It seems almost every time I come on here, theres a new thread about someones bike being stolen.

I’m very lucky that Ive never had a whole bike stolen. You hear that even the best bicycle locks can be cut through in under a minute, and how easy it is to sell stolen parts. Its probably quite a well paid career..

Was wondering if anyone had seen this.

Get a proper lock and puny tools like they were using won’t touch it. My best D lock is 3/4 of an inch of case hardened steel. You might get it with 3 ft long bolt croppers but I doubt it. Hydraulic croppers will bust it

I cannot understand why people put bikes in sheds or garages and attempt to ‘thiefproof’ said enclosure.

If you want to keep it, put it in your house.

There’s a site somewhere with videos of people busting every lock you can imagine – use massive bolt cutters though.

Houses get robbed all the time!

Used a pair of hydraulic ratchet cutters to cut through 1/2″ hardened bolts at the weekend, fit in your bag and not too heavy. If I know they exist so do criminals. No lock or ground anchor will withstand them – if someone wants to pinch it they will. Expensive locks are not worth their salt IMO – if you dont want it pinching, dont leave it somewhere it could easily be pinched. no-one questions someone with bolt cutters on teh street because they assume its their own bike (who else would be being so brazen about it?!) and how would they know if the person doing it was lying? And who’s going to argue with someone swinging 8lbs of bolt cutters?

If it’s pricey insure it and keep it within sight at all times.

Houses get robbed all the time!

When did you read on here that someones house was robbed for their bike?

Compared to the shed/garage/outhouse stuff that we see every week?

My mates house was robbed for his car keys to get into his car to steal his stereo, which they then dropped all over the drive but broke into the garage and stole his bike to get away 😀 Plan for that!

Coffeeking – sorry mate you are simply wrong on that. some motorbike locks are proof to that sort of tool. Trouble is they weigh several kilos and cost hundreds. I would doubt you could do my lock with those cutters you mention in less than 5 mins. Cost £100 20 yrs ago and weighs 2.5 kgs.

The french motorcycle club have their own insurance and to qualify you have to use one of their approved locks – which they test in every conceivable way including handheld hydraulic cutters.

Good strong locks will be proof to ordinary tools. Not to professional tools or power driven tools tho.

I cannot understand why people put bikes in sheds or garages and attempt to ‘thiefproof’ said enclosure.
If you want to keep it, put it in your house.

Because I value my kids more than my bikes I know I really should prioritise here but just call me sentimental about them.
If a thief wants my bikes they will get them so rather they do it in my back yard than my house. My insurance covers me as long as I put a padlock on the shed door (I have way more than that though).
PS they can cut through your frame with a hacksaw in less than a minute so that is the weak point not the lock. How much are the parts alone worth on classifieds or Ebay?

sorry mate you are simply wrong on that.

Not to professional tools or power driven tools tho.

I was talking about a set of hydraulically assisted ratched bar cutters designed specifically for the task (about 200 quids worth, take about 25 ratchets to cut through half-inch hardened rod, used primarily for cutting through the power lines you see on pylons!) – not some £20 B&Q bolt cutters 😉

Akin to this but bigger, designed for cutting armoured 2″ diam cable!
http://www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/CF_Files/model_detail.cfm?upc=037103923509

Even so Coffeking some of the motorcycle locks will not be broken by them in under a few minutes. Much tougher than a half inch hardened rod.

See above, Give me 5 minutes with your lock and I’ll prove it 😉 !

Ultimately length of time to cut isnt really a barrier, if you havent noticed someone breaking into you garage you wont notice them clicking away lightly in the background in the dark for 5 mins. And we can all see that on the street no-one would question. All a lock does is deter the theif that isnt determined. If someone wants it they’ll have it.

My bikes now live in the Kitchen after having 2 nicked from a secure garage w CCTV coverage – the scrotes will always find a way in. But at least now its a lot harder for them to get as 1. They have to get into the block 2. They then have to break into my flat 3. Im on the 5th floor.. 4. I dont feed Rotti when I go out 😉 😈

Coffeking – thats what they test them with! Mine is strong but by no means the strongest.

i think you arewrong coffeeking
i use a high grade Protector 16mm chain which really is impossible to bolt-crop by hand. The thieves use Irwin Record 42″ bolt croppers as their tool of choice.
they are expensive, but of course they don’t always buy them… the protector 16mm chains are impossible to crop even with this powerful tool
indeed, if you keep trying to crop one of these chains, it is likely to be the jaws of the bolt croppers that break!
ground anchor is impossible to cut also without an angle grinder
i admit that its not practical for commuting!

so with the above, electric roller shutter garage doors, alarm, 120dB sounder, insurance and lights which are key operated i dont think there is anything else i can do

TJ – well I’d be more than impressed if someone got by these, but I suspect a the chain would have to cost be more than the yearly insurance on the bike and wouldnt exactly be portable. Plus whatever it is locked to has to be to the same standard. Its a false hope IMO. You’ll deter the average joe, but if you lock up a 5K bike someone will put in the time to get it.

Edit:
Gooner -I have used a set of cutters almost identical to the ones you mention (Certainly in design and size) and they simply dont compare to the ones I was playing with 😀

Granted it may be very hard to cut, but nothing is impossible with the right tools, and the right tools are fairly easy to find these days. Still, it gives people peace of mind to think they’re secure and nothing can cut things, which is probably all you can hope for these days, whether its right or wrong! Having not tried cutting such a chain with said tools you could well be right.

Landmines?

Coffee – you are absolutely right about that – as I said earlier locks to beat bolt croppers cost upwards of £100 and weigh kilos.

What decent locks that are just about portable will do is beat normal tools such as in the OPs video – ie cheapo bolt croppers and hacksaws

This sort of shackle
or a chain

One thing with the really nice chunky chains is that they’re actually wider than the jaws on a lot of cutters, so that rules them out instantly, unless the locking mechanism has an obvious narrowing. I did once see a chap carrying about a chain with links in the order of 1″ diameter steel, locking it up with a cheapo large standard padlock 😀

As above, too good a lock = cut the frame.

Bikes that are easy to steal make the stolen bike market easy to enter, never mind how well insured, which of course makes insurance premiums higher, and contributes to the steal it mentality.

How much is your bike worth?

How would you feel about leaving a suitcase with that money in in your shed/garage etc.?

If you love/cherish/need it, put the **** thing in your house and stop the problem at source.

Its a fair point from Crikey – generally a frame isnt more than half of the bikes value. On a decent bike you could sacrifice the rims and frame and still have half the value of the bike in spares, especially with the prices at the moment.

it is a fair point
i think therewas someone on hereearlier this week saying that their frame had been cut
problem is we have 5 bikes so they could nt be kept inside
i just try to take all “reasonable” precautions to prevent the oportunist theif as it is probably nearly impossible to stop the determined theif

I have always, that’s ALWAYS, kept my bikes in the house, and at present have 2 roadbikes and 3 MTBs in there.

I have a middling sized house, but with a bit of creative wheels-off bars-turned stuff I can fit them in.

I’ve got three kids too, and three cats and three oops, one wife, so it’s do-able.

2 nicked from a secure garage w CCTV coverage

Why would CCTV prevent them from being stolen? As far as I can tell it’s basically pointless as a theft-preventing measure.

Well its just another deterrent isnt it? CCTV isnt really pointless – otherwise it wldnt be so popular would it?

CCTV isnt really pointless – otherwise it wldnt be so popular would it?

Smoking’s really popular, not a good idea though is it?

Even assuming that it’d give a recognisable face in the dark I can just put on a hoodie and scarf and become your average unidentifiable bike thief in sportswear.

Jeez whats the prob with this one? Yeah I know its not perfect but why the big deal over CCTV???

No problem here at all fella. I’m just always surprised when people say things along the lines of “my bike was stolen, in full view of CCTV!”, like they think it really makes a difference.

I had my Orange 5 stolen from inside my locked & alarmed house, it was all that was taken, the tossers went straight for it, ignoring the ipod, camera, wallet & cash on the table they had to pass to get to the bike. They also ignored the Orange Gringo, Haro BMX & old skool Falcon road bike I had in the same room

If they want something they will have it, given enough time & the right tools.

Like what has been said in this thread already, no amount of protection will stop a determined thief, it will just make their lives a bit more of a pita.

I had my commuter road bike stolen from my stairwell last summer. It was pretty banged up and only secured with a cable lock. I thought noone would bother, obviously not.

Now I keep all of my bikes indoors apart from my 15yo hack. When I take my commuter (hub gear non bling disc brake machine with mudguards) to work, I secure it in a locked area to an anchor with a £60 Kryptonite D lock and cable loop.

Well if it made no difference & nor did some of the other deterrents used then why do we bother at all? Stop splitting hairs – its no big deal, CCTV **** off big chain, hungry aggressive dog..Its all the same if it doesnt work. It just so happens that there was CCTV on the garage & I had a big **** chain & a big lock but sadly no big mean dog.. 😥

You seem to have taken my general comment as some kind of personal slander :shrug:

Big chain, man-eating dog? Splendid, actual physical barriers to theft.
CCTV? In my opinion totally pointless.

By all means put CCTV up if it makes you feel better, but it certainly wouldn’t put me off.

Not everyone can fit their bike collection in their house, I certainly can’t. Anyway there’s no reason you can’t secure a garage to the same extent. Putting it in a house doesn’t make it theft proof, it might be a minor deterrent but that’s what beefy locks are to. As for the ‘just put the money towards insurance’ argument, that might work if you got shiny new bikes the next day without inconveniencing yourself but that doesn’t happen so I’d much rather spend a bit on locks/security.

If we really wanted to stop this at the source, nobody would buy cheap second hand bits from the internet no questions asked.

With no market for this stuff, it wouldn’t get stolen.

there was a post on here a couple of years ago about someone who was woken up in the night with a shotgun in their face and had the keys for the bike locks demanded.

that’s why they will stay in the shed, they are precious but not worth that!! 😯

When did you read on here that someones house was robbed for their bike?

My house was broken into and my bike stolen in 2004. I posted it on here. Police reckon I’d been followed and they’d worked out when we went to bed as they did it overnight when we were in.

My theory is that you can’t stop them being nicked if the thieves really want them (see others’ points above) so other than obvious, sensible security measures I rely on insurance paying out in the event of theft. Its only a bike(s) and the agro my wife would give me if I kept 4 bikes in the kitchen just isn’t worth it!

All you can do is make the thief’s life as difficult as possible, and have good insurance for the determined minority who’ll have the tools and knowledge to get through good locks.

My brother in law’s garage (which is part of his house) was ramraided by thieves looking for expensive bikes.

As for bikes in houses – it’s not uncommon for thieves to break in just for the bike. I’ve certainly heard of it happening.

OK I have an update on the usability of the cutters I was discussing earlier, due to these cutters fame spreading through workmates who seem to have a serious key-loss problem! So far they have removed a flimsy wire lock (5mm steel) and a 8-9mm wire-surrounded-by-hardened-rings like they were a golden dairy product. Later tests on old/abandoned locks include a hefty D lock and one of those galvanised-square-linked expensive locks like you see round motorbike wheels – both of which went through with minimal effort from a 5'2" computer programmer, having withstood several attempts with a hacksaw each first.