So, I’ve been thinking.

When you stop at a cafe and have to leave the bike outside, there’s always the risk of it being ridden off by some unscrupulous ner-do well. SO to combat this you could lock it up, but a lock that’ll withstand more than a pair of cutters to get through it can be a bit cumbersome, and carrying anything bigger on a road bike is a right PITA.

So, how’s about using a small padlock (that would easily fit in your jersey pocket) fitted and locked through one of the jockey wheels and mech cage? It would stop the bike being ridden off, and a bike being carried by a plain clothed yobber looks rather odd, don’t you agree?

Wouldn’t it freewheel down the hill rather well though?

fitted and locked through one of the jockey wheels and mech cage?

more likely result in a ripped off mech with the first pedal stroke. It also wouldn’t stop the bike being rolled/freewheeled away

just put it round a spoke on the front wheel.

try to remember before you ride off.

Oh yeah, forgot about the free-wheeling bit.

Disc rotors are ideal, if you’re all trendy n’ that.

Disk padlock

if im leaving it out of arms reach but in visibility i tend to click the gears without pedalling so they jam up when an unsuspector gets on it.

sometimes if im on an unvoidable uplanned trip to the shop(for something like a bonk where i need food NOOOOOW where its out of sight i will take the QRs with me into the shop

Disc rotors are ideal, if you’re all trendy n’ that.

another one that will result in almost immediate damage when they try to ride or wheel it off without noticing.

I know it might be preferable to it being nicked but options that don’t damage the bike might be a better idea 😉

Or
1. loosen/remove Qrs
2. Flip the brakes open
3. Helmet clipped through the front wheel and downtube

* remember to sort 1 or 2 out before you get back on, obviously!

Alternatively, put your bike against the wall first so all your clubmates’ bikes are on top of it and more likely to be taken 🙂

So, how’s about using a small padlock (that would easily fit in your jersey pocket) fitted and locked through one of the jockey wheels and mech cage? It would stop the bike being ridden off, and a bike being carried by a plain clothed yobber looks rather odd, don’t you agree?

It would stop someone riding off, but doesn’t have any visual deterrent value.

Also I can image, on some cold and go-forsaken day, I would come out of the cafe and forget I’d locked the jockey wheel and destroy the drive chain when attempting to ride off.

take the front wheel with you?

Stop at a pub instead so you can sit with it in the beer garden

Take the front wheel off and the QR into the café.

I’ve a small retractable combination cable lock with an alarm. You could probably smash it to bits in 30s flat, and cut the cable with wire cutters, but the alarm’s loud enough to hear in the cafe.

I once went on a club run that ended at Sainburys in Basingstoke. A total and utter lack of imagination by the leader (and miles from the bike rack)! It’s a nice enough ride to get there, but tere must have been a small cafe/garden center/tea room we could have visited. The other weird one is the ‘tea room’ at the local airport / flying club (costco cake and tea in paper mugs). It’s not like Berkshire struggles for places that serve tea and cake, but our club does pick some odd places!

Put your fancy cycling gear on but leave the bike at home and get a taxi to the cake stop. Then sit and chuckle as the scroats walk round the cafe trying to work out where the fancy bike that matches your fancy bike clothing has been put.

I’ve just got a very lightweight retractable cafe stop lock, you could chew through it I should think but I just park close to more expensive unlocked bikes myself.

I keep a reasonable padlock and chain coiled up in a large water bottle. It’s heavy but no more than an extra bottle of water that you might carry if you didn’t feel safe leaving the bike to pop in a shop/pub/kebab house.

Why don’t cafes that want to attract cyclists just provide some heavy duty 19mm chain locks with CCTV cameras.

A bit of an old skool one but if you have rim brakes then adjust them so the brake is engaged; makes it almost impossible to push or ride until you re-adjust. Good for a quick nip into a shop, I suppose, though I personally wouldn’t risk anything other than a decent lock. And a cheap bike…

Steering or calipers lock?

I have either a long cable lock if it is family, or a 1m or so length of old dinghy 4mm spectra rope. Tie up with many wraps and an awkward knot. Weighs naff all. Even a knife would struggle….

Big ring, padlock through chainring would make more sense.

I have a little snowboard lock like the one below if I’ll be stopping. Won’t stop anyone with tools (or even a lot of force) but fine to stop an opportunist while you pop into a shop or order your pot of tea at a cafe.

http://www.edgeriders.com/burton-tether-lock-black-2015-snowboard-kite-wakeboard-shop.html?gclid=Cj0KEQjw8u23BRCg6YnzmJmPqYgBEiQALf_XzcQKgu6yheIUMY6XTOpEwd2IWbvYJhkkcxFxNuOjItQaAjUA8P8HAQ

Dog poo on handlebars

I usually stick it in top gear and flip the saddle down/pointing backwards… it might give you a few extra seconds to sprint out…possibly…

A bit of an old skool one but if you have rim brakes then adjust them so the brake is engaged; makes it almost impossible to push or ride until you re-adjust.

BB5/7s are good for this, too.

Abus 1200 combination lock sits in my tool bottle. Tougher than the retractable cable locks and smaller too. Colour-coded to bike, obviously 😉

I use it all the time, particularly at Hillingdon, where other nice road bikes are available for non-return.

This is all lovely, but a little cable lock is so much easier!

Get some mates – then one watches the bikes while the other gets the beer (or whatever it is you get from cafes)

its rare my bike leaves my arse once I’m out of the house with it.

Park my bike next to a pile of really nice bikes is a start.
Little cafe locks can be helpful.
Don’t leave it alone if you can’t tolerate losing it.

A Rottweiler in a wicker basket on the handlebars works quite well.

This is getting a bit like Viz Top Tips 🙂

I ride with a Lithuanian ex-pro wrestler and he looks after my bike when I go into the caff. Rides can be a bit slow and the conversation’s not great but no-one’s nicked my bike yet, so it works for me!

I just carry a really lightweight cable lock, yes it can be snipped but I wouldn’t be leaving the bike out-of-view. It’s just to stop someone just picking it up and riding away.

Why don’t cafes that want to attract cyclists just provide some heavy duty 19mm chain locks with CCTV cameras.

+1 Whistlestop Café Innerleithen – they have a number of combination locks and wall-bolted rings.

Better than most Viz top tips 🙂

If we’re out somewhere we/I don’t know or trust we/I use these. A couple linked together and through the rear stay and to a fence or another bike.
If you don’t do them up tight, just unzip them, if you do and they lock, just ask for a knife to cut it..

I ride with a Lithuanian ex-pro wrestler and he looks after my bike when I go into the caff. Rides can be a bit slow and the conversation’s not great but no-one’s nicked my bike yet, so it works for me!

In a bottle cage or in your backpack? No wonder rides are slow. I bet he’s quite heavy. Have you considered converting him to tubeless?

How easy are those Abus 1200 locks to carry in the real world? Roadie pocket?

And why are they half the price on tool websites vs cycle shop websites?

BB7s – just screw ’em right in when you stop

*… if you stop, that is – we all know they don’t work 🙄

A deep enough padlock might work round the seatstay and through the back wheel maybe…

Although We just alternate turns to get a round in/guard the bikes…

I have a disclock alarm. Bike moves 120db hits them. It easily fits in a pocket too.