Posted a topic about 8 weeks ago after my Sprint was nicked from my road…since then I have a new bike and have the following security:
*BikeTrak Tracker
*Almax Chain and Lock
*Xena XX14 Alarmed Disc Lock
*Cover
A few nights ago I went to pick up my bike in the morning and saw that the 10 foot signpost I had chained it to was at a 45 degree angle. Reported it to the police and whilst talking to them next to the post a neighbour came out and said that he had scared off 5 guys and a white Transit van during the night after he heard the bang as the Transit hit the post to knock it over. Thank god he did. I’m convinced it’s the same guys that stole my previous bike, and other people in the area have reported similar incidents.
I’ve asked the council if I can park on the pavement so that I can chain to a proper lamp post but they said no. I know everyone is just going to tell me to either move house or rent a garage or something like that, but it seems ridiculous to have to go to such lengths. I feel completely powerless to stop these guys and the council are not helping at all.
Does anyone have any advice or experience on asking the council for help? The website/numbers provided are truly useless and I’ve yet to get anywhere near speaking to someone in the right department. I want to try and get them to install some ground anchors nearby.
I’m in a basement flat so no chance to point a camera at it unfortunately.
Think I may well give the lamp post a go, but my worry is that the next step for them will be to have a go at taking the wheel off. Unfortunately the Almax is far too big to fit through anywhere else though.
I’ve heard before now that if you have a cover on the bike, the warden’s aren’t allowed to lift the cover to see plate etc. Might help reduce the liklihood of a ticket from them?
Have a mate who has parked on the pavement every day in the west end for years, just covers the plate and tax disc with a bit of black cloth, wardens aren’t allowed to touch your vehicle, so no tickets.
I dont even think most wardens would realize the chain is gowing through it, they will probably rip it off without realizing then not even think twice about putting it back
Hmmm first thing I would do is see about renting a garage orsecure parking somewhere.
You could create a very heavy concrete block using someconcrete mix, a large bucket and maybe some free weight plates for extraweight. Mix it all up, put a decent ground anchor (or just fabricate something usingthick iron bar if you are trying to watch the budget) in the mix and use thatto chain to. The council may be a bit confused where that came from, but with abit of luck they won’t take it up with you. The concrete bucket will just addto the weight/hassle for the scumbags so that hopefully they move along to aless well protected bike.
Although it might no sound like it your security is doing its job. They have obviously looked at the chain and realised croppers won’t do it. Angle grinding is gonna take too long and attract too much attention. The fact that they have tried to take out a lampost and failed says it all really. Ok, they might come back and try and cut the chain (I also have an Almax and its huge). But there will be easier targets elsewhere.
What bike do you have? Just putting the chain through the rear wheel isn’t great. It defo needs to go through the swingarm. Is the chain to big to go through?
A bike alarm might be another option and locking the cover at both ends makes it more of a ball ache to steal. Trying to get a locked down cover off with the alarm blaring might be enough to put them off. It doesn’t seem like there is a great deal else you can do. The fact that they rammed a sign post with their van shows that they are committed.
I did this! (well, sort of). Bought a large bucket, a bag of post-crete mix and a couple of drainpipe corners to create a U-bend for the chain to go through. Made the post-crete in the bucket and before it set I sunk my makeshift U-bend into it. Voila, a 40kg weight attached to my bike.
It stopped 2 attempted thefts of my bike for sure at my old address, not bad for £17.20!
Hire/buy a skip, dump it on road, then chain your bike to it!
Alternatively, buy a knackered van of your own, park it on road, clamp it, install a ramp and run your bike up into it and then chain it to the van. Or better still some box trailer (with tow hitch removed and wheel clamped) which won’t need taxing/insuring/mot’ing.
