Am I crazy to carry a 12 pound security chain around with me?

[bikeman242]

Where I ride, there are no bike racks for U-Locks. I got the Abus bordo folding lock, in its longest length, but I find that useless in practice.

I was going to buy an Abus 12mm (1/2") security chain, in a 5 foot length. This should let me chain up really anywhere, mainly to trees. With the 5 foot length, I could buy a noose chain, wrap it around the tree, and have plenty of breathing room to attach the chain to my bike with a U-Lock.

It would only be for quick stops at a bathroom or a convenience store, nothing longer than 15 minutes max.

Any chain less than 12mm can be rather easily cropped.

This chain clocks in at 12 pounds. I have a braced rear pannier (Ortlieb Velo Shopper) that should be able to take the weight just fine, but I am wondering if I am nuts to be carrying such a heavy chain around on a regular basis. It might kill my ride quality, no?

Thoughts?

 

[Chancelucky2]

I think everyone weighs the security vs. weight/nuisance question a bit differently. There's no such thing as an unbreakable bike lock. Personally, I think a twelve pound lock is too bulky/heavy for someone who says he never plans to be away from his bike for more than fifteen minutes. It makes a bit more sense in the e-bike world where it's a lower percentage of your overall bike weight, but I don't think it's worth the tradeoff. If I were leaving it overnight or some place where you can't check on it every now and then, I'd consider it.
fwiw, one of my friends parked her Shimano e-bike outdoors at Duke in the common racks for the better part of a year without any problems. I think she was using a conventional U-lock and a chain that was definitely lighter than 12 pounds. She may simply have been lucky.

 

[Dallant]

It’s your decision based on on your evaluation of your location and situation. If you think that’s what’s required, I fail to see how we could think you crazy. I wouldn’t do it but I don’t ride where you do and I don’t ever leave my bike alone.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Have to say it does seem a bit over the top, but I certainly respect your intent to retain possession of the bike, and you know your environment better than anyone else, so...

We live in a pretty safe and quiet area, but I do have a "short as possible time away" rule that I enforce mercilessly on myself. Stewart's stores only (a regional convenience store and the center of life in these parts), bike where I can almost always see it, lock it to the bolted down picnic tables out front of almost every Stewarts. I use a lightweight cafe style lock and trust my Spidey sense to not even get off the bike if I don't like the vibe at the store. It's worked so far, but who knows when my luck might run out, sadly. If I was in a more urban environment - well, I just wouldn't be there in the first place.

Good luck though, over the top or not I doubt your bike is going anywhere you don't intend it to!

 

[JRA]

Problem is the person with the 7lb. cordless grinder with a slitter blade will be thru it in 30 seconds.

 

[Gene02638]

Problem is the person with the 7lb. cordless grinder with a slitter blade will be thru it in 30 seconds.

Location, Location, Location!

 

[ki11a]

I ride with my kryptonite chain and ulock all the time with no problem, the combined weight of them is about 15 pounds which is pretty heavy but with an ebike its no problem.

 

[Iridebikez]

I also think it's going to depend on your feel for the area. If it really is just a bathroom/food stop in the middle of a ride in a more rural area, I'd tend towards the messenger method of getting a U lock around the frame and rear wheel, then keeping half an eye on it while you're inside. Or the tried and true method of U locking it to a metal parking lot sign or something. Especially if you're using routes shared by other cyclists, people in those places are going to be used to seeing expensive bikes just parked outside with no lock at all.

On the other hand, if you're in areas where you know there's bike theft or it feels like people are waiting for you to leave it so they can snatch it up, the more locks the better. They're just a deterrent, but most bike thieves are opportunists, not folks walking around with grinders looking for bikes in broad daylight. Not saying it doesn't happen, but that kind of premeditated theft is most common at night and in areas where there are groups of bikes (aka, places with bike racks).

 

[GypsyTreker]

My wife and I tend to partner up. We don't commute with our bikes but go on rides, as an activity. If we stop at a cafe or brewery it's always an outside venue where bikes can stay next to the table. We keep a folding lock to feel good, I suppose, but have never found a need to use it. My two bike theft experiences were hit and runs. My wife was sitting next to my mtb in Long Beach and a guy simply did a grab and run. The other was taken off my rack while I was in a 7-11. It was a spare tire rack...they got it all, ballsy.

 

[fooferdoggie]

for 15 minutes its overkill.

 

[rich c]

I have yet to not find a handrail or parking sign of some sort that I can't get a u-lock around. When I stop for a snack or Gatorade, I take the bike in the store with me. No one has kicked me out yet, not even CVS

 

[Handlebars]

Where I ride, there are no bike racks for U-Locks. I got the Abus bordo folding lock, in its longest length, but I find that useless in practice.

I was going to buy an Abus 12mm (1/2") security chain, in a 5 foot length. This should let me chain up really anywhere, mainly to trees. With the 5 foot length, I could buy a noose chain, wrap it around the tree, and have plenty of breathing room to attach the chain to my bike with a U-Lock.

It would only be for quick stops at a bathroom or a convenience store, nothing longer than 15 minutes max.

Any chain less than 12mm can be rather easily cropped.

This chain clocks in at 12 pounds. I have a braced rear pannier (Ortlieb Velo Shopper) that should be able to take the weight just fine, but I am wondering if I am nuts to be carrying such a heavy chain around on a regular basis. It might kill my ride quality, no?

Thoughts?

I have that kind of chain ( not a noose though, wish I had bought a noose chain) and lock plus I have an Abus u-lock and I use them both every time I leave my bike even for a couple of minutes. It's the only way I could feel OK doing so. I never leave the bike outside for a long time, either. I have homemade panier boxes that can carry the locks. I somehow have come to enjoy the ritualness of keeping the locks in the same place, and locking the bike up. WEIRD!
Plus, I have a motion alarm.
I want to make the display removable as well so nobody can turn the bike on and wreck it. Plus I have a cable lock on the seat/suspension post.
Plus I have several steel cable ties around the battery and tube and I block where it could be pried off at the top end and it's all wrapped in lots of duct tape.
Plus now it looks so ugly it doesn't look new at all. Paint is still pretty much mint underneath even with all the times the chain hits or scrapes it as I lock/unlock.

 

[john peck]

Where I ride, there are no bike racks for U-Locks. I got the Abus bordo folding lock, in its longest length, but I find that useless in practice.

I was going to buy an Abus 12mm (1/2") security chain, in a 5 foot length. This should let me chain up really anywhere, mainly to trees. With the 5 foot length, I could buy a noose chain, wrap it around the tree, and have plenty of breathing room to attach the chain to my bike with a U-Lock.

It would only be for quick stops at a bathroom or a convenience store, nothing longer than 15 minutes max.

Any chain less than 12mm can be rather easily cropped.

This chain clocks in at 12 pounds. I have a braced rear pannier (Ortlieb Velo Shopper) that should be able to take the weight just fine, but I am wondering if I am nuts to be carrying such a heavy chain around on a regular basis. It might kill my ride quality, no?

Thoughts?

How about a 20 gauge ejection charge in the seat tube to be armed when you park the bike?. Thereś an uplifting thought.

 

[bikeman242]

This is what happens when you get a really good bicycle lock.

This is exactly why I am going for a long chain. These typical bike racks are quickly beaten with a grinder because they are stationary and mounted to the ground.

If I can wrap a 5 foot heavy chain around a big tree, I am not worried about the thief sawing down the tree. A 12mm chain like the Abus can of course be angle grinded, but if I keep it off the ground it should be much more difficult to cut through than a stationary bike rack.

Yes it is only for quick stops, but our eBikes are expensive.

 

[draver]

My Viro Panzer lock and 10mm Pewag 4 foot chain have a total weight of around 8.5 pounds. I think you could drop down to a lighter, 3/8" Pewag and have the same or even more security, (Surface Hardened 62-65 Rockwell) but neither will resist an angle grinder attack for more than a few minutes.

I have never heard of the Pewag chains being cut with bolt cutters. There are YouTube videos about Abus 12mm being cut however. Abus does not seem to publish any hardness ratings for their products. Consider a lighter, smaller chain with higher security. Probably a little more expensive though at $12 a foot.

 

[john peck]

Those cut racks make a case for not spending $4k on a bike if a cheap one will serve the purpose. Never leave a bike
where a thief can take it unobserved. You are safest when there are plenty of people around. BIke thieves are only
slightly less despicable than child molesters.

 

[Handlebars]

We should talk to Walmart about how they hide the bike racks where people can't see what's going on back there..that is, if they even have a bike rack.
It's not Green to treat bikes as if they don't matter while catering to the car parking.
I talked to a manager where there is no bike rack and no trees planted nearby and he was just being perfunctory in listening and replying that Walmart has no control of the common parking lot...and I then talked about how it looked in light of their climate action cheering and he agreed to raise the issue at higher level but nothing happened. They could have a bike rack INSIDE where the carts are kept if they wanted to.

 

[john peck]

Kudos for my local Safeway. They have an enormous rack that can handle a dozen bikes right next to the main entrance.
Washington has been voted the most bike friendly state two years running, & Port Townsend is probably the most
bike friendly town in it. 4 years ago there was only one other ebike in my village south of P.T., but lately theyŕe all over
the place.

 

[indianajo]

I was going to buy an Abus 12mm (1/2") security chain, in a 5 foot length. This should let me chain up really anywhere, mainly to trees. With the 5 foot length, I could buy a noose chain, wrap it around the tree, and have plenty of breathing room to attach the chain to my bike with a U-Lock.
This chain clocks in at 12 pounds. I have a braced rear pannier (Ortlieb Velo Shopper) that should be able to take the weight just fine, but I am wondering if I am nuts to be carrying such a heavy chain around on a regular basis. It might kill my ride quality, no?
Thoughts?

The 50 years I rode a bike worth $40 at the flea market, it was secure with a 3/16" hardware store chain and a $3 master combination lock. Weighed 2 lb, rode in a little bag on the back of the seat.
Now my bike costs $1800 new and has $840 of electric accessories on it, I use a 6' long 3/8" cable (sling) and a grade 10 master key lock. Weighs about 6 lb, fits in the pannier. No problems yet except a stolen rear light and some screws removed from the battery mount (the wrong ones). I leave my bike for an hour at the grocery weekly, for four hours when I am at my volunteer job downtown. Usually cable to a power pole, a gas meter or live electrical conduit. Bike racks in this town are useless toys for holding the front wheel . At grocery wrap TWO legs of the cart rack. somebody wants to cut a live gas pipe or 480v conduit or a power pole, has a serious testosterone problem. The cable is stainless, covered in tool dip, and so weird probably no thief has ever cut one, short of the $80000 construction equipment thieves.

 

[john peck]

The 50 years I rode a bike worth $40 at the flea market, it was secure with a 3/16" hardware store chain and a $3 master combination lock. Weighed 2 lb, rode in a little bag on the back of the seat.
Now my bike costs $1800 new and has $840 of electric accessories on it, I use a 6' long 3/8" cable (sling) and a grade 10 master key lock. Weighs about 6 lb, fits in the pannier. No problems yet except a stolen rear light and some screws removed from the battery mount (the wrong ones). I leave my bike for an hour at the grocery weekly, for four hours when I am at my volunteer job downtown. Usually cable to a power pole, a gas meter or live electrical conduit. Bike racks in this town are useless toys for holding the front wheel . At grocery wrap TWO legs of the cart rack. somebody wants to cut a live gas pipe or 480v conduit or a power pole, has a serious testosterone problem. The cable is stainless, covered in tool dip, and so weird probably no thief has ever cut one, short of the $80000 construction equipment thieves.

I dunno, Jo, if they want it, they´ll get it. The only real deterrent is plenty of witnesses...or a hungry pitbull.