London Fixed-gear and Single-speed

Hi,
this is probably a well worn question but I'm going round in circles...
I've just bought a Condor Pista with insurance money, which I got half price on eBay almost brand new. So I've doubled the cost of the road bike I used to own, which got stolen from a cable lock (i've learnt that lesson). I'm living in Liverpool, but moving to London soon and have been advised that the Kryptonite mini d lock is just not serious.
I've been advised to get a big gold rated d lock, as well as one of those steel flex ones. I was thinking about getting a chain but are they any better for the weight? Is one lock better than two? How much should I spend? Is it ridiculous to think a brand new pista would be left unnoticed in London for any amount of time? It also has a £85 brooks saddle on it. Please help...

put ball-bearings covered in grease in the end of allen key bolts to prevent stuff (brooks saddle) getting removed by nasty people. use a magnet to remove the ball-bearing when you need to remove bits yourself.

get two decent locks, and don't lock it in any E postcodes.

Pitlocks plus a decent d lock.

Admit that if you ride an expensive bike and leave it around anywhere in any city by itself it has a chance it will get stolen. Who cares, its just a bike!

If you get yourself a decent lock, thick cable, hardened chain or other wise, you should be fine - as long as you don't leave it out of sight for too long. common sense is more valuable than any chain. A decent bike thief will get through any lock, 5 star rated or otherwise in less than 5-10 minutes anyway. If it feels dodgy don't leave it. I would use a hardened steel chain and hardened steel doughnut shaped padlock for maximum hang time before the fuckers get through your defences (which are, incidentally rated according to the manufacturers specifications), and his crack pipe smokin mate turns up in his white van, carts off your little two wheeled baby and ships it on brick lane or ebay to some wannabe hipster for fiddy dorra.

work in an ofice where you're allowed to bring it in, failing that get a hack bike that will probably cost you less than the locks you're intending to buy.

A friend of mine says she met a bike thief in the pub and he told her all his secrets. I'm sceptical, but apparently he emphasized that if bike thieves see an Abus lock, they don't bother even trying. I'd go with mobidog's advice - get a big fuckoff Abus chain (you can wear them round your waist, so they're easier to carry around than d-locks), and maybe a couple of d-locks as well (you can hang them from the chain round your waist, and it also means cars keep their distance so they don't get scratched).

And there's always the gaffer tape route...

Why you hatin' on tha East??

[quote=Emilia;237829] - get a big fuckoff Abus chain (you can wear them round your waist, so they're easier to carry around than d-locks), and maybe a couple of d-locks as well (you can hang them from the chain round your waist,]

meanwhile your pants have come down due to the weight of all that hanging off them and your ass is a-glistenin' for all the world to see - not the best of looks as you round the bollards at the Golden Hart of a Sunday afternoon.

if you can lock it up in liverpool, then it'll be fine here

"hatin'" has nothing to do with it.

it's where most bikes get nicked.

the words "stolen bike" are usually followed later with the words "kingsland road"

+1

When you consider the value of most of our bikes, the thought of leaving them locked anywhere becomes steadily more ludicrous. I would never leave my Campag equipped geared bike anywhere, the same as I wouldn't lock my full sus downhill bike in a dodgy place - so it doesn't make sense that I use my Mercian fixed to get about town - especially considering it's not worth that much less. I may be working in central London soon, and would think about building up a beater frame for that commute, but then why did I buy the Mercian if I'm going to be too precious to ride it?

Whatever - like Rakan said, it's just a bike and it's a risk you take. I use a Kryptonite Fahgeddaboutit, but won't leave it anywhere I can't check up on it - but all that means is I don't ride to the cinema.

Christ - what a fucking ramble. Hopefully you get the idea though...

[quote=pajamas;237837]I kind of like the Marley's Ghost look...

Perhaps it's better on girls - they tend to have rounder hips and arse, which keep the chain in place and the trousers up!

Oh that E-postcode. I stand corrected...

I have a Condor Pista which I was petrified of leaving around town. I sort of got over this a bit when it got a bit scratched up but i still went out and bought a new d-lock and also think i should get another smaller one as well.

Thankfully i rarely have to leave it anywhere for long.

I use a Kryptonite New York lock sized for Motorbikes (weighs a TON) and one of those phat Abus cables that go round your waist. But not on my Condor.

Recently went through this process myself. My conclusions were to buy two locks, 1 D-lock and 1 chain type lock. Rationale: any lock can be broken given the will; d-locks and chains require different kit to break; it's likely that a thief will only carry one set of kit; having two different locks increases the difficulty somewhat.

The best rated locks I found were:

D-locks: Kryptonite New York or Fughedaboudit (the small yellow one), ABUS Granit X-Plus 54
Chains: ABUS Steel-o-Flex, any of the ABUS/Kryptonite chunky chains.

I just use my D-lock in the day, there are plenty of bikes round where I am with crap locks that would be far easier to nick.

Courant

This is a cable lock not a chain.

Condor Pista is a great bike - sounds like you got a bargain too.

Applying common sense is probably the most important factor in not getting your bike nicked. Postcode is less important than actually where you lock it - visible, busy areas are likely to deter thieves cf. quieter back streets. But don't leave it out and visible for extended periods of time (e.g. overnight). And locking your bike correctly - look at the Epic Fail thread to see how not to do it...

However, parking it out of the sight of thieves is probably the best way to avoid getting it nicked. By that I mean park it off the street at work and home (if possible).

Enjoy - and come along to some of the social stuff once you're down in London.

Same deal, it still requires a f-off big bolt cutter to get through it! The point is,it's orthogonal to a d-lock in terms of breaking-method, and pretty damn strong in its own right.

Courant

Placist

SOTS - SOTB

Works evey time, human shit on the saddle and human shit on the bars = your bike will still be there when you crawl out of the knocking shop.

+1 on the Kryptonite motorcycle d-lock - weighs a ton but solid as a rock - plus the usual cables / extra locks for wheels & saddle.

David Cameron apparently got caught out today by locking his bike to a bollard. The Thief just lifted the bike up and over the bollard with lock still in place.

That's an Epic Fail!

Just stick some Langster decals on it:

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread8442.html

Never leave a decent bike on the street without an armed guard, Zoe

Even a crap-looking bike will get nicked if it is not secured well enough

Using two different locks requires two kinds of tool to break them - that would slow a thief down and make them look at other items on the street to nick instead

Oh and don't chain it to a short bollard... heheheehehe

Handcuff a corpse to the downtube, that'll keep any bike thieves at bay.

Probably not! They'd take the heart, liver and kidneys as well!

you need 2 locks that require different tools to be of any use, that would be a strong chain (like the krypto NYC ones) and a strong d-lock. a cable of any thickness is no good at all as any bolt croppers will go through it, as will a hack saw, or any other tool a thief might have

I cant believe I'm going to jinx myself by replying to this thread but anyway.

Always lock your bike beside a more desirable less secure bike.
I have made my bike look pretty shitty, and aside from general maintaining it, I let it get dirty and dusty and look bad. I also took the bar tape off the bars and put it on my frame and finished it with parcel tape. I also parcel taped the saddle so it looks like its ripped and raggedy.

I use an abus chain lock (what ever one is the top of their range with the "unpickable" lock) and its pretty good. (I hope, I pray) I wear it around my waist (I dont use it as a belt) and my trousers never get pulled down. You can also wear it over your shoulders or throw it in a decent bag.

If your commuting remember that the weight of a good lock is probably offset by 500 bills of better bike so leave a very good (heavy) lock at your office or where ever so you save that weight for your journeys (if you care).

If your using a D make sure you know how to lock it on your bike. A good way is to include the lampost, back wheel, frame and a crank, so that there is very little room to lever anything inside the lock, or put a jack into it.

Lock it in plain view of where your staying, in a nice area, in full view of everyone. Make sure you record its number, insure it for the proper amount and take photos of it.

Finally get lfgss to set up a facebook profile for stolen bikes in London where you can report your bike knicked and maybe people will check it before they buy. Or something, I dunno.

Thats all the advice I can give you. Good luck!

Peace

Buy a long shackle one of these:


And one of these:


Peace of mind delux does not come cheap unfortunately.

Thanks to all, I know there's no ultimate answer, but just minimizing the worry. I felt a bit like I was jinxing it by posting the question, but I've had the same road bike nicked twice in 2 months so this is why I am paranoid and not ready for my third yet. Both times were within a day/on the day of going to the hairdressers for a free cut, so maybe there lies the jinx? I got another haircut this week but took the car. Bad luck too was the first bike being nicked from brick lane when I was in the bike shop for 7 mins BUYING A NEW LOCK, I was crying but it was also quite funny.

So I'm hoping to get a part time job where they don't mind a bike in the staff room/office. I'm also going to lock it by college, which is in shepherds bush and quite residential, but will prob get one of those heavy d locks to leave there they sound good. Not sure about all that jangling of chains and locks but have seen the chain-over-the-body technique. I don't think I could enjoy a film thinking about my bike, and I've had some really brief gallery visits.

I've been told about painting it shit and covering in electrical tape, but I didn't buy it for that. It is brand new and I suppose I just need to get past it being a beautiful object and into it being a mode and means of getting about. I'm stuck in the car mostly at the moment for my new job, so the bike is still pristine. Its also strange that I got it half price, thinking I was being clever, but its value is higher and real and very covetable, I just didn't think about that when I was bagging my bargain.

Thanks again nice to have a bit of honest banter about bike stealing...x