seat lock

[Hugh]

I ride 2 different bikes to work, the electric from home when its not forecast to rain a lot and my mountain bike when it is raining, that one gets placed in the back of the truck and gets ridden a mile or so to allow free parking. Thats on rainy days. I have panniers for the locks, battery, lunch, rainsuit etc and I really don't want to carry my seat and post into the office as well. So I've been looking at methods to lock the seatpost in place and found one that looks to be promising. It's called saveyourseatlock , basically a version much like a quick release clamp for a seat that has a lock so you can't just open the clamp to remove the post and I was wondering if anyone hear has used this item. I read about cables and padlocks and really don't care for that style too much.

 

[pxpaulx]

I use a cable to lock my seat - nobody wants the post, they want your seat! If you have a locking clamp, an allen wrench will take your seat directly with ease. Then again some wire cutters would take care of my cable just as quickly...

 

[harryS]

If you get one, change the seat bolt to something unusual. I was going to suggest a Torx, but I think there is one on my combi-tool in my bike bag.

You could use a standard allen bolt and fill the hole with epoxy. A torch will melt the glue and you can pick it out if you ever need to adjust the seat. Of course, if there is a nut on the other end, you have to take the corners off in any case.

And then after the first disappointment, the thief is challenged, and comes back a week later with a torch and a vise grips.

 

[J.R.]

If you want to keep your quick release hardware.

I generally will loop a cable lock through the saddle rails and wheels and back to the main frame lock whether I have quick release or not. I usually ditch quick release hardware since I always have a bike multi-tool with me. It makes that quick, 2 minute run into the store easy and just makes your bike harder to steal than the other guy's.

 

[Hugh]

That lock and roll system looks pretty good

 

[Jack Tyler]

I've been reading up on locks & locking and found this website section on better securing of seats and wheels to be very well done. In fact, the entire Best Bike Lock site is IMO exceptionally well written and an excellent tutorial. However, a clever young University student posted a video specific to seat locks I thought was worth us DIY folks considering. He picked up a used, throw-away bike chain from the bike shop, looped the chain thru the seat rails and under the top tube or seat stay (your choice), measured where there was enough play in the loop to allow seat adjustment, and then used a chain breaker to break the chain at that point. He then threaded the now-shorter, measured piece of chain thru a (also measured) piece of discarded inner tube, exposing both ends of the chain. He then rejoined the chain with the breaker tool. Cutting two slits into one end of the tube allowed him to then join the tube together (hiding the chain), the two slit ends overlapping the tube's other end. A bit of heat sealing or other tape finished it off. This struck me as cheap (always a good thing...), easy, not unsightly, allowing for seat adjustment, and presenting a somewhat perplexing deterrent to our typical (scum of the earth, looking for an easy nick) thief. Better than a cable? IDK...but it's somewhat innocuous visually, is always installed, and thieves seem to come equipped to deal with cables whereas this set-up might leave them a bit more more puzzled.