Had my Sprint ST nicked 6 weeks ago and am finally back in the game with my lovely new GSXR750…but I’m so paranoid about it getting nicked again, so would very much like some advice.
I have no option but to park it on the street in West London overnight. In the day it’s in an underground carpark at work.
Road Angel BikeTrac Tracker (very impressed so far) Xena XX14 Alarmed Disc Lock (very loud and very sturdy)2m Almax chain and Squire LockCoverMy issue is that I have nothing to chain the bike to overnight. There are perhaps 20 lamposts within a few mins of my place but they are 70cm back from the pavement edge and always blocked by cars. My initial idea had been to leave the Almax round a lampost on my road and use it in situ, unless the spot was blocked, at which point I would pick it up and move to a different lampost. In reality however I have found that it’s a massively time consuming affair, stopping, collecting the 15kg+ chain and lock and then searching the backstreets for a free lampost. Even at 2m the chain is not long enough for a lot of the posts anyway, and moving the bike away from my front door leaves the alarm a bit redundant as I wouldn’t hear it…
If your chaining it to a vehicle make sure you’re the only one with access to that vehicle and don’t ever forget the bikes chained to it. Heard of a Harley that got chained to a friends truck and towed off down the road when the friend forgot it was there. Made a right mess seeing as he got about 30 yards before the penny dropped, meanwhile Harley is flipping from side to side on a short leash!
It needs to be chained to something, else its just a matter of time.
If there’s another biker on your street who you could make friends with you can pass your chain through his/hers - both bikes are chained to each other so cann’t be lifted off but either of you can leave just by undoing your own chain.
Seriously though, I’ve got a similar issue, but I’ve been lucky for the past 3 years and never even had a whiff of attempted theft. I actually now park it on the pavement by the side of the building next to our flat and am thinking of getting a longer chain to wrap round a fire-hydrant sign I park by.
What borough are you in? I’m in Barnet and you can park anywhere you like really, so long as you’re not causing an obstruction or obviously being an arse. You may be able to park on a quiet bit of pavement next to a lamppost or something equally solid.
I live in Fulham and they would definitely give me a ticket if I put it on the pavement. It’s pretty narrow and would be an obvious obstruction. I live in a basement flat, with steps down from the street, so there’s no chance of any garden, front door, living room security.
My gf has a Vespa which she uses daily and which I can park next to. She just uses a crappy Oxford chain through the front wheel currently. Do you think chaining the two together with my Almax would be good enough? I had thought of this, but figured it wasn’t much more of a deterrant to lift 2 bikes than one, but perhaps I’m wrong. I even thought it might make it more likely that both get taken at once, or that my lovely bike would get all scratched up against hers if they were to try and lift them.
At the end of the street there’s a pizza place with 5 bikes that all chain together overnight. I could potentially get involved there if it would be safer.
Any more thoughts would be much appreciated! Thanks
Definitely chain it to the mrs’ bike too! If someone were to lift it they would think twice about putting 2 bikes in the van, which are chained together, making the lift twice as hard, giving you more time to pick up a baseball bat or similiar to hopefully scare them off with.
Given the bureaucracy involved, you would need an interim solution (such as chaining the two bikes together), but you could contact H&F Building Control or Planning Advice and apply for permission to install a ground anchor on the road/ pavement area.
Something that is flush with the road surface like a Y Anchor (well, the same shape, not necessarily that brand) and is unobtrusive might be well received. It would be permanent though.
Thanks for the advice and the links Mightlife, I may well give that a go. The only issue with that is still that I cannot guarantee access to any particular spot so even if I put the anchor down it would be likely that it would be hidden under a car when I arrived home from work!
yeah i had same idea, i was thinking of 1 of them recycling boxes you get, put some kind of cylinder through box out either side to put chain through and fill with concrete.
i would not get involved with the pizza lot, not judging by the way they look after the bikes around here, lol
Some local authorities will consider installing a small bike bay with a rail to lock it to if there are enough bikes parking in the same place on a residential street. Didn’t work for me but worth calling them anyway.
I ended up knocking a bit of the front wall down and chaining it to an anchor fitted to the house wall, the back wheel is ‘just’ inside the line of the pavement . If there’s not much space I recommend a ‘Bumpstop’, it keeps the bike upright and works as a ground anchor too.
Daisychaining is better than nothing but I would definitely try to find a way to chain it to something fixed.
I agree about the xena 14mm alarm disc lock, its pretty sturdy and very loud - a good last resort when I am out and about and can’t find anything to chain it too.
put a ground anchor in and dont tell council, just dont get caught doing it deny after you put it in but thought might as well use it if its there, lol
If that’s all there is there’s safety in numbers. Also get your GF a decent chain, doesn’t have to be a fancy over priced Almax either, and she can daisy chain too.
If it’s your girlfriends bike then you don’t even need 2 chains, just a key each to your chain. You could even use your chain on the back wheels and hers on the front.
The logistics of lifting two chained together bikes (even if one is just a scooter) has got to be a lot more difficult than just lifting one.
