Safe place to lock up a bike in civic?

Always park your bike next to a bike which is either looks much more expensive or has a much crappier lock, or preferably both.

But generally, so long as you actually lock your bike, and don’t leave it over night, it’ll be fine.

I am amazed that I frequently see bikes locked in the city with lights etc still on the handle bars…

tylersmayhem said :

some plastic vomit around the ground near the bike itself should do the trick.

Classic!

You could also get a dog to raise it’s leg to it… hmmm, but why stop there – grab some pi$$ed idiot to do it for you, in full view of everyone around.

Hey, that gave me another idea – get a dog and leash it up to your bike when you park it.

* Make your bike unnattractive to thieves

I can’t agree more! Place a large plastic dump on the seat, and have a spare bent and wrecked wheel to fit to the bike before chaining it up. Also some plastic vomit around the ground near the bike itself should do the trick.

Here are some tips…

* Make your bike unnattractive to thieves – i.e. get rid of the shiny stickers, scuff up the components a bit so they look used, try not to leave anything connected to it that screams ‘expensive’, give it a dodgy home paint jog with a spray can, etc.

* Use a proper bike lock – go to one of the bike stores around town and ask to see their heavy duty locks, or perhaps even go to a motorcycle store. Avoid anything that resembles twisted cable – it can be easily cut through with wire/bolt cutters.

* Lock it up to something that is solid and fixed permanently to the ground. Also, make sure that if the lock can slide up the thing you lock it to, that the thing is tall enough that a thief can’t just raise your bike up and walk away with it.

* Try to avoid parking it in places that are secluded / light on in terms of passers by. Stick to locations where you will get a stream of regular passers by. Better still lock it up in full view of a surveilance camera.

* Try not to leave it in the same location on a regular basis. If a would be thief notices it there all the time he/she may start making plans.

* I tend to agree with timgee2007, try and use some sort of basic/simple bike for your trips where you need to lock up. Only use the you beaut full suspension cross country/downhill machine on trips where you won’t have to leave it alone.

* Relax a little bit. Canberra isn’t Sydney, Melbourne or Amsterdam! Bikes do go missing here but it’s unlikely it would happen on that quick trip to the shop if you follow the other advice above.

Good luck and enjoy your riding.

Yep, what timgee said. Lock it up somewhere very public with lots of people around. Maybe even security cameras – I’m thinking Canberra Centre.

Also it really helps if your bike looks like sh*t. You can do somthing as simple as wrap duct tape or electrical tape around your frame and forks – primarily to obscure the brand of the bike, but also the quality of these parts. Getting more extreme, you can repaint your bike in matt black, or an ungly assortment of colours. There are heaps of threads on bike forums about turning awesome bikes, into super ugly city/pub bikes…
http://www.farkin.net/forums/showthread.php?t=92674
http://forums.farkin.net/showthread.php?p=1510106

Don’t leave your bike there overnight, especially on the weekend. It could cop some panel beating courtesy of drunk booners.

I generally park my bike outside the entrances to the Canberra Centre and nothing untoward has happened to it. Then again, my bike is very daggy.

Park it next to where you buy your coffee and/or do yoga/pilates.

Yeah sure, there’s common sense involved. I just figured considering the popularity of riding in Canberra there would be a few people that would know a good spot…

Jeez, I don’t want to sound rude or dismissive (perhaps I’m becoming a real Rioter?!) but if you have to ask a question like this…

Anyway, FWIW:
– try somewhere with lots of pedestrian traffic;
– use a decent bike lock (hint: the plastic-coated chain with the four-digit combination lock you used at primary school probably isn’t suitable; and
– if it’s only a short ride to Civic, ‘invest’ in a basic/old clunker that’ll get you where you going but won’t attract theives (hint: leave your carbon-fibre-disc-braked- dual-suspension-shiny-top-of-the-line rig at home).

Cheers, Timgee2007 (Rocket Scientist)