What is your security set-up?

[ChezCheese:)]

Right now, I'm thinking of getting a set of Pinhead locks, which will keep wheels from getting stolen, and a Pinhead Ulock, and also an alarm which will go off if anyone messes with the bike while it's locked up. I can also lock the seat post and headset post, if I think they are at risk. So no extra locks or cables to mess with.

The Pinhead locks will all use the same key and the key serial number is registered. One person reported that having Pinhead locks actually helped her recover her bike when it was stolen, because whoever had the bike now, bought from a pawnshop (so they claimed), needed some work on the wheel and the bikeshop called Pinhead to get a key made. Since it was registered to the original owner, Pinhead told the bikeshop it had been reported stolen and they (or the bikeshop) contacted the original owner. Bike and owner reunited! Also, youtube lock picker Bosnianbill couldn't pick the Ulock.

The alarm is only $15, and seems pretty loud and discouraging.

So what is your set-up?

 

[glenmorenee]

I am pretty much only a casual rider so my needs are much different from most.

Home set up:
Massive Abus Granit 37/80 padlock ($92) and Abus Granit chain ($36) bolted to heavy toolboxes in my garage.

On the road:
If I stop for lunch, I never leave the bike out of sight. I engage the cafe lock and take the controller.

If I think I will be stopping somewhere I will carry my Abus Granit 540 U Lock ($80) and Abus cable ($27). I'll loop the cable thru the front wheel around the barrier and clip to the cafe lock. And I'll U lock the bike to the barrier and take the controller. Here I am still vulnerable to seat theft so one of these days I may get some of those nut locks but again I rarely travel like this.

I bought all the Abus stuff used/new on ebay so you can save a lot of money there.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

I'm only going to be a casual rider as well, and I also don't live in a high crime area (I live in the country, in fact), but I'm hoping the alarm will discourage anyone even trying to mess with the lock. The alarm just arrived and I tried it out. Startled the bejeepers out of me and the dog when I activated it! Yikes. I had to put on ear protectors to try out the different alarm sounds. It is quite compact, about 1.5" x 3.75" x .75". The control fob is a standard sort of key fob size.

 

[indianajo]

I live in the city a mile from the courthouse. I'm out shopping or doing volunteer work 5 days a week. I use a 7' 12 mm cable through the frame & helmet, wrapped around 8' or higher signposts, utility poles, cart racks, or live electrical conduits. I use a master grade 11 lock, but will upgrade to abus 83/55 if anybody ever sells 4 of them keyed alike on ebay. Now the lock sets on ebay I think come without key cores. So far a "girls" bright green 2.1" tire bike hasn't been fashionable enough to be worth stealing. I met a guy in Clarksville whose fat tire purple wheel pedego was stolen out of his back yard.
My garage has abus hasps on a man door reinforced with angle iron with the door frame screwed to the cinder block with plastic inserts. Same Master 11 lockset. A previous thief knocked that door frame out of the wall with a sledgehammer. The garage (car) doors are metal and are cabled to the wall with 10" long 3/8" bolts through the wall about 18" above the ground. There are marks where a thief took a sledgehammer to the car door frame and nothing happened. The windows have bed frame rails over them, the anchors are 2.5 ' from the broken glass if anybody want to try that again.
I removed the quick disconnects from the seat & wheels & replaced with double nuts. Buying 2nd nuts for the motor was a PIT*, I had to make them with a tap I bought. The tools to remove the wheels & seat are in the school box in the pannier, but thieves aren't that hardworking. I've had a rear light tied on with tie-wraps cut off & stolen, so now I use 1 " long 6-32 screws. Somebody fiddled with the pipe the rear light (garmin) is mounted on last month at the grocery or farm supply in exurbia, but couldn't figure out how to get it off without tools.

 

[tomjasz]

Best u-lock, sometimes with added cable for seat and panniers. Mostly try to avoid leaving locked in vulnerable spots. Also own a “beater”. Old Trek frame with lower end gear. I can carry a small battery or just run a older saggy brick. Best bike is insured. Here most bike thefts are opportunistic. Just in the wrong place without any security with the wrong person passing.

 

[DDBB]

I ride for recreation only and my security system is to never let the bike out of my sight. We have stopped at restaurants on the way back from a trip with the bikes on the car rack and if I can't see the bikes from inside, I use a cable around the bikes and the rack. Of course a thief could cut the cable and steal the bikes but I guess that's a chance we have to take. I don't like eating where we can't see the bikes and I'd rather eat lousy food where I can SEE the bikes but my wife thinks differently so my meal is ruined worrying about thieves the whole time

 

[ChezCheese:)]

When I say casual rider, I mean I'll be using the ebike for recreation, exercise and going in to town to the grocery store, library, bank, etc. Not commuting to the same destination every day. But I am not going to be in sight of the ebkke constantly - - that's unworkable.

 

[tomjasz]

When I say casual rider, I mean I'll be using the ebike for recreation, exercise and going in to town to the grocery store, library, bank, etc. Not commuting to the same destination every day. But I am not going to be in sight of the ebkke constantly - - that's unworkable.

A good bike rack to use a u-lock on will probably be fine. Look for cameras for coverage of your spot. Of course it’s dependent on where you live and crime rate.

 

[sl_duck]

I replaced the QR skewers on the front wheel and seatpost with hex key units, and keep the tools in the bottom of the basket which clips to the front of the bike. I also have an ABUS Bordo folding lock which is nice and compact. When I stop for errends, I just lock the bike frame and grab the basket.
I never leave it outside overnight though, and my routine is such that the places I predictably go every day have secure parking so I don't even use the lock most of the time.

My goal is to make it as easy to use the bike as it would be a car. If I find myself thinking "yeah, I could take the bike but I'm worried about it being stolen" or it's a big hassle to lock or remove everything at each stop then I need a better system.
Ultimately, I'd like to have a GPS tracker like Boomerang. I'd prefer to do something to catch a thief, rather than simply redirect them to someone more vulnerable.

Also, have good insurance and a deductible low enough that if the bike gets stolen you are more excited about the prospect of a new bike than depressed at the money you've lost.

 

[nelzea]

ABUS Bordo, small ABUS D-lock + cable (for wheel) if I'm leaving it for a while out of sight.
For quick trips to the supermarket/library just the Bordo.
I can also take the controller off which makes it harder to make off with.

 

[6zfshdb]

Since I don't commute or take trips to the store, my security measures are:
1 - Never leave the bike out of sight.
2 - Don't frequent high crime areas.

If 1 & 2 aren't practical:
3 - Secure bike frame & wheels to rack or vehicle with both high strength cable and folding bar type locks.
4 - Remove seat & suspension post and take it, along with other valuables with me.
If a thief manages to disable both locks, at least he won't be able to ride off on a seatless bike.

Over the years, I've had more trouble with vandalism than theft. For example, I was eating at McDonalds during a trip with my brother back in 2016. We were seated with a good view of our bikes which were on a vehicle hitch rack. We watched in disbelief as two punk kids walked by in plain sight and stuck a pen knife blade in both tires of my bike which was the outer one on the rack! They ran and disappeared into a nearby mall before we got out the door!

Since then, I mostly carry my bikes in the bed of my pickup. It doesn't make them immune from this sort of thing but it does make it more difficult for vandals & thieves.

 

[elliot friedman]

Basically, I'm a casual rider who rides mostly in the confines of NYC, therefore, I've never left my bike out of sight except for the one time when I asked a police officer to watch it for me as I ran into a deli to grab a quick soda. He was kind enough to do so and exclaimed what a impressive e-bike it was. Thanks again dude.

 

[The duke]

AM I STUPID? I live in high crime SoCal and have a $4k emtb. I use a foldylock compact and mount to bike racks. I figure if they want my bike bad enough to break that, a u-lock or another cable isnt going to stop them. How foolish am I being?

 

[elect]

Speaking with the previous owner of my bike, he told me that once the police said that in general thiefs are specialized on one specific lock type.

So he was using the classic folding one plus the loud one on the brakes

Now, I need to (find the time and the will to) grab exactly one of those

 

[ChezCheese:)]

The loud one?

 

[Toomanycats]

AM I STUPID? I live in high crime SoCal and have a $4k emtb. I use a foldylock compact and mount to bike racks. I figure if they want my bike bad enough to break that, a u-lock or another cable isnt going to stop them. How foolish am I being?

I dunno. I also live in SoCal and don’t consider it to be particularly high crime- but I’m not in LA. I’m in the outlying burbs, and people are surprisingly casual about bike security. I see people with high end racing bikes who don’t lock them at all. (Assume they are watching)
I have the Abus Bordo Granit XPlus, and I mostly use it to lock the bike because I don’t want someone stealing the lock. A heavy duty cable lock probably would’ve been fine for 90% of my recreational riding.
Before I retired, I worked in a city with a large transient population, and lots of property crime. Would have found a way to store the bike in the building under those circumstances. It simply wouldn’t have been safe outside, locked or not.

 

[indianajo]

I will say the kitaco is long enough. Those fold bar things would leave one walking for blocks since you couldn't use utility poles to lock to. 6' of cable is not enough to use around some poles in this town. I have 7'. I like the paint protection sleeve. At Y120000 it is about the same price as a 1/2" stainless 8' sling plus an abus 55/87, and I wasn't sure the abus shrounded hasp lock had enough clearance to engage two sling eyes.
Edit: whoops, kitaco is $1000 not $100. Y108 to the $. Bike + panniers + battery + motor is only $2850.

 

[TimJohn]

I just installed an alarm (motion) on the back rack. Zip tied it in an inconspicuous location and arm it every time I park. 120 DB sound and 7 different alarm notes. Bought from Amazon for $22.

There is a U lock that is octagonal shafted so it would take two cuts with a grinder to remove it. It is 18 m.m. thick and then a cable lock to secure the front wheel (18 m.m. as well 3 ft long). I removed the quick releases because I installed a motor in the front and installed a keyed switch to the battery power. So rule number one, so I am told, secure the most expensive item...the frame. Also if I would never lock the bike out of site and if I did then I would remove both pedals (quick release ones installed).

Finally I looked into the Boomerang GPS but its service is only available to U.S. and EU locations. Wish it would come to Canada. Other GPS devices are not exactly designed for bikes, at least from what I could find and the monitoring service was expensive. I liked the Boomerang because you can purchase the service in 1/4ly blocks and it was only $3.50/month.

 

[TimJohn]

The Kitaco lock is quoted as $1002 U.S. from what I saw with your link. A little rich for my tastes and I would have some serious buy's remorse.

 

[tomjasz]

We spend good dollars on lighter bikes and then lock up with anchors. My LEO buddy thinks high dollar locks are an indicator of a sendup bike and a challenge for the pro thieves. I can’t think of the name of the YouTube locksmith but he seldom if ever fails the challenge. I look for cameras and good exposure and expect the worse if parked for hours. Best is relative.