Locking Your Bike

[pooks]

I have yet to lock my bike anywhere because no place I've been has a bike rack. I never leave my bike outside, though -- I either take it in with me or I just don't stop.

It has been suggested that I lock it to signs or posts. If you lock your bike to something like that, do you do anything to keep it from getting scratched up?

The shopping center near me has huge brick pillars. No way to lock to them. But they do have handicapped parking signs. That seems rather awkward, though....

[Lise]

I always lock my bike unless I can have my hand on it at all times! When you're looking for a pole to which to lock the bike, remember that a thief can lift a bike + lock right up and off a pole that doesn't have something wider at the top. I lock the front wheel and frame with a Kryptonite lock (one of the new ones), and put a Kryptonite cable through the back wheel and the lock. I'm sure a dedicated thief could still get most of what he wanted off my bike, but I sure as heck am not going to make it any easier for him.

[mimitabby]

I have yet to lock my bike anywhere because no place I've been has a bike rack. I never leave my bike outside, though -- I either take it in with me or I just don't stop.

It has been suggested that I lock it to signs or posts. If you lock your bike to something like that, do you do anything to keep it from getting scratched up?

The shopping center near me has huge brick pillars. No way to lock to them. But they do have handicapped parking signs. That seems rather awkward, though....

are there any trees? sometimes there are pipes coming down from the roof that you can use.

If you are gentle, it won't scratch the bike!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

You can put a bandana between the bike frame and the post you are locking it to.
I lock my bike to a wrought iron park bench sometimes on Main St where there are no parking sign poles. There is almost always SOMETHING you can lock to if you think outside the box. Do ask the store to consider a bike rack- tell them more and more people are biking to save gas and you will shop there more often if you can lock up your bike outside safely.

[CorsairMac]

I don't even own a lock. If I can't take mine in with me - I don't go there. I know that isn't the answer to your question but it's my only way home so I can't afford the even remotest possibility of having it stolen. I have yet to have anyone tell me I Can't take it in somewhere and it's actually been a conversation piece on more than one occasion while I was shopping. I did have 1 friend told that she couldn't bring her bike into Wal-Mart coz they don't have any way of telling if it's hers or if she bought it there so she and I went back there together on our bikes and waltzed right in like we belonged. Guess it was either something that Wal-Mart greeter had made up...or the 2 of us together with our bikes were very intimidating (I thinketh not lol).

[pooks]

Okay, good info -- forgot about trees and yet another use for a bandana!

Corsair, I'm afraid I'm a bit like you. If I could sit inside and eat and still see my bike locked up outside I might do that without worrying so much -- but the idea of chaining it up and leaving it still leaves me a bit nervous.

Today I took it into the doc's office. Our group of docs left the larger group they were with and opened their own small clinic, which happens to be a few blocks from me. I couldn't remember their new phone number and so decided to ride up there while I was out riding other places. I have to admit those women on staff there gave me the most disapproving looks I've gotten while taking my bike indoors. They didn't say anything though. I scheduled my appt. and left, no harm/no foul.

I'm debating actually riding my bike to my appt, but probably won't because there's no place to look it and I doubt it would fit in the exam room! But it's funny that the women gave me such "looks" because I'd already told the doc I might ride my bike to my appts. when they moved, and she said, "Go ahead!"

[CorsairMac]

yeah - I do drive to my doc appts........my rationale there is what do I do with the bike while I"m having my exam??.....I don't want to leave it in the waiting room and most of those areas aren't big enough for the ppl waiting. But for my shopping sprees = oops...I meant trips, restaurants, even the convienence store for their "convienences" - I take the bike in with me.

as for the disapproving ladies?.....they were probably just jealous coz you were out riding while they were trapped in an office! :-D

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I took my bike in with me to the drugstore and the bank the other day for the first time- no trouble yet. But my problem comes up when I'm on MainSt and the stores are way too small to bring a bike in. That's when I use the park bench. It's a small rural town, pretty friendly, but with it's share of bad eggs and wayward joovenile delinquints (spelling?).
But nowadays I take my helmet and gloves and bike tools & pepper spray in with me (all piled into my helmet) because somebody stole a glove off my bike already and my DH had some bike tools taken from his zipped handlebar bag.
Now I keep all my bike flat tools and essentials in a ziplock bag in my saddlebag, so when I lock up my bike I just toss that ziplock into my helmet with my gloves and take it with me. No more leaving my helmet on my bike.
I have to open my saddlebag anyway to get my cablelock. Hopefully they won't take my saddle bag itself because there are 4 different buckles to undo in various places to get it off and they can't do it quick enough to be unnoticed or perhaps caught in the process, unlike quickly swiping a glove or helmet off the handlebar.

If I lived in NYC I would have to do some major locking action. I've never SEEN so many stripped/hacked up bike carcasses chained to poles as when we went to NY last month! The chains they use alone must weigh 10 pounds!

[xeney]

It seems like it would be a pain in the neck to take your bike inside with you all the time. I lock mine outside all the time, but I have two older bikes specifically for riding/locking up around town. We got rid of the quick-release bolts on my mixte so I don't even bother carrying an extra cable for locking the wheels. (Not that my wheels are worth stealing, they would just be very hard to replace.) I just started locking the helmet to the bike and that is so much easier than dragging it around.

But do remember to take everything removable off your bike. I forgot to remove my headlight today while I was in the store, and some jerk stole it. (Anyone know where I can get a silver Cateye EL-200 or EL-210? I have only been able to find the black ones, and silver looks better on my bike. Hush.)

[Lifesgreat]

Being an elected official, I am going to take a political angle on it. Ask your town council and/or downtown association to install bike racks. There may be money available somewhere. Also, ask your city planning staff to consider writing an ordinance that requires bicycle parking on certain types of development where people may be inclined to ride. Gently nudge your elected officals into a better understanding of cyclist's needs.

My 2 cents.

[pooks]

I read on bikejournal that the police in our town are notoriously NOT bike friendly. I also know we have a great bike/hike trail that public officials have said on the record is "mainly for people walking, anyway" and they won't post any signs about bicycle safety, etc.

But it doesn't hurt to try!

What I'm going to do that I think might be more helpful is contact the management company that handles the particular shopping area near me. They might be more open to requests, especially since the manager of Starbucks and Subway both told me that they would also put in requests.

[susiej]

I leave mine at the train station locked with a u-lock almost every day. I don't worry so much because it's an obvious WSD (with that lowered top bar -- yuck, won't make that mistake again) Trek comfort bike. Not sexy at all (except to me). The bike bag is locked to the seat post and rack with a seat post cable and combo lock. I try to take the rear light off the back, but don't worry about the first aid kit or minimal tools in the bag.

I left our fifteen-year-old Nishiki road bike on a cable/key lock at another commuter train station outside Philly for about two months without moving it (I got pregnant and exhausted). When finally rescued, someone had almost cut through the cable lock, but the bike hadn't been stolen.

Peak commuter trains don't allow bikes (although Philly buses now have the cool front bike racks), plus I've nearly fallen backwards carrying my bike up the train stairs. Taking the bike with isn't really an option. There are usually two other bikes in the rack, sometimes a whole half dozen! For a few days, there was a green WSD (that lowered top bar again) locked to a small, pink bike, locked to the rack at the train station. How cool is that?

(One day my husband forgot the key to his U-lock, and managed to lock both bikes to the rack with one U-lock. It looks like my bike tried to bunny hop his bike crosswise and fell on top. He's an amazing man.)

I've also left my bike, unlocked, on my car rack for days on end. Worst that happened was some idiot driving into the bike (on the car) and bending the wheel and scraping paint. Husband had his hitch-mount bike rack stolen off his car in our driveway though.

Now, if I got the bike downtown, that's another story. I wouldn't leave the bag on the bike, and would either lock it with the dozens of other bikes outside my building, or would take the front wheel with me. A co-worker had his bike stolen from the scene of his bike accident.

--SJ