I'm soon to be moving to my parent's flat, which has a garage. The garage has an electric door. The garage is overlooked by an 'L' shaped set of 5 storey flats in a nice bit of town.

I'm going to assume that anyone going to the trouble of getting through the garage door in the first place is not going to be deterred by chains, D-locks and ground anchors that might secure the bike(s) inside, so is there any real reason I should bother to lock the bikes up inside?

I'm thinking of just threading some dumbell weights onto a steel cable of some sort and 'securing' the bikes to that. I'm not going down the whole camera/alarm/security light/guard poodle thing, unless I can set up something on the cheap…

If only I could keep them in the flat 🙁

P.S. There's a locked bike shed but it only has those stupid 'v' wheel mounts low on the wall that you can't properly secure anything to!

Garage doors are rubbish and pretty much all can be lifted. We're currently doing schemes with ground anchors but they need to be cast in. I think the resin embedded ones are ok but I would be just as happy with the anchors that have got fixings you can't see after installation. It's all in the lock if you ask me. Look for gold 'sold secure' stuff

Another cheap option whihc I have is a shed alarm from B&Q, only cost a tenner and you fix it it the garage door and frame. You need a key to turn it off and on. Pretty good and very loud. Think someon on here did a system using a rape alarm too at one point

Garage doors are very flimsy. I'd be putting in a bolt down ground anchor and using a decent chain, and maybe a £10 shed alarm or alarmed padlock.

I certainly wouldn't assume that someone who can get through a garage door will have the kit to get through a chain and ground anchor.

Tron – you would be surprised. In my job we have to work with the police and the stories they come back with make me think why do I even bother. One of the older guys showed me how to get through an expensive d-lock using a bic pen. Shocking

My garage is alarmed (on the same circuit as the house alarm) so at the moment I don't tend to lock them up inside, however given I now store all my bikes close together I'm thinking about putting in a wall or ground anchor and locking the bikes to that.

Ok If they're determined it'll only slow them down a little but in combination with the alarm it might be worthwhile, especially if it happens at night as it should give me time to get down the stairs, grab a weapon and inflict some GBH…

The D-Lock Bic pen thing was Kryptonite locks and it's been fixed now, seen padlocks easily opened with spanners, not big padlocks mind but they weren't big spanners either.
If someone is determined and has the right tools and know how then not much can stop them but it's not really worth taking the chance, get them as secure as you can.

Tron – you would be surprised.

I wouldn't. I've had ground anchors out of the floor after a few moments work with a pry bar, and after a few moments with an allen key (those ball bearings aren't as hard to remove as the makers would have you believe), I've lost the keys to cable locks and cut through them pretty sharpish, and there are good reasons why any commercial user of padlocks will very often house them in a heavy metal tube or other protector.

So I view security purely on the basis that you are making your stuff harder to nick, not impossible to nick. There's simply no such thing as impossible to nick, but the scum will tend to go and lift easier things.

Point taken gents! I will have to consult the parental unit regarding some additional security measures… Given that I'll be on the 4th floor, I'll never make it down in time to catch anyone but perhaps an alarm would just scare them orf.

If it's a roll-up door it'll be relatively hard to get through I think, so anyone getting through them would be fairly well prepared. Personally, being geeky/electronicsy, I'd just try to nab your (undoubtedly extremely simple) signal and re-use it. Making your internal security more important.

Perhaps these people will be able to help or advise:

http://www.buckinghamshiregaragedoors.co.uk

I’ll never make it down in time to catch anyone

SAS suit and a zip wire out the window – vengance visited upon them from the skies 😉

I’d go with torq ground anchors on the wall or floor. I weirdely park my car in the garage, freak i know! 😉 and thr bikes hang off the wall above. Torq fo specific ones for brick work if needed. Resin secured and you can’t undo them unless you take some pretty heavy duty gear in. I secure mine with torqs recommended motorbike chains and squire padlocks.