Decided on a bike! What lock should I get to keep it safe?

[Mike_C]

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!

[Mike_C]

Are they that much stronger (the D lock over a cable lock)?

[Mike_C]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

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?

[Mike_C]

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??

[Mike_C]

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.