I am wondering if any of them work.

Because, at least for a while, all of my and my family’s bikes need to stay outside, and they are currently locked up with a combination of multiple D-locks and motorcycle chains, I was thinking about topping it all off with a single, alarmed cable lock, run through all of their frames.

Do they work alright? And if they do, why don’t more people use them? What’s the catch? It seems to me that, together with proper bike security, a simple alarmed cable run through the frame that would create a loud noise in the middle of the quiet neighbourhood at 4:00 a.m. (or whenever) would be a decent additional deterrent.

An alarm going off in a thiefs face has got to be annoying and if you yourself could hear it then all the better but I think alarms in general get a bad press because it appears that no-one reacts to them.

proper bike security =

We have one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B01LG1IUN0 but didn’t pay anything like that much for it.

It’s OK, we use it in places where the bikes are likely safe but we want a deterrent against casual pilfering, or if we’re sleeping in the tent next door. There is very little mechanical security, just a small cam and build quality is a quite poor so the case can be pulled apart easily. There is a microswitch to detect that sort of tampering, but if the tampering removes the battery…

Anyone that thinks a cable alarm will do anything is misguided.

Most thieves have a coat. Place coat over alarm, muffled, snip, steal.

Might be better off with another chain and an alarmed disc lock as the lock

When we have the bikes at our static caravan, I run an alarmed cable lock through the bikes in addition to the big chain link locks. It’s a low crime site anyway as a guy just down from us leaves his expensive DH rig on the car roof rack.

Strictly speaking, the alarm will go nuts if the cable is cut.

At home, the bikes are in a secure garage.