Securing a bike in shed

Xcellor

Since I've bought my bike I've been keeping it inside but now my girlfriend is giving out so I'm looking at moving it to the shed but at the moment it's not very secure. i.e. even with a padlock all it requires is a screw driver to remove hinges/latch.

Any recommendations on best way to secure bike? I don't live in a crime hotspot but I was a victim of crime once (left car open by mistake and someone robbed laptop).

Cheers

Wishbone Ash

Xcellor wrote: »

Since I've bought my bike I've been keeping it inside but now my girlfriend is giving out so I'm looking at moving it her to the shed

FYP

fat bloke

What is it about women and bikes inside? Seriously?

It's almost like a national inside job. Bike thieves and wives in cahoots. Wives nag the bikes out to the poorly locked shed so the light fingered crew can make off with them. I wonder what the percentage / kick-back is?

Xcellor

fat bloke wrote: »

What is it about women and bikes inside? Seriously?

No idea. I have it hidden behind floor length curtains at night which was a great solution in my opinion...

robyntmorton

Xcellor wrote: »

No idea. I have it hidden behind floor length curtains at night which was a great solution in my opinion...

The bike or the wife? :pac:

Wishbone Ash

fat bloke wrote: »

What is it about women and bikes inside?...

I wouldn't be allowed to patch a tube in the house never mind bring a bike inside!

OP - is there a ladder or a cylinder of gas in the shed? I lock some of my bikes to ladders and gas cylinders. I just figure that it will be too much hassle for a potential thief to have to remove a bike and ladder/cylinder together.

thekooman

i bought 2 of these
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/231637542186?euid=2727f3160a6649bb988365fe76b369ee&bu=43117296750&cp=1&sojTags=bu=bu

and 2 good padlocks. have 3 bikes hanging from joisting in garage and chain through them around joisting.

joey100

I'd echo what wishbone ash said, make it as difficult as possible for them to get it. Mine is locked to another bike, to a storage unit and through a 20kg turbo. All different locks and made to look as tangled up as possible!

The only new thing I would say is don't leave tools in the shed that can be used to break the locks. If they really really want them they will probably get them anyway but don't make it easy for them by leaving a bolt cutters resting by the wall beside your bike.

com1

Coach bolts (with big washers to stop pull-through) and better quality hinges and latch (the ones that come with standard wooden sheds tend to be made from tinfoil).


Also chain the bike to a ladder make it awkward to move (rather than impossible) potential thief will have a quick look and jump over the wall to an easier target

seamus

Wives/girlfriends don't want bikes in the house because they're messy. A bike after a wet spin leaves crap everywhere. Even just rubbing off bikes gets oil on stuff. I get it.

Anyway, in general when securing a bike the goal is not to make it impervious, just really, really annoying and time consuming to get it. If you have a block/concrete shed, then some wall or ground anchors is the best bet.

If you have a standard wooden shed, then one of the most straightforward solutions I've heard of is to get a 20 litre bucket, put two ground anchors in it about 6 inches apart and then fill the bucket with concrete, leaving the top(s) of the ground anchors sticking out. You now have a 50kg weight to lock your bike to. It's not impervious, but they can't really lift it. Their only option is to cut the lock (or the anchors), which is noisy and time consuming, especially if you attach multiple strong locks to it.

The people who steal bikes want to get in, lift the bike and run for it in less than two minutes. I haven't gone for the concrete bucket method, just the honeypot method. That is, there are multiple measures they'd need to get through, which individually won't make much of a difference, but collectively would require them to practically dismantle the shed with a sledgehammer to get the bike out.

As com1 says, there are also simple changes you can make to beef up the shed - stronger hinges attached with coach bolts can't be prised off with a screwdriver, and a hasp lock likewise attached with coach bolts can't be prised off (versus the standard weak slide-latch most sheds have). So they'd either need to get the angle grinder out or break the door to get through it.

ThisRegard

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I lock some of my bikes to ladders and gas cylinders. I just figure that it will be too much hassle for a potential thief to have to remove a bike and ladder/cylinder together.

Same as myself, keep them locked to an aluminium ladder. You won't get them out the door as one lot, and the racket made trying to get anywhere near them and removed without the keys (feic, even with the keys) will wake the whole area.

RebelButtMunch

ThisRegard wrote: »

Same as myself, keep them locked to an aluminium ladder. You won't get them out the door as one lot, and the racket made trying to get anywhere near them and removed without the keys (feic, even with the keys) will wake the whole area.

This, and maybe throw an old blanket over the bike. If they peek in the shed and dont see a lovely bike, maybe they'll move on.

strokeslover

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

OP - is there a ladder or a cylinder of gas in the shed? I lock some of my bikes to ladders and gas cylinders. I just figure that it will be too much hassle for a potential thief to have to remove a bike and ladder/cylinder together.

Great suggestion, going to be doing that from now on.

Wishbone Ash

seamus wrote: »

... - stronger hinges attached with coach bolts can't be prised off with a screwdriver, and a hasp lock likewise attached with coach bolts can't be prised off (versus the standard weak slide-latch most sheds have). So they'd either need to get the angle grinder out or break the door to get through it.

I'm not convinced. It might work for the nosy or opportunist looking for an unlocked or weakly locked shed but most wooden sheds are constructed with fairly soft wood. Regardless of how strong the hinges are, the wood is the weak point and a thief with a 2 ft gorilla bar will get access in less than a minute with little noise.

magicbastarder

if i am going to be out of the house for more than a day or two, i deflate the tyres and stash the front wheels in the house. might be something you can do as a matter of course? a bike thief is not necessarily going to be interested in a bike he can't cycle away on.

onmebike

Xcellor wrote: »

Since I've bought my bike I've been keeping it inside but now my girlfriend is giving out so I'm looking at moving it to the shed but at the moment it's not very secure. i.e. even with a padlock all it requires is a screw driver to remove hinges/latch.

Any recommendations on best way to secure bike? I don't live in a crime hotspot but I was a victim of crime once (left car open by mistake and someone robbed laptop).

Cheers

I know somebody that has it chained to the lawnmower. It depends on the strength of your chain/lock...and the mower of course...but it at least makes things a bit more awkward and hopefully make things take long enough for a scummer to abandon the idea.

Wishbone Ash

onmebike wrote: »

I know somebody that has it chained to the lawnmower. It depends on the strength of your chain/lock...and the mower of course...but it at least makes things a bit more awkward and hopefully make things take long enough for a scummer to abandon the idea.

Depends on the mower but most have handles that can be quickly removed (for transport or storage) so it would be pointless just looping a chain around the handle.

07Lapierre

I have a few of these:

http://www.diy.com/departments/master-lock-wall-floor-anchor-h178mm-l288mm-pack-of-1/234057_BQ.prd

They're bolted to the wall (concrete) and the bike is locked to the bracket.
Worth considering if you have a solid/concrete floor or wall.

Free-2-Flow

Keep the bike in the house and put her in the shed.

fat bloke

seamus wrote: »

Wives/girlfriends don't want bikes in the house because they're messy. A bike after a wet spin leaves crap everywhere.

If that was the criteria for interior access then sheds would be full of kids! :pac:

Mr. Grieves

Some of these solutions sound like they will deter an opportunistic thief, but I'd be curious to here from anyone who has had a bike or bikes stolen from a shed (it does seem to happen quite frequently) if/how their bikes were secured. It might be educational.

I have had one bike stolen from a shed. The shed had no door and the garden had no rear access, it required hopping a high garage. The shed had 2 cheap bikes leaning against each other, unlocked, and 3 more expensive bikes hanging from the ceiling, two of which were locked to each other with a heavy chain. The thief ignored the two cheaper bikes and grabbed the unlocked bike hanging from the ceiling.

So it seems in this case the thief wasn't interested in taking more than one bike or attempting to break any locks.

seamus

^^ Haven't had any bikes stolen in recent times, but as a kid a couple of bikes were taken from the house, and I knew people whose bikes had been taken. Virtually always by breaking through a shed door and lifting any unlocked bikes over a wall or gate (or a high garage - same happened to us). Or just taking unlocked bikes from the back garden.

I've never heard of a bike locked to something in a shed or even in a back garden, being taken. I'd say it does happen though, especially if there's a steal-to-order arrangement going on.

magicbastarder

Mr. Grieves wrote: »

So it seems in this case the thief wasn't interested in taking more than one bike or attempting to break any locks.

it's the low hanging fruit. basically, you want to make sure your bikes are going to look harder to nick than your neighbour's.

Xcellor

Some good ideas suggested. Thanks.

First thing Ill do is get the door coach bolted and a decent lock. Then have a look at what I can do as a contingency if someone does still manage to pry the bolts out.

Mr. Grieves

magicbastarder wrote: »

it's the low hanging fruit. basically, you want to make sure your bikes are going to look harder to nick than your neighbour's.

Yeah exactly. Also a cheap unlocked bike in your shed might make the more expensive locked bike look like too much effort

magicbastarder

as i mentioned, take the front wheel inside with you, or lock it separately. would probably deter anyone without a van.

tomasrojo

07Lapierre wrote: »

I have a few of these:

http://www.diy.com/departments/master-lock-wall-floor-anchor-h178mm-l288mm-pack-of-1/234057_BQ.prd

They're bolted to the wall (concrete) and the bike is locked to the bracket.
Worth considering if you have a solid/concrete floor or wall.

I've a concrete floor, so drilled in two floor anchors, one for each bike. Both bikes have stands, so I just park the bike directly above the anchor and lock it with the locks I use with the bikes when I'm out and about, which cuts down on the number of keys needed.

I also put epoxy putty over the screws in the shed door, which means they can't be removed as easily, and replaced the standard shed sliding lock with a hasp lock. But I guess the door can be crowbarred off easily enough anyway.

After all that, I think my bikes are too hard to resell or not worth enough to be bothered with, but I can't afford to replace them, so I'm just being cautious.

onmebike

Xcellor wrote: »

Some good ideas suggested. Thanks.

First thing Ill do is get the door coach bolted and a decent lock. Then have a look at what I can do as a contingency if someone does still manage to pry the bolts out.

I think that what they sometimes do is just take a hammer to the lock and bolt. You can have a good lock etc. on it, but if a hammer can knock the bolt straight off the shed (more likely if it's a wooden shed, I suppose), then you might not be preventing anything.

Xcellor

onmebike wrote: »

I think that what they sometimes do is just take a hammer to the lock and bolt. You can have a good lock etc. on it, but if a hammer can knock the bolt straight off the shed (more likely if it's a wooden shed, I suppose), then you might not be preventing anything.

The house is in an estate and there is a fairly active monitoring and people that have had permission to go into my property (when i've been away) have been confronted by neighbours so any type of racket like that would be noticed. I have a dog which although is inside would make a noise if someone was in the garden too.

If I secure the door as well as I can and then also have a secondary method to secure the bike to a structure in the shed itself I think that's as good as it's going to get !

Don't Chute!

I'm living in an apartment and the only bike storage is in the bin shed. I had three bikes taken from there one night. I had drilled twelve mm wedge anchors into the wall with eye bolts with thread lock on and hung the bikes up from the ceiling with a good thick chain around them. They got in through the roof cut the chain and off they went. They got about nine bikes that night but I actually got two of mine back as they stashed them on waste ground beside us for collection later.

These ****ers will get them if they really want them. Actually we are in the process of selling up so if I have a shed in the new place I think I will put my daughters old baby monitor in the shed so at least I'd hear something.
P.s I keep my bike in the apartment now (very understanding wife)

Bigus

You could always buy one of these for 1500 euro :eek::eek:

http://cyc-lok.ie/