Decided on a bike! What lock should I get to keep it safe?
Discussion
Well after some too-ing and frow-ing, I have finally decided on a bike - a Scott Aspect 20.
I was going for a Trek 4300/4500 disc, but having sat on one I didn't like it at all. The guy in the shop showed me the Scott and I was really impressed.
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/scott/aspect-2...
What I do need, however, is a decent lock to keep my bike safe. I don't live in a high-crime area, and most of my rides are in a group with a pub stop somewhere in the countryside en route, but I do ride to the gym and want to keep it safe there too, without taking a rucksack.
So, what would you recommend? I guess a flexible/coil type lock is the most versatile as it can go round the frame or seatpost, but I believe D-locks are a bit tougher and harder to cut through with bolt croppers.
I will have a bottle rack on the down tube and probably a small pump on the vertical tube - the gear cables/brake tubing run along the underside of the top tube, preventing me from mounting the pump there, so mounting a D-lock could be difficult.
Any thoughts and suggestions? Budget around the £50 mark I guess.
Cheers!
I was going for a Trek 4300/4500 disc, but having sat on one I didn't like it at all. The guy in the shop showed me the Scott and I was really impressed.
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/scott/aspect-2...
What I do need, however, is a decent lock to keep my bike safe. I don't live in a high-crime area, and most of my rides are in a group with a pub stop somewhere in the countryside en route, but I do ride to the gym and want to keep it safe there too, without taking a rucksack.
So, what would you recommend? I guess a flexible/coil type lock is the most versatile as it can go round the frame or seatpost, but I believe D-locks are a bit tougher and harder to cut through with bolt croppers.
I will have a bottle rack on the down tube and probably a small pump on the vertical tube - the gear cables/brake tubing run along the underside of the top tube, preventing me from mounting the pump there, so mounting a D-lock could be difficult.
Any thoughts and suggestions? Budget around the £50 mark I guess.
Cheers!
Mike_C said:
Well after some too-ing and frow-ing, I have finally decided on a bike - a Scott Aspect 20.
I was going for a Trek 4300/4500 disc, but having sat on one I didn't like it at all. The guy in the shop showed me the Scott and I was really impressed.
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/scott/aspect-2...
What I do need, however, is a decent lock to keep my bike safe. I don't live in a high-crime area, and most of my rides are in a group with a pub stop somewhere in the countryside en route, but I do ride to the gym and want to keep it safe there too, without taking a rucksack.
So, what would you recommend? I guess a flexible/coil type lock is the most versatile as it can go round the frame or seatpost, but I believe D-locks are a bit tougher and harder to cut through with bolt croppers.
I will have a bottle rack on the down tube and probably a small pump on the vertical tube - the gear cables/brake tubing run along the underside of the top tube, preventing me from mounting the pump there, so mounting a D-lock could be difficult.
Any thoughts and suggestions? Budget around the £50 mark I guess.
Cheers!
Don't get a cable lock (i.e. coil/flexible), D-Lock (or euqivalent) is the only real option IMO.I was going for a Trek 4300/4500 disc, but having sat on one I didn't like it at all. The guy in the shop showed me the Scott and I was really impressed.
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/scott/aspect-2...
What I do need, however, is a decent lock to keep my bike safe. I don't live in a high-crime area, and most of my rides are in a group with a pub stop somewhere in the countryside en route, but I do ride to the gym and want to keep it safe there too, without taking a rucksack.
So, what would you recommend? I guess a flexible/coil type lock is the most versatile as it can go round the frame or seatpost, but I believe D-locks are a bit tougher and harder to cut through with bolt croppers.
I will have a bottle rack on the down tube and probably a small pump on the vertical tube - the gear cables/brake tubing run along the underside of the top tube, preventing me from mounting the pump there, so mounting a D-lock could be difficult.
Any thoughts and suggestions? Budget around the £50 mark I guess.
Cheers!
A cable lock will be cut through in no time, D-locks, although stronger, can be forced open with a small bottle jack. A heavy chain and padlock is best, but heavy means a pain to carry around.
Put on two lock, somehow locking frame and both wheels, and take saddle off of it's a quick release.
(Maybe I'm being a bit paranoid, and some places aren't as bad as London!)
Put on two lock, somehow locking frame and both wheels, and take saddle off of it's a quick release.
(Maybe I'm being a bit paranoid, and some places aren't as bad as London!)
Bedford Rascal said:
Thanks for that, very informative.I only use my D-Lock for locking my bike for a few mins outside a shop i may be frequenting, but it seems even that could be enough time for a bottle jack equipped thief. Just have to make sure I fill the whole lock with bike and stand every time.
It's a difficult dilemma, and one which is hard to apply personal recommendations to solve as the only advice anyone can offer is "Well my bike hasn't been nicked yet..."
My solution to the portability problem is a set of these:
Masterlock Streetcuff
They get some decent reviews, aren't vulnerable to bottle jacks in the same way that D-locks can be and seem pretty sturdy. (at least, my bike hasn't been nicked yet!)
They come with a bracket which mounts like a bottle-holder (so can be mounted in the same place as your pump with some longer bolts), but usefully they also fold up small enough to be shoved in a pocket, which is what I tend to do most of the time.
My solution to the portability problem is a set of these:
Masterlock Streetcuff
They get some decent reviews, aren't vulnerable to bottle jacks in the same way that D-locks can be and seem pretty sturdy. (at least, my bike hasn't been nicked yet!)
They come with a bracket which mounts like a bottle-holder (so can be mounted in the same place as your pump with some longer bolts), but usefully they also fold up small enough to be shoved in a pocket, which is what I tend to do most of the time.
Bedford Rascal said:
Wow, that is seriously worrying! 40 seconds to crack a 'Gold Secure' rated lock? What a joke!Based on that article, what did you buy?
Mr Will said:
It's a difficult dilemma, and one which is hard to apply personal recommendations to solve as the only advice anyone can offer is "Well my bike hasn't been nicked yet..."
My solution to the portability problem is a set of these:
Masterlock Streetcuff
They get some decent reviews, aren't vulnerable to bottle jacks in the same way that D-locks can be and seem pretty sturdy. (at least, my bike hasn't been nicked yet!)
They come with a bracket which mounts like a bottle-holder (so can be mounted in the same place as your pump with some longer bolts), but usefully they also fold up small enough to be shoved in a pocket, which is what I tend to do most of the time.
They look good, although the single chain link between the two looks an obvious weak point to me??My solution to the portability problem is a set of these:
Masterlock Streetcuff
They get some decent reviews, aren't vulnerable to bottle jacks in the same way that D-locks can be and seem pretty sturdy. (at least, my bike hasn't been nicked yet!)
They come with a bracket which mounts like a bottle-holder (so can be mounted in the same place as your pump with some longer bolts), but usefully they also fold up small enough to be shoved in a pocket, which is what I tend to do most of the time.
Mike_C said:
They look good, although the single chain link between the two looks an obvious weak point to me??
The single link is not as small is it looks in that picture, it's actually thicker than my thumb. I think you'd stand more chance going through the cuffs themselves, but that would require some fairly serious cutting power.It uses the cylinder locks which have been shown to be easily defeated with a BIC pen. The reviews on Bike Radar suggest most cannot open it this way but one reviewer was rather disdainful of it for this reason.
I wouldn't buy it on that grounds alone now, even though I rather like the concept of reducing the abilities of a thief to be able to apply leverage to the lock in general.
I wouldn't buy it on that grounds alone now, even though I rather like the concept of reducing the abilities of a thief to be able to apply leverage to the lock in general.
Mars said:
It uses the cylinder locks which have been shown to be easily defeated with a BIC pen. The reviews on Bike Radar suggest most cannot open it this way but one reviewer was rather disdainful of it for this reason.
I wouldn't buy it on that grounds alone now, even though I rather like the concept of reducing the abilities of a thief to be able to apply leverage to the lock in general.
I also have a set of these, and have tried the BIC lid trick on them - i can use it successfully on kensington PC locks, but the masterlock doesnt seem to suffer from the same weakness.I wouldn't buy it on that grounds alone now, even though I rather like the concept of reducing the abilities of a thief to be able to apply leverage to the lock in general.
Mike_C said:
Wow, that is seriously worrying! 40 seconds to crack a 'Gold Secure' rated lock? What a joke!
Based on that article, what did you buy?
A Kryptonite "mini" D-lock, with no "air" in the D (all snuggly fitting against frames in bikeshed at work).Based on that article, what did you buy?
And a cable lock that goes through wheels, seat and D-lock.
Edited by Bedford Rascal on Wednesday 18th May 16:11
robpearson said:
Mars said:
It uses the cylinder locks which have been shown to be easily defeated with a BIC pen. The reviews on Bike Radar suggest most cannot open it this way but one reviewer was rather disdainful of it for this reason.
I wouldn't buy it on that grounds alone now, even though I rather like the concept of reducing the abilities of a thief to be able to apply leverage to the lock in general.
I also have a set of these, and have tried the BIC lid trick on them - i can use it successfully on kensington PC locks, but the masterlock doesnt seem to suffer from the same weakness.I wouldn't buy it on that grounds alone now, even though I rather like the concept of reducing the abilities of a thief to be able to apply leverage to the lock in general.
It's a little bit overkill but for my 2 bikes i got an almax imobilser chain and squire stronghold lock with a hardie secure ground anchor http://www.almax-security-chains.co.uk/dr42qy20748...
Its a seriously hefty chain for home use as it's real heavy but should be pretty thief proof!
Its a seriously hefty chain for home use as it's real heavy but should be pretty thief proof!
I have decided to go for the Kryptonite Mini D-lock, reason being it is small enough to not be able to fit a bottle jack in there to break it, which seems to be the most common way of defeating a D-lock.
Combine it with a cable lock through the D-lock and both wheels and it will hopefully be enough to keep the opportunist at bay, and possibly even the more serious/prepared tea-leaf too!
Had Evans Cycles sold the handcuff things I'd have possibly gone for them, but they didn't and I was getting a 15% discount on accessories + 20% VAT off by purchasing it all through the Ride 2 Work scheme, so would have been silly not to get the stuff from them!
Thanks for the advice everyone.
Combine it with a cable lock through the D-lock and both wheels and it will hopefully be enough to keep the opportunist at bay, and possibly even the more serious/prepared tea-leaf too!
Had Evans Cycles sold the handcuff things I'd have possibly gone for them, but they didn't and I was getting a 15% discount on accessories + 20% VAT off by purchasing it all through the Ride 2 Work scheme, so would have been silly not to get the stuff from them!
Thanks for the advice everyone.
Mike_C said:
Wow, that is seriously worrying! 40 seconds to crack a 'Gold Secure' rated lock? What a joke!
Based on that article, what did you buy?
This is pretty thief proofBased on that article, what did you buy?
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3...
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