Been thinking about options for making my shed more secure. Having heard a lot of stories about theft I’m not that convinced about a ground anchor and chain. And having seen photos of the vault at Hope, and then our secure server area at work, I got to wondering about building a secure cage.

Saw things like this cage which I could probably assemble in my shed, mount a few bike hooks, and fit some massive padlocks. Looks a bit pricey when getting one big enough for 6 bikes, and I’m not sure how secure it would be to attack with a crow bar, so might get the welder out and build my own.

Anyone got anything, or built anything, along these lines? Be cool to see some photos.

A quick bump… someone must have done this?

Handy to stop anyone with a hacksaw, not going to stop anyone with an angle grinder tho is it.

Angle grinder make substantially more noise than a hacksaw…. so I can certainly see the appeal of a cage.

Suspect it would take someone a while with an angle grinder, though I guess that sort of noise coming from a shed isn’t unusual. Guess the padlock is always a weak link though, so would need a better mechanism of locking up.

Looks like a good idea. Face it with with ply and you have something that is very awkward (noisy) to get in to.

edit: Meant to say, 12mm ply inside, 12mm ply outside bolted through with carraige bolts. Wood, metal, wood sandwich.

These do come up on ebay from time to time.

nothing stops a determined thief. Generally the more protection you put in the more damage they’ll do to get them.
Make sure your bikes are insured and use the insurance compaines recomended sold secure products for each bike – iirc its ususally gold for £1500 and over and silver for £500-1500, bronze for under £500 (could be wrong though).

Any cage you build wont be rated by the insurance comany as they only go by sold secure rating so would be pretty worthless other than an initial visual deterrent – as STATO said, you could still angle grind or possibley more easiliy bolt cropper your way in.

I have a small concrete shed for my bikes – with a timber door, each bike has the approprite sold secure lock and ground / wall anchor – after all i’d rather they stole the 1k commuter over the 3k MTB (both insured).

I have however recently inverested on an alarm (£15), just as an audio deterrent which i feel is more aproprate as i live in a housing estate where all of the houses gardens over look one another.

Re insurance and sheds (or any detached building) double check with the insurance company that this is covered in the insurance terms. Many of the insurers insist that the bikes are kept in a building attached to the house/residence. Otherwise your insurance is worthless.

Personally I’d rather spend the price of the premium on something like the cage and or putting some money in the bank for a new bike (just incase my current bike gets nicked)

Good point on the insurance rating, hadn’t considered that.

Maybe something more covert would be a better bet rather than try and deter thieves. I was thinking of boarding off a bit of the shed to make them less visible. Though I guess most thieves know what’s in your shed before they break in.

Build an Underground concrete shelter with a ramp down. Then Put big thick Iron doors on the entrance.

I have considered this!