My bike always lives in my dining room on a stand for security reasons (along with my sons) and only ever gets used for exercise so therefore never gets left at the shops etc. I'm thinking of taking it on holiday with me to limit the damage holidays do to my weight . While not using it, it would either be stored in the car or in our apartment but I'd still like to lock it up. Can anyone recommend a lock that isn't crazy expensive, everything that's being recommended seems to heading up to the £100 bracket. It's a £400 bike so not massively expensive in general but expensive to me and irreplaceable as it stands. I'm probably going to answer my own question that there is no good cheap lock but thought I'd ask anyway.
One rule of thumb is that the lock should be 10% of the bike's value Whether you subscribe to that theory is up to you! I use one of these: Kryptonite Evolution Series 4 and although it hasn't been tested in anger it seems pretty solid for £30 and far more so than the stuff being sold in the likes of Halfords at higher prices. I'm sure there will be guys on here who've got more knowledge of these things, though.
I mostly use a small gold secure U lock (small is good from a security point of view, albeit it can make it trickier to find a suitable spot). Probably cost about £20-25. I think the best thing to have for piece of mind though is some form of insurance. Ultimately the cost, weight and inconvenience of carrying a lock that makes your bike as close to un-stealable as possible is so high that I think often you are often better off getting a good lock and some sort of insurance just in case. Even with the best lock in the world your bike could still get trashed either by accident or in a failed attempt to steal it. . It turned out my bike was actually covered under the house insurance for nothing extra as long as they were told about it.
Not having your bike stolen is definitely better than getting your bike stolen and recouping the money via your insurance, though
This is true. But spending load of money of a hugely expensive heavy lock and having to carry it around everywhere has a price too. And then not even having that be any sort of guarantee that your bike will be safe anyway... I'd rather just use a decent lock and have the piece of mind that I can recoup my loses if the worst happens (which is ultimately a possibility if you leave your bike in a public place, whatever you do to secure it). Looking at most bike racks would suggest that any good U lock should be enough to avoid making a relatively inexpensive bike a desirable target. My bike is of similar value to OP and the number of more valuable bikes you see locked with cheap cable locks is shocking but somewhat reassuring.
Bottom line is not leaving it anywhere for too long. A determined thief has a way around pretty much all sorts of bike locks. I used to know a guy who made his living out of it (a real dbag) and he used to carry bolt cutters and a small bottle jack to break open D locks. And it worked too, really well. So yeah my advice is don't leave it anywhere in public and whatever you do bolt it to something. I made that mistake and some one carried mine off with a lock on. I personally use these motorcycle locks. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Secu...Lock-1-/141726463107?var=&hash=item20ff8e3483 And carry them around my neck basically. Don't see the point in spending much more than that because it's plenty sturdy enough and no better or worse than any other lock. As I say, if a thief wants your bike he will know how to steal it. And don't leave it anywhere overnight either. Thieves also carry spanners and will basically get vulture on 'yo ass. Even down here in this low crime area I've seen a couple of frames bolted to street signs with nothing left but the lock and frame.
If someone is really determined to steal your bike then they will steal your bike, no matter what lock you've got. I would echo other comments here: get a reasonably solid lock/chain, but don't pay more than about £40-£50 for it: it should deter opportunists, but few locks will stop someone who's really determined to make off with your bike. And yeah, lock it up to something that's permanently fixed to the ground. EDIT: And make sure it's insured!!
+1 on this lock, I have one and it is very solid, I have a krytonite chain to go with it too so you can lock both wheels.
As already mentioned, nothing is fully foolproof and only deters a thief. No matter what lock you use choose the object you lock up to carefully. When I was at school some enterprising thief had unbolted the bike racks and then during the day when full of bikes tossed the rack in to a truck and drove off all the bikes. Similarly a friend of mine lost his lock key and we freed his bike by unbolting the sign post he'd locked up to. Then removed the lock back at his house. My home town decided to install bike racks that were cement filled steel tubs placed on the side walks, and passed a by-law banning bikes from being lock up to street signs and lamppost. As a teen I use to shove the racks a few feet over to where I could lock up to the rack and a lamppost.
