OH, sorry to misinterpret that. I wasn't sure what you were saying there.

BTW, I am not knocking your choice of locks, for you. I just do not rely much on the integrity of a lock and therefore pretty much any lock is adequate for me. Could my bike go AWOL on tour? Sure. Is it likely, probably not. Would it end my tour, maybe, but probably not unless it was a short tour or I was near the end anyway. One advantage of being used to touring without much stuff is that, if it all was stolen, you can get going again pretty quickly with walmart crap for a few hundred dollars. I have met a few riders on long tours who bought most of their stuff in a quick stop at walmart at the start of their tour. Their reason was that they flew in from S.E Asia and didn't want to bring much, but it demonstrated that it was possible. BTW they seemed to be having as much fun as folks with $10,000 rigs.

BTW, I might feel differently if I toured on an expensive bike or had a lot of high dollar gear. Since my heavy touring bike was $599 delivered and my UL touring bike can be found for a maybe $200 used (~1990 Cannondale road bike) and my gear is mostly pretty minimal and inexpensive I don't worry as much.

This is true. My gear isn't exactly top dollar, but I only have two bikes and both are either expensive, or sentimental (my first real road bike) that I've put a lot of time and money into. I'm much less inclined to leave it inadequately locked. I can definitely see the point if you're not too worried about the bike itself.

Lots in play here in the probability of theft (where, how long, appeal of bike, etc.), compounded with personal aversion to risk, and one's own personal load weight / perceived value balance. The "rational" responses range from keeping-the-bike-next-to-you-at-all-times to completely abandoning it compounded with U-Lock / chain to no locking system. Once someone has their bike stolen, one generally moves more towards the proximity / lock quadrant.

I carry a lightish cable lock, bring the bike indoors when possible, but also keep a furtive eye on it. Campsites are slected bearing in mind not only a level dry place to sleep, but also whether there is something solid to lock the bike to. My locked bike is always right in front of the door of my tent.

When my bike is stolen, it won't be because (in my own mind) I didn't take reasonable precautions against theft, it'll be because it was my turn.

Lost commuter funny, I have limited touring experience But I will be doing the Seattle to Portland this year with 5 riders we will pre stage a car and locks then drive home for a great dinner and a shower then back in the morning...

That is what I am getting for my Surly Long Haul Trucker.

Andrew

I carried a U-lock on my 3,800 mile tour--the same one I use at home, a big honking Kryptonite. And it wasn't like I was riding a super-nice bike, but I didn't want to be stranded in, say, rural Alberta.

Then again, a big part of our trip was specifically visiting cities, and we used our bikes for transportation while in cities.

I put all my most valuable stuff (iPod, netbook, wallet, important papers) in one pannier that has a shoulder strap, and would often take that indoors with me when we got off the bicycle.

While camping, or anyplace without good poles/racks, we frequently "hobbled" the bicycles by locking the front wheel to the frame. Yeah, people could still steal the bikes if they really wanted to, but it would be a tremendous pain the ass.

Call me paranoid, but the weight was worth the peace of mind.

Well, I don't tour thru "big" cities, but I only carry a very thin, 1/8 inch combo cable lock. My thought is that a "pro" bike thief will be able to cut/unlock anything you use. I think the chases of me crossing paths with this type of thief is very, very slim. More likely, some kid(s) will see the bike and just want to be jerks and swipe it. They don't know what its worth and have no plans to sell it. The cable is there to just stop/slow them down while I run into a grocery store or have something to eat. I try to always keep the bike in my sight, but sometimes I need to shop in larger stores.

The thing is, the "pro" thief knows how to disable any lock. Just go to Youtube and search for u-lock. You'll find all manner of videos on how to use a Bic pen to open a u-lock with a circular key type lock. The pro's know how to cut/pry apart u-locks and they carry the equipment to do just that. I believe in more rural areas and small towns you are just as well served by a light weight cable lock as some heavy lock. Oh, and my other requirement is that it must be a combination lock. I just know that the chances of me losing the key after locking up my bike are far greater then thief ;-)

Certainly no lock is invulnerable, and maybe a big monster lock carries an extra image of invulnerability that could fool the user into being less cautious and thereby make the lock even more vulnerable.

Kryponite doesn't used those cylindrical locks anymore. When that scandal hit, they had a replacement policy. I got all my Kryponite locks replaced for free. My guess is that nobody sells those cylindrical key locks anymore.

Be extra careful with the cylindrical combination locks that are often integral with cables - those are generally easy to open by feel!

For touring, I just got a Master M176 combination padlock that I plan to use with a Kryptoflex cable. No key to lose, secure enough to slow a thief down, and not too heavy.

The heavy duty locks are most important if you leave your bike someplace for a while and especially if it's left there repeatedly.

Since I don't want to have my new Surly LHT stolen Ii will add a good lock and cable, but I will go through all of my loaded gear to remove the 1 1/2 lbs it will weigh. My thinking is that touring is a matter of balancing priorities, and trading off gear for weight. So, what goes and what stays? I have recently moved to a lighter tent and cooking setup so that created some savings. Clothing is the current target for reduction. My best suggestion may be that I can take off 1 1/2 lbs from my body and then the lock is "free weight". Ta da!

Outside magazine, Feb 2012 pp 67-73, has an article on bike theft, "Who Pinched My Ride?"

One tid-bit: "You should spend about 10 percent of the total cost of your bike on security".

[QUOTE=Jim Kukula;13696541One tid-bit: "You should spend about 10 percent of the total cost of your bike on security".[/QUOTE]


So if you have a $5,000 bike you should spend $500 on bike security? Assuming they aren't talking about home-related security (e.g., alarm system), how does one do that?

Conversely, my touring bike was free - so I shouldn't bother locking it? Don't think I'll follow their recommendation.

That tidbit seems downright silly to me. Indyfabz and Prathman's comments illustrate why.

Also it is extremely location specific. In some cities I have seen locks that were in my estimation worth more than the bikes they were protecting. Strangely in that location it might even have made sense. In other places the same lock would be overkill for even a much nicer bike.

hi Mr VT, this has always been my take on this topic, and how I've travelled and locked up. Being in Montreal one has to be very wary, lucky and touch wood just talking about this--but on tour not in big cities, as you say, chances are slim (touch wood knock knock) so using common sense while shopping etc is the key word here. I too have aversions to keys on tour, and would never use that type of lock.

I have $2k+ into my Rohloff bike friday ,
got an Abus Bordo Granit link lock .. SRP $200.

+ a M plus long steel-O-chain, .. that is lots less.

Yes, the M176 will slow a thief down. It slowed this guy down by about 7 seconds - and he wasn't in any hurry.

But you're right - no lock is invulnerable. The best you can hope for is to slow them down long enough to catch them in the act, or have them move on to easier pickins. I use a heavy keyed cable lock, try to keep the bike within sight as much as possible, and make sure it's sufficiently ugly and dirty in hopes of it not appearing too appealing.

djb,

Funny, I toured on the Le Petit Train du Nord and the trails in the Eastern Twp, and always felt much safer in the "bike" culture that is Quebec. Never locked my bike when I've been up there. Of course, downtown is no doubt much different, but I guess being ignorant of likelyhood of thief made my visit that much more enjoyable. To some extent its also my current lifestyle. We don't lock our house or garage, I only lock my car in downtown Burlington. I try to not worry about theft of items since that only creates stress, which I try to avoid. Also, in the grand scheme of things, the likelyhood of your bike being stolen is very small, even without locking it, so I choose to not worry about it.

as in all cities, one does have to use common sense as to where one locks a bike up. If downtown I tend to use my Ulock plus a cable lock, just so hopefully it deters a little from taking more time--but after doing that, you cant let worrying become too much. Glad you like biking around here, but as you know, you have to be more careful of car drivers here, be on your toes, our drivers can be pretty bad.

The ultimate touring lock?

Not for me. Much prefer the flexibility of a cable over this.

Andrew

I'd seen this lock before, I can see that from a security pt of view, it is most likely much more secure than any coil lock, but for touring a coil lock is always going to be more convenient because one can quickly lock your bike to odd shaped objects-a tree, a picnic bench, whatever-and for me, thats much more important than pure strenght or a lock not being able to be cut.

I know its always a crap shoot with thefts, risks are always there, but usually one doesnt leave their bike alone when on tour that much....(touch wood)
Im also leery of having a key for a lock with me on a trip, but thats just me.

That's true. On past tours we used long cables and they worked since our bikes were not stolen. That said, we were rather paranoid about not leaving them unattended.

While it is less versatile than a cable, it appears to be far more secure. Perhaps even as secure as a U-lock without the weight.

http://tigrlock.com/pages/wp-content...iveWeights.png

Are those for sale anywhere I saw their kickstarter thing when they advertised it last summer, but hadn't heard of it since.

Not just you, I feel the same way. And when I put my cable lock away, I don't lock it since on one tour I completely forgot the combo. Took an hour to try the various combination I could remember. It turned out it was the last one I tried, as always ;-) So now I leave it unlocked so when I take it out to use it, I can look inside the lock and see the tumblers if I forget the combination. That way hopefully I'll remember it for the short time I'm in the store/cafe after I lock up.

VT, many years ago we went car camping with a few families, some of us brought bikes. One of the dads went to the washroom just before we were about to head out on our bikes, locked his bike, and when he came back couldnt get it unlocked. After ages trying all the combos, etc etc, we finally borrowed a hacksaw from the park people and sawed through it in an amazingly short time (in fact we were all frankly flabbergasted in how short a time-especially him as he had bought it recently with the assurances that it was very strong)

So you are not alone...

Always have my Kryptonite in its bracket whether it's a trip to the corner store or a 500-mile tour. To me it's just part of my bike.

The GF lost the key to a u lock that was being used in conjunction with a pretty new, thick Kryptonite cable to secure our road bikes in the house. (Had a bike stolen out of the house so we lock things up inside.) A mechanic from a LBS made a house call toting the shop's small, cheap, made in China hand cutter. Took him about 3 min. to cut through the cable. Would have taken much less time had be brought the good cutter. We were amazed at how the right tool can defeat a solid cable in no time.

I looked pretty heavily at that lock. I still haven't seen any prices, but I finally got around to looking at the weights, hoping for something amazing. My small u-lock, which I've yet to encounter a place where I couldn't use it to secure my frame, weighs as much or less than the 670 grams (about 1.5 pounds) of their "heavy" lock. The 1.3 kg (nearly 3 pounds) they're using on that chart must be for a full sized U-lock. Of course, cable lock users will scoff even more at those weights. Anyhow, after seeing the weights, the general length and awkwardness of the design (reduced packability) really turned me off.

As far as cable locks go, I work at a bike shop at UT Arlington and we've seen lots of cut cables. We have some abused Park Tool cable and housing cutters we keep around for utility purposes. We keep a few cable locks on hand just to show people how easily we can cut through them. The thin ones can be cut in one snip. I think a thicker one took me three full motions to get through. Another friend almost had their bike stolen outside of a friend's apartment. She had left it there and they weren't comfortable with just the cable lock she left, so they threw a U-lock on there for the night. The next morning, the cable had been simply PULLED from where it was crimped into the lock mechanism. Of course, the bike was still there because it was also secured with a U-lock. That defeated cable lock also hangs in the bike shop.

Cable lock for the campgrounds,otherwise the bike does not leave my sight.If you kill me you can have it......otherwise your going to have to fight me for it.I don't have 35 years to collect all of the crap again.

Took a leak in the Public WC, in Central Copenhagen, when I came out,
the guy beginning to strip off parts rode off, and that was just in a few minutes.