Where do you store your bike chain and/or disc locks?

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Hi All,

I am sure this has been discussed before but bearing in mind the shit storm of theft in London over the past year I assume maybe some of us are a bit more careful these days when it comes to securing our bikes.

The obvious problem with carrying extra security devices is weight. Previously I was quite blasé about security and parked my bike near my office in a manned underground parking lot with cctv and used just a disc lock.

These days I am lugging a 16mm Almax chain and Squire lock in a Kriega tail pack on the pillion seat. I have wondered if a top box would be a better approach as there is likely to be less faffing about. Or is lugging around a 16mm chain an OTT reaction to what one reads about bike theft these days?

Just curious to know if you use a top box or tail pack or your backpack to store your chains and locks

[woo]

no such thing as an OTT reaction to secure your bike.
lock it or loose it as theifs will always be about in our society especially in cities like London.
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Elen sila lummen omentielvo!

[P.]

Can you not leave it at work and attach there?

I've got a 16mm and a 19mm now holding my bike to the floor with 2x30W LED floodlights and 2 CCTV cameras both on different power supplies and 2 different networks watching my bike, no its probably not overkill to carry that, however I'd be looking at 1m max and just locking the wheel to a pole or even just looping through the wheel. 1.5m 19mm is heavy as shit.

[Ste]

What bike?

16mm Almax isn't overkill.

Killing all bike thieves isn't overkill.

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[weasley]

[borked]

[Ste]

GSXR1000 in Londonistan?

Bad news I'm afraid, your bike was stolen about half an hour ago.

The best security is to park next to a more desirable bike that's got less security than you.

Do bikelife bother with supergluing chains that are left overnight? In the time it would take them to do that, they could just as easily bikejack someone at the nearest set of traffic lights.

[Teflon-Mike]

Store, or carry? To store, is to find home for something when not in use. Lock and chain are normally 'in-use' tying bike to ground anchor, hence no need to store, except when bike is moving... then its a case of carrying, on the bike. In which case its in the throw-overs; to keep CofG low and stop it shifting about too much.

Used to use a top-box, and the base is all scored and dented to heck from having the chain rattling around in it, despite being packed with wet-weathers and even tied to the hold-down strap. Plus, weight is high, and behind back wheel axle, does little to help 'balence'.

End of the day though.... I tend not to 'carry' the hefty chain about very often.. that stays home on the ground-anchor.

Bike doesn't get used for commuting, so isn't left unattended for long periods in the same parking space, day after day, to be spotted and ear-marked by scroat... which is 2nd most likely theft scenario... first is from home, where it likely spends most hours, and tea-leaf can pick and choose time to take,to take thier time.

Out and about... an Almax is rather unweildy and a bit of over-kill to detur the oportunist outside ASDA. A Disc-Lock migh give one pause for thought, but wont hamper man-with-a-van for many moments, so for portability I tend to use a disc-lock.. something a tad more substantial than the monkey-metal things off e-bay, BTW, with a 10mm cable round a convenient lamp-post or railing etc, latched by the Discie as padlock.

Not exactly high security, but bikes old and uncommon, and not exactly at the top of the most-wanted list in the breakers cos of the price of its plastics...

But oportunist isn't going to wheel it away or lift in the back of van too quick... And if some-one turns up tooled up to cut cable or lock, with bolt-croppers or CO2 angry grinder... then the few extra seconds it would take them to get through a case hardened chain... when they would, probably be savvy enough not to bother, and attack the council railings instead... wont make all that much odds to the matter.... especially if they have all day in a secluded car-park, and can pretend to be legit workman looking at the lighting, if any-one comes along.... let alone dares challenge them....

Gixxer, for commuting? To be left unattended day-in-day-out, in public view, for hours at a time?

PERSONALLY, given the cost of squared off tyres and oil changes, and cramp in the wrists....trying to use such a device in such tortiouse manner, A-N-D suffer the neurosis of whether it would still be where I left it and knock-off time.... I would be thinking along the lines of a beaten up old ER5 or something, with a small top-box for mi-sarnies.... paid for probably by taking "+Commuting" off the Gixxer insurance policy, plus the savings on squared off rubber, and stretched chains and hooked sprockets, and a £20 note tucked in the back of the AA card to call for a taxi IF the thing got nicked.... Not have the paranoia of wondering whether it would still be there, and a lot less risk it wouldn't....

...or the sore writs, or the fun-blunting of coming to take it out at the week-end 'for fun' and have to spend half the morning catching up on maintenance, and then be holding back on bends cos of the 'funny-handling' caused by corners on the rubber, or the slop in the gear-change from a slack elastic chain, and however many thousand miles of up and down the box thrashing twixt traffic lights taking the 'shine' off the 'performance' that sort of bike is supposed to all be about....

Might even make me wonder just what I kept the thing around for at all, when it was sat out-side, not doing much, costing tax, costing insurance, and only getting taken out when the sun-shone, and time allowed.... and for the 'fun' of tearing around in circles not actually going anywhere pretending to be a racer... how much I might save cancelling the tax and insurance altogether, swapping factory plastics for cheapo Chinky after-market affairs, not having to have an MOT and doing a few track-days each year... where, for the price of even MY old-duffer insurance, I could get as many hours sadle time and as many miles of unadulterated full on 'fun', not having to worry about SMIDSY or GATSO, and a sheet of official lap-times to prove how 'slow' I went, rather than, well, what, tear-arseing around on the road?

But that's my sort of thinking on the topic....
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[sickpup]

[P.]

[Snop Doog]

[sickpup]

[NJD]

The "faffing" that you're interested in reducing is part of the parcel of commuting and I'd argue that if you're commuting into, and out of, London on a constant basis then the set up you have is probably the most ideal given the mileage -- that is depending on how far outside you live -- that people who commute into London seem to do.

Kreiga's top dog in terms of price and well reviewed for waterproofness although I'm still on oxford (luggage); even if it cost just under what a Kriega would have (better functionality). A top box may be easier, given its left on the bike, but providing your Kriega, and the weight of chains, isn't upsetting the balance of the bike in the corners and stopping and starting too muchthen I wouldn't spent anything more; unless you've got more bits to carry from time to time.

16 mm is probably the highest you'd want to carry around just because when you get one that's two meters long -- the ideal length for street use -- it starts to weight the same as a baby rhino.
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The do it all, T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶,̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶i̶g̶ ̶l̶u̶m̶p̶,̶ ̶C̶h̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶N̶o̶o̶d̶l̶e̶

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[Rogerborg]

I'm surprised that you can even get insurance for a GSX-R1000 in the Sarf East.

At some point, insurers are going to be more interested in where bikes are left during the day than at night.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

Old skool, under the seat.
Oxford Monster 1.2 meter with padlock will fold into the space under the seat, especially since the alarm died and was removed. I know if "they" want it they'll take it, but this will deter the casual chancer.
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'93 Yamaha XJR400 grey import (p-ex’d), '99 Kawasaki ZX6R (nicked), another '99 ZX6R (still got it) and '03 Yamaha YZF-R1 (still got that too.)

[Teflon-Mike]

[sickpup]

[Snop Doog]

[P.]

[Ste]

Oxford chain.

[woo]

Oxford chain!!!!!!!!
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Elen sila lummen omentielvo!

[AL-]

Out and about alarmed disc locks under the seat + tracker + alarm

At home it's the above in addition to chain and ground anchor