Bike Locks

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
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I just got this beauty for £20:
58329

I've been using these armoured cable locks on my motorbikes and ebikes since the 1980s. They're brilliant, and I wouldn't use anything else. When it comes to the amount of security you need, you have to balance it against the risk. I wouldn't leave my bike in a bike rack all day in central London with this lock, but 3 hrs outside a pub iin Ironbridge or 30 mins outside Tescos would be absolutely no problem. It defeats all the tools that the casual and opportunistic thieves have.

These roller-type locks vary a lot in quality. You can feel the difference in weight between the crappy and decent ones, and also how well the rollers link together and how tightly they're packed to prevent the largest bolt-croppers getting between them to cut the cable.

The main advantage of these locks is their versatility and convenience. 1.2m is enough to go through the frame and back wheel and around any lamppost, railing, bike rack or anything like that. It's also long enough to go round a tree and through the frame. They can be carried very easily, either just chucked over the handlebars or around the seatpost:
58330

58331

I'd recommend this lock to anybody that just needs a lock for convenience and normal riding around. No lock will give you enough security to park all day in London or all day every day in any busy town. For £20, it's a bargain.

Now you can all show off how much money you all wasted on your gold standard locks that have ridiculous weight to carry if you can find somewhere to stash it, but at least you know that when the professional thieves come, it might last 20 seconds longer before they get your bike.

If you have theft insurance, this bronze rated lock is normally only enough for bikes valued up to £1000. personally, I'd save on the insurance and use just this lock.
 
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Saracen

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 24, 2023
532
61
Its just an 8mm steel cable in the middle, terrible.

£30 new

Take off retailers commission (when new), suppliers costs, and you have about £12 of materials making it ?
 

Peter.Bridge

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 19, 2023
1,328
609
I just got this beauty for £20:
View attachment 58329

I've been using these armoured cable locks on my motorbikes and ebikes since the 1980s. They're brilliant, and I wouldn't use anything else. When it comes to the amount of security you need, you have to balance it against the risk. I wouldn't leave my bike in a bike rack all day in central London with this lock, but 3 hrs outside a pub iin Ironbridge or 30 mins outside Tescos would be absolutely no problem. It defeats all the tools that the casual and opportunistic thieves have.

These roller-type locks vary a lot in quality. You can feel the difference in weight between the crappy and decent ones, and also how well the rollers link together and how tightly they're packed to prevent the largest bolt-croppers getting between them to cut the cable.

The main advantage of these locks is their versatility and convenience. 1.2m is enough to go through the frame and back wheel and around any lamppost, railing, bike rack or anything like that. It's also long enough to go round a tree and through the frame. They can be carried very easily, either just chucked over the handlebars or around the seatpost:
View attachment 58330

View attachment 58331

I'd recommend this lock to anybody that just needs a lock for convenience and normal riding around. No lock will give you enough security to park all day in London or all day every day in any busy town. For £20, it's a bargain.

Now you can all show off how much money you all wasted on your gold standard locks that have ridiculous weight to carry if you can find somewhere to stash it, but at least you know that when the professional thieves come, it might last 20 seconds longer before they get your bike.

If you have theft insurance, this bronze rated lock is normally only enough for bikes valued up to £1000. personally, I'd save on the insurance and use just this lock.
The other thing is I think DIY converted ebikes are less of a target
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
11,531
3,277
@saneagle - I can't believe you'd entrust your bike to a cable, armoured or not. A few seconds with a cheapo angle grinder, would surely be enough to steal your marvellous conversion? Two D locks plus a motorbike chain at least. If D locks aren't wide enough to attach to street furniture, D lock the wheels to the frame... the prospect of having to grind through two D locks after carrying it away should be a major disincentive - thieves would simply select an easier target.
 

Nealh

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 7, 2014
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West Sx RH
d8veh didn't look hard enough the same one is avialbale for £17.50.
 

Bikes4two

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 21, 2020
1,016
436
Havant
Ha ha, this thread has all the potential to rattle on like the ones you see on car forums for 'what oil should I use'?.
 

guerney

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Sep 7, 2021
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d8veh didn't look hard enough the same one is avialbale for £17.50.
The cheapest ebay 8024 I can find is this one for £23.49. He's saved a fortune, enough to buy at least 7 tins of lycopene rich plum tomatoes.

 
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saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
7,005
3,241
Telford
@saneagle - I can't believe you'd entrust your bike to a cable, armoured or not. A few seconds with a cheapo angle grinder, would surely be enough to steal your marvellous conversion? Two D locks plus a motorbike chain at least. If D locks aren't wide enough to attach to street furniture, D lock the wheels to the frame... the prospect of having to grind through two D locks after carrying it away should be a major disincentive - thieves would simply select an easier target.
You can't angle grind them. The rollers are hardened and the plastic clogs the wheel. If you get through the plastic, the rollers roll. D-locks are easy to grind and D-locks can be jacked. It's difficult to jack a roller lock because it's flexible.
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
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You can't angle grind them. The rollers are hardened and the plastic clogs the wheel. If you get through the plastic, the rollers roll. D-locks are easy to grind and D-locks can be jacked. It's difficult to jack a roller lock because it's flexible.
A hydraulic bolt cutter would make short quiet work of that I reckon, and your wonderous conversion will be spirited away in seconds. Where did you say you usually lock it up? Provide Google Maps links if possible. As you know, I've been wanting to steal your bike for ages. The one with the TSDZ2B you can keep, bike thieves may be of the same opinion.
 
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saneagle

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Oct 10, 2010
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3,241
Telford
Its just an 8mm steel cable in the middle, terrible.

£30 new

Take off retailers commission (when new), suppliers costs, and you have about £12 of materials making it ?
How do you get to the cable, when it's surrounded by 25mm hardened steel rollers? The only way in is with 4 foot bolt croppers that weigh about 20kg, not the sort of thing you can carry down your trousers.
 

Nealh

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 7, 2014
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West Sx RH

Nealh

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Aug 7, 2014
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8024 25mm.
Onguard X series Armoured Cable Lock | eBay

With this one d8veh could have also got a nice bag of Iceland chips or battered onion rings with the money saved , but now he will have to go hungry for a couple of meals.
 
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saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
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Telford
A hydraulic bolt cutter would make short quiet work of that I reckon, and your wonderous conversion will be spirited away in seconds. Where did you say you usually lock it up? Provide Google Maps links if possible. As you know, I've been wanting to steal your bike for ages. The one with the TSDZ2B you can keep, bike thieves may be of the same opinion.
There is no lock that can't be defeated by the right tool. All you can do is get a lock that can defeat the common types of assault. Who carries 25mm hydraulic bolt croppers down their trousers?
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
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There is no lock that can't be defeated by the right tool. All you can do is get a lock that can defeat the common types of assault. Who carries 25mm hydraulic bolt croppers down their trousers?
Bike thieves wanting to make a big first impression on Tinder dates? Hydraulic versions don't look that much larger than the one used here, the Tinder date may not be sufficiently impressed:

 

saneagle

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Oct 10, 2010
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Bike thieves wanting to make a big first impression on Tinder dates? Hydraulic versions don't look that much larger than the one used here, the Tinder date may not be sufficiently impressed:

Show me a pair of 25mm hydraulic bolt croppers then!
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
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Show me a pair of 25mm hydraulic bolt croppers then!
Is a 25mm hydraulic bolt cutter needed? How much of that 25mm is the plastic coating? Surely a few bashes with a hammer would flatten it down a couple more mm? Then a cheapo like this might be able to do the job?


Else this would pay for itself pretty fast, angle grinders are about the same size and thieving scum lug those about. Those dudes drive around in fully tooled vans looking for easy to steal motornikes and similar, I bet some have got generators and inverters etc. Someone I know had his MV Agusta stolen in less than 5 minutes.


Probably cheaper from China. Upload a Google Maps location link to your bike's locking point. I'm starting to suspect you secretly hate your bike.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/bike-reviews/mv-agusta/lxp-enduro-veloce/2024/
 
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Nealh

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Aug 7, 2014
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That cheaper one has different packaging and doesn't have the Sold Secure Bronze logo on it, so might be the old version before they improved it.
One suspects the only improvement is adding a bronze labelling to the lock and packaging to show it meets minimum secuirty rating.