Help Me Secure My Bike?

T

TheDoctor_13

New Member
I need help choosing a good lock and possibly a GPS system. My last e-bike (Kona Splice-E) was stolen about 2 months ago, just bought a Trek Verve+ 3 and want to make sure it doesn't happen again and if it does, I can get it back.

For GPS I mostly found the boomerang and Sherlock for use in the US. I'm leaning towards Sherlock because if they can just angle grind through a lock, why wouldn't they destroy the Boomerang too? Deter more petty theives, but doesn't feel secure to me. Any experience with them, or am I wrong about the boomerang? Half of the time it would probably take me a good bit to get back to my bike once I get an alert, such as walking around town. Any other good options?

I can't seem to locate a Abus Dealer through the website, so I was going to ask stores in person. Half the reason I bought a Bosch battery was to be able to combine the two. Are the chains a good option? I would like some flexability as I often can't get a u-lock around some places I lock it up. I have a spare Kryptonite u-lock (twisty and thin though), I can use in combination. I typically leave my bike locked up:
1) In-front of a store for 4-6 hours. (Where my last bike was stolen).
2) Downtown at a farmers market for roughly 2-3 hours.

The other places feel less likely to risk as they're more secluded.
 
Try one of these stainless steel 1/2" slings https://www.mcmaster.com/8942T15
Stainless is a p*** to grind. Won't burn out once it is orange. Also use that abus 2 slot lock, abus cores can't be shot out with a nail gun. Takes 2 shots. Mcmaster doesn't sell abus, but ebay does. https://www.ebay.com/itm/ABUS-92-80...843584&hash=item591fb5c53e:g:isoAAOSwrndcY4j8
also https://www.ebay.com/itm/ABUS-92-80...843584&hash=item591fb5c53e:g:isoAAOSwrndcY4j8
Lock the wheel with the kryptonite and the frame with the mcmaster sling. Two locks drive them crazy.
Nobody has monkeyed with my 3/8" sling, in 2 1/2 years of parking on the street at my volunteer job and by cart racks at stores. I coated mine with rubber handle dip https://www.mcmaster.com/9560T7 which can catch fire if they grind it. Keeps the sling from scarring my frame, too.
Mcmaster has a 3/4" carbon steel sling https://www.mcmaster.com/3550T24 if you really want to flatten a harbor freight grinder battery.
Edit 19:50 for other opinions, for example the pawag chain, https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/abus-vs-pewag-security-chain.32028/
There are some 50 lb alloy security chains sold for motorcycles, on some other thread somewhere. visit a motorcycle shop to see one of those. I don't like chains, they are twice as heavy as they need to be, one cut then a hit with a chisel & hammer in the slot and the thief is done. Westtechrigging.com that stocks the pawag chain in Washington St had a 2 slot lock like the abus 92-80 with 1 slot, on the same page. but last time I visited their site everything was blacked out.
Cables can be cut by $150 "cable cutters" that pinch the cable between an 8 lb sledge hammer & the ground. I keep my cable up off the ground, to prevent use of one of those, or standing on one arm of a bolt cutter with the other arm pressed against the ground. There is a hole in my frame that keeps the cable 28" above the ground.
 
Last edited:
TheDoctor_13 said:
I need help choosing a good lock and possibly a GPS system. My last e-bike (Kona Splice-E) was stolen about 2 months ago, just bought a Trek Verve+ 3 and want to make sure it doesn't happen again and if it does, I can get it back.

For GPS I mostly found the boomerang and Sherlock for use in the US. I'm leaning towards Sherlock because if they can just angle grind through a lock, why wouldn't they destroy the Boomerang too? Deter more petty theives, but doesn't feel secure to me. Any experience with them, or am I wrong about the boomerang? Half of the time it would probably take me a good bit to get back to my bike once I get an alert, such as walking around town. Any other good options?

I can't seem to locate a Abus Dealer through the website, so I was going to ask stores in person. Half the reason I bought a Bosch battery was to be able to combine the two. Are the chains a good option? I would like some flexability as I often can't get a u-lock around some places I lock it up. I have a spare Kryptonite u-lock (twisty and thin though), I can use in combination. I typically leave my bike locked up:
1) In-front of a store for 4-6 hours. (Where my last bike was stolen).
2) Downtown at a farmers market for roughly 2-3 hours.

The other places feel less likely to risk as they're more secluded.
Click to expand...

Only lock I'd buy.

 
webcurl said:
The more secluded places sound like the best places to steal your bike!
Click to expand...
Haha, that's true. What I meant was they're not on a main street with lots of unique foot traffic. Medical facility where the bike rack is out of sight unless you go deeper in the lot and is locked up and usually has kitchen staff and CNAs walking in and out near it.
 
A new experience from my side: The ABUS 440A ("A" as in "Alarm").

While I like ABUS solutions, am quite disappointed with the U-lock design details. Positives first:
  • Long "ear" of the U-lock makes it practical to fasten an e-bike to a solid object such as a road-sign post or a like object
  • The lock is made from very hard and thick steel, meaning the thief would spend more time on cutting it
  • I trust the ABUS lock cylinders; ABUS have been in the security business for a long time
Neutral:
  • The U-lock is heavy but you cannot help it if you want a strong anti-theft protection.
Negatives:
  • The person who designed the transporting device must have been a complete moron:
    -- It uses a strong fabric tape tightened by a roller mechanism. The intention is you wrap the tape around one of your bike's tubes and tighten it so the U-lock can be carried on the bike. The tape got twisted and stuck inside the roller mechanism on the first use; had to remove the transport device for good.
    -- Even if you manage tightening the tape on one of your bike's tubes, it seems the heavy lock would bounce during the ride, hitting you and your bike. Or, I misunderstood the concept.
    -- A typical mid-drive motor e-bike, step-through frame has no suitable place to attach the transport device whatsoever. You'll have to carry the lock in a pannier or in a backpack.
  • The person who made the instruction leaflet must have been hired from IKEA. The pictorial-only instruction is completely obscure. I had to consult some YouTube videos. No video has shown how to use the transport device! (Probably nobody can understand it).
  • The alarm goes off only after a long and vigorous shaking of the U-lock...
  • The alarm can be easily muffled with a palm... or a thick tape.
  • 100 dB is inadequate. 120 dB would have shaken the thief down to the bones.
Done is done. I will carry the U-lock in the pannier and have no great hope for the alarm deterrence functionality.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
  • The alarm can be easily muffled with a palm... or a thick tape.
Click to expand...
So true with many of these things!
A nice future design addon for ebikes might be an in-frame alarm driver that has bluetooth to communicate with locks & is powered by the ebike battery (set and forget).
It must be able to be tuned to the bikes specific frame to allow the whole frame/part of frame to be the sound emitter/driver (resonance), activated by the lock via bluetooth.
This could allow it to be quite loud and annoying.
I'll only take 0.25% of net profit thanks! :)
 
Ive been checking out this Bully Bike Lock that is a U lock with a built in alarm and pager that lets you know when the alarm is activated within an advertised 700m...

Looks legit
 
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