I just bought a pair of ski/snowboard cable locks from Rei. They are combo locks with 30" cables, wt 1.7 oz. Enough to keep someone from walking away with my bicycle. I might use the second one for the panniers.

I use something similar for quick grocery store stops, etc. Doesn't provide much security, but should make the bike a bit less of a target for someone who's generally pretty honest but might still be tempted if there's no lock at all.

I use them for restaurants where I hope that I can find a seat near a window, but for grocery stores where I might be inside for half an hour or more I use the good bike lock. I carry both skier type locks and a good bike lock because I can use the skier type lock on a locker if I stay in a hostel. Skier lock takes less time to lock up and unlock later than the bigger bike lock.

I was thinking about using this with a small key lock attached Everbilt 3/16 in. x 6 ft. Galvanized Wire Rope Security Cable-803182 - The Home Depot that way it could easily fit through frame/both wheels and around a pole or something. Only weighs 6oz. If you wanted to go really lightweight just to prevent crimes of opportunity then you could put loop ends in metal guitar string with a small metal luggage lock... just pray that a guy like Jaws from James Bond doesn't come along

the problem I see with that cable is there is no rubber sheath to protect your bike from scratches. I use the lightest weight bike cable from rei and a lightweight padlock.

Yeah that one looks good Kabletek Flexweave Cable 3/16'' X 6' - REI.com basically the same price.

A few decades ago they sold quarter inch cables that had a plastic coating and were coiled. I have one and often use it on tours because it is reasonably light weight and I like the coiled type of cable. You can see it hanging on the left side of my left rear pannier with a padlock.



Unfortunately I have not seen them for sale for a long time. The cables that have a plastic coating that are now sold are often thicker and heavier.

you could try one of these.
2X Safety Security Brake Disc Lock Reminder Cable Coil Wire Motorcycle Scooter | eBay

motorcycle reminders. they stretch out over a meter, weigh like an ounce or two

or heavy duty coated airline cable
Steel Cable 6 Feet for Locking 7 16 inch Black Security Flexible Vinyl Coated | eBay

or lighter thinner shorter cable
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Security-Cab...0AAMXQLw1RzgMn

[h=1]Hiplok LITE[/h]

You can go to Home Depot or such, to the garage door section. The springs that are parellel to the tracks have a cable inside them so if the spring breaks it doesn't fling around and hurt someone. It's an 8ft by 1/8 in. ?? plastic coated , light wt. use with a luggage lock and you've got a lt. wt. set-up.

I had the idea, last week, of aluminum U-lock. Useless, of course, vs someone with portable power tool but steel not much better that way either. Once took heavy U-lock on mountain tour & could feel the weight.

They've been commercially available for quite some time:
Robot Check

Not very secure if someone actually takes a hacksaw or even a Swiss Army Knife to it, but I presume the idea is that most thieves will avoid bikes with U-locks and instead go for the ones secured with cables. Don't know how many bike thieves take the time to check the make and material in each U-lock.

Thanks for the link. Once had a bike with steel U-lock I had to remove w/circular saw--made some noise but surprisingly easy, ~1 minute to cut. Pro thieves probably only deterred by ultra-heavy chains; probably the best we can usually do is to frustrate casual opportunistic theives.

ABUS combiloop 205

Yeah, they wouldn't stop a pro thief, but they may fake out some. The thing is that, at almost 13 ounces, they aren't all that light considering the minimal protection they offer.

On tour usually I either leave the lock home or take a 5 ounce cable lock. Which one depends on the locale. Either way there are usually places where I just avoid leaving the bike out of my sight.

how about a 145 disc brake lock to keep the bike from rolling away?

https://www.amazon.com/Roswheel%C2%AE...ycle+disc+lock

Maybe this is unfounded, but what would happen to the brake or wheel if a thief just jumped on the biked and tried to mash away?

I've noticed that many of the big-box stores now make it tougher to lock up a bike in front--signs have wide concrete base pillars vs old narrow steel--if there's a bike rack it's way off to the side where thief could work w/o much attention. Was esp irritating to see Target stores doing this since they have sort of an upscale image & one would think having good bike parking would go along with that. IMO such stores consciously avoid including good bike parking since they don't want shoppers to see all the bikes used by their underpaid workers. Anyway, a cable lock could help in those situations.

Also at local schools incl a wealthy district's high school have the ancient police-barrier type racks which make it hard to lock up a nice bike properly while spoiled students get subsidized cheap car parking (so many car-commuting students that it can take 10 minutes just to exit school parking lot). I've seen that only a handful of bikes are used for student commuting & majority of those are owned by working-class immigrants who probably need them to commute to evening jobs. I actually calculated that (at above-mentioned HS) the number of students bike-commuting (who could also afford car-commuting) was less than nat'l avg of HS students who try heroin!

not sure if that's to prevent angry shoppers ramming the storefront, or protect
the signs from bad drivers. bike racks get in the way of loaded shopping carts,
and perhaps attract bike tourists (like yours truly) who picanik on the sidewalk.

actually overpaid for their skills. otherwise they'd work elsewhere. i kinda like to see
the employees on bikes. let's me know the store is keeping prices low.

Feather light, minimal deterrent cable: OnGuard Akita. I pair mine with a Master Lock 1533 mini combination lock, but a little aluminum bodied key padlock would also fit the bill.

Do please understand how little actual deterrence this provides. It doesn't do much more than establish taboo.

Why bother with a hacksaw when you can just use a BIC pen. Way easier and you can hide a pen in plain sight and nobody would know. They are cute looking fashion locks which would be fun for young kids playing games but I would rather have the cable unless they change their locks to something more secure.

Bike racks can be tucked away near store entrance w/o impeding pedestrians while still having parked bikes in full view of heavy ped traffic. Your comment on bike-commuting employees as sign of low prices is interesting since some chains do similar things to convey value image. A former local appliance store chain deliberately left half-unpacked boxes in store aisles to convey image of staff being too busy to keep things super-tidy. Read an article about Home Depot opening one of their early stores: IIRC a major exec (president?) visited the store which was pristeen. He hopped on a fork-lift & made tire skid marks in the aisles to give it that 'busy look', heh.

Locally, the best place to park a bike is the DC Nationals baseball stadium. They have 250 custom-designed racks incl the team logo. While that specific area is near some low-income housing the racks are at least in full view of crowds on sidewalks; plus the racks work well to lock up frame/wheels. Furthermore, they have free bike valet parking in the garage!

From what I heard that whole stadium was built on peoples houses and some local clubs, for a team from Canada? The whole idea sounded really whacky, why D.C. needed another sports team when the city has so many other issues to deal with, is beyond me.

Bike valet parking sounds interesting if I could stand to leave my bike alone and in the hands of someone else even if they are bike lovers like me!

Yeah, stadium was a total scam, they destroyed 1,000's of housing units that weren't replaced elsewhere. Owner got massive subsidies but had the nerve to sue the city over some minor construction details. It's totally stupid for DC to subsidize pro sports teams--nobody moves to or visits there 'cause of pro sports. BTW DC (proper not metro) poses as bike-friendly but a couple of their most popular bike paths are in terrible condition (despite being in the wealthier area).


I wonder how the legal thing works w/bike valet parking. If a bike is stolen will they pay owner full replacement, even if it's a $15K Hilite?

Sounds about right. Pro Sports Teams tend to be big in the scam business. They don't need help, when their players can make millions a season for throwing or kicking or hitting a ball. When you throw around that kind of money you can afford a round building with a hole in the middle and some seats and also to funnel vast quantities of money into the city where it is needed not for kickbacks and permits but simply because you are wanting to be good people and do something good after you wreck the place.

I am all for people playing sports and having a good time, go out and do that. We don't need to help subsidize some big corporate team. If we truly like sports we can go play them ourselves. Watching the Tour De France is semi-interesting but actually going out on your own and riding is way more pleasurable and one could drink way more beer if they did (without blowing up in the gut)