How much do you spend on securing your bike?

For me it’s based on risk of

For me it’s based on risk of the bike being nicked and how much I’m prepared to tolerate.  For my utility/commuting bike that I’d leave in a city centre, station etc (all day) it’s a silver grade D lock (£30) through the seat stays, a secondary cable lock through the frame/front wheel (£30), a thin wire strop (£10) from the saddle through the helmet vents (onto D lock) and a cafe combo lock (£10) for very short stops, or if the bike is in sight.  I also have a pinhead wheel lock on the front wheel in case I haven’t got a strong point to secure the wheel to.  It’s a pretty old bike, but has some good (upgraded) components on it so I’d rather not have the nausea of having to replace it.

For the road bike (which I wouldn’t risk in the same way as the utility bike) it’s just a cafe lock (£10) and I have occasionally squeezed a mini D lock (£40) between the seat pack and saddle if I’m perhaps leaving it out of sight in a higher risk area.

My utility bike locking routine does attract some odd looks but, having read some of the other comments here, I’m with like-minded people!

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

I employ a full-time manservant to ride with me (a respectful distance behind me, of course) and then stand guard over my bike whenever I leave it anywhere.

I fitted a small charm inside my frame: if the right incantation isn’t spoken within a certain period of unlocking the bike, one of the Children of He Who Must Not Be Named is summoned from the Spaces Inbetween to take whoever is touching the bike at the time away.  I won’t say to where – but you wouldn’t like it… 

This is going to be a very

This is going to be a very controversal answer for many of you.  Before I get into my next shocking statement there is a qualifier to my answer, and that the locks I’m talking about are ones that you can comfortably carry with you, not some 17 pound chain wrapped around your waist, but something less than 7 pounds.  

I personally don’t believe any lock, no matter the amount of money you spend will, in todays world, stand up against a professional attack by a very determined thief for more than a minute and half!

I’ve read many reports of locks getting the Gold rating only later to find out that they were easily defeated.  So why even bother spending a fortune for a lock only to go to your bike to find it gone?  Sure the more expensive one may slow down the attacker by 30 seconds but that’s about it.  The real cheap locks will take about 15 seconds to defeat so there is that to think about, but I think a decent midgrade lock is all that is effective to last around a minute.  All a lock in todays world will do is stop the opportunist.  

Why spend say $5,000 for a 14 pound carbon fiber bike only to riding with a 17 pound lock?  That just doesn’t make sense to me to be carrying around a lock heavier than the bike, not only that but the extra weight of the lock defeats the purpose of having a light weight bike.

The other issue with bikes is that if you have a bike with top of the line components, a thief could simply strip parts of the bike, though in todays world it would take longer to do that then it would be to steal the bike anyways.

Also the bike protection insurance that some locks offer you aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.  You have to jump through a lot of hoops that most people won’t and can’t do and thus never get any money for the bike.  These loops I’ve found are in the American versions of the best locks, not sure if these same loops apply to other countries.  Here in the States you have to have the following at the time of purchasing the lock to be sent in to the Kryptonite:

Contact details
Lock information including a copy of the itemized receipt of purchase
Key number of your lock
Vehicle information including vehicle type (bike/powersport), base cost, the serial #
An itemized copy of the bill of sale
An image of your bicycle or powersport vehicle

Then at the time of theft you have to this:

Report the theft to the police within 72 hours.
Immediately report the theft to your insurance company, if covered by insurance.
Notify Kryptonite within seven (7) days of the theft: submit a ticket through our website

Contact details, including your email address.
Registration confirmation number, (would be in your registration confirmation email).
Copy of the official police report.  (this one is a huge problem in big cities because police departments won’t waste their time doing police reports for stolen bikes)
Description of the lock-up – provide info on how the lock failed (we always recommend locking to a secured stationary object). (They will require pictures with the description)
Image of the broken lock*.
Image of one original key.
Proof of deductible from insurance company, if covered by insurance.

*Kryptonite reserves the right to request the actual lock…and they will want the defeated lock, if the thief took the lock there will be no coverage.

 Of course you have to buy the registration program and pay the fee for up to 5 years (you can pay for shorter terms but you can only renewal it once for a total not to exceed 5 years), after the 5 years expires you have to buy a new lock and start all over.  About 99% of all bikes that are stolen when a Kryptonite lock was being used the owners never saw any money, but they would get a brand new lock!  Krptonite ran into a lot of flack over their warranty by a large network news program about 5 or so years ago and they have sinced streamed lined it as detailed above, but  I haven’t heard is what percentage of bikes they are paying claims out for now, my understanding that they are paying about one to two percentages more than they were before, but this is information that the lock company would not share with the news story and they won’t share it now, but the news story was able to get a close idea due to complaints they received after a bike was stolen.  They seem to be a tiny bit more willing to pay the deductible for your private insurance but they are not so willing to pay for the bike itself, so it behoves you to have private insurance.  

If you have a really nice bike and are fearful of having it get stolen then there is a way to prevent that from happening…don’t ride the bike and leave it someplace where that could happen, instead if you need to leave the bike unattended you could buy a decent second hand bike for around $400, buy a decent lock for around $45, and save the nice one for rides where you know you won’t be leaving it unattended.

All I use for a lock is a Abus Disc lock and a cable that I’ve used now for about 35 years, but I don’t park my bikes in high crime or even medium crime areas, and always highly visible and within my eyesight as well.  All my places I’ve ever worked at they let me bring the bike into my office so there was no need to lock it up outside in a large city area where I worked.  I was lucky in that respect.

Outside – zero. I simply

Outside – zero. I simply wouldn’t leave either of my bikes unattended and hate carrying a lock strong enough to keep them safe(r)

All the budget has been spent at home – ground anchor, secure shed, etc. But ultimately I didn’t need to do that either as my house insurance fully covers me for theft. The only reason I bothered is because the bikes are self-builds and as such have a certain sentimental value. Both low-run frames that are no longer available so they’re effectively irreplaceable. 

Online: No ride sharing on social media, big Strava privacy zone

When I used to commute (on my best bike) I never locked it at work in 3+ years of doing so, I guess I was fortunate in that we had very secure bike parking – unless there was an inside job. 

£300-something eight year old

£300-something eight year old hybrid; locked up with a £65 Kryptonite New York mini (the Fahgeddaboutit); pentagonal security skewers on seatpost and wheels.

Nothing as I don’t leave it

Nothing as I don’t leave it unattended and my Brompton comes with me into places. 

At home I have an Asgard shed

At home I have an Asgard shed, £450.

Then out and about I have a gold rated D-lock, £24, and a cable lock that the D-lock goes through to secure my child seat, £12. Have a reasonably secure shed at work so don’t go crazy on locks.

Pay £220/year to insure my two bikes (worth £1500 & £1100 new), so if they get nicked then not that big a deal. Already had the bike I had sentimental attachment to stolen, so the current two being stolen just means new bike time.