In search of bicycle nirvana, i have recently had A bit of a shuffle, including two new frames, trimming of the fleet to the magic 3, and subsequent assignment of blingy spares to the so’s fleet.

Then my car stereo got pinched. Safe.

The shed is more of a fortress than a shed structurally, and the primary bikes are chained down, and to each other, with a badass motorbike chain.

Currently wondering if I need to develop my Raspberry pi into a automagical video-tweeting motion sensitive security camera server…

How far have you gone with your security arrangements?

As far as insurance asked. (that and getting good insurance)

As far as insurance asked

this. which isnt very far.

From my research, raspberry pi’s don’t make great security/video recording devices – they don’t have the processing ooomph to encode the video.

Prob better just to get an off the shelf IP camera – remote operation, wireless uploads etc… all ready to go in one package, just needs volts.

Cp any suggestions ? I have traveller camp near by just now and alot of folk are loosing stuff locally. ( including last night a colleagues distinctive motorbike from the village i saw on the camp this mornjng)

An ip camera would be just the tiket- do any of them upload straight to some form of the cloud ?

So, your bikes get nicked an you have a video of a guy in a hoodie in the dark, what next?

My cellar is bombproof (literally). Is that good enough?

Coupled with quite alot of other security features. Also if he gets ino my garage itll be a good picture of his hoodie at least. Goes bright and loud quickly.

As far as insurance asked.

+1

Lidl have “wildlife” infra red motion sensing video cams in object week. 70 squids?…

for me the hassle of replacing irreplaceable bikes means yes I have insurance and fulfill their requirments BUT additionally I use Torq ground anchors and motorbike chains securing these to the ground anchors. They are locked on hangers in the garage with UPVC rear door and an elctronic upvc door on the front. the car does actually go inside each night.

I feel its enough for now… but wonder occasionally if a camera might help. hmmmm.

Is it really sensible to post up what security you’ve got to protect your bikes (and other goodies) on a public forum?

My first rule of security is not telling anyone what my security is like.

It’s a bit like Fight Club, but safer. 😉

I think this weekend will involve making some parts list, and noting frame numbers….

The most security conscious thing I did was get a bike that was so unbelievably ugly and shit that no-one would want to look at it let alone steal it..

It’s working so far

Thinking like Pinky..
Good insurance +2.
Problem with these threads is you might as well list your security along with your history of your fleet and maybe your holiday dates.

Is it really sensible to post up what security you’ve got to protect your bikes

my bikes are tagged with tracking devices, encased in 10′ of concrete at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and are held in a tight embrace by Chuck Norris

my bikes are tagged with tracking devices, encased in 10′ of concrete at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and are held in a tight embrace by Chuck Norris

How often do you ride?

Thats for Chuck to decide.

I’m not looking for an equipment list to come and steal :-P, just an idea. Seems we tend to rely on insurance more than belt and braces lock ups!

Ok, I was the flippant insurance comment.
They get locked up either in the house or in the garage/shed etc. depends where I am living.
When travelling I’d rather they were in the van but if I don’t have a van then they are in or on the car, if outside they are locked to the rack.

However in the end if somebody wants to steal it they will, I do enough that I can get them replaced.

Reasonable security and insurance around most of the bikes, one bike running free to distract opportunists. The real crims will get what I have no matter what I put around it.

edit: Oh, and put next door’s windows through,.

I have struck a balance between having my bikes secure and actually being able to get them out and ride them.

Locked up in a locked garage.
Alarms
Insurance.

For you an alarm would be more use. You need something that will attract unwanted attention to the scrote so they leg it before they get through your security.

I keep meaning to get round to hooking up an Arduino to a PIR sensor and get a gert big security light / horn in my shed. An effing loud horn would be preferable but I don’t fancy it going off and waking half the street every time a snail gets in the shed!

Cheers,
Jamie

Big lock armed guards and an attack dog.

The most security conscious thing I did was get a bike that was so unbelievably ugly and shit that no-one would want to look at it let alone steal it..

An Orange Five?

I’ve always thought that the worst thing you could do was advertise yourself as a keen cyclist. Outdoorsy/bike related stickers on your car, leaving a bike rack attached to the boot or roof, having helmets or gloves on display, Wearing bike branded clothing all of this marks you out as someone to follow home…

Making it as hard as possible for the buggers to identify yours as an address where they’ll find pricey bikes in the first place is the best primary line of defence. They can’t take the bolt cutters to your security arrangements if they are unaware of your bike habit to begin with.

How far have you gone with your security arrangements?

When i leave the house i sometimes lock my front door, and i even take the key out of the lock if i remember, if i’m away overnight i may pull the windows almost shut. Apart from that i have to say i’m not security conscious at all, i do live in one of the lowest crime areas in the country though (galloway) and my surrounding neighbours are all retired and good friends (or rather nosy) so they keep an eye on things.

Not much goes on here, i tend to find strange bikes left in my garden (to fix) from the neighbourhood kids rather than things go missing.

I couldn’t stay somewhere where my stuff got knicked or my house or car got broken into, i’d end up shooting someone wi the shotgun.

Given that my road bike hangs on the wall over my bed and I’m angry as flip when I get woken up.I’d say it’s pretty safe.

Somafunk – i did live somewhe like that – then pikeys in caravans moved in down the road.( and all was good for 2 weeks….. Then a bunch of messy noisy **** moved in and the first 10 caravans moved out )

Well, security.
Let me see. I’ve got autoguns, Rottweilers hooked on the taste of Pikey’s blood, Private Military Contractors patrolling with NVGs and M16s. Oh, and a Predator drone on constant watch.
That do?

Personally I don’t see the point in falling for marketing rubbish and buying expensive ground anchors, and the hardest chain in the world ever. If they want it they will get it, or cut through the weakest link which will be the frame.

I’ve had 1 bike stolen in the last year, but 2 attempts. The 2nd attempt, they made it in to the shed but no further, and all my security upgrades cost less than £30.

If you can’t afford to have expensive bikes picked, then don’t buy them, or keep them in your bed.

I’d love to know how you can secure your bikes and shed for £30!

Mine live in the cupboard under the stairs, wheels out and crammed in. These would be fairly easy to pinch, were it not for my wife’s ridiculous town bike, complete with basket and child seat, shoved in last for good measure.

Frankly, if anyone can be bothered shifting that behemoth out the way and trying to extract it through the narrow cupboard door, they’re welcome to the good bikes underneath. I’ve been granted an afternoon of freedom to ride my bike today, and I genuinely don’t know if I can be bothered trying to get my bike out the cupboard.

I’ve always taken the view that breaking into a house is a step above breaking into a shed, in terms of the level of criminality (I don’t know if the law sees it that way). By that I mean, for every ten scrotes that would be willing to burgle a shed, where there’s a decent chance of legging it if disturbed, only a couple would have the minerals to break into a secured house, with the potential consequences that may bring. I may well be being completely naive there, though.

Mine goes in a shed, locked with a flimsy padlock but chained to a massive old iron bed frame. I’d love to be able to keep the bike in my flat for easy tinkering, but I live on the second floor so no go really.

It also helps that my bike is sh*t. Well, in the eyes of a thief it is. But it means I can leave it shackled to the side of the pub overnight safe in the knowledge that a thief would probably choose the brand new Scott’s and Trek’s tied up next to it, rather than my 20 year old steel GT with slicks 🙂

Asgard Annex steel shed and an 45kg Rhodesian Ridgeback. So far, so good. Have considered a “Danger High Voltage” sticker for the shed as it looks like a electrical distribution box.

Have considered a “Danger High Voltage” sticker for the shed as it looks like a electrical distribution box.

That might just encourage metal thieves after cabling! Thinking about it, they probably don’t go looking in back gardens….

My question is around shed alarms. You can get the PIR ones with remote control keb fobs for less than a fiver on Ebay.. Are they any good, eg loud enough? I’m also assuming that you would have to tuck them away in the shed to avoid a swift swing of a crowbar taking it out.

My question is around shed alarms. You can get the PIR ones with remote control keb fobs for less than a fiver on Ebay.. Are they any good, eg loud enough? I’m also assuming that you would have to tuck them away in the shed to avoid a swift swing of a crowbar taking it out.

I had a cheap Halfords bike nicked from my shed a year or so back (police thought it was probably an opportunist theft to get something to ride home on). Since then I’ve got a shed alarm like this that has a PIR unit in the shed, and an alarm in the house. Even set just to doorbell chime, it is jolly darned loud, and try as I might, I couldn’t work out any way to get in the shed without setting it off, even knowing it is there. Sensor battery lasts about a year, then the sensor light just goes solid red (rather than flashing on movement), and you see it next time you’re in the shed, meaning you’re unprotected for a very short while each year, but other than that it works great.

I could stick an alarm in the shed, but all that would do is make a noise, wouldn’t stop anyone nicking stuff, whereas I reckon an actual person coming out and saying ‘oi, scumbag’, is a lot more likely to stop them.

My bikes aren’t fancy ones that someone would target to nick though (and it wouldn’t be much money to replace if they did get nicked), so I feel I don’t need the fort-knox style security that some people obviously have, but knowing that I’ll at least hear if anyone goes in the shed is reassuring.

At the moment the bikes are in a standard brick garage with a couple of hasp/staples securing the door.
However, I’m currently building a new man shed, which is constructed from 7nm blocks, with a steel roof, one very small window with bars on the inside, steel security door with multipoint locking, and huge ground anchor set into the concrete base, and a couple of decent chains securing the bikes.

I also live in London’s safest ward, and my garden is land-locked on all sides (and overlooked) by very nosey pensioners who track all movements.

I can’t do a lot more….

My mtb lives in the loft. It isn’t getting stolen.

My commuter lives in the kitchen. Don’t really have the space but only fools keep their bikes in sheds in the garden.

I do find it amusing that I live in the ‘crime hotspot’ of Liverpool and have never been the victim of a crime, don’t believe what the media and stereotypes tell you kids…