Silly question about locks on a road bike

[Grog]

My road bike has never seen a lock, except overnight during supported cycling tours. It's a very compact road bike with an aluminum frame, with oversize tubes.

Now I'd like to ride with this group but most of their rides include lunch somewhere in the middle and riders are requested to bring their own lock. I'm pretty sure that I could lock up with someone else but I'd rather be autonomous, especially for the first few rides I do with them. I don't need anything big, but at least I must be trying.

What do you suggest? I have looked at several locks but I don't know what I'd with a u-lock when on the bike, and even cable locks seem pretty big (I don't know where I'd wrap them on my frame without having it hit the rear wheel).

HELP!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I have a coiled thick cable w/key lock that fits in my saddle bag.

I tend to think of it this way- the size of the lock/cable is usually directly proportional to how badly you want to keep your bike.

[Savra]

My mother just commented on this. "You spent so much money to get a light bike and then you want to go and add a really heavy lock to it." I couldn't disagree with her. It is an unfortunate aspect of owning a bike. I was thinking of the Kryptonite Mini lock. It's supposed to be the bike lock for bike messengers. 3 1/2" x 5" and 1.6 lbs but as strong as a regular U-lock Problem is, I can't find one here. In fact, the LBS's here haven't heard of the them. I will probably be ordering one on line or picking one up while I'm in LA in May.

[BeeLady]

My everyday lock with OK security is one made by Trek - a cable lock with a combination. It comes with a bracket you can put on your frame and the lock snaps into the bracket for traveling.

Its not too heavy (a pound maybe?), the bracket can be temporarily installed and the cable is "permanently coiled" so the size is less than 5" across.

This lock should work for a lunch hour. And if you don't want to bother with the bracket you can just lock it around your seat stays up near the saddle.

Mimitabby called this a Latte lock (google it)

[TxDoc]

Hi,
you could try the alarmed cable lock from kryptonite. It's small and has a retractable cable so it can be stored inside a small or medium saddle bag when not in use.

[redrhodie]

The snob addressed bike theft just this week:

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/04/victim-complex-coping-with-bike-theft.html

Pay extra attention to #4!

[Zen]

That Tokyo Bike Tower is the coolest thing ever.
Those wacky Japanese have robots for everything.






.

[OakLeaf]

I think for a lunch stop what you need is pretty minimal. Depending on the neighborhood of course, but our groups only sporadically lock bikes for a breakfast or lunch break. It's actually more common that we don't.

I actually feel more comfortable leaving my road bike unlocked than I do my commuter - just for the simple fact that, given the clipless pedals, some kid isn't going to be able to see an opportunity and just ride off with it.

I've considered the same question, and so far I haven't bought a lock for the road bike, but I'm thinking along the lines of a very light coiling cable. When I'm in a restaurant - looking out the window at my bike - and many people are walking in and out in view of wherever the bikes are parked - all I really need to do is create a teensy disincentive or obstacle. If someone backs their van up to my bike I'm going to know about it - if someone pulls out a bolt cutter I'm going to know about it - and I'll have enough time to get out and confront them.

[spotlightmama]

That tower is like the Matrix for bikes, lol.

Hmm...this has me thinking that I need to get a good lock.

[shootingstar]

The snob addressed bike theft just this week:

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/04/victim-complex-coping-with-bike-theft.html

Pay extra attention to #4!

The above has been the criteria..for the level & price that I paid for my bikes..since we're carless.

One of my sisters saw 2 different bike thefts in downtown Toronto. One of the bikes was locked to a chain fence. Another person witnessed a serious heist of a bike where the bike was thrown into a truck of other stolen (?) bikes.

A woman at work at her bike stolen that she hid underneath her RV. (kinda naive in my opinion since they have neighbours. She suspects it was one of her neighbours.)

I had my saddle stolen. So I had my quick release on my saddle post changed after they installed my new saddle. Yea, I had to walk home with the saddleless bike..thankfully not so far. At the bike store, the attending bike mechanic said to me that sometimes it's just someone who just playing a prank and would have thrown my saddle somewhere.

Same attitude for some car thefts that have occurred around here, where car gets stolen, driven and trashed inside where people have partied in it. Car is then left somewhere else in the city. With bikes it's even easier since in the minds of some folks, it's a small, lighter thing to play a theft "joke" on the owner.

Depending on the geometry of the bike, I've had my bike lock holder mounted on the bike..but I realize this is not possible for lighter, compact road bikes.

[Savra]

I recently moved to the Buffalo area from California and am constantly amazed at how people lock their bikes (or don't lock their bikes). For the most part they are rarely locked with the front wheel and frame secure. Most often it is just the front wheel secure. If the frame and wheel are secure then it is only with the flimsiest of locks. Coming from California that would be like asking someone to "pretty please" take my bike. Since I did pay so much for my bike I lock the wheel and frame with a U-lock from Kryptonite and a cable from Kryptonite holds my seat post on. Even if I'm just stopping in for lunch or grabbing something from the store I double lock.

[KnottedYet]

Oh, man, that bike parking tower is AWESOME!

Seattle needs one of those. (we do have a Bike Station, but it's in an awkward place)

I have a U-lock with a cable to add to the irritation and time-delay experienced by thieves.

Usually I take my utility bike inside with me wherever I go. The little neighborhood grocery store is cool about it, they figure it's like a shopping cart. Home Depot didn't even bat an eye as I rolled it around the aisles.

But if someone really wants to steal your bike and you aren't hovering over it, I kinda think it's gonna go.

(which is why my Waterford doesn't leave my hands. When I lock up my utility bike (my Surly) I feel a pang of anguish, but my utility bike is meant to be USED for utility things.... so it gets locked up sometimes.)

[redrhodie]

Yeah, that Japanese conveyer thing is too cool. There were a lot of bikes in there! Wonder why no Japanese man has ever won the tour de France?

[Grog]

Thanks all!

I think I will go for a small coil lock, either combination or key, and try to have it hold on my saddle somehow, or fit it in one of the water bottle cages, maybe? I am going to get a bigger saddle bag sometime soon but probably not until I go to France in July, so that's not a solution for now. My problem is really "lack of real estate on the frame". I don't want to go to club rides with a backpack!

I know very well that no lock is theft-resistant, having myself been involved in breaking expensive ulocks (after a long winter outside). It took less than 90 seconds to an unexperienced "thief" (my dad) to figure it out. :) I'm getting a lock mostly for "social" reasons, so I can contribute to the mass of inter-locked bikes. I never lock my road bike otherwise, and don't really plan to start doing it (except on that occasion).

If it gets stolen one day, well, so be it. (Most likely the thief is going to have to actually push me off the bike!!!)

[kat_h]

I always try to lock up beside a nicer looking bike. I've also covered my frame with reflective tape so brand names are hidden, it's kinda ugly, and it's really distinctive.

For carrying the lock - I keep a u-lock in my panniers and a cable lock wrapped around the front of my topbar with one pass around the front of the bike so the lock doesn't slide along the bar. It stays still quite well and doesn't get in the way of anything as long as I don't get it around the brake cable in the front.

[GLC1968]

I've heard it said that you only have to lock your bike better than the one next to it! ;) Personally, I don't ride my road bike when I'll have to leave it alone. It's not replaceable, so I'm paranoid. I reserve my touring bike or my mixte for those type of rides and I keep a cable lock in a bike bag. I have seen many thin lightweight cable locks though, some that you could even put in a jersey pocket. They won't deter a real thief, but they'll keep joyriders and jokers from making off with your bike.


Did anyone else think of the Matrix when you saw that bike tower video? It reminded me of the scene where they show all the humans as 'batteries' in big towers...:p

[F8th637]

Did anyone else think of the Matrix when you saw that bike tower video? It reminded me of the scene where they show all the humans as 'batteries' in big towers...:p

I must admit I did think that exact same scene. LOL

[IvonaDestroi]

I wouldn't trust it without a solid lock...

I never trust it! I've lost 2 already because I didn't want the inconvenience/cost of a big heavy u lock but, in hindsight, the other choice is to just have accept that you might lose it AND sit there in the restauraunt peeking out the window every 2 seconds to make sure it's ok.

Bike theives are sneaky, they have probably noticed that there is a group of bicyclists with nice bikes that park at a particular restaurant on a regular schedule.

Not worth the risk, just get a good lock and deal with it. BTW cable locks seem to be what they go for first, from personal experience (the majority of bikes that me and my friends that have lost were locked with good cable locks.)

I now proudly lug around a big fat kryptonite "forget about it" u lock, and I'm headed towards a personal record of how long I've kept my bike.

[PscyclePath]

I've got a small colection of locks that I use, depending on what part of town I'm in. For quick stops at the coffee shop and club rides, I've got a Bell cable with a key lock that I use to keep the bike from wandering off too far while I'm somewhere nearby or watching it. It rides ina small handlebar bag that I can move from bike to bike if need be, or it can fit in a jersey pocket.

On the commuter bikes, I'm a lot like Iwona, and I pack a Kryptonite NY 3000 U-lock. I use this one when I'm going to be away from the bike for awhile, and when I lock up at work or around the downtown area. The U-Lock gets strapped down to the top of my rack trunk, or a pannier if I'm packingthem that day.

And when I'm feeling particularly unlucky, I bring out the Krypto Fuhgeddaboudit New York Chain ;-) This derned thing weighs more than my road bike, and pert near as much as the MTB or Cross-Check does ;-) I wear it around my waist like a belt -- at least for a day or two when it dawned on me that I just might misplace the key, and find myself all locked up in my own chain for the rest of my life. So now I have one of those little carabiner things that I clip between the lock and the link on the other end of the chain, sort of like a belt buckle. I get a bit of ribbing about it,,, but like some folks wear ankle weights for the extra fitness, I just wear my bike lock :rolleyes: