Shed Security

Anyone got any tips/experience on outdoor bike storage security?

Live in South Manchester and (like a lot of people) just had my bikes nicked from the shed (no room to keep them in the house)

Almax chain. There’s your starter for 10.

Disguise the shed with astroturf 🙂

I’ve had them stolen from my shed as well as from inside my house, several times…

Current set up involves a Viper alarm on the shed door (shed = breeze block construction with oak door). Viper alarms can be set to go off if the door is hit repeatedly, ie before the door is actually opened. They arent particularly expensive. Hinge bolts on the door and security lights.

Then a bell box inside, a silly number of dBs, you cant really remain in the shed while is it going off – you start to go dizzy after a few seconds. there’s a sensor in the shed to catch anyone that gets in through the roof rather than the door.

the bikes are chained to ground anchors, the type that are sunk into concrete rather than screwed into the wall or floor. Ideally you want the chains to be fairly tight around the bike and not trailing on the floor, so that it is harder to use bolt cutters.

I lock the bikes through the frames and then pass the chains through the forks as well.

Not much more I can do, none of this is going to resist a big axe and angle grinder combo, but I’m fairly happy and have insurance.

I think the security by obscurity is a better option in some ways, you dont want anyone to know you are keeping bikes. I’ve also thought (seriously sometimes) about ways of hiding the bikes in the shed, behind some sort of screen or false wall, or keeping a decoy bike in there – but it eventually comes down to security vs convenience.

good luck!

Paint your shed pink – then people will think Footflaps built it.

Depends how much you want to spend. I’ve seen steel containers clad in timber to look like a shed, I’ve also seen sheds with a HD 50mm steel mesh cage inside them. Both on commercial applications.

How secure are those bike locker things? At the very least you’d think it would make a hell of a racket trying to get into them.

I’ve wondered about them because it’s often hard to find a house (as a renter) with a halfway decent shed/garage.

Read the below link and the rest of their website, their Pragmasis chains are the same quality as Almax chains so pretty much the only ones worth buying.

http://securityforbikes.com/wooden-shed-security-advice.php

Thanks for the advice (astroturf particularly appeals) – will look into shed alarms and the rest of it, take the security seriously from now on

And if anyone has successfully implemented a method of electrocuting the scrotes as they attempt to rob you, I’d love to hear about it!

Also in South Mancs and there’s a lot of bike nicking going on at the moment. A ground anchor thru the shed floor, best chain you can afford and some kind of loud alarm like agentd recommends seems like the way to go. I’ve got 2 out of those three…

Was always a fan of a sacrificial bike – something that looked good but was not early trek or Claude Butler that was easy to remove and all the other bikes proper secure – wheels of as well and stem loosened so they are not easily rideable away

As above its how much hassle you cn be bothered to go through V how easy you want to be able to ride your bike

slight hijack.
anyone using Asgard bike sheds ?

To be honest I wouldnt bother with very expensive chains. If they have got in to your shed they could spend a couple of hours in there dismantling the bike around the lock. More likely they would just cut the frame.

Make it as hard as possible for them to get near the bike. ie scare them off before they can touch it

Personally, I’ve got a very loud alarm that is tamper proof. The roof is bolted to the sides. The hinge screws have all been rounded off (in fact any screws & bolts).

The bikes themselves are in big locked metal cabinets within the shed.

Sofaking,

I have one of the Asgard Access bike stores in my garage.

Very impressed and it would involve some serious noise to get into it. Padlocks are well hidden so not easy to get at. Takes 4 mountain bikes not without any issue but it’s not a tight squeeze.

cheers andermt. you garage ^ looks nice and spacious 😀

My shed security takes the form of an Abus (I think) ground anchor bolted into the concrete, and a very large hardened steel chain/padlock.

That is all. No alarm or security light.

Our whole back yard seems to be 8-10+ inch think solid concrete, so it’s not like the ground anchor can be easily broken out.

The shed’s only just big enough for the bike plus a load of worthless junk, so thieves can’t get in and close the door behind them for privacy whilst they ‘work’.

I feed the lock through the frame and wheels, so I guess the seat/seatpost could easily be taken, plus the stem/bars & forks if someone had 15 minutes and a couple of allen keys.

Hmmmm. Might need to address the forks part of that, seeing as they cost more than the frame and wheels put together 😯

I’ve just put up an Asgard Annexe in the garden. Same size as the access, but a bit beefier. It’s got a certification from an insurer organisation for a certain standard of protection.

Mine’s currently untested, and I hope it stays that way! Looks like too much of a pain in the arse to bother with. I’m hoping tealeaves will think the same.

Hmmmm. Might need to address the forks part of that, seeing as they cost more than the frame and wheels put together

A simple way to deter forks being removed is to replace the top cap bolt with a security bolt rather than the basic allen key that most people would expect.

To be honest I wouldnt bother with very expensive chains. If they have got in to your shed they could spend a couple of hours in there dismantling the bike around the lock. More likely they would just cut the frame.

A simple way to deter forks being removed

That’s why I run the chain through the frame and the fork, if the frames were cut, they wouldnt get a set of £500 forks as part of the deal.

Along with concrete, ground anchors, chains and the like, I have a decapitating lawnmower that swings from the rafters when the door is opened and a variety of paint pots and weedkiller bottles that will snare and poison the thief. Plus there be trained spiders in my shed that could kill a man just by winking at him.
BEWARE!

Recently got an Asgaard shed, Almax chain with padlock & ground anchor.

The shed was easy to assemble and is very robust for the money. Any would be thief would need powertools to get the bikes away.

I recently installed a Shed Shackle and their shed beef-up kit which puts coach bolts on everything. A ground anchor is probably better, but there’s no concrete floor on my shed and I couldn’t be bothered with doing a bucket of concrete or similar. The shed shackle looks great, though.

I also got one of their big chains and padlock. It’s securing a few bikes which is a pain when you want to get out the one at the back. The chunky chain is awkward for threading through the frame, let alone wheels and forks. The system will be better with fewer bikes or (expensive) multiple chains/locks.

It hasn’t been tested, luckily, but hopefully it will be enough to discourage thieves or make lots of noise.

there’s no concrete floor on my shed

you can easily slot 100-200kg of concrete into the corner of a shed in a simple wooden-framed and boarded box and put an anchor into that. it doesn’t take up much space at all.

Sofaking,

This is it in the garage. 🙂

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-xena-motorbike-security-chain-999

I had my Asgard shed done over a few weeks ago – I don’t think it took them long, but I think they must have used power tools.

If going for a shed or similar, I’d recommend using an alarm and ground anchor/motorbike chain as well.

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I think you need an alarm / flood lights as if they turn up with proper tools, they’ll be through anything in minutes, eg you could cut out the lock area on the Asgaard box with a 24v sabre saw / drill combo in a minute or so. I use my sabre saw for cutting high tensile bolts and it goes through them pretty quickly, so 2mm of sheet steel won’t hold up at all.

I feed the lock through the frame and wheels, so I guess the seat/seatpost could easily be taken, plus the stem/bars & forks if someone had 15 minutes and a couple of allen keys.

I always run chain/wire through the forks (gap between brace and crown).

Lots of chains and a bloody loud alarm. You can get some alarms that are just so loud you cant stay in the shed. I’ve also gone for a CCTV flood light as in reality if they want your bike they will get it, but at least with cctv the police might catch the bastards.

how about a cut down shipping container, do they take some getting into with a good lock on them ?

“do they take some getting into with a good lock on them ? “

in a word … no

Ive had to break into them on occasion … its not hard with tools.

What ever security you have, THEY WILL GET IN, thieves break into banks and cash machines, and they have massive security, all you can do is deter them, big noisy alarms ,cctv, descent doors and framing,no power in garge for oppower tools, secure the roof, security light etc.

Then one day after you have all that stuf you clamp the bike onto the roof of the car and leave it in a car park while you pop in for a pasty.

Bike gone probably.

Thieves are everyewhere as are the more obnoxious people who say they never buy stolen stuff, sometimes they do if the price is right.

If there was not the deman , there wouldnt be thieves, you cant eat a bit to survive.

My garage had an alarm,sensors on both doors,and a movement detector.Also has a very very loud extra siren fitted in there.
Alarm is hooked to my house alarm.

Bike frames are locked to each other with a D-lock and wheels forks have cable locks aswell.All locked to a floor loop.

The only other thing I do that hasn’t been mentioned is remove all the front wheels. They live in wheel bags under my bed. Bit more faff, but definitely means scrots couldn’t ride the bike away…

Decent alarm, remote alarm in the house (to wake you up if the shed / workshop isn’t right next to the bedroom window), plus Master Blaster in the shed itself to drive them would be my basic set up…

http://www.finemark.co.uk/klaxon-master-blaster-12v-relay&currency=GBP

I just live in a nice area. Seems to work.

Our most recent “visit”
In through the roof then spent hours removing all parts from frame.