Back to it and back on it!

After 9 months not working, I’m back! And that means back on the bike and heading back into West London!
Bit worried about leaving the bike in the street now tho (used to have underground parking), so purchased a new Almax chain!
Anyone else leave their bikes in the Mayfair area (near May Fair hotel)?

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Red, don’t want to put you off but was over that way about a year ago. 2 aspiring footballers scouting bikes so obvious I called the police.

Was a year ago though.

Lots of videos that way of bikes being nicked. Usual shite really put your bike as close to more desirable bikes and less likely to be taken.

I park in Mayfair most days, and maybe 10 years ago worked in an office building opposite that hotel. It’s Berkeley St and there are videos of daylight angle-grinder thefts off Berkeley St. But I think those were R1’s or equivalent so depends what you ride.

Might be better to park at the top of Berkeley Square or a lot of people use the bike parking area on Bruton Lane off the SE corner of Berkeley Square. Opposite a pub if I remember, and that seemed safer and there are more spaces. It’s where I parked most days.

Probably the safest place is St James’s Square which has ground anchors and video cams. But it’s a 5+ min walk…

If my chain doesn’t arrive by the weekend, then I’ll get the tube for a couple of days and scout out some areas to park. May even ride up there Saturday and have a look.

Thing is there are spaces right outside the office entrance, so hard not to go for those ones.

There are plenty of bikes with no locks around there, so having a chain will makes yours less desirable unless you’ll be riding a more desirable bike…

Carrying a big chain on a commute is just pandering to the hype and a proper pain. Bigger chains only take a couple of extra seconds to defeat and few will take any notice when the sparks start to fly.

When I was commuting to Beckton I left a 2000mm x 14mm Squire padlock and chain on site. When I was commuting to various London locations which meant I had to carry the security with me every day I took to using a pair of Xena disc locks, one fore and one aft and a rain cover to hide the bike but leaving the Xena’s on show.

If mo’cycles either side of yours look to be an easier take…

Defo with NT on the benefits of a cover. Preferably one covered in bird shit :slight_smile:

Also it’s a good tip to put a rear small shackle lock such as Lock through the rear sprocket as it’s much more difficult to angle grind the chain and sprocket than the discs

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I park in Soho and, really, I wouldn’t be concerned. The area’s full of year-old bikes from premium manufacturers locked up occasionally with as much as a disk lock.

If there’s thieves going about, they’re taking the new BMWs or Ducatis, and not the bikes that normal people commute on.

FWIW, I’ve been parking up there for ~5 years with a kryptonite lock and chain (when I’ve been able to get to a post) and I’ve never knowingly had any interference at all.

In regards to a cover, I’ve always thought that it draws more attention just through curiosity. Also will be hard to have one of those handy.
Will be disc locking and then sticking the almax on the back wheel too. It’s alarmed too, but not sure that stops anyone.

Will probably ask the building reception if I can leave my chain there so that I don’t have to carry it around to be honest.

Would have been ideal if there was more secure parking nearby, even if I had to pay for it.

I can lend you a Almax chain if you want And some D locks
be good to see you on the A12 again

I used to carry a cover and found it was more of a pain in the ass than a chain… You had to fold and then took time to cover.also, when it’s raining, it’s the last thing you want to do, stand there and uncover.

Ultimately, you will never eradicate the risk. If the bike.is desirable, they’ll have it of they want it.put what you can on but when it gets to the point that you’re spending 10mins just getting everything ready, you might as well take a train

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Just use a hack

I saw something on TV a while back… maybe a bbc or channel 5 documentary where they were talking about bike thieves and the epidemic at the moment. They spoke to a couple of the scumbags about what bikes they target and they said generally not one with a cover over it because they don’t know what sort of security is under it and they want to be in and gone quick. I don’t ride in to central London but if I did I’d probably use a cheap cover just to hide it away as best as possible.

Oh yeah a cover works well. But I found it a big chore on daily commute, once at work and since at home… In the end I just took the risk

Yeah I can imagine. It’s a shame it’s necessary to carry around so much security with you these days just to get to work.

I can’t do the cover thing. When it’s wet it will be a nightmare!
It’s gonna have a load of security, and if I can find a more secure space then I’ll do it, but gonna be hard to find.

What bike and what age?

Can you get some REMOVABLE graphics to make it look like all the panel’s are cracked and off colour when you are commuting and then remove them for the weekend fun?

MT07 couple years old…
Tbh I’m not gonna mess around with it’s looks etc…gonna have to just risk it.

Thanks for the offer dude! Almax emailed me and my delivery is tomorrow, so very quick turnaround indeed!
Shall be heading on the A12 the same sort of time as previous, but what are you riding now?