually.
presently using some old krypto something or other. front wheel off, and locked with rear wheel/frame.
think i'll grab a new flat key lock and chain combo here eventually.
#22
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Do you guys think I'd be nuts for riding an IRO on a college campus?
I use common sense when locking - always visible, public space, etc. It'd only be racked in class or while doing errands. Otherwise she'd be under my feet or sleeping in my room.
I use common sense when locking - always visible, public space, etc. It'd only be racked in class or while doing errands. Otherwise she'd be under my feet or sleeping in my room.
#23
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Not nuts, no. I did the same with my effin' $900 MTB, and I'd say that would be twice as flashy to the potential thief. Granted, I'm not sure which college you're going to, but I wouldn't be too worried.
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#24
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It's a nice school, but since it's a nice school there are are lot of privileged and over-privileged people here, thus thieves wandering in from the suburban surroundings don't feel bad about taking stuff. Almost all the bikes on campus are bottom-feeding imitation MTB's...cheap Fuji's, Raleigh's, Schwinn's, Roadmasters, Mongeese, Next, etc. I've seen four singlespeeds on campus, two older builds, one powdercoated, and one monocog. Most of the cheap wannabe MTB's have been graffitied by their owners to hit their stolen resale value, at least for the frame.
Last edited by Twitchology; 11-18-04 at 02:03 AM.
#25
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Originally Posted by habitus
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