How To Lock Your Bike - Secure Your Bicycle From Thieves

Lock your bike correctly and keep your bike safe from thieves.

If you're cycling around town, or if you've stopped at a cafe, where you leave your bike and how you lock it can prevent it from being a target for the dreaded bike thieves.

Choose the correct bike lock, lock it in the right location and the right way with GCN.

Any questions? Comment below or tweet @gcntweet

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[sjbartnikowski]

Still can't shake my paranoia. In my head, as soon as I lock my bike up and it leaves my sight, thieves arrive immediately with bolt cutters and a blow torch. Meanwhile all passers-by think nothing of it.

[HensaStralem]

The moral of the story: carry 5 pounds worth of locks and chains with you at all times, become proficient at partially disassembling your ride on a daily basis, and get used to hauling seats, wheels, and other accessories on your person.

Ugh.

[ricknicholson]

Had to laugh at the comment about locking your bike up close to a police station. My Canadian son - a cop - locked his bike up at the bike compound at his local police station - it was stolen. That's right, some one actually stole a bike locked up at the police station.

[MetalGear]

the safest way is to get a bike that is so shitty no one else wants it either.

[-Bonobo-]

gcn is the kinda channel which you can just watch all day

[bartonez]

I'm not convinced parking in a public spot will deter thieves too much. I once had to break into my own car (because I locked the keys in it...) and not a single passerby gave me a second look as I noodled about with coathanger wire trying to pry the lock. Apparently a guy in a hoodie trying to break into a car in a very public area isn't worth of anyones attention whatsoever.

[Mick_T]

You should be careful when locking your bike to railings, they are made out of cast iron and can be broken by a hammer. This has happened a few times here in Brighton.

[bradsimpson]

This is all good advice. Another consideration is the "outrunning the bear" theory. You don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your friend.

When I'm riding around, I always try and park my bike next to something that looks nicer and more expensive than mine. A lock and a public location will deter anyone who is interested in stealing a bike to ride it down the road to the pub. Parking it next to a nicer bike will probably deter the more discerning thug, looking for something fancy he can cart off to the pawn shop.

Not always possible, I guess, but something to think about.

[BerraLJ]

Some of those locks looks like they weigh more then some of the more pro bikes :)

[XrealtimemachinimaX]

MAN! Why can't people just work hard instead of stealing other peoples bikes for quick cash, this is getting ridiculous. I've purchased my self a near indestructible lock to keep my $700 bike safe. It's a little silly that I have to worry constantly about thieves trying to nick my bike...

[tomdarrington]

I wrote "I'm a massive twat" on both sides of my bike. No-one has stolen it yet and white van drivers need to be more creative with their insults.

[BicycleStuff]

Far more convenient than adding a cable lock for the wheels is to just replace the quick release axles with locking skewers. There are also special wheel locks for bikes having bolt on wheels. Also, having the seat always locked to the frame of the bike using a bicycle chain or cable lock is a worthwhile deterrent. Thieves do steal seats, believe me.

[rosscads]

If using your bike for regular commuting it may be an idea to keep a heavy lock at your destination. Kryptonite's New York Fahgettaboudit lock gives me the most confidence, but you wouldn't want it in your jersey pocket!

[captainthrall]

"if you've got a drug addict looking for his next hit of EPO" bwahahahahahah

[shazkhan]

If you are going to take your saddle with you, why not just take the whole bike with you. Better still, take the wheels out along with the saddle.

[willtrking]

Good thing to remember is if you lock your bike to a stop sign which is simply bolted to a receiver, and not actually buried in concrete, many thieves will unbolt the sign and slide your lock off. Happens here in SF anyway

[jonnybarghy]

Interesting that us cyclists spend so much on getting the lightest bike, but the lighter (and more expensive) the bike, the heavier the lock. This has led me to the conclusion that every bike ends up weighing about the same! Cheaper heavier bike = lighter lock.
Is anyone aware of any genuine way of still saving weight whilst offering good protection? Are there any really good bike locks that are relatively lightweight?

[TheKimjoh]

The truth is that your bike will never be safe. At least not outdoors. If you put too many locks on it a thief with little knowledge of bikes will soon figure out its extremely valuable and go to great lenghts to steal it, possibly damaging the bike in the process. If the thief has some bike knowledge he will just steal your groupset, saddle, handlebars pedals etc.

Do yourself a favor and buy a cheap bike that you can afford to lose and lock it properly if you need to lock it on the streets. Riding a carbon racer to town while carrying that bikes weight in chains and locks just to keep it (relatively) safe kind of defeats the purpose of a super light carbon racer.

[thatwolffe]

You can also put a small cable lock through the bars under the saddle to keep it secure

[mfpleite]

"...a drug addict. He want's his next hit o EPO"... completely cracked me! :D