I'm about to buy a cyclocross bike.
Have seen a nearly new Look X85 on eBay that is in budget - looks like north of £3k was spent on it - Reynolds wheels, Zipp bars, Force CX1 groupset.
I'm looking to get the bike for road and off-road rides as well as commuting.
For the road and off-road riding it seems perfect. Light, fast, capable
For commuting it is:
Good - hydraulic brakes. Part of my ride is down a steep hill in heavy traffic with lots of junctions at the bottom. Had a few squeaky bum moments on my rim braked road bike.
Bad - nowhere at work to put it so my bike gets locked up in the town centre. It's not a particularly good area and it's quite a flashy bike:
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I'm thinking the Look brand has a definite "worth loads of money/steal me" vibe too.
My other option is a Rose DX Cross Pro in matt black - the head says that, heart says the Look.
Unfortunately buying another bike to commute as well as the LOOK isn't possible - I'm already selling two bikes to pay for this one as my small flat is creaking - trying to get down to my full sus and 1 other.
I don't work where you do (probably), so it's not all that helpful, but yes, I do, daily. There's a full Dura Ace equipped Madone locked up outside my office right now. There's also a Cervelo something or other which is never locked up, and a Di2 equipped Tarmac SL4, never known of anything being nicked...
I'm not remotely convinced that a matt black bike is genuinely any less appealing to thieves. A really tatty beaten up bike perhaps, but I'm not sure the colour itself has any bearing whatsoever.
I'd buy the one you'll want to ride!
No way José! Or the Rose tbh.
Does your town have some kind of bike garage operation? Some train stations now have bike lockers.
If you don't keep it inside it will get nicked.
(Even shite bikes get nicked)
No. Never. As a one off maybe, for a short while.
But if you're thinking of leaving it locked up in the same place regularly, some scallywag will quickly be onto it with the tools needed to deprive you of it, even if it's somewhere very public.
Depends on the area, but I wouldn't leave that locked up in a town centre - it just looks too flash/expensive.
I've got a Look... they're not exactly discrete. So unless it's locked in the garage or car it doesn't leave my sight.
Nope, wouldn't even consider it. It's one thing to leave it locked for thirty minutes or so whilst you pop into the supermarket at random times but to leave it locked in probably the same place most days for hours at a time just makes it too much of a target. The only hope you might have is that it looks so expensive that thieves might assume it's been left as part of a local police sting operation.
Probably not, but if you do it's worth tagging it, and (in addition to yr high security lock) might also be worth fitting an alarmed lock that goes off if cut/tampered with
Nope. We have a secure entry car park, with a dedicated bike lock 'cage' for 30+ bikes, but still I take my bikes upstairs and park next to my desk.
Personally no way in a million years. It might be fine but then it's going to stand out and attract attention, especially if it's frequently in the same place.
It depends if you can afford to lose it, or can you get insurance for it?
Circle it with 'police aware' tape. That'll confuse the miscreants.
Can you afford to lose £3k? I bought an old Kona Lava Dome for commuting last year. After a wee tune up and a new 7 speed cassette and canti brake blocks it had set me back £100. Its actually a really good bike and I dont care if it gets scratched, stolen thumped about or dented. Have you thought about decent bike storage in your flat if that is an issue as well? One option is below. Another is a ceiling mounted pulley system which moves the bike right out the way.
I expect I don't live in a similar area to yourself so my £4k+ bikes can quite safely be left outside my work or the local pub/shops, it's a rather simplified statement to make but I couldn't live in such an area. I can't even remember when the last time was that I locked my front/back door.
As above, investigate local bike lockers/lockups/garages. There may well be something nearby.
I regularly leave a Cotic locked up at work, but with a New Yorker through the chainstays Sheldon style against regular bike staple. It's been there daily for a couple of years. This is a small office park in an industrial area, but there's a riverside footpath and busy pavement over a bridge where the bike lockup can be clearly observed from.
The only bike theft we've had at this site was my boss' Giant... which was interestingly 'locked' with loops of cable and a couple of D locks used as big padlocks. He was surprised when they ignored the locks and cut the cables... 🙄
Sadly, I think that a nice looking bike in the same public place often enough is going to get pinched no matter how you lock it up though.
I wouldnt leave a £500 bank notes chained up nevermind 3,000 of them.
Are you talking about commuting everyday? If so irrespective of price it would be a bad choice imo. Once it's festooned with mudguards, puncture proof tyres, lights, and all the other tat you need on an all year commuter it really won't be that great for anything else.
In my case yes (if I had a 3k bike) but we have a locked compound that needs a site access card to get into. It is also in front of the site entrance so overlooked by security 24/7. I still lock up my bike.
In your case, no.
Spend less on the main bike and buy a cheaper one for commuting.
Commuting in winter eats components anyway so a nice bike soon won't be after a few months of gritted roads. Look at the cheaper CX bikes in Evans - there is a SS one that would be ideal for commuting.
1. its not worth £3k. It is worth what you paid for it, or more to the point, what a thief could get for it. So that's £50.
2. Depends on the security at your work, get a couple of good locks and dirty the bike up a bit. Is the bike stand/shed covered by CCTV ?
3. It is a road bike as far as thieves are concerned, they will lift the badly locked 10 year old Spec Rockhopper before they even look at yours.
No way. Not just the risk of it getting stolen but some numpty might rest their bike against it scratching it. I work in a college so only ride my new bike in during half terms. Its sitting in the corner of my classroom right now.
One size up and I might be bidding on that 🙂
Depends on how secure you think it is at work. Office in the middle of town with loads of passers by, no way. Office on a nuclear research facility with armed guards and cameras everywhere then I'd not worry (a mate works on one and happily leaves his bike there!)
Just nope. Even if it was safe/secure/actually not that nickable, I'd be constantly worried about it and would be less useful at work as a result...
1. its not worth £3k. It is worth what you paid for it, or more to the point, what a thief could get for it. So that's £50.
Eh? Surely the relevant point is the replacement cost in this context, ie £3k. If I nick your bike and sell it for 20p, that doesn't somehow alter the value of your bike.
What everyone else said.
You don't need the biking equivalent of a Ferrari for commuting! You want mud guards, a tough frame, and cheap/easy servicing. Find an old singlespeed (kona unit, Swift, El-mariachi, karate monkey, etc) on ebay.
Having said that I just ride whatever's functional in the shed, usually the Fatty. But then it get's locked to a stand, in a cage, in an underground car park, in an out of town building.
Can you tell me where you work and what hours you do please?
That Look is beautiful though, isn't it. Buy that and just hitch to work instead...
OP; you are owner of said eBay bike and you have come up with a clever way of getting it looked at by a load of middle class IT pros who like bikes and have more money than sense; Chapeau sir! Are you in marketing? (And I claim my five pounds) 😉
Eh? Surely the relevant point is the replacement cost in this context, ie £3k. If I nick your bike and sell it for 20p, that doesn't somehow alter the value of your bike.
Unless he buys it back off the thief, in which case he's spot on.
You don't need the biking equivalent of a Ferrari for commuting! You want mud guards, a tough frame, and cheap/easy servicing. Find an old singlespeed (kona unit, Swift, El-mariachi, karate monkey, etc) on ebay.
Meh, that depends. The bulk of my riding time is spent commuting. I don't need to carry anything (laptop left in the office, mrs njee20 brings clean shirts in for me). So why would I want to slog back and forward on a heavy bike that's not nice to ride?
As mentioned, security here seems alright, so it's not really at risk, if it got nicked then it's insured.
I just don't really subscribe to the "commuting must mean a shit bike" philosophy! I want to be able to detour home via the Surrey Hills or whatever, I don't want to be doing that on a steel SS when I could ride a nice carbon road bike.
Definitely specific to each use case though, and I think only the OP can decide if his facilities are secure enough and if he can 'afford' it to be stolen.
If you want your bike to get nicked, chain it up in a town centre! 😆
Ignore!!
Some of the expensive and most secure locks claim the only way of breaking them are with an angle grinder. If this is true I'd be happy leaving an expensive bike locked up in a busy place with that.
No I'd put it in the garage.
Not a chance! And I work in a totally secure site. My commuting bike sits unlocked on a bike rack. But my nice race bike sits under my desk in the office. Front wheel off and it slides quite a way under and takes little room.
Security did "enquire" once - sent two guards as they were expecting trouble, clearly. Used the health and safety, fire hazard, blah... I said that a previous £2K bike had been damaged by a car and I was happy to leave my commuting bike outside, but not the best bike. Then I mentioned it was no more a fire hazard than if i'd slipped out of my wheelchair and into an office Aeron. Low, I know, buit I thought reasonable. And I'm a fire warden!
Anyway, I've never heard back from them 😉
So take it into work, or take something worth 10% of the price.
I would - probaly would'nt even lock it up. But I do work from an office at the end of my garden 🙂
If it doesn't get nicked, it'll get beaten up by idiots with other bikes and you'll be forever worried you'll come out to a cut lock.
Get something unassuming with the minimum of logos and no parts you'd cry over if they broke/got nicked.
I work on a University campus, and I certainly dont leave my Rose DX Cross outside! Despite the protest of the cleaners (even though its clean!). Luckily the guy who is in charge of such things also doesnt leave his outside either!! Only will consider it once we get some proper secure storage.
I leave my Wilier in the bike shed at work, but some of our security people (CNC Police) carry machine guns and side arms. 😕
i've thought about it many times. I ended up getting a tricross (with rack, marathons and mudguards) for commuting and [i]romantic[/i] rides in the forests with the mrs.
This is a good part of the reason why I ride a cheap, ugly fixie to work, No great loss to me if it's stolen, it would be a bit of an inconvenience but better than losing a pricey bike...
I can chop along quite happily on it, but I'd imagine any would be tea-leaf stupid enough to make off with it, would struggle with the lack of a FW and would either crash or ditch it after a few hundred yards anyway...
OP Don't ride your fancy bike to work and leave it on display in the town centre, it might take a day it might take a year, but sooner or later someone will [i]take an interest[/i] in it... buy a junker and keep the bling for weekends.
If somebody wants your bike someone will try and eventually succeed in nicking it, cars and lgv have lots of security built in but people still nick them to order or just to get the buzz of driving something they dont own.
Would you leave your laptop or tv outside even if secured in a steel cage
Definitely wouldn't leave it where I work in Croydon. We had a bike stolen from the cycle cage outside the office fairly recently - they actually cut through the mesh of the cage, cut through the lock and had the bike away.
Of course no one saw anything, and the CCTV camera in the area also picked up sweet FA - it wasn't even a particularly new or expensive bike.
Had a think about it and just going to get the Rose. It's cheaper and new and TBH, I'm much more mince than race when it comes to my riding.
No space in my flat for an extra bike - as I said I'm cutting back.
Bike will be kept chained up in a town centre. Said town features prominently on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation so not very salubrious.
No bike storage in the area and no chance in the office - I don't even have a desk (it's a very small charity).
I do have an Almax chain and Squire lock I used to use for my motorbike so will leave that wrapped around the bike rack with a couple of those cable locks for the wheels.
No worries about it getting scratched - haven't seen another bike there in about a year! SIMD = no exercise and almost no jobs!
Since the Rose is cheaper I can get that new platform rear shock for my Horsethief I've been after too....
In order to answer your question I would need to know:
Where you work
What hours you work
Are there any CCTV cameras in the area
What type of lock you were planning to use
The nearest hardware store
A possible escape route!
would the insurance cover it if it gets nicked?
Commute on a Brompton, obvs 😉
You can buy cordless angle grinders for thieving use
Have and do.
BUT
Company CCTV is watching, it's near my office windows, it has a massive lock on it, an army of smokers guard it (I'm the only one who really uses the bike rack, so anyone other than me in there is odd) I work in a nice area and specifically about 100 yards from a massive great police station. Plus it/they are insured.
YMMV
Depends where. At our site in central London yes. It's in a sturdy cage with difficult access right in front of the forward facing security guy who comes out and challenges you if you aren't displaying a pass, even if you are using a key to get in the cage.
Here in Hampshire.. hmm.. perhaps not - although I am locking up £1.5k of bike to a concrete pillar with a good lock inside a cage under CCTV with good security guards most days and I doubt most thieves would know the difference between £1.5k and £3k.
This:
In order to answer your question I would need to know:
Where you work
What hours you work
Are there any CCTV cameras in the area
What type of lock you were planning to use
The nearest hardware store
and this:
would the insurance cover it if it gets nicked?
Though my £1k Arkrose was locked - securely - in public view for 2 years with no problems. We now have steel cage around the bike sheds that even we struggle to get in to!
I work in a very secure school with CCTV, door codes and the like.
My bike goes in my office, much to the amusement of the kids.
GB
Wrap it in black electrical tape and make it look really crap. Cover up the name of the gears.
Buy some halfords stickers and sticker bomb it.
Take off the stickers from the wheels.
Only problem with that is great for commuting but not so great for the weekly club ride
Even if I had a store room at work I would not use a 3k bike for commuting. Commuting is tough on a bike I would not want to be baby sitting it.
Ok, I'm guessing a lot of you never read my second post in the thread with the decision in it.
I didn't buy the LOOK
£3k noooo way.
Why not buy the nice bike and a £50 2nd hand bike for commuting. You won't be sweating all day hoping your bike hasn't been nicked, but your £50 bike will get you fitter than the £3k one
Ok, everyone's talking to themselves here. This is N-1 so another shitter won't work cos my flat is too small and I don't live in the cultural desert wilderness I live in the city and I work for a charity and by their very nature charities aren't in nice places and yes I can still afford this bikie because I've not commited financial and cultural suciide by having a child and I need better brakers and blah blah blah ****ing internet death murder face desk palm
Why don't the brakes on your current bike work ? I`m heavy and ride a road bike in hilly country with ten year old Tiagra brakes and they work .Seems an extreme way to improve braking for a commute ?
the universe doesn't care if your bike gets stolen; and what will it matter in a million years time?
so get the look.
and what will it matter in a million years time?
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😉
Ok, everyone's talking to themselves here. This is N-1 so another shitter won't work cos my flat is too small and I don't live in the cultural desert wilderness I live in the city and I work for a charity and by their very nature charities aren't in nice places and yes I can still afford this bikie because I've not commited financial and cultural suciide by having a child and I need better brakers and blah blah blah **** internet death murder face desk palm
TBF you did go and ask the question... were you expecting universal positive reinforcement of your piss poor idea?
Feel free to disregard the various reasons already given as to why you shouldn't leave a £3k vanity purchase in the street, in a dodgy part of town, go bananas and enjoy your own little bit of [i]"financial and cultural suicide"[/i] you've earned it...
I wouldn't, but I wouldn't buy a £3k bike to start with so it is purely academic.
this is my old canyon
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B36bJrJzJW20b003TWRBeXZURTQ&authuser=0
although i dont think people nick half as many road bikes as mtb's
watch how long it takes
I would definitely leave your 3k bike chained up outside work.... wouldn't leave mine there though 🙂