The number of posts about bike theft from garages had me thinking about the best measures to safe guard bikes. With angle grinders being employed to cut bikes free from secure locks it seems the ideal measure is to prevent access to the garage in the first place. So what of the following have you employed, where did you get it and what where the costs?

CCTV (deterrent)
Sensor activated light (deterrent)
Locks

Any other suggestion?

Move somewhere nicer.

Jam bo – not true

Years ago I had my Cannondale stolen from my garage and the insurance company said it was because I lived in a nice area! Apparently all the thriving scumbags don’t steal from their own area.

Makes sense really, the more affluent the area the more chance their is of nice bikes being in the garage.

What annoyed me is that used my tools to put the bike back together.

In terms of garage security it depends on the yep of garage. As mine is integral to the house I can secure the doors from the inside which is a lot easier than if you have a detached garage which is what I had previously.

I have a scaffold pole that sits in two brackets bolted to the wall either side of the door that stops the door opening. Also park right up next to the door. Back door has Yale lock, no handle to pull on, high security padlock and motion sensor inside.

They’re only going to deter but hopefully enough to draw attention.

Steel mesh under the roof too, they’ve been known to lever back the panels to get in through there.

Years ago I had my Cannondale stolen from my garage and the insurance company said it was because I lived in a nice area!

jam bo – Member
Move somewhere nicer.

Iterate n+1 until desired result is achieved?

Moving into my first house with a garage in 3 weeks, my pick up truck which never gets used will be parked touching the garage door, and i will be paneling over the door on the inside as i dont ever intend on using it. The side door has a lock halfway up the door i will also fit a lock top and bottom. Then im going to steel plate the entire internal side of that door to prevent it from being easily kicked through, and steel plate the window to the rear. Alarm separate to the house alarm with a 95 decibel master blaster siren internally, so if they do get in they wont be able to stand being in there more than 5 seconds. Ground anchor and abus fuhgeddaboudit chain.

There’s only so far you can go with security… I know someone who had his Harley Davidson Fatboy (300+ kgs) stolen out of his garage over the top of his car.

Standard way to nick a motorbike with disk lock is 4 blokes, 2 scaffold poles and a Transit 🙁

Mine are in a 11 x 8 x 8 Brick build shed with a concrete floor. All three bikes are locked together with a Magnum lock, which is threaded through a loop sunk into the concrete floor. The door has a proper lock at the handle (not Yale the square bolt type) and two locks top and bottom.

You can only access our garden from our side gate which is bolted an locked.

My view is, if they get my bikes out through that lot, there wouldn’t be much more I could have done to stop them.

**Another thing BTW – its been noted that increased hacking/exposure to online software such as endomondo (for example) allows theives to see where you live – make sure your privacy settings dont allow all and sundry to see your maps.