10 February 2009

Safe place to lock up a bike in civic?

| rolfy001
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Well I live pretty close to Civic but have avoided riding my bike in for shopping, due to a fear of having it stolen & the subsequent cost of replacement.

So, is there anywhere safe to lock up a bike?

I was thinking near the pedestrian crossing for the Canberra Centre outside ANZ & Optus.

Anybody have any tips–or is my bike going to go missing?

Cheers!

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tylersmayhem11:21 am 11 Feb 09

Kryptonite locks are a good brand.

Are there bike locks ACTUALLY made out of Kryptonite?!!!!

P1

I agree with your comments but don’t you think it’s a shame that even our bike and accessories are no longer safe.

I ride to work/shops every now and then and don’t have a lock.

I worry soo much about them not being where I left them that I have to take the missus and kids with me to guard the bike.

And thats the reason I went in the first place.

For about the last two years I’ve been locking my bike downstairs next to my building on the west side of the city, in the same spot every day.
It gets a lot of traffic during business hours but none later in the evening as the bike racks are in a courtyard area, and I’m often here fairly late (should be leaving now!)

I have a plastic coated 10mm thick cable lock with a key that looks sort of like a house key – the only problem I’ve had is the plastic/metal that cosmetically covered the end of the lock barrel went missing one day – it probably just got bumped and fell off by someone getting to their bike next to it, and then kicked away by foot traffic or the guy who cleans up around the building (it came off once before and I’d never been able to get it on properly again), rather than disappearing when someone tried to pick/break the lock.

I’ve got quick release front and rear tyres so I make sure the cable gets both tyres all the time, though I don’t bother doing anything to save the quick release seat, and I always take my lights/pump/speedo off.

I worry more about drunks/druggies knocking it over and jumping on top of it than I do it being stolen.

Kryptonite Locks can be good or bad. The Kryptonite and other locks with the circular keys can be opened with the inner bit of a 10 cent bic biro in a couple of seconds.

This little problem that Kryptonite solved with the locks they’ve been selling in the last couple of years even got a mention in the recent movie “Burn after Reading”.

Danman said :

Kryptonite locks are a good brand.

Yeah, kept that guy with blue spandex and his undies on the outside well away from my bike….

Thank you, Thank you. I’ll be here all night. Try the schnitzel.

I feel I have added value to this thread.

Woody Mann-Caruso2:47 pm 10 Feb 09

A large number of people around won’t deter a bike thief. If anything, it’ll encourage them – cover, distractions, diluted sense of social responsibility. The best that could happen is somebody says “hey, is that your bike?” and they looks sheepish and say “yeah, lost my bloody keys”.

Kryptonite locks are a good brand.

Until the next time somebody works out how to pick them with a broken pen. 😉

tylersmayhem said :

* 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.

There used to be a few bike racks in Civic that just had a bike frame locked to them – no wheels, forks, chains, handlebars, enything.
Either someone had never come back for their bike and had it’s bits pilfered over time or they were riding in and dismantling it and putting it back together each trip.

My advice would be to invest in one of those nerdy suitcase bikes that you can fold up and take to the office with you.

Kryptonite locks are a good brand.

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.

tylersmayhem1:32 pm 10 Feb 09

* 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.

barking toad12:48 pm 10 Feb 09

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)

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