Expensive bikes locked up outside

Am I the only person who wouldn’t dream of locking their bike up in town, outside the supermarket or leave it on the roof of my car while I go shopping?

This isn’t a troll post or anything and I do feel for those with nicked bikes, just wondering whether I am being overly paranoid? My bike is only worth about 450 and I worry about losing it and don’t let it out of my sight at trail centres and car parks etc, but some of these stolen bikes posts are people leaving £1k+ bikes out and about (OK locked up, but we all know how effective that is) while they get milk or go to the pub.

Not ranting or having a go just wondering what others thoughts are?

Hell no, but that’s why god invented pub bikes.

Crazy – it only takes a minute to pinch a bike. My hack bike gets more use than any of my nicer more expensive bikes, gets left all day in some pretty dodgy locations and no one has ever touched it. Wouldn’t leave a good bike anywhere!

I don’t leave mine anyhwere. ANy of them.

It’s possible i will leave mine in the back of car, covered at Swinley whilst having a coffee, but that’s about as extreme as it gets..

depends i ocasionally leave my good bile locked int he park whilst me kids are on the swings but i can still see the bike but in general NO

Why we all have sacrificial pub bikes innit

On the whole no, if the purpose of the journey is that it’s going to end up locked up then I take my battered looking cross bike. I don’t even leave the bike locked up outside work on the bike rack I bring it in to the office.

But it depends on the circumstances, I’ve bonked on a ride before and had to run into a shop to buy something to eat/drink – with the bike unlocked outside, but generally I’m in and out in seconds. Occasionally I want to be on the good bike and the bike will be locked up for a short period of time.

There is no way I’m ever going to leave my full sus locked up at a bike stand. I feel there would be no one else to blame but myself if it wasn’t there when I came back.

I do lock up my hardtail/rigid but only rarely, (it’s a P7 so not a cheap one). I have been going to physio at the hospital once a week for a while now but it’s only the last 3 weeks when my class moved to early morning that I have been locking the bike up there. I always walk out the hospital with a sense of dread that it might not be there. 😐

For some reason in my head it’s less likely to get stolen between 8:30am and 9:30am than 3:30pm and 4:30pm. 😳

My Il Pompino commuter / hack bike gets left all over the place with a basic cable lock, mind you, it’s tatty, has full mudguards and covered in reflective tape. Not gone awol yet….

For some reason in my head it’s less likely to get stolen between 8:30am and 9:30am than 3:30pm and 4:30pm.

Probably true, I suspect Scrotes aren’t up with the birds…

What I was thinking footflaps 😀

Some of us have to, I have the best locks I can afford, and have to hope to god they work!

I purposely don’t have a bike lock so I cannot lock it up anywhere, although I would never leave any of my bikes anywhere apart from locked in the car or the house.

Thanks for the replies btw. The way I see it, if you can afford to spend £1k plus on a bike, you can afford to spend £50 or less on a shitter off ebay.

I reckon someone should invent “chips, scuffs and general dings” transfers/decals that we can rub onto our expensive bling-machines when we know we’re going to leave them somewhere. Surely that’ll be enough to get Mr Tealeaf to walk on by, eh?

If you’re unsure what I’m talking about, check these out …

<vintage star wars toy moment>

</vintage star wars toy moment>

The best defence is make the bike look tatty and cover it with reflective tape – makes anything look highly undesirable…

damage stickers 😀

Fun but maybe wouldn’t put a scrote off, but even removing stickers/decals might help, but I don’t even know if they think that much into it (makes/models/parts) beyond just whether it looks expensive.

I won’t leave my Meta locked up anywhere. To hell, I even splashed out on a Kryptonite New-York M18 lock (about £75+)to lock it up with at my apartment block, in a secure garage, in a bike security cage, covered by CCTV.

Why we all have sacrificial pub bikes innit

Indeed. It does amuse me at times that the £100 built-out-of-parts-I-found-in-the-garage, pub bike does 10 x the mileage of the pampered money-pits sat in the garage 😆

Depends where I am and what I’m doing.

I wouldn’t ride my Pitch to the pub, but I wouldn’t turn down a beer after a ride.

Maybe I just drink in nicer pubs.

And there’s usualy at least one bike in the back of my car all the time!

Another case of fear of crime not having anything to do with the actualy likelyhood of crime occouring?

I do

maybe im silly

but i do tend to leave my good bikes locked up outside the supermarket if i fancy a blast down the local steps on the way there

but i always remove the seatpost, have a ridiculously meaty lock and seperate one for the wheels

mostly i use the commuter bike in the week tho, i only leave the bmx locked up outside the train station if im going to work by tube, again very big lock

wouldnt leave it outside the pub tho, unless post ride pint and then it’d never leave my sight

damage stickers

Fun but maybe wouldn’t put a scrote off, but even removing stickers/decals might help, but I don’t even know if they think that much into it (makes/models/parts) beyond just whether it looks expensive.

I was taking the pi55 BTW 😀

Another case of fear of crime not having anything to do with the actualy likelyhood of crime occouring?

I wouldn’t say it was a fear of crime, more about losing my bike for the sake of ‘nipping into town/pub/postoffice’

I was taking the pi55 BTW

Yeh I know sorry!

More an excuse for me to have a nostalgic moment (albeit an envious one because I had a normal X-Wing and my mate had the ‘damaged’ version. Git.)

I don’t want to spend lots on a decent bike, and then have to ride something cheap and rubbish! (Equally if I think now if there wasn’t somewhere relatively secure looking to leave the bike I just wouldn’t take it!)

I rode into uni every day and locked my bike up with all the rest. Started off with 2 locks and a big cable, but ended up just using 1 lock by the end. Only ever saw 1 or 2 other decent looking bikes locked up.

There were always people walking past and there were lots of bikes so I was relying on that to keep my bike safe (and it worked) although my friend did walk out in the middle of the day to see someone trying to saw through his lock so it is worth thinking about…

In general only my commuter gets locked up anywhere. It’s probably a bit too nice for that (Cotic Roadrat) but it’s the one I ride every day so I don’t want anything too crappy!

I wouldn’t dream of leaving my road bike or MTB locked up anywhere in town, or sitting on a car roofrack or something.

Seems to be a fair few with hack bikes so I just started this thread:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/show-us-your-hack-bikes

Would be interested to see what people are riding as their hack bikes.

Well I let my children out my sight quite a lot, and if someone walked off with one of them it would be a damn sight more difficult to replace than a bike. I’d suggest you are all suffering from internet paranoia. As a teenager I had two (not particularly high value) bikes nicked from a locked shed – which were u-locked together. I then had one vandalised when I was a student but it sat locked outside my hall of residence for the whole term before getting trashed on the last day of term.

I don’t know anyone personally who has had a bike nicked in the last 10 yrs, yet I perceive it is “common” from the internet.

I’m not riding a piece of crap every day just to put the chavs off.
So insurance & good lock for me.

Becky – Your location must be a lot nicer than the salubrious Manchester City Centre locations my bike would have to be left in

I NEVER leave a decent bike locked up outside. Since one day I rode my Chameleon into work. I needed to pay a cheque into the bank, so locked it up with a decent, chunky lock to a bike stand in Piccadilly, right outside the bank. I was in there 2 minutes, tops. When I came out I must have disturbed whoever was trying to nick it.

The lock was oh-so-nearly through. Clearly having been savaged with a set of bolt croppers. Lesson well and truly learned. If I’m on the ‘proper’ bike, it doesn’t leave my sight

I’d suggest you are all suffering from internet paranoia.

I don’t know anyone personally who has had a bike nicked in the last 10 yrs, yet I perceive it is “common” from the internet.

Clearly it never happens then, if its not happened to you. 🙄

I had my full susser nicked from inside my locked office, where it was leaning against my desk. They kicked 2 sets of fire doors down to get at it

Not preaching, but if efficiency/weight/strength (I guess thats the reason we bike expensive road/commuter bikes?) is the reason then does that really factor in for popping to town?

I wonder if not being seen on a shit bike factors in 😀

I lock up my Croix de Fer all over London. BUT I use some sense in where, when and how I lock it up.

1. I use a good Kryptonite lock with as much of the frame/bike stand in it so that there isn’t any room to lever it
2. Zefal locks on the wheels

Maybe I’ve been lucky but from what I observe most bikes that are stolen have been locked with cable or cheap locks or they have been left extended periods of time.

I reckon most thieves don’t care what they steal and they’ll go for the easy to steal supermarket bike with the cheap lock over my nice bike properly locked.

So far that’s worked.

i agree with wanderer

i disagree with root

i like my commuter (steel lava dome) but my full sussers are more fun

tbh with 2 kids my riding opportunities are quite limited

on the way to morrisons there is a decent set of steps outside the courthouse and some mini ‘shore’ if the kids playground isnt busy!
and i can add in a bit more and ride the steps and drops around the marina

I ride my nice bikes to the shops because its more fun!

Yes always have and always will but where, how long, how frequently and how much security varies enormously.

I wouldn’t at any major city such as London, Manchester etc.

Using the same place daily is asking for trouble with a fancy bike.

I have a decent commuter cross bike that I leave most places except city centre after 8pm as I hate getting pringle shaped wheels.

What you need is a pub bike that is good enough to ride but cheap enough to gamble with – buy my old 94 Stumjumper STW stumpy ad

That post from poly is one of the most stupid I’ve ever read on here and its up against some stiff competition (from me occasionally!)

Bike theft is endemic in most of the UK and certainly all the bits I’ve lived in suffer.

Thieves have wised up considerably in recent years as the price of bikes has soared and mags these scrotes read like Sport, loaded etc have had advertorials on the latest bike kit. Even de-stickering and electrical tape no longer works as well as it used to

Even worse, even pub bikes are going as the scum realise that we may build up something quite nice whilst telling ourselves its a ‘hack’

My answer is a folder which goes everywhere with me and anything else never leaves my sight – I’ve wheeled bikes into shops plenty of times with the view that if you want my business…..

my pub bikes got xtr on it!

Bike theft is endemic

More people riding and they don’t know how to lock up securely. Just have a look at how bikes are locked at most bike racks. Usually cables or cheap locks. Really easy to steal.

Make your bike less appealing (either in appearance or security) than the ones around it and generally you will be fine.

I’ve noticed it a lot recently around where I live. Nice bikes, seeming to be worth £1-2000, just left out around town. There was a Scott Spark 29er (the top alu one I think) that I’d see locked up in the centre of town, which I’d never dream of doing with something so nice. This is a town that has a reputation for bicycle theft like Liverpool does for car theft. Lo and behold, a couple of weeks ago a thread appeared on a local forum entitled “Stolen: Scott Spark”.

I personally have had a couple of (quite well locked) ratbikes stolen, which is still only partly why my nice bikes live indoors.

Until recently I had never locked a bike up outside, but I also have a fairy good commuter (Mk1 prince albert with old but good kit on). I was always of the view that line of sight at all times is best – the work bike rack is shunned in favour of bringing bIke inside a nice secure office. I have recently locked it up twice outside a supermarket – using a good abus D lock and cable lock, it felt good to be able to nip to the shop as line of sight security is also very restrictive. I thnk good locks, fixed to something sturdy, early morning probably best, you take your chances

I leave my good bikes locked up where I can see them occasionally from my shop. They probably stand more chance of being nicked from my shed where mr bike thief has all day to saw through the chains.