security chain recommendations?

[Tamsin]

I know there's a lot of talk about chains and I'm thinking of buying a decent one so after recommendations. Weight is not too much of an issue given that it can go in the topbox. Budget for chain and lock is £100-150 so what would you lot suggest? Really more of a visual deterrent thing...

Almax, pragmasis or a bit of rope tied with a knot?

[Ballpien]

Almax.

Every. Single. Time.

I spoke to both recently. Pragmasis acted like they were too busy to take my call, like it was too much trouble. Almax on the other hand couldn't have been more helpful if they'd tried. I spoke to Alex for about an hour and a half, discussing different security methods through to street lighting (it went off on a tangent a few times ) The upshot being that my custom felt welcomed.

I went for a ground anchor too - now I neither know nor care whether he has a tie in with Y-Max ground anchors, as that's what I was going for anyway - but rather than recommend one from his own site he said it sounded like the Y-Max would be best for my needs.

I was also told that I'd not need to buy the more expensive 19mm chain (which was what I intended to buy) but that the 16mm series 3 would be more than enough for a single bike locked at a domestic premises. (this may change with your location, rural Wiltshire will be less at risk than Islington). I didn't get charged delivery and it turned up next day. Couldn't be happier with it.

Anyway, Tl;dr...Almax.
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R125 - FZ1n ABS

Looking forward to the 5,000,000th post in 2017

[Snop Doog]

Almax all the way, however I highly recommend securing the front wheel to a solid object with a piece of string just to be sure.

[ADSrox0r]

And for contrast;

I had the polar opposite with Pragmasis. They were absolutely stellar in helping me with locking the VFR down and went out of their way to make arrangements to get a specific Pinch Pin for me that was out of stock. I couldn't praise them enough and the hardware itself is impressive, the ground anchor resin bonded into my garage floor feels like it would take a good tug from a tractor to get it out if at all!
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Current bikes: '08 VFR 800 VTEC(yo) , '07 ZZR1400 Winter hack: '95 Aprilia 650 Pegaso Currently lusting after: RC30

[Knacker]

Almax.

Any other brands you might aswell just leave the keys in the bike.
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Current: Gsxr 600 Srad - GS125 - DT125
Previous: K1 GSXR 1000

[-Matt-]

I'd go with an Almax personally - probably want a 1.5m rather than 1m one to get it around a lot of things, especially if you've got a large rear wheel on the bike.

Series III's are good enough generally; the Series IV's take marginally longer to get through with power-tools, but if they're confident to goto that much effort in the first place its going to get nicked either way probably, regardless of an extra minute or so to get it broken.

Never had a Pragmasis, although i've heard good things about them too - would agree with Ballpien about Almax having a lot of time for their customers though

[Moo.]

I'm a cheap ass student.. so i went with the Rogerborgified 16mm anchor chain route for £30..

But if you can afford it i've go for either as you suggest. Never heard a bad word said about either of those companies.. i doubt you can get better! So go for the best.

If i could afford it, i would go pragmasis or almax
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A2 Passed 18/6/10

[Ste]

Almax, Pragmasis and a bit of rope tied with a knot.

[Rogerborg]

[Flatbadger]

I have the Almax 19mm 2m and 16mm 1.5m for the topbox, which I tie into a knot. Pragmasis anti-pinch pin too (although I don't tie that in a knot, that would be silly). 2 1/2 years and still nick free

I also have had a long talk with Alex, he asked me to call him back for a special tip when installing the ground anchor but it's still in the cupboard, I ended up using a fence post.
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If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
You're in ISIS

[Vincent]

[Northern Monkey]

Pragmasis chap at securityforbikes.com is very helpful.

Give him a call and ask what he recommends.
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Fisty: after polishing the tank with the glistenng beads of sweat from my full hot scrotum, I filled the headrace bearings with 10cc of my manmilk

[Amber Phoenix]

Had two Pragmasis chains, locks and one Torc anchor now (for two bikes, not because there was an issue).

Found Pragmasis very helpful with advise on securing the Torc anchor after discovering the concrete in front of house wasn't as deep as I hoped, rendering the supplied resin based bolts a failure - they just got pushed into the soft ground below.
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Beginner Biker Adventures Blog
Yamaha FZ6 S2 2007

[Val]

[kramdra]

Locks are generally weaker than chains, there doesnt seem to be many expensive ones worth looking at, the squire and abloy both have skinny shackles compared to the chain diameters they are paired with. Theres absolutely no point in a 19mm chain with a 13mm lock shackle, or even 16mm shackle. Both need to be the same diameter or your wasting weight/strength of the chain.

This one is interesting but 40 quid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIO-_yDdaX8

I dont think chains are ideal, they have equal strength all over but use twice as much metal for the diameter. Instead bar could be used with pins, but pins are the weak point unless they are the same diameter, which means the end of each bar needs to be bigger. The advantage comes from weight if the link pins are very long 150-300mm (any longer and they could be used as levers to break the pin)

example - 20mm bar, 40mm end of bar, 20mm riveted link pins.

[stevo as b4]

I have one question.

Why do many bike dealers and bike accessory shops stock a large range of other brands of locks and chains, if Almax and Pragmasis are the only two worth buying or strong enough to resist most hand operated bolt croppers?

Why is Almax only available direct from the firm or on Ebay? Do bike shops not want to stock the best chains, or are they prevented from doing so, either by tie ups with other manufacturers/exclusivity or do Almax etc only want to sell direct?

I've never been to a bike shop that sell's Almax/Pragmasis products that I can think of? Many local (west mids) shops to me sell Oxford, Squire, Abus gear instead.

Also do these firms believe their products are better than they are, or are they happy to sell security that is not as strong/resistant to bolt croppers as they could be?

I cannot believe Abus etc have not seen the independent chain tests, and having had their products sometimes easily defeated or shown up by Almax etc, that they have not wanted to do something about it?

Or is it that other makes are cheaper and still sell well, so why change something that still makes you money?

Sorry for the long post, and I know that this opens up a whole can of worms, but these are questions I'd like to know about.

[-Matt-]

[Tamsin]

[wr6133]

Whatever chain you get try to park it next to a nicer bike with a crapper chain.

[Val]

[-Matt-]

[Ste]

[andys675]

why do shops stock oxford?

you see that lock for 99.99? it cost them £50 = profit!

I've wprked in retail, you can sell £20 and £30 locks all day long, selling a £150 lock is something that happens every 3 months, seriously
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Some people feel the rain, others just get wet.

[kramdra]

Id be very surprised if a £100 oxford lock cost trade more than £20-30, and that is why most shops sell them. The actual manufacturing cost will be under £12.

[Musketeer]

Almax chain and decent padlock
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Current Bike: Yamaha XSR900 Previous bikes: Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja, Aprilia RS125 2-stroke